Day 42 - Sevilla

I am giving up, I will not add more photos to the blog.  The Blogger app has a lot of problems adding pictures and it causes difficulties for me.

I think both of us are in a funny mood, we are suffering from Camino de Santiago withdrawal.  It is a big change not having the daily challenges that trying to get to Santiago gave us.  We miss that special spirituality that walking brought to us. 

We are in a good hotel, not very expensive but it is 20 to 30 minutes walk to the centre of the city.  Of course, we are pilgrims and walking is not a problem.

Today, oh decadence, we woke up at 9 am, yes 4 hours later than our Camino alarm clock.  First we walked to the bus terminal to get out tickets for Lisboa and then we went to the cathedral.  We arrived early enough to pray our rosary.

After mass we had a bite to eat, shellfish paella and then to visit the cathedral.  We were making time walking around because the cathedral opens for visitors at 2:30 pm.  Well, we came back at 2:15 pm and the line was along a whole block and around the corner.

We finally got in, the Cathedral started as a mosque during the Moorish occupation.  In the XIII century, the king of Castile and Leon re-conquered the city and the Cathedral began to be built over the mosque.

Then it Giralda bell tower is 98 metres high and two thirds initially were the minaret of the masque.

Over the centuries the Cathedral has grown and it now has an area of 23,500 square metres. It is the third largest in the world.  It contains the third largest art collection in Spain after el Prado museum and Sevilla's art museum. I counted 21 chapels inside the Cathedral.

With that size it is easy to understand that we spent the rest of the day admiring the architecture, the art and the treasures that are in the Cathedral.  As pilgrims we admired the chapel of Santiago as well as other statues and paintings of the apostle.  We finished our visit after 6 pm.

A point of interest, just outside the Cathedral we found the starting point of el Camino de Santiago by la Via de la Plata. The yellow arrows gave me a warm feeling and brought a smile to my face.

After that a quick dinner and the half hour walk by the river back to the hotel.

Today I want to go back to Santiago apostle and ask him to pray for us.  That the pilgrimage we just completed may bring us closer to Jesus and that we may get the graces to become better Christians.