Sevilla: It's Good To Be The King (Checking out the castle!)

"My name is Angeles! Like Los Angeles."

That's the way our enthusiastic Sevilla guide introduced herself. She was a riot. Her hair stuck out the way it would be if you poked around in a wall socket. Her goal was to get us through the Palace and the Cathedral in under four hours. Based on the massive size of both ... it was certainly gonna be a challenge. They stood side by side but both were like small cities. 

Fun facts:

The King really liked Arabic architecture. It's everywhere. He probably didn't read the language because it said a lot of stuff about Allah. (Clearly enough for Angeles. I can't read Arabic and obviously neither could good Catholic King Peter.) There was also a lot of representational artwork praising Peter too that was written into the borders around the ceilings. It was the usual King stuff like: "It's Good To Be The King! Peter Is The Best! The King Is Always Right!" 

The gardens were filled with orange trees and palm trees. The gardeners must have visited Miami during the construction in 1500. I didn't see any flamingos but they did have a peacock or two walking around. 

Chris Columbus is entombed in the Cathedral. Only 16% of his bones are there. The rest apparently didn't make the trip back from the Americas. (Or wherever he landed after he got lost) 

Around the time of the great Arabic influence in the 1500, everybody got along. This was prior to The  Inquisition of course ... so even the Jews were well liked. Or maybe ignored ... same thing, I guess. We saw the Jewish District next door which is the only one I think that's not referred to as a Ghetto. 

Jews must have had to be close by the Cathedral because I assume they did the books. And a few of them did alterations to the robes.

Last night we enjoyed a Flamenco Show in the town where it was created, Triana. Our guide was a Trianese or Trianite or whatever you call someone who was born there. Her name was Maria. She knew everything about Flamenco ... what the different steps were called, the hand gestures, the costumes, why the dancers always look like they are mad at someone, the guitar player's life story and who he is married to and who his mother in law is ... you know ... important stuff. After the show we went to a bar, had too much to drink and 35 plates of tapas ... It was great!

Today we are off to Barcelona on a high speed train. TTFN