Al Andaluz, Saville, March 28

The weather had warned us the night before. The morning brought rain and a cold wind, but we had tickets for Real Alcazar of Sevilla. The day before, the line was around the building all day.

Ah, not the day we stood in line! The Lion Gate is the main entrance to the Royal Palace. This was on March 26.

Our hotel did not include breakfast, so we stopped at a cafe on our way to the palace. The owner was a fan of bull fighting, which is popular in Saville. The café con leche was good, but the mounted bull heads were a bit off-putting.

Notice the beautiful tiles between the beams of the ceiling. The photos were of famous bull fighters and posters advertising the bull fights.

As we arrived, in spite of the rain, and it was constant, the line was long, but David’s foresight got us to the front of the line. The palace is an official residence of the current king and queen of Spain and has been throughout its history. As a result, it has been maintained and updated over the years. It is a remarkable building that gives you an understanding of how the changes in the culture can be expressed in the architecture. The fact that the king and queen will stay in the palace when visiting the city means parts of the palace are not available for viewing. The sections that are show the mastery and artistry of those who were tasked with building the changes to the small official building of 913. While traces of that building have disappeared among the additions, a small portion of the twelfth century additions can be seen in one of the rooms of the current palace, the House of Trade. The majority of the current structures are attributed to Pedro the First who reigned from 1350 to 1369.

We had a lot of company in spite of the rain. This patio had been covered over so it was not raining there.

The mixture of both Moorish and Christian ornaments is called Mudejar Style.

I really was enjoying the tour even if I was soaking wet.

We returned to the hotel after touring the palace for lunch and to dry out a bit. The rain began to let up and we decided to return to our tour.

The hotel used local artists and images of Sevilla to decorate the dining room.

We walked for a while, but it was cold, so we returned to the hotel to repack. We had an early morning train to catch for Granada.