Weekend Trip #4- Andalucia Part 2

After spending the first day in Cordoba, we continued on to Sevilla, the capital of the southern region of Andalucia. We started off Thursday morning with a tour of the Reales Alcazares, portrayed in pictures below. What's cool about the south is that you can see several different cultural influences in the art and architecture.

Sevilla is known for its tile work

The colorful walls of the buildings are not only beautiful and a signature mark of the south, but practical. The vivid yellow gold paint that adorns many walls was first invented by the Moors as a way to kill the hundreds of flies and insects that hover around Andalucia during the summertime. To get rid of them, they created the paint by mixing the golden sand of the area and pesticide together--the color attracted the flies to the walls, while the pesticide killed them.

A typical street that's right off the cathedral's plaza

Sevilla's Catedral

Christopher Columbus' tomb, held up by the four kingdoms of Spain. Seeing his tomb was probably the highlight of Sevilla for me.

I'm just a little obsessed with statues of the Virgin

Oh, THAT'S where I left my alligator!


Sevilla skyline from the highest spire of the catedral


Becca channeling her inner Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof on our way to finding a place to eat for lunch.



Who wouldn't want to dine in a restaurant surrounded with mounted bull heads?


Spanish guitar in the sunny south made me feel like I was truly in Spain.

After spending two nights in Sevilla, we traveled to Granada where we saw the infamous La Alhambra. If you don't know what La Alhambra is, it's basically a royal city and palace within the city of Granada that has been added upon by several centuries of Spanish royals; the city is full of Neo-Classical, Arabic, Moorish, and European influences.

This is the part that Charles V added, but never finished.





The ceiling in this room looked like it was full of stars.

I'm astounded at the detail work that went into every crevice and corner of each room and area of the palace.

Here the arches look like they're made of porcelain melting icicles.

Much of La Alhambra is surrounded by water and reflecting pools because of its sacred nature in the Arabic religion. Although La Alhambra was built for Catholic monarchs, it was built by the Arabs and Moors.





Taking pics of cool-looking Europeans is my new favorite sport.



Alice in Wonderland anyone?


I tell you, the orange trees are everywhere.