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Seville, Spain
And the Andalusian tribe setting the lay of Nebraska alight till all that remains is the arms of the angel
Welcome to Seville, or Sevilla as the locals (and annoying non locals) like to call it.
The Real Alcazar in Seville was built after the Reconquista, after the Muslims in power were driven out of Seville in the 1300s but during the time when it was still ok for Muslims to stay (that all changed during the dark days of the Inquisition some 100 years later). At the time the new Christian rulers still appreciated Moorish design and had their palace and gardens built and designed by local Moors. The result is a sort of Alhambra-lite, a beautiful complex of buildings that make you wish you were in Granada but also interesting enough to let you appreciate what's right in front of you.
Unlike Cordoba, the Reconquistas in Seville tore down their (likely impressive) Mezquita and rebuilt a cathedral in its footprint, one that was built so large that at the time the builders expected to be taken as madmen, or so the legend goes. The cathedral is big, not the world's biggest, but most definitely in the top three, just behind St Peters (in Rome) and a cathedral that no one (ok, I mean just me) has likely ever heard of in Brazil.
Featured in this picture is not only the sprawling cathedral (it's on the left) but also the landmark Giralda Tower. Literally built on the foundations of Roman ruins, this was the minaret for Seville's mosque and (after a bit of a remodel) the bell tower to its cathedral.
Not every picture in the slideshow needs to be an HDR image or an unending and carefully crafted panorama or even in focus. This is the view from near the top of the Giralda Tower, where a series of thirty four repetitive, identical, horse approved ramps spiral all the way to the top just to give you views just like this.
Inside the third largest cathedral (by area) and the fourth largest cathedral (by volume) and home to probably the final resting place of brave explorer and/or genocidal bastard Christopher Columbus. I write "probably" because even in death Columbus gets around. After his death he was buried in Valladolid, Spain, then unburied and moved to the Dominican Republic, then unburied and moved to Havana and then unburied and moved to the cathedral in Seville where, according to DNA testing (but contrary to people who think he is still in the Dominican Republic), whatever is left appears to be resting in peace.
As for the cathedral, it's everything you could ever want in a massive, massive cathedral, although it lacks the central focus of a dome or (due to its layout) a dramatic central nave and altar, although that's hardly noticeable as you circle under its carefully designed uplit ceilings and stone tracery and weave among the gawking tour groups, hoping to find a small quiet corner in such an otherwise busy massive, massive cathedral.
La Encarnación Square will never be the same. An urban renewal project, the Metrosol Parasol (designed by German architect Jürgen Mayer-Hermann) is exactly what it looks like, a wavy wood waffle of a shading canopy, one that stretches over sidewalks and streets and a raised plaza in an otherworldly jolt to an otherwise ordinary area of Seville. The canopy floats over an indoor market and some Roman ruins (the Romans got around) and hides a (closed at the time) restaurant and sky walk promenade above.
Some quick online research into the Metrosol Parasol uncovered an alarmingly interesting fact. The wood structure (400 feet long and seven stories high) claims to be the world's largest structure held together solely by glue. Yes, glue. Come to think of it, that might explain why the restaurant and sky walk promenade were closed when I visited.
