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Tag Archives: Seville

Seville Cathedral, Bullring, and Flamenco!

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Sergio Caltagirone in Europe, Travel

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Andalusia, bullring, cathedral, Christopher Colombus, flamenco, Giralda, Seville, Spain

This morning started off warm and got warmer in Seville.  We went straight to the cathedral after missing it yesterday. 

However, on our way we stopped to buy a fan for Sherrie.

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Fans laid out from which too choose

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Sherrie and the kids at the fan shop

The best part of the cathedral was walking up the minaret – now bell tower – the Giralda tower.  The walk up over a thousand feet was easier because the interior is a ramp rather than steps to facilitate a horse and rider.

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Sherrie and the kids going up the tower

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Seville from the Giralda tower

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Sergio, Lucas, and Aurelia at the top of the Giralda tower

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Sherrie and the kids at the top of the Giralda tower

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Isabella in the Giralda tower

The second best part if the cathedral was the grave of Christopher Colombus.

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Isabella and Lucas at the grave of Christopher Colombus in the Seville cathedral

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Grave of Christopher Colombus in the Seville cathedral

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Cathedral rooftop and original mosque plaza below

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Isabella and Lucas never miss a chance to play in the water

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Lucas and Isabella in the mosque plaza in front of the original entrance

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The original mosque entrance at the Seville cathedral

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Giralda tower

We then had tapas for lunch which included bacon wrapped shrimp, which were wonderful.  After that we stopped in a nearby Starbucks, of which they are many, for frappuccino and cookies.

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Lucas, Isabella, and Aurelia enjoying cookies in Starbucks

We then decided to go to the bullring since that would be cool and take a scenic route along the river and post the golden tower.

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Sherrie and the kids at the golden tower. Aurelia is asleep on Sherrie's back.

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Golden tower protecting the river and port of Seville

The bullring and museum were fascination and rate as one of our favourite activities – although I don’t feel I’ve read enough Hemingway to appreciate it.

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The whole family at the Seville bullring

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Lucas and Isabella at the bullring

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The Seville bullring

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Inside the bull fighting museum

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The bull fighters chapel

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The bull fighters alter

After leaving the bullring we were approached by someone selling flamenco tickets. Since it was on our list we decided to do it, but the show started in one hour so we had to get to the show and stopped for a slice of pizza.

The flamenco show was at the school of flamenco I’m the Barrio Santa Cruz, the historic Jewish district. This also gave us a chance to see one of the more beautiful neighbourhoods in Seville.

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Buildings in Seville barrio Santa Cruz

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Street in Seville barrio Santa Cruz

We also walked through the El Arenal district.

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Seville El Arenal street

The flamenco show was very nice and luckily for the kids, and our sanity, only lasted one hour.  But, it was awesome with great dancing, guitar, and singing.

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Seville school of flamenco

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Seville school of flamenco

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Seville school of flamenco

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Seville school of flamenco

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Spanish guitar interlude at the Seville flamenco school

We then had a late dinner and enjoyed a much cooler weather on the way back to the hotel.

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A day in Seville

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Sergio Caltagirone in Europe, Travel

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Tags

Alcazar, Andalusia, Columbus, Europe, Seville, Spain

We spent a hot day in Seville exploring the streets, visiting the Alcazar, and enjoying a carriage ride.

It promised to be a hot day and it delivered with temperatures over 90f/30c. But we stayed cool, drank a lot of water, and whenever possible stayed in the shade.

Since it was Sunday the cathedral was offering mass all day and not suitable fit sightseeing. Therefore, we started with the Alcazar.

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Sherrie and the kids in a Seville plaza on the way to the Alcazar

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Sergio, Isabella, and Lucas in a Seville plaza walking to the Alcazar

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Building in Seville

The Alcazar was nice but we thought the decoration and architecture were better at the Alhambra. However, the historic events which occurred in the space are amazing.

During the height of Spanish power the Alcazar was the royal palace and where Amerigo Vespucci created the first atlas, Columbus planned his voyage and prayed in the chapel before leaving, and where the new world riches and exploration were administered. It is a significant location in world history.

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Sherrie, Isabella, and Aurelia walking into the Alcazar

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Isabella and Lucas in the chapel where Columbus prayed and planned in front of the famous painting marking the first European images of native Americans as well as the best portrait of Columbus

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Sherrie and kids in the Alcazar hunting courtyard

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Sergio, Lucas, and Isabella in the Alcazar hunting courtyard

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Dolls' patio in the Alcazar

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Alcazar ambassador room

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Alcazar doorway

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Alcazar courtyard

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Isabella and Lucas resting in the Alcazar

Leaving the Alcazar after a few hours we were on the hunt for some fans. However, a hard sell by a horse coach convinced us – albeit with a little bartering. It was a great 45 minute ride through the best sights in Seville, a great thing on a hot day.

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Isabella on the coach

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Isabella, Lucas, and Aurelia in the coach

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Sergio, Isabella, Lucas, and Aurelia in the coach after the ride

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Lucas, Aurelia, and Isabella looking at the horses

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Aurelia examining the horses and coaches

After the coach ride we went on the hunt for fans. All the kids got a fan and Lucas fit a new hat.

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The kids with their fans and Lucas with his new hat

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Aurelia on the way to ice cream

We them had ice cream followed by pizza for dinner. The best order of things in my opinion 🙂

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Aurelia, Lucas, and Aurelia enjoying ice cream in Seville

During dinner Lucas kept saying “hola” to everyone who passed by hoping for a reaction. Isabella, meanwhile, was keeping watch down the sidewalk and announcing “more customers” to Lucas when people were approaching. It was funny and almost everyone was smiling and laughing.

It was a nice day full of adventure. Seville is filled with friendly people and an interesting amalgamation of architecture spanning a 1000 years and multiple cultures.

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Seville cathedral belltower, a converted minaret

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La Playa en Marbella

01 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by Sergio Caltagirone in Europe, Travel

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Tags

Andalusia, beach, Europe, Marbella, Seville, Spain

Today we left Granada and headed to Seville with an afternoon stop at the beach at Marbella. Of course, the chance to spend an afternoon swimming in the Mediterranean was too good to pass up.

The kids woke up nice and early this morning giving us a good start to the day. Have I mentioned that it’s been over a year since we’ve used an alarm clock 🙂

It took a little over 90 minutes to reach Marbella which took us through some beautiful countryside.

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Thousands of olive groves

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Sergio driving to Marbella

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Olive groves and mountains

Once at Marbella we found the first accessible beach with parking and nearby restaurants for lunch. As we didn’t bring a beach towel to save space we paid an exorbitant price for one, not knowing they were included in chair rentals – oh well.

We also had lunch at a beach side restaurant that charged 1.90 euros per piece of bread – I did my best to argue with their highway robbery in Spanish but failed. In case anyone I’d wondering what that looks like, it is Sergio gesturing wildly with much eye rolling followed by uttering loudly of broken high school Spanish phrases. In their defence the swordfish was very good.

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Sherrie and Isabella at lunch

We then hired a couple of beach chairs and ordered some drinks – more highway robbery occurred at the bar. The chairs, at 30 euros for two, were worth it.

The kids and even the adults then spent the next four hours playing in the surf, swimming, building sand castles, and relaxing. Sherrie even saw a ray!

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Sherrie, Lucas, and Isabella relaxing


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Aurelia playing in the sand


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Sherrie relaxing

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Lucas and Bella playing in the surf


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The beach

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Lucas, Isabella, and Aurelia (behind Lucas) building a sand castle

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Aurelia and Isabella playing in the surf

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Lucas and Aurelia playing in the surf

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Lucas getting sand from the ocean for the sand castle


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The kids playing with an elephant statue on the way to the car

We then drove the two hours to Seville where we promptly got lost searching for the hotel and ordered room service which included the best burger Sergio has had in over a year.

Tomorrow, Seville!

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