Okei Wapi ?: Religious Tourists

Sevilla, Spain, 21st-22nd July 2012

As the non-owner of a guidebook who hasn't looked on the internet for information, it's quite hard to know what to expect from Sevilla. It's well known to be a lovely city in the general public conscience but the only thing you'll possibly get out of anyone regarding this city in Andalucia is "oooh, it'll be hot at that time of year !". It's accurate information but doesn't really inform me of very much. And so, as we rolled into Sevilla on our train from Madrid at around 8pm, the outside temperature was 41 degrees and I had no idea what we were going to spend the next few days doing.

Sevilla skyline from the hotel rooftop

M, as always, had some ideas and we wandered out into the beautiful, beautiful heat and headed in search of "la Giralda", Sevilla's Cathedral. We knew the vague direction and eventually, via a sizeable but expected detour, we came across a very large cathedral, although the sign informed us that this was Santa Maria de la Sede cathedral, not la Giralda at all. Surely there can't be two cathedrals this size in Sevilla, we thought. We stood and stared for a while and decided to go in. This was indeed Santa Maria de la Sede, and its large minaret was called la Giralda. That mystery was solved then.

Chillin' by the Guadalquivir. I add this as it's one of the few pictures of me from the trip, not because it's interesting

The inside was impressive, it has to be said - Christopher Columbus' tomb was there, huge open spaces and a little display case featuring a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records confirming this building to be the largest cathedral in the world. It also had a collection of bizarre Catholic art, such as a sculpture of Jesus Christ as an infant, joyfully walking on the decapitated heads of three other infants. I've always thought that religions in general could attract more followers if they placed less emphasis on misery and death and more on positive aspects of life. I think if I ever, for any strange reason, decided to become religious, I'd be far more likely to join one of those African-American hallelujah churches than spending every Sunday being told by a Catholic priest about my impending one-way journey to hell.

Gruesome Christ-as-a-child statuette

None-too-shabby tomb of Columbus

As I was beginning to get my usual church-related foot-fatigue, M suggested we go up the Giralda (the real one), to have a look at the top. There are no stairs going up to the top, just an endless slope, turning the corner 48 times (if I remember well) before you reach the top. The Giralda was turned into a bell tower many centuries ago but it was originally built after the Muslim Conquest as a minaret for a mosque. So either the Moors had already invented wheelchairs, or they didn't like stairs. In either case, we were pleased to get to the top, where we appreciated the fine view of the city and took pictures on request for Japanese tourists. This was a very timely moment for M to get a large cramp in her leg and, imitating the knights and gentlemen that I imagine frequented this cathedral all those centuries ago, I half carried her down the slopes of the Giralda. Unlike those knights and gentlemen (I have a possibly unrealistically pure vision of them), we then popped round the corner for a glass of wine.

Cramp. Only 12 slopes left..

Generic view of Sevilla from the Giralda #73428234a (above) and #73428234b (below)

The evening, as usual, was spent outside, where it seems that every person in Spain spends the evening. People are everywhere, sitting around, chatting with friends, wandering through the old streets of Sevilla either in large groups of friends blabbering excitedly or as canoodling couples. We found a little place to sit down and have a bite to eat and, in a moment of class, ordered a 3€ limoncello. What we didn't realise is that, in Spain, a limoncello is not poured as a shot for slow supping as it would be anywhere else. It's poured with reckless abandon up to the rim of a large wine glass. We were off to Cordoba early the next day and planned to get to bed at a decent time. That, quite obviously, did not happen.