The Seville Cathedral and the Giralda Tower

 The Giralda Tower of the Seville Cathedral.

 Part of the massive interior.

 The bells in the Giralda Tower.

 The view from the top... the Metropol Parasol...

 and the Alcazar and all the green behind is its gardens.

 The lower portion of the main altar.

 The decorated portion of the ceiling.

 The choir.

The Google mapping car prowling the narrow streets.

Tuesday, September 12^th.
I woke up early this morning and updated things before heading over to the cathedral. It opens at 11:00 after mass, but judging from the lines yesterday, I decided to get there early. The line was only a couple of people when I arrived so I walked back to the main door and since it was open for parishioners, I entered and looked around. The inside is truly massive. I listened briefly to the mass and noticed that there were only a couple of dozen people attending. I went back out and I was standing in line in the hot sun just after 10.

When I finally entered I immediately headed for the Giralda Tower. There were 35 half floor ramps to climb to the level of the bells and lookout. It provided an excellent view out over the city (including the Alcazar and the Metropol Parasol) and the roof and structure of the cathedral.

Then I descended and had a look around the interior. Compared to others I have seen it is fairly stark inside. There are numerous elaborate chapels, but the most of the walls and a lot of the ceiling is unadorned. The main altar is enormous rising probably 20 metres from the floor. It is made from gold plundered from the South American Incas and Aztecs that the Spanish had decimated.

As I returned to the room a Google mapping car passed me several times, and I wondered if he was as lost as I usually was. I packed up, gave the mother the keys and walked out to the main street where I hailed a cab to the airport. Check in was easy.

I had to take two flights to get to Casablanca; from Seville to Barcelona and then to Casablanca. Look on a map and see if that makes sense to you. Anyway, the airline was Veuling, a cheap branch of Iberian. The plane was the most cramped I've ever been on. There was no leg room for me, I can't imagine how long legged or larger people would fit. Luckily it was only an hour. I watched as the lady at check in put a Short Connection sticker on my bag so I knew I had to hustle from one flight to the next. It took a while to get from Terminal B to D as this is a huge hub airport. When I got there I found that the plane was delayed and instead of leaving at 7:55pm we actually left an hour later. Probably good as I was worried that my bag might not make it, but it did.

To be continued.