The Alcazar in Sevilla

Sevilla's other big attraction is the Alcázar, the palace first built by Moores in the 900's. This palace combines the Arabic architecture of the Moorish period with Renaissance architecture from the 16th century.

Cathedral of Sevilla

We visited a lot of churches and cathedrals in Spain, but my favorite was the Cathedral in Sevilla. Though it was once a mosque, you'd never know it unless someone told you. It doesn't resemble a mosque at all except for one tower, that I'll get to later. 

I didn't find that any of the churches in Spain had any impressive stained glass windows, but this one stained glass window in the church ( the only noticeable one in the whole place ) cast off some lovely colors on the ground below. 

 

Every altar that I saw got increasingly more impressive up until this one which is pretty near impossible to beat I think.

I love taking photos of the ceilings in these churches.... they are just marvelous...

Can you guess who's mausoleum could be so impressive? Well, it's none other than Christopher Columbus himself in here. The Guadalquivir river comes up into Sevilla and this is where all the riches of the new world were first brought. It's a fitting place for his grave.

The best part about this cathedral was the tower which you can climb with your admission to the cathedral. Here you can actually see the Arabic influence in the shape of the windows if you look closely. 

They allow you to climb right up to the top of the bell tower and you can get some amazing areal views of the city. 

We needed some friends living here with their roof top pools to cool down. 

La Feria de Bormujos

Every town and city in Spain holds a "feria" or town fair once a year. Every town holds it at a different time of year, and we just happened to be near the town of Bormujos, outside of Sevilla, in time to catch their small feria.

Ferias are much like town/ state fairs in America in some ways. There are lots of rides for kids (or adults), music and fun. But there are also a few differences as well.

First of all, the action starts late, especially at a small fair like in Bormujos. We arrived at 10:30 pm and we didn't see too many people around. "Oh, I guess we're too early, nothing has started yet..." claimed our hosts. Of course, to us Americans, imagining a fair that starts so late in the evening is a bit unheard of. That was definitely one culture shock for us, getting used to Spaniards timing for things.

When you go to the feria, you should find a tent that suits your liking and get comfortable for an evening of food, drink and entertainment. The fair grounds are lined with tents, some open to the public, some open by invitation only, which host food, drinks and music. We chose the tent run by the local Ayunamiento, or city hall.  It's the biggest tent, and starts it's entertainment the earliest. But there are all sorts of tents set up to choose from, like the one below run by the local soccer team, Peña Betica.

The other fun thing at the feria is the fact that it's a chance for folks to get all dressed up. Actually, in Bormujos, mostly only little girls get dressed up, but a few women really took it serious and were dressed to the nines in their traditional Spanish dresses as you can see above. Our host showed us photos from the feria in Sevilla and she and all her friends were dressed in traditional dresses as were most of the folks around them. It's amazing to think that even now in this day and age people get so formally dressed for an event like a fair. But it's great to see that they retain this culture in this modern world.