Spectacular Seville

So what if it rains in Spain? Seville is still glorious! I LOVE this city. Yes, we did get caught in a cloudburst or two, or three, but that just made us appreciate the sun even more.

High winds prevented us from entering the Plaza de España at the scheduled time, but we got lucky.  As we were leaving Seville, JuanJo noticed that the plaza had been reopened, so off we went. Because we were there so early, we had the plaza to ourselves.

What made Sevilla so wonderful?  Well, the city preserved the incredibly beautiful buildings from the 1929 World Exposition.  The architecture is beautiful— even better than Disney World!

 

For the history lovers, a visit to the Cathedral is a must.

It is here that you will find the massive tomb of Columbus.  And yes, he really IS in that big box.  National Geographic did a story about the DNA analysis that was performed on the box’s contents.  It matched the DNA of Chris’ son and brother.  (There had been some doubt about who those bones REALLY belonged to).

 

The people standing beside the tomb will give you an idea of how enormous this memorial is.

Columbus set sail for the new world from Seville, and it was here that he (and others) brought all the gold plundered from south and Central America.

Seville has its legendary martyrs.  Justa and Rufina, two sisters, are honored with a stained glass window and in a painting.

Their story?  They refused to sell their pottery for a pagan festival, so after much crockery breakage, (on both sides), the sisters were imprisoned, stretched on the rack, made to walk barefoot to the nearest mountain range without water or granola  bars.  Justa died of hunger and thirst, 
but Rufina hung in, only to be tossed to the lions.

As you can see from the painting, the lion didn’t finish her off.  Finally, she was either strangled or beheaded (or both, it isn’t clear).  It was hard to keep a good woman down back then!

If history and religion doesn’t do it for you, not to worry.  Seville offers much more:

Cobblestone streets lined with shops and restaurants,

Carriage rides around the old town,

and FLAMENCO!

We weren’t here long enough.  Seems like I’m saying that a lot on this trip.

Next stop, Portugal.