Holiday in Andalucia

Everything would be open today, so we got up and were on the way just after nine. We joined a queue to enter the Real Alcazar which opened at 9.30. Once again we saw the mixture of Muslim and Christian styles overlaying each other in beautiful craftsmanship throughout a maze of rooms; tiles, plasterwork, woodwork and architectural design. It was extremely cold as the sun did not penetrate into any rooms or courtyards.


At the end of the route we could walk along part of the old Arab walls giving views into the garden, but the garden itself was closed following bad weather. Before we left, we stopped by the coffee shop for a quick standing coffee to warm up.
Outside again and we had to walk across to join the queue for visiting the Cathedral and Giralda. This moved pretty quickly and we were soon entering the vastness of the largest catheral in Europe. Arcades of columns assail one, each leading the eye to a stained glass window. It is very impressive. We found a stone set into the floor commemorating C. Columbus, then walked down the side to see some of the paintings in the side chapels. There is also a large organ surrounding the choir and in front of this a very large altar screen made from wood covered in gold. At the side entrance we could go out into the orange tree garden, then back inside we made our way to the Giralda tower and began the climb. Over thirty slopes around the square tower takes the visitor up to where the bells are hung. This is also the height of the original minaret on the old eighth century mosque. There are some fantastic views up here. Coming down was bad for A's knees, but was achieved quite quickly. Now we went to complete our circuit and found a large mausoleum depicting personifications of four regions of Spain bearing the coffin of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) on their shoulders. This was our last object of interest so we exited and found a coffee shop for a coffee and a sandwich to warm us up properly.
Our last visit of the day was to the Palacio de S Andres or Casa de Pilatos. It began as a sixteenth century palace with courtyards and tiles in the mudejar style. Then followed extensions in the seventeenth century. A huge collection of Roman remains - brought from Italy - are housed here in courtyards and gardens all around the house. We also joined the Spanish/English tour of the upper rooms where they have rooms set out with paintings, porcelain, tapestries and furniture. There are some amazing ceilings in the earliest rooms.


At 5pm it seemed like a good idea to walk back to the hotel for a cup of tea and our feet up before dinner at 20.30. A quiet dinner, with just a couple of other tables for most of the evening. We had Mushroom ravioli with truffle oil; roasted vegetables with Iberican ham; followed by nut and breadcrumb coated lamb chops on cranberry chutney, all served with lovely small home baked rolls. We drank Enate MERLOT-MERLOT 2003 from Somontano. It had quite a lot of sediment, but with careful pouring, we were able to enjoy its blackberry and new oak flavours.