El Sur: Sevilla Edition

Sorry this post is so late!
Our last stop on our trip to the South was Sevilla. And despite the oppressive heat (42 or 43 degrees Celsius, which is about 108 Farenheit), we still enjoyed it. We started our two days there with the Alcazar, which was once inhabited by the mayor of Sevilla. It was huge and we spent several hours there. The inside of the Alcazar reminded me a lot of the tiling that we saw in the Alhambra in Granada. I thought the gardens were more impressive in the Alcazar, though. They were bigger and even had baby peacocks! In the gardens is one of only four hydraulic organs in the world. This one used to play using only air, but has since been refurbished and plays with water each hour. Of course, we stayed until the turn of the hour to hear it play.

One of four hydraulic organs in the world. 

Gardens of the Alcazar (and Tarah).

Mama peacock and her baby. ¡Qué linda! (How cute!)

Fountain in the Alcazar. 

Inside the Alcazar. 

Next to the Alcazar is the Sevilla Cathedral. It is the third largest cathedral in the world behind St. Peter´s in Rome and St. Paul´s in London. And it was huge! It had nearly 2 dozen chapels as well as the main sanctuary. Christopher Columbus (or at least part of him) is buried in the church as well. We also saw the chapel where Ferdinand Magellan came to pray after circumnavigating the world for the first time. We also were able to climb the Giralda, which is the bell tower. The bells are huge! The tower provided a great view of Sevilla and it was easy to see how large the cathedral really is. After exiting the church, we went into the Orange Tree Courtyard (lots of orange trees, but unfortunately, they aren't edible), which is one of the oldest parts of the Cathedral left from the days when it was a mosque before a cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral

Outside the Cathedral

View of Sevilla and the top of the Cathedral from the Giralda (tower in the Cathedral).

We found a restaurant with air conditioning for lunch and cooled off for a while before heading out to see more. We made our way to Parque de Maria Luisa and Plaza de España, which were sprawling and gorgeous. I hadn´t seen much greenspace in Spain (in the cities, anyway) until then. By this time in the afternoon, it was really, really hot, so we went back to our hostel and took a siesta and cooled off.

Plaza de España

In the evening, we made our way to a section of town that the hostel recommended for cheap tapas and cañas (beers). The food wasn´t great, but it was definitely cheap, and the area was full of locals rather than tourists, which was really nice. Our goal had been to see Flamenco dancing on Saturday night, but everywhere that the hostel suggested was quite pricey, even with student prices. They did suggest La Carbonería, a small bar near our hostel that had free shows in the evenings. When we had passed by it on our way to dinner, it was closed. However, after dinner, we were looking at a map and trying to figure out where to find Flamenco, a lady stopped and asked if she could help us. We told her we wanted to find Flamenco nearby that wasn´t too expensive, and she too recommended La Carbonería, but told us the shows were at 9 or 10pm, (It was only 8:30ish at this point). So we made our way back toward La Carbonería (stopping for ice cream on the way), and arrived at 9:15pm. Luckily for us, the show didn´t start until 9:30, so we were just in time. It was a small, crowded bar. Although it seemed to be known only by word of mouth, there were definitely tourists there, judging by the lack of Spanish being spoken and the number of cameras. But nonetheless, we were able to hear some very traditional guitar music, singing, and Flamenco dancing. There were only three performers (guitar player, singer, dancer), but they put on a good show. Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so I don't have pictures.
Sunday was almost as hot, but we didn´t pack it quite as full. I went to Mass in the Cathedral and then we ate breakfast at a cafe (they had eggs for breakfast! Something we hadn´t had while in Spain. I´ve only had fried eggs or tortilla de patata for dinner. I have toast and wafer cookies for breakfast every day). We walked toward the river and saw the Torre de Oro (Gold Tower) that now houses a maritime museum, and also saw the bullring. We tried to find the Inquisition Museum, but no one seemed to know where it was, so we ended up just wandering the streets of Sevilla for a while. After lunch (at the same restaurant as Saturday because it was air-conditioned, relatively inexpensive, and the food was good), we made our way back to Parque de Maria Luisa for a little while, and then to the bus station that would take us to the airport.
We didn´t arrive back at our houses until around 11pm. It made for a very full and tiring weekend of traveling by bus, plane, and train, but it was a great weekend! Granada and Sevilla are probably my favorite cities in Spain (so far, anyway).