Daytrip to Sevilla

On Monday night at dinner, Maria (my host mom) told me that I could have the day off on Tuesday to spend some more time with my family!!  Needless to say I was SO excited!!!!!!!  So I got up at 5:45 to take the bus to Sevilla, Spain!  The bus ride is only about 1 hour & 20 minutes through olive oil groves, but the climate is very arid here and hence the land looks really barren and true greenery is scarce.

Although we were there for most of the day, it seemed like we had so little time there!  So we just walked around and tried to see as much as we could.  The main thing that we did was tour the grand Sevilla Cathedral!  The church was originally a Muslim mosque that was built in 1184, but was consecrated as a Catholic church in 1218.  Once consecrated, the brick building underwent construction to transform it into a Gothic cathedral complete with gargoyles!!  My aunt & uncle have been SO many places and they said that this was the most spectacularly intricate cathedral they have ever seen!  Later, I read in the brochure that it is the "the most extensive Gothic cathedral all over the world!"  It even has a treasure room that's filled with gold and silver.  The total surface area of the cathedral is 77,100 square feet (or over 14.5 miles)!!!  It was really unbelievable!! 

The detail was absolutely unbelievable!!  It takes SO much imagination & creativity to create such intricate artwork!!!  These pictures don't even begin to do it justice!!

These next two pictures are merely the ceilings!!

I just love this picture!  It's such a beautiful display of love and tenderness,

 I wish I had it in my house!!

The cathedral has an enormous 320 foot-high bell tower that over looks Sevilla.  However, instead of steps that lead to the top, there are a series of 34 ramps!  It made walking up SO much easier to ascend!  I later learned that the ramps were built instead of stairs so that you could ride on horseback up to the top!!  Each ramp was adorned with a window that overlooked the city, giving delicious previews of what was to behold at the top! 

Gargoyles!

The top of the bell tower!  While we were soaking in the scenery, they rang one of the bells!

Outside the church there were so many horse drawn carriages waiting for an eager tourist.  The horses all looked so beautiful lined up in the warm sun, and I couldn't help myself from stroking a few of them on the face  : )

After exploring the cathedral, we walked around Sevilla and came across this beautiful park!  The parks here are so much more beautiful than the ones in Ecija because they have a lot more greenery (which is something I have really been missing!!)

For lunch we at outside at a little Italian cafe with tables right in front of the University of Sevilla.  After sharing salad, spaghetti, pizza, and a lemony dessert we took a stroll to this government building...

I just love this picture with the stagecoach!!

Afterward, started to head back seeing many more beautiful buildings and this statue that I really liked.

My time in Sevilla with my family was so much fun, and such a wonderful introduction to the city.  I am really looking forward to coming back and further exploring the sites and culture!  After a very tearful goodbye on my end, I bid farewell to them.  Leaving family is always hard for me, but was especially hard this time.  Yet I will always remember fondly my time with them in Spain.  What an incredibly opportunity it was to meet up with my family halfway around the world!!!  <3