15% of Christopher Columbus

Today we had an ISA visit to the cathedral. I'd been in it before, but it was nice to be able to hear more information about it. We started in the courtyard of the cathedral. The ground was all brick and there were little little waterways all the way around. The cathedral used to be a mosque, so the water was very important to them before they prayed. We went in the main part and learned how the choir area was put in the middle of the cathedral because it was trendy. The rich people would sit in front of it, while the poor people were in the back. They wouldn't be able to hear much, but it wasn't a big deal because they didn't know latin (the language used in church) because they couldn't afford to go to school. We walked by Christopher Columbus's son's tomb and then by Columbus's tomb as well. A few years ago they did a study to see if they had the real Columbus here or not, since many different places claim to have his remains. They were able to use the DNA from his son to match to him. Turns out they house 15% of Christopher Columbus here in Sevilla. In the cathedral they also have a treasure room type thing. They had all these fancy silver pieces. Then we went up in the grinalda. In the old days they used to go up it to yell to everyone is was time to pray (when it was muslim) and to get up there they would take a donkey. So instead of having stairs all the way up, it has 32 ramps. From the top we could see the whole city. One random story we were told was that at some point in time there was a guy who asked a girl to marry him. He wanted to get her something that she would never get from anyone else. So he got her an alligator. Now in the doorway to the courtyard there is an alligator statute hanging from the ceiling.

The Cathedral

                                                                      Inside the cathedral

La giralda 

The courtyard with the water running through

funny face in the courtyard 

Alligator

the son's tomb

here lies 15% of Christopher Columbus

stabbing a pomegranate. it's the symbol of granada 

Fancy silver thing

San Fernando, who became a saint. You can see his body every year

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

Then it was time for lunch. We had chicken and french fries. I took a little siesta, which felt so good. After I had to go meet Ashley, cause she wanted to go to temple. We decided to get gelato beforehand at the yummy place, since it was close by. I got cheesecake and chocolate gelato, both were so good! I don't think they have a bad flavor there. We sat at the parasol while we ate our gelato and then headed towards the temple. It was supposed to be a 6 minute walk... but it took us a while longer. Ash had directions, but there was construction going on and streets signs are hard to find, so we got a little lost. Ash asked 3 people for directions, and they didn't even know what street we were on. I think the first two people led us the wrong way, but the third one got us to where we needed to be. It was a tiny little temple and there were only 10 people there. They insisted on handing me the book with all the reading in it, because of course I can follow along with all the hebrew... It was a quick service, they just recited what ever it was in Hebrew, said the prayer for Ash's dad, and then we were done. They told Ash when she left, that she better come back, or else they would come to the US and hunt her down. We headed back for dinner and I had tortellini and salad. Oh and on the way home Ashley found 10 Euros on the street. A good reward for going to temple!

My Gelato

So many flavors!

A pet store