Sevilla. What a magnificient city! We did it completely wrong, but it was still fabulous. 
The buildings are gorgeous and every main street is lined with orange trees. 
We found out on our tour that the sour oranges are sold to the UK and they are used to make marmalade. The plazas are all amazing as well. 
So we arrived at lunchtime for Colton and decided to take one of the hop on hop off tours of the city so we could sit and take breaks throughout the day. 
What we didn't realize is everything we really wanted to see was really close together. We would have been better off taking the horse drawn carriage through a few parts of the city. So now we know if we ever get back. We wanted to see the Cathedral as it is the third largest in all Christiandom. 
There is a tower attached which is supposed to have magnificient views of the city.
Unfortunately for us, the entrances were closed. Fortunately the closure was due to the Santa Semana or Holy Week festivities which are unusual and spectacular in Seville. We were able to watch a "parade" which included adults and children. 
They wore these interesting hoods and capes which were belted. Many of the first wave of people marked the path holding long candles. We assumed these would be lit for the night festival. Not being Catholic we didn't understand what everything meant but found out later the different colors and types of hoods indicated different congregations. The ties on the belts, knots etc.. indicated level of religious training particularly on the children's belts. There were bands which would walk in between the groups of folks drumming interesting melodies. It was pretty moving and spectacular to see. As it turns 
out we were watching the procession at the entrance wall to the palace.
The buildings are gorgeous and every main street is lined with orange trees. 
We found out on our tour that the sour oranges are sold to the UK and they are used to make marmalade. The plazas are all amazing as well. 
So we arrived at lunchtime for Colton and decided to take one of the hop on hop off tours of the city so we could sit and take breaks throughout the day. 
What we didn't realize is everything we really wanted to see was really close together. We would have been better off taking the horse drawn carriage through a few parts of the city. So now we know if we ever get back. We wanted to see the Cathedral as it is the third largest in all Christiandom. 
There is a tower attached which is supposed to have magnificient views of the city.
Unfortunately for us, the entrances were closed. Fortunately the closure was due to the Santa Semana or Holy Week festivities which are unusual and spectacular in Seville. We were able to watch a "parade" which included adults and children. 
They wore these interesting hoods and capes which were belted. Many of the first wave of people marked the path holding long candles. We assumed these would be lit for the night festival. Not being Catholic we didn't understand what everything meant but found out later the different colors and types of hoods indicated different congregations. The ties on the belts, knots etc.. indicated level of religious training particularly on the children's belts. There were bands which would walk in between the groups of folks drumming interesting melodies. It was pretty moving and spectacular to see. As it turns 
out we were watching the procession at the entrance wall to the palace. After watching the procession we wandered to the Starbucks and mom got to add to her mug collection. 
Then back to sightseeing. The bull ring was the most colorful one we saw from the outside. 
We also went by the place where Christopher Columbus was originally buried. We were told his body was later moved to the Dominican Republic.
At the end of the day we ran into another problem. We returned to our car only to find a car parked directly in front of it. Apparently it is common practice to put the car in neutral and leave it parked where it can be moved. Not knowing this we decided to go have dinner and hope the car would be moved by the time we got back. We had a traditional Spanish menu del dia which was good. I wasn't real impressed by the selection of tapas we found as it all involved fish or seafood but the kids enjoyed the meal. Once we got back to the car we found a willing helper who wanted our parking space to move the car blocking us, and we were off. Morocco tomorrow!
Then back to sightseeing. The bull ring was the most colorful one we saw from the outside. 
We also went by the place where Christopher Columbus was originally buried. We were told his body was later moved to the Dominican Republic.
At the end of the day we ran into another problem. We returned to our car only to find a car parked directly in front of it. Apparently it is common practice to put the car in neutral and leave it parked where it can be moved. Not knowing this we decided to go have dinner and hope the car would be moved by the time we got back. We had a traditional Spanish menu del dia which was good. I wasn't real impressed by the selection of tapas we found as it all involved fish or seafood but the kids enjoyed the meal. Once we got back to the car we found a willing helper who wanted our parking space to move the car blocking us, and we were off. Morocco tomorrow!
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