Spain, Day 2

The funny part about learning Spanish was that the virtual instructor tried to tell me that in Southern Spain, they speak what he teaches, and in other parts of Spain they speak ceceo, which is the equivalent of a Spanish lisp. He was wrong. Much like Bostonians don't pronounce the letter "R", Sevillanos don't pronounce the letter "Z." Instead, they pronounce it "TH" which sounds like a lisp. That took some getting used to. In Spanish classes, they teach you the letter Z sounds like the letter S. The letter V sounds like the letter B. (And that's your Spanish lesson for today.) It took some time to understand "Réal Alcathar" (which is how they pronounced it) was the Royal Alcazar palace. Also, "Hasta Luego" came out "Hatha Luego." For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what they were saying! One of our tour guides was from Granada, and as she explained it, she ate half her words, so forgive her if that carried over into her English. An example of that? "Buen (or Bueno) Dia" in place of "Buenos Dias."

And so, a very abbreviated description of Day 2: We got up the second day, having learned from getting lost the night before, with the intention of finding our way to the first tour ahead of time so we wouldn't get lost and we'd arrive on time. Guess what? We got lost. And the funny thing (which happened more than once) was that when we found our way, we discovered streets we were actually becoming familiar with - essentially shortcuts home. So what did we see? Well, while we were waiting for the tour to start, there were parrots nesting in the palm trees overhead! "What's that annoying squawking bird? ... OH! It's green!"

Hansom cab with its rain bonnet

Arriving on the Cathedral square, there are hansom cabs and orange trees. (Don't pick the oranges - they're sour.) The Cathedral is one of the largest in Europe. Because of the proximity to Morocco, there is a considerable Moorish/Muslim influence, including minarets. The architecture is very impressive, as are the contents of the church. Inside are the remains (or what's left of the remains - they were moved many times) of Christopher Columbus. There's also a tomb where one of his sons is buried, along with the usual assortment of saints buried under the floor. We went from the church to the bell tower, which was 35+ ramps to the top, with a staircase taking you the final stretch. 

Cathedral de Sevilla

Tomb

Cathedral and Giralda bell tower

Climbing to the top of the
Giralda tower.

From there, we went to see the Réal Alcazar, which was used during the filming of Game of Thrones. It's a royal fortress and palace -- three buildings, showing different architectural and cultural influences. Should I mention Carlos V married Isabella of Portugal the day he met her? Although it was an arranged marriage, he was completely captivated by her. The cathedral couldn't marry them on such short notice, so they were wed in the Réal Alcazar.  

Behind the palace are expansive gardens that alone are worth the price of admission.

It was a long day seeing SO MANY beautiful things. More than I can encapsulate here. We found our way back to our apartment (now that we knew the "shortcut"), had dinner, and went on the paranormal tour. Our guide told us fun stories of ghosts haunting the third floor of a restaurant, unexplained noises following him on a tour, the Faculty of Fine Arts (built over a crypt of notable locals) where security guards would go home mid shift because of screaming in the basement (attributed to author Fernan Cabello). We heard stories of a bride who never picked up her wedding dress (she died), so she tried to put it in the shopkeeper's window for him to sell to someone else, a haunted hotel, and last, but not least, a "presence" at a British building that frightened the guide enough that he didn't like to go into its courtyard. Fodder for the next book? Yep. Some 😁

Next week, Day 3. Ronda and the white villages.