Awesome Weekends (Sevilla)

So I've been pretty traveling the past couple weekends, so I've been spending my weeks doing homework instead of updating my blog, but now I have a whole bunch of pictures and stuff to write about.

The 26-28 of September, I went to Sevilla and Granada. This was a trip organized through IES, so I didn't have to do any planning, which was very nice.

Sevilla and Granada are marked with red stars; they're both in the extreme southwest of Spain.

Sevilla:
Sevilla was the virtual capital of Spain during the golden age, and it was the biggest, richest city in Europe at one time. It was also a Moorish city at one time, so there are elements of Moorish architecture throughout most of the city.

We visited the cathedral while we were in Sevilla, which is the biggest in Spain and the biggest by volume in the world.

This is the outside of the cathedral. The tall tower is left-over from the mosque that used to stand were the cathedral is today. There is an excellent view of the city from the tower.

The royal chapel. There are only 3 families in Spain that can marry in this chapel, one of which is the royal family. The entire alter is covered in gold-leaf.

Looking down the length of the cathedral. The gold on the ceiling is reflected from the royal chapel.

Christopher Columbus' tomb. He actually has 4 tombs, but his body is here. Originally, he was buried in Granada, but he didn't want to be buried in Spain (he was not a fan of how the Spanish treated him after he stole a whole bunch of money from them), so his body was moved to the Dominican Republic, but after Spain lost the Domincan Republic, he was moved to Cuba, and then to Sevilla after the Spanish-American War. His casket is raised so that he is not, technically, buried in Spain.

The Patio of Oranges in the cathedral. This was another relic from the mosque that was replaced by the cathedral.

Bells is the mosque tower. They still ring every hour, and it's a bit scary when they ring while you're in the tower.

A pretty view out one of the windows of the tower.

All of these pictures were from the cathedral, and that's about all we saw in Sevilla, although we did have real Andalucian paella while we were there.