One Day In Sevilla

So, if you're in Spain, you kinda have to go to a bull-fighting ring.  This was our first activity on our day in Sevilla.  Fortunately, there was no actual bullfighting going on at the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza.  It was, however, exceedingly hot in the stands while we listened to the guide.  That sun is amazingly strong.

Once again, our group was too big for me to really get what the guide was saying as we went through the bull museum, but I did manage to amuse myself by getting this shot of Kingi scaring a bull.

After a wee bit of free time, and some lunch, we visited the Cathedral.  We were game enough to climb la Giralda (lots of steps), but it was worth it for views like this.

Here are some of the bells at the top; we were up there while they rang, so that was cool- if a little worrying, as those things must be damn heavy.

Then we had a while to look through the Cathedral itself.  According to this site, it's the 3rd largest church in Europe, and the biggest Gothic building in Europe (11,520 square meters).  It was built on the site of a mosque, from 1402-1506.  Interesting fact from the same site: "In the planning stages, a member of the chapter is said to have commented, "we shall have a church of such a kind that those who see it built will think we were mad.""

Next stop, Real Alcazar: the King and members of the Royal Family still stays there when they visit Sevilla, which is why it is considered the oldest active palace in Europe.  It has been around, in one form or another, since 913, with the different proprietors each making their additions.  Now it belongs to the Council of Sevilla.  We mainly checked out the spectacular gardens.

That evening, it was off back to the host families.  Me and the other accompanying adults decided that we needed to go out and get a bit of Spanish culture.  So, what better way to do so than with tapas!