Hello all,
Today was an early day for some and an exceedingly not so early day for most. The parents awoke and started their day at a reasonable hour and went on a walk before our planned tours of both the Real Alcazar and the Cathedral of Seville. We bought tickets for both places yesterday and had scheduled times for both and the earliest of which started at 1:30.
(Parent note: we took a walk through the Triana district, which is on the other side of the river from the main part of Seville. Triana is known for it's restaurants and bars along the riverfront, and some would say it is the heart of flamenco (though others would disagree!). There wasn't much happening in the world of bars, restaurants or flamenco when we took our morning stroll, but we did come across the Triana market, where tourists and locals alike buy fruits and veggies, meats, big gross raw fish pieces, and all sorts of other things from vendors working in various stalls. For my Philadelphia crew, it was a lot like the reading terminal:
End of parent note!)
Knowing that, the rest of us decided to use the morning to its fullest and catch up on some sleep before starting our day. (Parent note: today's tactic for avoiding sandwiches was apparently to sleep late and have a late breakfast so lunch could be skipped altogether! My sandwich at lunch was delicious,).
Our first stop as a group today was The Real Alcazar of Seville. Built in the 10th century it served as a place for the Spanish royals throughout several hundred years.
(Parent note: the Alcazar was incredible. The intricacy of the molding and painting and tiles and other designs everywhere you looked was spectacular. We spent a lot of time just staring at the amazing ceilings. And the gardens were huge - very impressive that this whole estate of land right smack in the middle of Seville has stayed intact for centuries. We had fun getting a little lost in the hedge maze. And picking out parts of the garden we vaguely remember from Game of Thrones. And to Gage's delight, we even saw a bunch of peacocks!
End of parent note!)
Following that we went to the Cathedral of Seville, which was incredibly ornate, filled with many valuables and I’ll let the images speak for themselves.
Tomb of Christopher Columbus
Largest Altar in the world! (according to an overheard tour guide)
(Parent note: we started by going up a spiral ramp most of the way up the Giralda tower, where we had great views of the city - and even more impressive, great views of the top of the cathedral, which was also incredibly ornate. Thee cathedral itself for me was most striking due to its sheeer size - as you've seen from earlier posts, we knew it was massive because of how big the building is, but once you get inside the vastness really blows you away.)
Once we finished at the Cathedral, we all met up back at our Airbnb to make some delicious pasta for dinner. Following our dinner, all but Griffin left to run to the grocery store once more to pick up some things for tomorrow before our bus to Malaga.
After the store, Kayla and Connor went on a walk to watch the sunset over the river and the rest went back to the Airbnb to sleep. (Parent note: what the kids call "sleeping" is often hours spent scouring things to do at upcoming sites, evaluating trains vs busses vs rental cars vs walking, and generally making sure we have somewhere to go, a way to get there, and somewhere to lay our heads when we are there. The kids apparently still don't quite get the amount of time and effort that goes into a trip like this. But this comes as no surprise to all of you parents out there!)
Tune in tomorrow!
- Connor
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