From Islam to Christianity - Sevillian style

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We started today with a tour of Reales Alcazar, the royal palaces. It is plural because it is a collection of palaces, from Moorish times, that were added to when it became the palace for King Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. The palace is vast, and there were few places that were not accessible. It was a beautiful blend of Mudejar - like Moorish - and Renaissance architecture. There were also beautiful gardens to explore. From here, we went to Plaza de Espanya, a huge building and square that houses government building amongst other things. The building was semicircular in shape and easily occupied the space of a football field.

In the evening, we walked around to find a number of small shrines being set up for the festival of Corpus Christi. As mentioned earlier, the Spanish take their religion seriously, and these shrines were lavishly decorated with dressed statues, flowers and candles. One the way home from dinner, there was a marching band that was playing music as it went from one site to another, linked to the festival (the Europeans amongst us would know the type of music they would be playing).

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Photos

The Reales Alcazar
The Moorish royal palaces in Seville, dating back from the 12th century.

Inside the Alcazar
One of the courtyards.

Plaza de Espana
We are still not sure what it is for, but it is a HUGE complex.