On Saturday we left Córdoba just before 9:00 a.m. for our hour and a half bus ride to Sevilla for the day. When we arrived in Sevilla, we walked to the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, which is a grand palace with a huge garden filled many fountains, pools, shrubs, trees, and peacocks. The whole palace is full of Arabic style tiling, some of which dates back to when the Moors ruled the area.

Next, we went and got lunch in some restaurants close to the Cathedral. The majority of us had some sort of tapa, which is proving to be a popular option for lunch every day.

Our next activity was exploring the Cathedral. The cathedral of Sevilla has grand gothic style ceilings with many stained-glass windows. Similar to the cathedrals in Toledo and Córdoba, the cathedral in Sevilla has their choir in the middle instead of in the front. In the cathedral, we saw what is said to be the resting place of Christopher Columbus. 

After exploring the cathedral, we ascended into the bell tower which is named La Giralda. The tower started construction when the Moors ruled. Legend has it that the reason why there is a ramp instead of stairs up the tower is because the king wanted to ride his horse up top. The top of the tower boasts the most impressive panoramic view of the city and an up-close view of the 24 bells. 

After enjoying the view from the tower, we decided to go to the Plaza de España for our last few hours in the city. The plaza was originally built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929. A fun fact about the plaza is that it was used to shoot some scenes for Star Wars: Episode 2. We enjoyed walking around the plaza seeing street performances of music and flamenco, as well as finding the cities that we have been to, which is represented on the building. By 7:00 p.m. we were on the road back to Córdoba to eat dinner with our host families and to have a relaxing Sunday before the week starts up again on Monday.