Sevilla

After serenading our beloved group member, Rosemary, to a Spanish rendition of Happy Birthday, we headed north to Sevilla, once Spain's largest and richest city. Sevilla is now the fourth largest city in Spain. We were thankful the sun made the three hour trip with us, and we stepped off the bus to a bustling city lined with shoppers, orange trees and charm.

Our first stop was Sevilla's cathedral and Giralda bell tower. This is the third largest church in Europe and the world's largest Gothic church. According to locals, the goal was to build a cathedral so grand that "people who see it will say we are mad." Two of the cathedral's finer features are its tremendous pipe organ of 7,000 pipes and the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Following our visit to the cathedral, we made the short walk to the Alcazar, the 10th Century palace built by the Moorish kings and still in use today. The unique architecture of the palace is accentuated by the vastly different styles of the rulers who lived there. As Spanish rule evolved from the Moors to the Christians, so did each addition to this magnificent palace. After leaving the palace, we enjoyed a rest in its lush gardens.

The final stop on our tour of Sevilla was the magnificent Spain Plaza. This plaza was built for the 1929 international fair. Restoration of this panoramic site was recently completed just in time for our visit.

Tomorrow promises to bring more sun and grandeur as we head northeast to Granada to visit Spain's most visited site, the Alhambra.