Seville, day two...The Alcazar

Arguably the top attraction in Seville is The Alcazar (The Royal Palace). We knew there would be a lineup, and we knew it would be pricey...but we wanted to go. And, my Dad had visited The Alcazar back in 1954 and we had several photos that we wanted to try and replicate.

So, we headed over that way. We got there just after 11:30am, and stared at the lineup. Yikes. I hadn't expected that much of a lineup. In fact, it almost scared us off because we hate waiting in line with all the tourists.

But, we figured we'd give it a go and see how quickly it moved.

The lineup for The Alcazar.

While we were waiting in line, I got on the internet to check out any way to avoid the lineup. Sure enough, you could buy advance timed tickets for a €1 fee.

So, you could get reservations and avoid the line...for a small price.

Fortunately, things moved along fairly quickly and we think it was only 20 minutes or so and we were at the ticket booth. General admission was €9.50 ($13.75 CAD, $10.30 USD), with an option of another €4.50 to visit the upper chambers where the present royal family stays when they visit Seville. We chose the general admission, and were on our way in.

I had the four photos that my dad had taken downloaded onto the iPhone. So when we got inside, we familiarized ourselves with them and started looking for similar settings. One of them was just inside the gates!

I didn't get the angle quite right, despite taking six photos. It's a lot more difficult than it looks! The trees and everything are so different and I have no idea what focal length lens my Dad had used. And, I was comparing the real scene to a tiny photo on the iPhone. Anyhow, happy to have found another one of Dad's photo spots from 63 years ago. More to come further down.

Continuing on into the Palace. It's a huge grounds with a lot of different buildings dating back to the 9th century. Some of the wall decorations are so ornate. Every time we walked into a room, we'd say "Wow"! And because it's such a large place, the number of people isn't really noticeable.

The old wall.

You had to look up in each room! 

The ceilings were amazing!

Out in the gardens, we found two more of my Dad's photo spots. Again, really tough to get it exactly right because the trees have changed so much in that 63 years.

1954

2017

1954

2017

In the one just above, have a look at the pine tree in my Dad's photo, compared to that same tree (or the trunk of it!) in my photo. There are very few pine trees in the park at that spot, so we're sure it's the same tree.

Here's a few more photos of the fabulous gardens...

We  spent about three hours in The Alcazar, so I think we got pretty good value for our money. Almost wish we would have spent the extra for the upper chambers tour because my Dad had one more photo and we think it was taken from one of the upper floors and so we couldn't replicate it.

But, our touring for the day wasn't finished.

We had checked out the Plaza de Toros (bullring) the day before and found out that you could avoid the €7 fee on Mondays between 3pm and 7pm. So we headed over there to see if there were any more free tickets available. Sure enough, there was another line up...but again, we got in line to see how fast it moved.

Waiting in line for the free tickets.

Again, the line moved fairly quickly and 20 minutes later we had our free tickets for the 4:30pm tour.

The tour includes a bullfighting museum.

I have to admit, we learned a few things about bullfighting that we did not previously know. Enough that I would reconsider going to a bullfight here in Spain. Yes, the animal is put through 20 minutes or so of "torture" as part of the show.  However, the bulls that are used in Spanish bullfighting are bred specifically for the sport. And from the time they are born until they are ready for the ring in five years, they are treated like royalty. The bull is killed immediately after the bullfight, and the meat is sold to local restaurants.

Occasionally, a bull does really well and his life is saved because they want him to produce more bulls that will do really well!

But, the bullfighting season only runs from April through October, so it will have to wait for another time.

Quirky statue under the winners exit door.

Back at the RV parking, friends Bonnie and Dave had arrived. Hugs all around. We hadn't seen them since 2013 in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. Now, they've bought a German RV over here and are spending two years touring Europe. Odd that we happened to be in the same place at the same time again! Spent the evening talking about travel, and drank too much wine.

They're coming out with us to celebrate my (Kevin's ) 55th birthday this evening. Flamenco dance show, and dinner afterwards. Thanks Mom!

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