Thursday, April 1 - Sevilla

Today was our first full day in Sevilla and we quickly realized that Holy Week was going to prevent us from doing a lot of things we wanted to do. But we'll get to that later.

We had an early start and went to the Catedral de Sevilla first thing in the morning. We wanted to beat the crowds and for only €2 for a student ticket, it was a deal (especially after the €15 pitcher the night before). The cathedral is the largest one in Spain (and the world for that matter) and it is said it was built to rival the Vatican. It once served as a mosque and the bell tower was once a minaret from which the call to prayer was made. The minaret however, was so tall (34 ramps) that to make it to the top five times a day would have been just torture. So instead of steps, ramps were built that were wide enough to allow a horse to carry the rider to the top of the minaret to make the call. Much like the mosque in Cordóba, the cathedral in Sevilla had a courtyard filled with orange trees and running water. Sandy and I climbed the 34 ramps minus a horse, and took some beautiful pictures at the top of the steeple / minaret. We then went back down to see the two main attractions of the cathedral: the tomb of Christopher Columbus, and the MASSIVE organ in the nave. After having just finished reading 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman', it was a bit strange to be at the grave of the man who started global empire. It was an elaborate grave, though, and definitely very fitting for such an important figure in history, although not sure why he's buried so far from the sea. His remains traveled a lot, first interred at a monastery in Seville, then transported Santo Domingo in Hispanola (modern day Dominican Republic), but when the French took over in the 1700s his remains were sent to Havana, Cuba, but then after Cuba became independent in the 1800s his remains were returned to the Cathedral of Sevilla. Even in death the man has wanderlust. His coffin is borne by four carved figures of the kings of Castille, Leon, Aragon, and Navarre, the four Spanish provinces that sponsored his journey. And as far as the organ goes, all I can say is Charles would've loved to have played that sucker.

Sevilla from the bell tower.

The top of the cathedral in Sevilla.

Ramp #34.

On our way back down from the top of the steeple.

The tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Looking up at the ceiling of the cathedral.

The organ Charles would've loved!

Orange trees in the courtyard.

Following the cathedral, Sandy was determined to go shopping at H&M, so I obliged and followed her to its location. However, as we quickly discovered, the entire town, with the exception of restaurants and bars, was shutting down for a Holy Week procession. Nothing was open; no tourist sites, barely any shops, and clearly, not H&M. There were a few tourist shops open, and we accidentally walked into a store that was clearly owned by a man who still supported Franco, Spain's former dictator who killed thousands of people who opposed his fascist regime. He was selling pins with Franco's face on them. We exited quickly. Realizing trying to do anything would be futile, we returned to our side of the river, the less pious side, and sat up on the roof to encourage melanin production on our pale and all-too Scottish looking skin. Having finished John Perkin's 'Confessions', I moved on to a book I picked up in the London-Stanstead airport: 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond'. It is a hilarious account of Neil Diamond's life as told through the eyes of a Jewish writer for Rolling Stone from upstate New Jersey who described Neil as being an Elvis for Jews. Hilarity ensued for over 200 pages.

Setting up for a procession. We left in a hurry.

After reading, we attempted to go to the Alcazar, although we ultimately failed because a Holy Week procession blocked our way and we got there a lot later than we intended. We ended up eating at an organic, halal restaurant called 'Mama Terra' where Sandy got a chicken kebab and I got some pretty awesome pizza. We retreated to our neighborhood, Triana and hung out for the remainder of the evening.