Today we started later than usual, which is unusual for this trip. Usually we woke up around 6/7 to get ready for breakfast at 8, but today we had the luxury of sleeping in until about 8:30/9.
From the hostel we embarked on a walking tour of Sevilla, led by a local named José Alfonso. Alfonso was very knowledgeable about the city and told us about popular names throughout the years in Sevilla, took us through the Old Jewish district, and even gave us a quick peek of a convent that’s only opened for two hours for one day a week.
From there we had a tour of the Catedral of Sevilla, the third largest cathedral in the world. Mary accidentally turned off the lights at the Saint Antony’s chapel inside the cathedral, which was both embarrassing and hilarious.
Like most major cathedrals in Spain, it originally started out as a mosque made by the Moors, but has since been “converted.” After the Reconquista of Spain, the Catholic reconquering of Spain from the Muslim Moors, it was built upon with more traditional Catholic architecture, seen chiefly by the minaret with a bell tower addition on top. The cathedral was full of amazing paintings and architecture, Catholic and Muslim.
After our guided tour, we took the trek to the top of the bell tower, where you have a full view of Sevilla. It was incredible, although it was quite crowded and most of the tourists were scared by the sudden chorus of church bells.
We went to yet another tapas style restaurant, where we enjoyed Spanish style pork and gazpacho. However some of us were more tired than others and proceeded to fall asleep after eating. From lunch we had a small siesta, we walked to a park and some of us played frisbee while others slept on trees or park benches.
After the siesta we walked to the Alcazar, which was a beautiful palace; words cannot do it justice. We then had a two hour grace period of shopping, and finally got to explore the endless streets of stores, including Zara, Mango, and countless shoe stores and craft shops.
We ended the day with some more free time and broke into small groups to chose what we wanted for dinner. Some of us got ice cream after dinner and saw certain floats carried during the Santa semana going back to their respective cathedrals.