Seville & Córdoba (Part II)

After Córdoba we headed down to Sevilla (which took up pretty much the rest of the day). Our hotel was a pretty sweet place, and we went out to tapas/dinner in a place kind of near the old Jewish neighborhood. Towns in Andalucia almost always have an old Jewish neighborhood (like from back before the Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492), and it's always a pretty well-preserved example of medieval Spanish architecture. But that's beside the point...

The point is that for dinner I got a goat cheese and raspberry crepe, and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my entire life.

It was actually a lot simpler than I had anticipated. Goat cheese. Crepe. and Raspberry sauce. I dunno...for some reason I was expecting real raspberries, not sauced ones. But it was still delicious.

The next day, we hit up the Reales Alcázares (Royal Castle-Fortress-Thingy), which were originally built by a Muslim king, but when the Christians conquered Seville, Pedro el Cruel decided to do some remodeling.

(BTW: Pedro el Cruel was probably no more evil than your average run-of-the-mill conqueror, it's just that this is the moniker that stuck).

Castles in Spain are awesome in that they have the cool little wall decoration/archer turret-things which are definitely my favorite part of castle architecture.  No matter how many arches and spires a castle has, I will always get the biggest kick out of the top of the walls.

And Pedro el Cruel really know how to get someone to spiff up a castle. The reason to visit this one is that it is one of the best examples of Mudejar architecture in Andalucia.

Mudejar architecture is the Islamic style of architecture, but built for Christian purposes. So you see a whole bunch of Islamic details, like Arabic writing or awesome capitals, or even this cool starry-golden ceiling.

And of course, castles are never complete without gardens, and gardens are never complete without mazes. (And PEACOCKS!)

Molly and Catalina are lost in Wonderland

Pretty Peacock