Seville and Toledo

Local tours, in Sevilla by bus, Toledo walking tour, are the best way to familiarize yourself with a large city. It gives you the opportunity to briefly see the highlights and decide what to go back to and do in more detail. Both of these local guides were excellent and spoke good english. Highlights other than tours themselves were the Plaza de Espana (see attached activity for details) and the Cathedral in Seville. The cathedral is the largest Gothic building in the world and 3rd largest church in Europe. Very lavish. This is one of the sites Christopher Columbus is supposed to be buried at. The plaza Santa Cruz is interesting. A city inside Seville dating back to older times. Very touristy, lots of little shops, restaurants etc. See separate activity journal for the Toledo visit

Quick Tips:

Toledo is a beautiful smaller town. Spending a full day there would be a day well spent. Walking tour, preferably guided, is a must.

Best Way To Get Around:

Seville is a large city and public transportation or a taxi is necessary to see the sites. Walking within reasonable areas is always the best way to tour however.

The Cathedral is the 3rd largest church in Europe and the largest Gothic building in the world. The inside is very ornate and beautiful. There is a huge Silver monument that is carried around by groups of men on special occasions. They used to pay the men, now the men pay for the privilege. Again, would recommend taking a guided tour to get the history and related stories dealing with the building.

Toledo is a relatively small city with lots of highlights. In the store mentioned above you could buy huge swords such as were used in the days of old. Workmanship was exquisite. That alone was worth the trip. My wife purchased a couple of pieces of gold jewelry at what she considered a very good price. Toured through a 13th Century Gothic Cathedral. The alter was dripping with gold and colour. It also featured paintings of El Greco. The church of Santo Tome' featured one of El Greco's most famous paintings. Painting of a rich aristocrat who was kind to the common people. Legend says when he died angels descended to take his soul to heaven. Went to a synagogue built long ago. No jews in Toledo at present.

The building covers a full block. It is mostly a semi-circle in shape. It has a large waterway in part of the open area opposite the semi-circular building. On the outside of the building there are brightly coloured tile murals depicting characteristics of each of Spains regions, capitals and provinces. About 50 in total. Each is approximately 4' by 4' in size. There are also several stands selling souveniers, drinks, ice cream etc. at the entrance. Good place to spend an hour or so.

Dinner is served in fairly cramped quarters, not too different than going to a dinner show in Las Vegas. You don't get the individual attention you may desire. Paella was the main course and was good.

Flamenco dancing is certainly interesting to see a few times. The costumes are colourful and the dancers very skilled and work very hard. It is no mystery why they are all thin. It was suggested to us that if you want to see 'real' flamenco you don't go to the touristy places, you find out where the Spaniards go.