spain day 9

let's call this one "good by spain, you are gorgeous and we don't want to go but we have to go home now...". sevilla is exceptional, and was the right place to spend our last full day of vacation.

in the morning, we did the laundry on the rooftop, which felt so so so spanish...

....and that rooftop has a little cathedral view, which is where we were headed later that day. but first! sunday morning in the triana neighborhood across the isabel II bridge. 

our walk to the bridge took us past sevilla's plaza del toros bullfighting ring, where the colors and rich decor communicated that this is clearly a big big deal to this community. 

just a few blocks on, we reached the bridge,

crossed it, and found a little open air handicrafts and art market that was fun to wander in, and we bought some watercolor paintings. we also found the old triana market, which was mostly still closed at 10 am on sunday.

and of course the inside....full of bulls.

triana is a very cozy and residential area, full of church going catholics and the churches were teeming with folks dressed in their best. and then suddenly at about 1130 am, the streets, the cafes, the restaurants and bars were absolutely jam packed with triana sevillanos in their church clothes, making a day of it. i'm so glad we came on a sunday. (but it was kinda hard to find lunch...)

we poked our heads into the ceramics museum

and bought some ceramic tiles in a nearby shop. 

we headed back across the bridge, and grabbed lunch in the new fancy mercado lonja del barranco. the kids ate gelato, and we had octopus salad and empanadas. by this point on the trip, the kids were eating gelato, white bread, and fanta almost exclusively. 

after lunch, we took a long walk back to the barrio santa cruz, and went down pretty streets and saw pretty things. 

back in our hood, and the most popular spot in the area (the bodega santa cruz, always full of locals and tourists alike) was also packed with the after church crowd.

then it was our turn to tour the gorgeous cathedral that dominates the landscape in the neighborhood and in the whole city. the seville cathedral is the third largest church in the world, and the largest gothic church. it is right next door to the real alcazar, and together they make a formidable presence in the old town center. 

the old town center square between alcazar and the catedral are filled with pretty horses, by the way.

one of the exterior walls with an entrance that leads into the church's orange tree grove..

the giraldo tower....

and here's us! right before we went inside to marvel at the heavy handed glory of gold gilded sacristies and the power language of the catholic church: look how big our church is! we're rich! is what this church was supposed to shout upon it's completion on the site of a mosque in the 16th century.

oh hey! guess who's buried in this box! it's christopher columbus. there are also kings, archbishops, conquerors, and columbus's son also buried in this church.

it is a magnificent place

and is chock full of glorious carvings and art.

uh, i think this is the organ.

and the current pulpit for regular use. FANCY.

outside, the orange trees.

i was the only one with energy and courage left to climb up the bell tower, and i did and it was wonderful.

the views of the tower included the distant arriving rain storm rolling over sevilla,

 

restaurant street (calle mateos gago) and the view from which i could spy david and the kids on restaurant street.


the view out over the church

and down into that lovely orange tree grove.

we hid from the rain while having mid-afternoon spinach, boquedillas, and sangria.

the walk back home through the wet streets was our first rainfall of the week, and it was welcome.

one last time down the home street...

and that night, we stayed in, packed, ate our leftovers, and basked in the pleasure that is travel.