Spanish Delight -- Seville!

The Cathedral. Catholic churches are everywhere and Virgin Mary is has an equal or higher status than Jesus. Virgin Mary was depicted in almost every religious art work dated back the early stages of Christianity in Spain.

The Cathedral in Seville hold the tomb of Christopher Columbus. He was the Spanish who discover the new world and hold a high status in Spain till now.
Two of the 4 statues holding Columbus' tomb. Cool!

Panoramic view of the city from the top of the Cathedral.

From the other side!

Part of the old town of Seville. Cafes can be spotted everywhere. I saw 3 Starbucks in less than 1 km radius and more of other cafes.

The Alcázar of Seville (Spanish "Alcázares Reales de Sevilla" or "Royal Alcazars of Seville") is a royal palace in Seville. Originally a fort, the Alcazar (from the Arabic القصر, al-qasr, meaning "palace") has been expanded several times.
The palace is one of the best remaining examples of mudejar architecture, a style under Christian rule in Spain but using Islamic architectural influence. Impressive detail craftsmanship incorporating both Islamic and geometric design.

Seville arguably holds some of the most elaborate processions for Holy Week. A tradition that dates from Counterreformation times, or even earlier. The "Semana Santa en Sevilla" is notable for featuring the procession of "pasos", lifelike wood sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' entry in Jerusalem his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing restained grief for the torture and killing of her son.

Due to bad weather, the procession of the Semana Santa (Holy Week) was canceled on our first night in Seville. The wooden sculpture of Jesus and Virgin Mary were hundreds of year-old and were too fragile to be exposed to rain. But we manage to visit one of the churches and had a glimpse of the paso of Jesus and Virgin Mary.

Noticed the vivid sad expression on the face of Virgin Mary?? Amazing!

Another figure of Virgin Mary behind hundreds of candles.

Chairs by the 1000s were set up during our first night in Seville but due to bad weather, the procession was cancelled. The procession was carried out the second night but we missed it as we had to catch a train to Barcelona. Damn!!!

The highlight of my trip -- Flamenco Show in La Caboneria! Can you see the intense expression on the lady's face? Wow!

Flamenco dance depicting the bull fight (famous in Seville). We missed the bull fight season by a few days. It starts after the Semanta Santa (Holy Week) festival.