Sevilla Saturday

I got up and packed up a bunch of things I don’t THINK I’ll need in the next 2 weeks. I took them to the post office. The post office (Correos) had nice arches and tiling. I was like seriously? this is like a museum or something! Colorful tiling seems to be really populario here in Seville. The woman here was nicer, plus I knew what to expect. I packed up my stuff and paid my 62 Euros.





Then I went in search of lunch. I headed in a new way toward the Cathedral, being careful to look at my map occasionally. I ended up in a shopping district with a HUGE El Corte Ingles and a whole Sfera store! El Corte Ingles is Spain’s most prominent and popular department store, according to my guidebook.







Walking around, I see mostly couples of all ages clinging to eachother, often making out and little families. It's usually parents with one kid, more often than not, a girl. It's strange. Where is everyone else?
I went into Pans for lunch. I looked at the map and mentally marked out a route for myself.







After walking straight for a while, I realized I had no idea where I was. However, I was at a bus stop with a route that went to Plaza Nueva. I knew how to get to the cathedral from there! The bus came and I paid my fare. Partway along the ride, the bus stopped and seemed to have trouble starting again. All of the passengers piled off and I followed as we got onto another bus behind ours. We came to the cathedral and I pressed the stop button. A lady was trying to tell me where to go for Plaza Nueva. Grathias, but I don’t really care about Plaza Nueva, that was just a landing zone so I could get to where I wanted to go!









I got out and had the same problem as the last cathedral. WHERE is the entrance?! This one didn’t require quite as much of a search to find. I just happened to come out on exactly opposite the right side. I decided for the biggest cathedral in the world (as they say they are… that or number 3, they can’t decide) I should probably commit to the audio guided tour. I asked about the bathroom right away and was sent past the first exhibition down a corridor. Just like the post office, I stood there gawking for a bit before I could do anything. It was a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and plants! It also had a water vending machine, which I used to get a water.




Then I went back to look at the paintings I’d skipped. They were very old mastery and very religious (surprise). Then I went through a tiny door in the bathroom corridor into the cathedral. I started looking around and realized there were no signs to tell me when to press play on my machine. I put in number 1 and hoped for the best. Hey! An introduction!! It told me about the room of paintings I’d been and hinted at what the next sound bits would tell me about. I sat down and listened through the history and the first few chapels off the side of the main church. This is a 15th century church. It was built on the foundation of a mosque, like loads of churches in Spain. The chapel in the corner was the first one to be completed and contains the first stone to be laid for the church. They used that chapel for masses while the rest of the cathedral was under construction.









The tour led me around various other chapels. It told me several things that were obvious and neglected to explain WHY. So and so is holding a bird. Ok, I see that now that you’ve pointed it out. What does that symbolize?! It’s like teasing me. I understand that they don’t want people in the chapel forever, but why bring it up if you’re not going to finish the story? Oh well.

















Around the side, I saw the organs. They have loads of them and they’re huge! The areas nearby are pinkish red! That was unexpected. There were more chapels—I’d guess there were 25 total of them. They had the oldest renaissance tomb there as well as the tomb of the founder of the church. There was also a big statue of 4 guys holding up a coffin-y thing. They say that inside are Columbus’ remains. My guidebook seems skeptical.







Next, the guided tour takes you to the choir stalls. It says on the bottom of the seats, there are carving of scenes of sinners and on the top are bible scenes.
Then the tour takes you to the main altarpiece. It’s supposably the world’s largest and my guidebook says the world’s finest. It’s got 45 scenes, all encrusted in gold. I found it a bit overwhelming—how can you concentrate on any of it?! My camera sure couldn’t!









Then I looked at more chapels. There was a large room through a doorway, called the Sacrisity. It was a huge white room with an ovular domed ceiling.










From there, there was a side door to the chapter house courtyard and ante-chapterhouse. They were very impressive. They may have been my favorite part of the cathedral. They were very regal feeling with lots of little and big details. The courtyard had lots of mock-doorways with outlines and decorations.







The ante-chapterhouse had an amazing black and white and gold ceiling. Its walls also had lots of decorations that didn’t seem to have a purpose beyond aesthetic.
The actual chapterhouse was amazing. My favorite part was its floor. It had a geometric floral pattern that took up the whole pointed oval of the floor. The ceiling was meant to be the focus, though, I’m sure. It was also a dome, with various sections that were decorated in black and gold.






I’d seen signs saying “tresor” and “tesoro.” I came around another bend and found out what that was all about. They had lots of intricate gold and silver objects. Crowns, crosses, cups, models, dishes… lots of random really fancy things. They were clearly treasured and unused.






Then I was behind the altar and headed directly across the back of the church. I was getting hungry. It was time to hurry up and move.




I went up the Giralda tower. It’s a 12th century minaret from the original mosque. It had 34 ramps that wound upward in a square that you have to walk up to get to the top. On almost every side of ramp, there was a window. It was neat to look out and watch as I progressively got higher.





There was a nice view of the top of the cathedral and the city from the top. It has hard to get to one of the view points though. This place was crowded with tourists. The bell donged while I was up there. Lots of people jumped. It was a surprising, loud noise, I admit. I was amused though. I could tell I was exhausted and hungry because people were annoying me more than they should. Get out and get food!









I had to stop in the orange tree courtyard, though. It had neatly spaced orange trees whose branches were heavy with oranges. There was a nice patio beneath them and a fountain in the center of the courtyard.











I decided to go to the Iglesia de Santa Maria la Blanca because it was supposed to have The Last Supper by Bartolome Murillo inside. I stopped at an ice cream shop on the way. I figured that would hold me for a bit. I ordered a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of raspberry. The girl put them in 2 separate cups with 2 separate spoons. Actually, they’re both for me! She had to put them into one cup and give back 50Euro-cents.
I wound through the square and alleys up to Iglesia de Santa Maria la Blanca. There were lots of interesting things to see on the way.












Once I arrived, I discovered that the church was closed. I even pushed on the door. I was bummed.
I decided to have a different adventure. I followed my map across town to Casa de Pilatos. It’s the 16th century palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli. The current duke still lives in part of the building. In front, in the square, it has a big cross marking the way of the cross, Via Dolorosa.





I got my ticket in the gift shop and went out a side door (as instructed) to find the bathroom. Then I went to the main square. It had 5th century statues in the corners of the courtyard and a big fountain in the center. The floor had large tiles and the walls were covered in tiny painted ones. It was a beautiful scene and every tourist in the vicinity was doing their best to document it.












I went up the stairs, as the tourguide motioned me to do. There were bjillions of tiles lining the walls. Unlike bathhouse, the palace had painted tiles, not individual tiles for each color.










We were given a tour of the interior of the house. The first room was the fresco room. It originally had frescoes painted on the walls. However, it was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary war, so it was smeared with lime to prevent disease, which hindered lots of the painting.
Then we went through the smoking room, which was exlusively for men, to the dining room with lots of ceramics. Then we went to the tapestry room, which was hung with lots of tapestries on each wall. They were faded and not supremely interesting to me. Then we went to a room named for the man who painted its ceiling. Then we went to a room named for the artist who painted the most important paintings in the room. There were some by Piombo and Goya. They were old and foreign. Then we went to the ladies tea room, where the men were not allowed.
Then we were sent back downstairs. We were allowed to freely roam the rooms there (which had no furniture) and the gardens on either side of the courtyard. The gardens were eerie and fairytale-y, like the lost garden. There was an almost competitive spirit. People glanced at each other and you could tell everyone thought THEY were getting the best photo as the crept around the yard. I saw someone else getting THE best one and copied—I sat in one of the arches.


































After my tour of the duke's place (which is now one of my favorite places I've been in Spain), I checked on the church again, thinking maybe it had reopened after siesta. No. It’s in the guidebook and on my tourist map. How can they close?
I passed a restaurant I’d eyed the night before. It looked REALLY nice, but its menu out front was cheap!! I was hungry already so I went in to ask if they were open, but they weren’t.








I decided I really wanted to go there so I’d have to stall until 8, when they DID open. I went to Starbucks and had a slice of dulce de leche cheesecake. I’d originally wanted strawberry and white chocolate, but they were all labeled in Spanish and I felt better about saying dulce de leche. I perused my guidebook for my future plans. I was suddenly excited for Cordoba! When I left, a guy was hovering around my table. I took my time getting up and walking away and almost laughed out loud as he finally lunged for my table.
I went home to get my computer and on the way saw some guys in alien costumes singing about carnival on the steps of some building. I stopped to listen for a bit then pressed on. Once I arrived, I almost wished I could stay there. I walked back toward my restaurant in the Barrio Santa Cruz (Jewish quarter).
I noticed there was lots of noise coming from the square on the far side of the cathedral on my way by. I decided to go check it out. There was a stage set up with lots of men singing on it. There were three changing colored lights projected at the cathedral. It was interesting but I was hungry.







I went to the restaurant (called San Marco) and said One? The man smiled and sent me upstairs. I got a glass of wine and gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce. I was at table 81. The restaurant amazed me—it was so fancy with its white tablecloths and minimal décor. I decided that fancy minimal was actually probably fairly inexpensive to maintain and create, making this restaurant pure genious, especially with 81+ tables! No wonder they can be cheap and keep it packed! I noticed the waiters and the Maitre’d had been extra nice to me. I wondered if it was because I was alone or because they found me to be interesting.
I went to Starbucks with my laptop and had TWO rounds of internet. I had a coffee and then got a muffin for the morning to earn my second 45 minutes.
I went back to my hotel and the guy at the desk asked me to pay. It took him about 3 minutes to get it across. He kept repeating long sentences. What do you want? Just tell me one word: money! Dinero! I paid and then tried to get a milk juice from the vending machine, but jammed it. The man had to help. Then I realized I was locked out. We had laughs over all of the situations.
I realized that this may be my last bathroom all to myself. I decided I’d better do some laundry so I dumped my dirty underwear in the sink and did my best with soap from my other hotel. I’d forgotten about this bit when I’d packed. Then I looked at my pictures from the day. I was bummed—lots of them didn’t turn out as well as I would have hoped.