Today my parents have luggage! Their lost luggage arrived during the day yesterday and was waiting for them, in their room, when we returned. I’m not sure what the big deal was as I had no trouble changing clothes but they seemed excited.

Our excursion today was in the city of Seville so we had our shortest travel distance on this trip, so far. Seville is pretty much a walking city but some of the streets are laid out very strangely making navigation a bit of a challenge. On our short walk from parking to our first stop we managed to find a dead end that Google maps assured us was the way to go. Fun!

The first site we saw today was the Real Alcazar of Seville. This was the home of Moorish and Christian kings. It includes a palace that had obviously been changed many times over the years and extensive gardens. The Islamic architecture is very evident throughout the complex. With many courtyards filled with lemon and orange trees as well as very ornate geometric carvings and tiles.

This was very much the style of architecture that I was most looking forward to on this trip and I will let the images stand for themselves.

After spending the entire morning at the Real Alcazar we headed practically next door to the Seville Cathedral, the largest gothic cathedral in the world. I found the Cathedral a little bland compared to other gothic cathedrals I have visited. Rather than a cruciform shape it seemed be just a large rectangle where the builders carved extremely ornate sections but left most of the space plain and bare.

The ceilings are probably the highest I have ever seen in any cathedral and draw your eye immediately up. Both inside and outside, extensive restoration efforts are very evident with the clean, white, restored areas contrasting greatly with the weathered and aged sections yet to be worked on.

The Cathedral is also the last resting place for Christopher Columbus. This adds a bit more notoriety or infamy to the Cathedral, depending on your perspective on history.

At this point in the day we headed of to lunch at the request of a hangry blog writer.

We ended up at one of the many tapas bars near the Cathedral and chose the one we did because of the option of a goat cheese with honey listed on the menu. We ordered five additional tapas to go with our initial choice and five out of six were very good. I was not a big fan of the Russian salad.

After lunch we headed to the very picturesque, Plaza de Espana. I will say, once again, that I am extremely happy to be traveling in Spain in February and not in the summer when temperatures can regularly exceed 100 degrees. The Plaza is very open with no relief from the sun and was quite warm even in February.

Our final site of the day was the Metropol Parasol. A large, wooden, art installation designed to provide shade from the summer sun and provide an open, public space for the citizens. A little disappointing but that may have been due to extremely sore feet by this point in the day.

Before we headed back to the hotel for the evening we had one, last important stop. I had seen a video of restaurants in Seville and one really caught my eye. This restaurant is known for the churros they serve with a cup of chocolate. The only ones I have ever seen are long, star shaped tubes coated in sugar. Not a fan. These, however, are light, crispy and fluffy and are fantastic with the chocolate. This seems to be the main reason anyone goes to this restaurant as almost everyone we saw had at least one order.

If you only have a limited time in Seville I would recommend two things. Spend your time at the Real Alcazar but make sure to save some time for the churros!