We had a nice sunrise visible from our hotel room this morning.
The weather for the rest of our time in Sevilla is going to be very hot, upper 80s into the 90s. Lucia told us that in the center of the city where the streets are narrow that awnings are placed over the street from the tops of the buildings on each side in order to provide shade. I guess the tourist season is about to end because starting in June and going to October, Sevilla is too hot for sightseeing.
We started our day with a nice breakfast buffet in the hotel. Then our first scheduled activity was a lecture on Spain from the 1930s to today. The group walked over to the Center for Cross-Cultural Study headquarters which is housed in an 18th century mansion. The inside of the building was exquisite with beautiful tile all over.
The lecture was presented by Carolina Molina, a history professor at the center. She gave a very thorough talk on how General Franco came to power in the 1930s, what his dictatorship produced in Spain, the political forces that were against each other after his death in 1975, and what is going on in Spain now politically, socially, and economically. Since Franco’s death, events are fairly similar to the U.S. with two political parties, conservatives vs. liberals, and the switching back and forth in elections in terms of who controls the government. There has been economic crises, and social issues rising to the surface, which has caused the creation of several political parties, currently about 12 of them. None can win an outright majority, so coalitions must be formed. The most significant political issue right now is in regards to independence of Catalonia, the district in the north around Barcelona. This district has been fighting for independence for some time. The Catalan region, culture, language is different and they wish to protect this. The other main political issues in present day Spain are no different than in the U.S. and include political corruption, housing, public health and public education. Spain is also a monarchy, but it is mainly ceremonial. The current king is Felipe and he became king after his father abdicated as a result of scandal.
It was an interesting lecture and everyone was pretty struck by how similar the politics were to the U.S.
After the lecture, we walked over to the Sevilla Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See. It is the largest Gothic church in the world, as well as one of the largest churches. It has a fascinating history as it was originally built by the Arab caliphate as a mosque. The mosque was built on the site of an older mosque and was finished in 1198. When Ferdinand III conquered Sevilla in 1248 the mosque was converted into the city’s cathedral. Its orientation was changed and its spaces partitioned and adorned to suit Christian worship practices. The internal space was gradually divided into chapels by constructing walls in the bays along the northern and southern walls. In the early 1400s it was decided that a new cathedral should be built to show the importance of Sevilla, which had become a very prosperous trading center. It took over a century to complete the Gothic cathedral and there was a couple of collapses of various parts of the structure, most recent in 1888. So in reality, the cathedral has taken over 500 years to be fully completed.
The bell tower of the cathedral is the minaret from the mosque that had a new top put on it. The Giralda, as it is called, is the city’s most well-known symbol.
The main altarpiece is the largest altarpiece in the world and is carved in wood and covered in gold. The were dozens of biblical scenes carved in the altarpiece. It was pretty spectacular!
The cathedral has 80 chapels, most of them with grilles, or heavy gates, blocking entry, but some are open for viewing.
There were originally two organs in the cathedral with over 7,000 pipes, but over time, the organs became merged.
This is the main sacristy.
I found the church rather dark. The ceilings were so high and any windows up there didn’t get light to the floor. It was a huge church, but not spacious and open like St. Peter’s was in Rome. I didn’t find is as open and welcoming and it seemed stern to me. Nonetheless, it is quite a structure and the art and contents are very amazing.
One of the biggest draws in the cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. He departed from Sevilla on his expeditions to the New World and he wanted to be buried in the cathedral. So, there is a large bronze sculpture holding his coffin aloft.
The guide we had for the tour of the cathedral, Alicia, was really good. She was so knowledgeable and very quietly, but with authority, guided us around the cathedral to show us important highlights. Because we are a group of 12, it is so much nicer to be kind of intimate with our guide as she guided us to important points in the cathedral. There were scads of very large tour groups following a guide around in the cathedral. Our guide could gather us around her and point out specific things and we moved on only when we all had seen the detail Alicia was pointing out. She was really good.
Here are some pictures of things we saw walking to the lecture and to the cathedral. The architecture all over the city is wonderful with great tile and decorations. The only problem with being in a group on the move, it’s difficult to stop and take all the photos you want. Not knowing where we’re headed, you certainly don’t want to lose your group.
We had a little rest back at the hotel and then we went to the Sevilla Fine Arts Museum, probably the second most important art museum in Spain after the Prado. The exhibits are works of art from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque era and up to the 20th century, mainly Spanish artists. It’s not a very large museum so it doesn’t take a great deal of time to walk through the galleries. The price for admission was only 1,50 Euro (amazing!). The museum is housed in a former convent, and the building itself was really nice, having several nice courtyards. I wasn’t much in the mood for taking pictures of paintings, so here’s a few of the building, the last one being the ceiling in one of the galleries.
By now, it’s time for drinks and tapas. There’s a little bar with tables/chairs on the sidewalk across the street from our hotel that Lucia took us to. The outside seating was on the corner of a busy traffic intersection, so Christine and I and another group member, Mano, decided to sit inside, which was nicely air conditioned. We got to know Mano, a psychiatrist from Cleveland who is originally from Sri Lanka. She’s been on 10 Road Scholar trips.
After dinner, we all headed to our rooms. It’s been a long day with about 5 miles of walking, so everyone was tired. It’s been a nice day and we learned a lot!
so fun