5. Seville's amazing places - the Cathedral

The skyline of Seville's old city is dominated by the Cathedral and in particular the bell tower, the 105 metre high Giralda, which initially was a smaller minaret for the Mosque that stood on the site in the 12th century. The actual Cathedral is huge and is extremely ornate even by the standard of Spanish religious buildings.  The Cathedral chapter who commissioned the building wanted people to be overwhelmed by the lavishness and to think the designers were mad. They have probably succeeded.

One of the first things you encounter on entering the Cathedral is
a very realistic sculpture of the head of John the Baptist

The lower section of the bell tower, the Giralda,
was the minaret of the Mosque in earlier times.

There were two elements of the Cathedral that Kim and I particularly enjoyed. One was the orange tree courtyard (above), the other was the 'Door of Forgiveness' which belonged to the 12th century Mosque and retains it's horseshoe shape from that time (below). The blend of faith motifs at this juncture seemed hopeful.