Seville Cathedral and Alcazar

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The lights in the breakfast room keep going on and off. Issy says that they're sensor lights and that we just need to stop moving. This would seem to be a bit easier said than done; we're eating so it's a bit hard to keep perfectly still while you're trying to put things in your mouth. I feel like I'm back in the shower in Cordoba. Issy says that I'm the only person in the room who's worried about the lights, and that I should just ignore them. We're the only people in the room, so I suspect that this might also mean that she's the only person in the room who isn't worried.

First stop this morning is the Seville Cathedral, which is right next to the hotel. We spend a long time standing in a queue in front of the main entrance, but when we get to the door we find out that this queue is only for people who want to go into the Cathedral to pray. A man tells us that we need to go to the tourist entrance on the other side of the Cathedral. The queue here is even longer. Issy's a bit worried. She's seen signs saying that women with bare shoulders and knees won't be let in, and her shoulders are bare. I don't think we'll be overly happy if we get turned away at the door after having spent so long standing in queues. We then see that they seem to be letting in women who might as well be wearing bikinis and look more like they’re on their way to the beach than into one of the world’s great sacred buildings. I'm not too sure why they bothered with the signs.

We're told that this is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third largest church in the world after St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London. A mosque was built on the site in the late 12th century and when Seville was recaptured from the Moors in 1248 the mosque was consecrated as a Catholic Church. Construction of the current cathedral began in the early 15th century. Christopher Columbus' tomb is here. His remains took their time getting here and toured half the world on the way. He died in 1506 in Spain and was buried in a monastery in Seville. His remains were then transferred to the Dominican Republic. When the French captured that from Spain he was moved to Cuba and when Cuba gained its independence from Spain in 1898 he was moved back to Seville. We climb the Giralda Tower which is the Cathedral's bell tower and was built around the remains of the minaret from the original mosque. The tower can be seen from all over Seville, and we've been using it to find our way back to the hotel when we get lost. We climb it along a spiral ramp rather than the usual stairs. When we get to the top we notice that there seem to be lots of very large bells right above our heads. I start to say to Issy "there are lots of large bells right above our heads. I hope they don't start ringing while we're up here", but when I get to the word "hope" the bells start ringing. I think that I'm now deaf and I suspect that most of the other people up here are too. I hope we don't miss any important safety announcements. We're very high above all the other buildings in the city, but there's not really too much to see, other than the roofs of a whole lot of other buildings. We can now see how flat Seville really is. There's no sign of even a small hill for as far as we can see in every direction.

The afternoon's itinerary is a tour of the Seville Alcazar. We stand next to an English woman waiting for the same tour with her husband and another couple. She's not happy. We've been told to meet at 2.45pm, but the tour doesn't start until 3pm. She tells her companions that it's ridiculous that they have to stand around and wait for fifteen minutes, and that this is fifteen minutes of her life that she'll never get back. The guide gives us headphones, but his microphone doesn't work. This doesn't matter because we can all hear him very clearly. It does however seem to matter to the English woman. She complains bitterly. She then blames her husband for everything that's gone wrong in her life. He looks very beaten down. I think I might be very beaten down too if I was him. Issy says that we should follow her around; she says that it might be quite entertaining.

Our guide's name is Adrian and he tells us that the first palace was built on the site during the Moorish period, and subsequent Spanish rulers then added to it. It is still in use by the Spanish royal family, and is the oldest royal palace in Europe that's still in active service. We visit the Alcazar's spectacular Moorish style palace which is very similar in style to the palaces at the Alhambra, with a good supply of courtyards, pools, fountains and characteristic arches. We then move through to a more recent Gothic style palace. The main room in the Gothic palace has large tapestries on all the walls. Adrian tells us that tapestries were a status symbol, and that only upper class people had them. I've seen tapestries on the walls of both Issy's mother's and sister's houses. I didn't realise that I was a member of an upper class family; I‘m not sure Issy did either.

Adrian tells us about some of the slightly strange Spanish rulers who lived at the Alcazar.

Peter the Cruel, otherwise known as Peter the Just depending on your point of view, ruled in the 14th century. His mother, the Queen, had been unable to fall pregnant, so his father, the King, took a mistress. The mistress then produced 12 children. After all 12 had been born, Peter's mother finally fell pregnant, even though she was relatively old at that stage. Peter's 12 half brothers and sisters all hated him, because until he came along they stood to inherit their father's riches. Peter apparently wasn't a very nice person, which Adrian says had something to do with him being an only child. I'm an only child; Issy says that this might explain a few things. It was arranged for Peter to marry a member of the French royal family, and one of Peter's half brothers was sent to France to collect Peter's fiance. The return trip took eight months, and on the way back Peter's half brother had an affair with the fiance. When they got back to Spain, Peter got wind of this, and summoned his half brother to his palace at the Alcazar where he had two of his archers shoot him. Adrian shows us a spot on the floor where he says you can still see the blood. I'm not too sure about the last part of the story, but Adrian assures us that the rest of it at least is true.

Queen Joanna the Mad, who ruled in the early 16th century, married a man called Philip the Handsome. Apart from being mentally ill, she was also madly in love with Philip. When he died she loved him so much that she refused to let him be buried. It was finally agreed that he would be buried in Granada. She accompanied the coach carrying Philip's body to Granada, but on the way there she kept diverting it in the hope that they would never actually reach Granada, in which case he couldn't be buried. Shortly after this she was institutionalised in a monastery where she lived out her days.

We move through to the Alcazar's spectacular gardens with their extensive pools, fountains and other characteristic Moorish features. They are very peaceful and it certainly doesn't feel like we're right in the middle of a large city.

We head out for dinner and come across a crowd of people in a narrow street outside a shopfront. They're all wearing either formal or traditional dress, and there are rose petals all over the cobblestones. The setting seems very popular and traditional so we decide that we'll eat here. We then discover that it's a wedding. I'm glad we noticed before we asked for menus. We settle instead on an Italian restaurant. The menu is only in Spanish, so we use the translator on Issy's phone to try to work out most of what is on most of the pizzas.

We talk, and drink cervezas and sangria. Issy asks me whether I think Spanish girls are attractive. This comes out of the blue. It's a trick question and I'm now in a trap. I briefly consider lying and telling her that I hadn't noticed that there were girls in Spain. Issy sees that it's taking me a long time to work out what to say and I think she's enjoying watching me squirm. I decide to run with the truth. I tell her that I love her more than life itself, but at the same time I think that Spanish girls are absolutely stunning. I think that she thinks that this is an acceptable answer. I hope that no one's reading this.

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Comments

[louise]

OMG... you crack me up. Really... you didn't know we are an Upper Class Family!!! Of course we are, i'll show the our coat of arms when you get home! Love the bit about the spanish women xoxoxoxo

[COG]

That water is very green - why is it so??