Today we started our day by going to the Sevilla Cathedral. It was gorgeous! It is also the third largest cathedral in the world. St. Peter´s in Rome is the largest with the second largest being St. Paul´s in London. The one here in Sevilla is huge! The height inside the church reaches over 120 feet. It is 378 feet long and 249 feet wide. It also has 80 side chapels. It was amazing, with lots of sculpture and paintings. It was an art historian´s dream. The cathedral was built on the site of an old mosque, which can still be seen in it´s belltower, called the Giralda.
The Giralda is very interesting itself. There are no steps leading up to the tower, like most churches. Instead it has ramps. Islams are called to prayer 5 times a day. Since in those days, someone stood at the top of the church and called people to prayer each time, ramps were installed for horses to carry him up each time. The Giralda has a great view overlooking Sevilla, so of course, we had to check it out.
Later that day, we visited the Alcazar, which is a royal palace that used to be a Moorish fort. There are beautiful gardens that we wandered through and accidently fell asleep in. It was a wonderful day!
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