Seville - Part 1

For me, the one attraction that drew me to Seville was the Giralda minaret turned bell tower in the cathedral. Having already spent so much time in Morocco and having seen both Tour Hassan in Rabat and Kotoubia Mosque in Marrakesh, I wanted to see the third in the trio of minarets built by the Almohad Sultan Yacoub el-Mansour in the 12th century. Kotoubia was the prototype, Tour Hassan was unfinished due to el-Mansour’s death and the Giralda got recycled!
Here are photos of the 3 minarets. Can you tell which is which??


The mosque and minaret may be no more in Seville, but the past use is still very evident today. The minaret shape cannot be camouflaged, while many of the adornments remain although the arch-shaped decoration, have now become windows with a bell tower being added to the top. One interesting option after paying the hefty entry fee of 8 euros, was to walk up the ramp to the top of the bell tower/minaret from where there was excellent views across Seville. As with Tour Hassan, a ramp rather than steps was used to give access to the top so that the caller of the muezzin could ride his horse to the top for the required 5 times a day! The back exterior of the cathedral also clearly showed that it was once a mosque with the austere plain walls in a basic block shape. Many additions had been made to the building – the front and above to turn it into a cathedral although I must say that I didn’t find the interior particularly inspiring, more a waste of money when compared to the cathedral in Granada.