Andalusia 3 -- Sevilla

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny so we were excited to start out the day with our usual chocolate and head out.  We had gotten thoroughly lost on entry so we didn't quite know whether we should take the car in or just leave it at the apartment.  It was a long walk to the subway and would cost quite a bit, or we could walk the whole way which would be around 30-40 minutes and wasn't a scenic walk, or we could take our chances and try to find parking.  We eventually chose the last option and then couldn't find parking anywhere near the cathedral and ended up parking equi-distantly (but on the other side of the city) as our lodgings, ha!  It was okay, though, because we all thoroughly enjoyed the long walk through the old part of Seville and managed to fit the "Setas" (a modern art monstrosity/beauty depending on who you ask -- we liked it!) in accidentally.

Playing under the canopy of the Setas -- no good picture so you'll have to google it

 Pics along the way

 Made it to the cathedral!

 We found out that it was winter break for Britain so there were English speaking crowds at every venue.  We met some very friendly people as we waited in the long, long lines.  We also had a chance to take some selfies!

The older kids didn't have student I.D. so they refused to give us a discount for them.  Oh well.  The Seville Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Spain and the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.  It was immense!  I wasn't that excited to see it since I knew I had found my one true cathedral love back in Cordoba, but it didn't disappoint.  As per usual, our older kids took off right away and we explored all of the nooks and crannies with the boys.  They even took some of the following pictures!

 Archie told me that he now always makes sure to look up upon entering any room just in case there is a fancy ceiling.  There almost always is around these parts!

 And make sure to look down, too.  The floors -- and sidewalks -- usually have some sort of great detail.

 We ran into the kids just in time to make sure they went up the bell tower -- another converted minaret -- to see the amazing views of the city.

 And good views of the rest of the cathedral, too.

 In the case of this cathedral, the mosque didn't survive the Christian victory, but the orange tree courtyard and the aforementioned bell tower were spared.

 Pretty, pretty minaret

 Oh, and the doors seem pretty Moorish as well

 It was time for lunch by the time we exited the cathedral so the boys swung on chains while dad and Charles got us some pizza.  No picture of that, but seriously the most amazing pesto pizza that ever was.

Next stop, the Alcazaba!  Another long line, more chatting with Brits and then we were in.  I wasn't expecting much.  I mean, after the Alhambra, how could it compare?  But it did -- it was very pretty!  Full of tiles, carvings, fountains, gardens...  So get ready for lots of pictures of it all -- sit back and enjoy!

Same old story, big kids skedaddled, so the boys were our companions and models

 They adore gardens!  Lots of running, hiding, chasing going on.

 All of these pictures with Archie were prompted by him loudly clearing his throat and indicating that he was ready for a great shot.  Phin would jump in sometimes, or not.

 We eventually ran into the rest of our crew and relaxed in the sunshine while the boys played an elaborate castle game involving wet sticks.

It was closing time so we sauntered back through the palace.  And took some more pictures, por supuesto.

 By this time, dinner was wanted -- they seriously are bottomless pits!  So we listened to some street musicians, idly looking for a cheap meal and eventually decided that that amazing pizza was the way to go.  Matthew and Charles once again went to hunt and gather our food.  I sat in a square with the girls whilst the boys chased pigeons

 Then a leisurely -- or just long -- walk back to the car with a little shopping and gawking on the way.  We didn't think that Granada and Cordoba could be matched, but Sevilla delivered!

Andalusia 2 -- Cordoba

Oh my goodness!  I did not do a very good job of coming back and recording the rest of our adventure!  Most of last week was spent curled up in a ball on my bed and then at the weekend we had marvelous guests show up who did a tremendous job of getting us back on track -- hooray for friends!  Plus, it is sunny and somewhat warm which is always nice.  It is also difficult to get computer time around here -- those crazy kids think they need it for school and stuff, pshhht.  So, where was I?  Oh, yes!  I was in the ancient city of Cordoba!

The hotel didn't have a room big enough for all eight of us so there was an apartment for six and then a little room down the street for two.  The kids convinced us that we should take the little room so we were able to have a sweet Valentines date.

::The view from our room

In the morning we went over to have breakfast with the kids and we gave each other Valentines

We checked out of the hotel and put our bags in the car -- the very grumpy garage gentleman was also there bright and early!  Then we headed over to the cathedral

When the Christians finally conquered the Moors they wanted to pull out their usual move of tearing down the mosque and building their cathedral on top of it, but the locals protested because the Moors had actually built their mosque on top of on old church and the Christians, still considering it sacred ground, had been secretly worshiping there for the seven or so centuries that the Muslims were in power.   How is that for convoluted?  But I'm grateful because I love the Moorish architecture!  Way better than boring old Visigoth, am I right?

::A lot of the minarets were turned into the bell towers of the new church as is the case here

::beautiful doors!

 ::A courtyard with orange trees and columns to navigate

::And then we walked in!  I was in complete awe!  Definitely my favorite cathedral ever.  It is called the Mezquita in reference to being mostly still a mosque.

::The boys loved this window into the basement showing old Roman tiles from the original Christian church

::The Catholics just took all of the alcoves and stuck saints in them -- perfect!

::The boys patiently stopping their antics to let me snap their picture

::Seriously, can you stand it?  

::Phin really liked all of the gold things.

::But I'll just take these arches, please and thank you

::Scallops!

 We stayed in there for at least two hours.  We would walk for a bit and then sit and look and think.  There were a lot of people in there, but it was dim and vast so it was peaceful nonetheless.  When we exited it was pouring rain!  So we ran over to the Roman Bridge and then went back to our car for some lunch.  

::View of Cordoba from the old bridge

Next we drove over to a palace, but we walked right past it, haha!  Nothing is ever easy for us.  We did find this cool church

Then back to the palace.  For some reason, I am always very skeptical of the guide books.  I always think they're probably exaggerating about something being awesome so when we got to the palace and were told that there wasn't another tour for an hour, plus it cost more than we thought, we didn't know whether to wait or not.  But, I'm so glad we did!  It was awesome!  They were right.  I'll never doubt you again, little guide book.

::I took this picture the first time we walked past, not knowing it was the building we were looking for -- but I loved the color of the blue trim!

::We toured the gardens first -- there were 12 different courtyards that all had different themes.  I would be happy with just one, I'm not greedy.

::Orange trees esplanaded (not a word) along the walls

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, but believe me, it was so beautiful and amazing!  There was this one little blue bedroom that was absolute perfection!  Ella and I are going to try to recreate it someday... if we can remember what it looks like, that is.

And then we made our way back to the car, playing soccer with stray oranges all along the way

We made our way over to Sevilla and arrived in the late afternoon.  It took us quite a while to find the apartment and then get our bearings and our dinner so we didn't explore much that day.  Hopefully I can get back here tomorrow to knock the next day out!