[Nov. 2021] On the final day in Seville, the capital of the Andalusian region of Spain, after checking out the hotel, we headed to the cathedral’s San Miguel Gate at 10 am.
We were taking a tour going up to the roof of the cathedral.
We booked this tour a few days in advance.
According to the guidebook, Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic church in the world.
It used to be said that it was the third after St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and San Pietro Cathedral in Vatican, but when it was recalculated on a cube basis, apparently Seville Cathedral jumped to the top.
After regaining the town from Islamic forces in 1248, the central mosque of the town was reused as a cathedral, but in 1402, the chapter council of the cathedral undertook a major renovation, and it took 100 years to complete its present appearance.
The mosque-like part has almost disappeared, but the Giralda tower, which was a minaret, is still alive as a bell tower.
Now, our tour to go up to the roof of this cathedral started.
There were about 30 participants in the tour, and we listened to the explanation using a machine that we could hear the guide’s voice even when we were far away.
Taken by an fairly elderly male guide, we went into the cathedral first.
It happened that it was in the middle of the mass and the voice of the priest and the sound of the organ echoed.
It was majestic.
However, because of that, I could hardly hear the guide’s voice.
When he opened the inconspicuous door in the corner of the building, it was a staircase.
There are high and low places on the roof, and we walked around while climbing up and down.
The guide explained how this huge building was built, but his way of talking was not interesting and most of the information did not stay in my mind.
Even to some questions from the participants, he did not answer straight, as if he was a politician.
So, in the end, I only got the impression that I enjoyed the scenery from a high place and that I went up to a peculiar place.
Also I wondered why such a high place was very well decorated even though it would not be seen unless someone (like us) came all the way up here.
Along the way, there was a point that we went into the cathedral and walked on a high passage.
We could see the decorative details up close, which was impressive.
Well, we should have taken a tour inside the cathedral.
I’m sure we could hear a lot of more interesting anecdata.
Apart from this, it seems that there was also a tour to climb the Giralda Tower.
When we went up to the roof, we used short staircases going up and down here and there, so it wasn’t a big deal, but the descent was very long because we went all the way down the stairs at once.
I should have counted the number of steps.
The tour lasted about an hour and a half.
