Please see YouTube link for a slideshow of my pictures… https://youtu.be/qhHaZJsmG0Y

Link to map of the cathedral: https://qrco.de/bcElL9

It was another beautiful and sunny day in Seville. We had breakfast in La Azotea Deli on Calle Mateos Gago. This place is part of the same group of eateries as the restaurant we ate at on the first night. I ordered fresh Sevilla orange juice and a salty croissant (with jamon y queso).

Our first activity of the day was to visit the Catedral de Sevilla. I booked tickets well in advance to get the time that we wanted https://www.catedraldesevilla.es/cultural-visit2/. It was a wise move as queues were building up on arrival fifteen minutes before our scheduled entry time.

A one way system operates at the entrance to the cathedral so we were directed straight to the Giralda tower. This tower has sloping ramps rather than stairs for most of the ascent of 34 floors, which made it relatively easy going up. There was a bit of huffing and puffing from those who struggled behind masks. At the top are some amazing views of the city of Seville. We even managed to spot our hotel terrace bar from where I took a picture of the tower last night. The tower bells didn’t ring whilst we were up there which probably would have deafened us as they were enormous!

The descent was relatively straightforward and we ended up at the bottom of the tower in no time.

The cathedral itself is absolutely incredible and another must-see of Sevilla. It is so enormous and imposing with some beautiful glass windows, an impressive organ and even the tomb of Christopher Columbus is there. Some of the pasos that we’d seen as part of Wednesday’s procession were on display there.

We wandered the streets for a short while, stopping for a drink at a tapas bar called Postiguillo. It was a nice clean restaurant/bar and was decorated with the stuffed heads of many cows! Some may have felt a bit unnerved but this, but bizarrely it worked.

Lunch was next and was disappointing. I always research places and Gusto had good ratings and comments. All I will say is we felt rushed into making wrong choices snd it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. I have received a request for a review so will respond accordingly.

Back to the next hotel for a rest from the crowds and a couple of drinks on the terazza. It was busy today and we even saw some of the ladies dressed in their black dress and lace mantillas, which is another Semana Santa tradition. The intricate headpieces, native to Spanish culture since the 16th century, are worn by those of faith, symbolizing the veiling of the physical so that the beauty of God can be illuminated. We had seen many walking in the streets dressed in the same way. I am not sure if it was specific to Maundy Thursday as it was the first time we’d seen this formal dress. The bells of the Giralda tower were being rung constantly at this point so must have herb to do with one of the ceremonies in the cathedral. Entry to both the tower and the cathedral were limited today because of Semana Santa.

Getting around was difficult on Thursday night. More and more people had descended on Sevilla for the Easter celebrations and it became very awkward getting to where you want to be. The large crowds stop while watching the processions and there were barriers stopping us even getting from one side of the road to the other. We managed to get to our next destination on time, Las Setas. Having said this, we could not enjoy the full experience we had expected because of the crowds. https://setasdesevilla.com/en/

We managed to see the sunset from this amazing mushroom shaped parasol but I will leave the rest for later as we have rebooked tickets for Friday evening.

Getting to where we were booked to eat was a nightmare of biblical proportions due to the processions and crowds intensifying. What I can only describe as what looked like a legion of centurions was holding up the crowds but it was a good sight to see. More brotherhoods wearing the cone shaped headwear made it feel very haunting in the dark: there were hundreds in one of the processions that just seemed to last forever. I do feel very privileged to have experienced what we have seen so far.

We arrived at our “booked” restaurant, Burro Canaglia Setas, about half an hour late, however the staff could not find the booking. Turns out that Google Maps had sent us to their sister restaurant. This was not a problem as we did still get seated. Food was lovely but it was quite chaotic in the kitchen I think. People were getting mains at all different times. Still, we were glad to be sat down and eating decent food. I did get an email from the original restaurant saying “thank you for not informing us that you hadn’t turned up”, words lost in translation there I think. I did reply to explain the situation.

After leaving the restaurant we had another battle to get back to the hotel. We even got caught up walking in a procession at one point as we tried to get across the city. Incense was again burning everywhere and I actually enjoyed seeing the pasos again. I think we will have to give ourselves lots of time to get to our destinations on Good Friday.