After Cordoba we boarded another train and went to Seville. I had been there for Semana Santa, but did not see the tourist attractions. In the afternoon we walked around the town and saw the wonderful Plaza de España. It is a large building in a half circle with a fountain in the middle. The plaza was built in 1929 when Seville hosted the Spanish-American Exhibition. After that we walked by the river and did a bit of shopping.
The following day, even though it was raining, we visited the Alcázares Reales de Sevilla or Royal Fortress. It was originally built as a Moorish fortress and later taken over by the Christians, like most things in Spain. Many subsequent monarchs added to the palace so it is a mixture of all types of architecture. The Royal family still uses part of it as their residence in Southern Spain. It also contains the room in which the contract between Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Monarchs to sail the Atlantic. The best part of this place was the extensive gardens.
After the palace we went to the Catedral de Seville, which is the largest Gothic Cathedral. Inside is a monument and the remains that are said to be those of Christopher Columbus (It is highly debated if it is actually him because he died and was buried in the Americas and remains were later dug up and shipped to Spain). The Cathedral is beautiful and has one of the tallest high altars. Also attached to the cathedral is La Giralda, a tower that was part of a mosque that used to be in the place of the cathedral. The tower has NO stairs. It only has a ramp and was designed for a horse to be able walk to the top. In the courtyard of the cathedral are orange trees. Oranges from these trees, and later made into marmalade, are sent to the Queen of England every year on her birthday as gift from Spain. That concluded the program excursion.
While I was in Paris I "had" to visit Disneyland. I brought a friend with me. We had a great time. It was sort of sureal because some things were the same as California and Florida, but many were different. There were not many people in the parks that day so it was nice because the lines were short. 
I then walked down to the Louvre, but it was closed. I did not realize that it was a bank holiday in France. I then continued through the parks the lead to the Champs-Élysées. Once I got to the street I was a bit disappointed because all of the stores were also closed. So I continued and then saw the Arc de Triomphe. Later that night I met some nice English speaking people and we made plans to go to Versailles the next day.
At Versailles waited in line for 2 hours just to buy tickets. So two people went and bought sandwiches for all of us while waited. Inside the château we were amazed at the grand splendor of all rooms. The paintings were spectacular. We saw King Louis’s room as well as Marie Antoinette’s room. It was so amazing. After the palace we went to the gardens. They were my favorite part of the entire place. The gardens went on forever, they are so huge. At one point we got lost inside. There are several fountains and even a lake with row boats.
We returned to Paris in time to eat dinner and then we headed off to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line to buy tickets to go up in the Eiffel Tower. Lucky for us we were the last group of the night to be able to go all the way to the top. I was so excited as we got on the elevator that I was jumping up and down. The views from the top were amazing. The tower was beautiful and loved every minute of it. We took the elevator down to the second level and then walked down the stairs (there are so many). By this time the public transportation was closing so we rented some bike and took a ride home. It was magnificent because we drove by all the sites as they were illuminated. 
After Cordoba we boarded another train and went to Seville. I had been there for Semana Santa, but did not see the tourist attractions. In the afternoon we walked around the town and saw the wonderful Plaza de España. It is a large building in a half circle with a fountain in the middle. The plaza was built in 1929 when Seville hosted the Spanish-American Exhibition. After that we walked by the river and did a bit of shopping.
Posts
