Seville's Cathedral

Another must-see in Seville is the Cathedral.  Apparently it's one of the three largest in all of Europe, dating from the 1500s. Originally a mosque, the tower was retained, and the rest of the church was built around it.

The tower (originally part of the mosque.)

One of the altars inside.

To me, it wasn't as impressive as the cathedral in Toledo, but it did have some outstanding features, including the tomb of Christopher Columbus:

Also, some amazing crowns and other things were on display in the treasury. These were some of the most elaborate pieces I have ever seen, covered in gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious gems.  One angel was carved from the world's largest pearl.  These items were literally priceless:

The crown - with the angel front left carved from a ginormous pearl.

Finally, we walked up the tower, with some amazing views of the city and grounds below. Rather than stairs, the walk was a ramp, making 90 degree turns at each corner.  And the ceilings were high, and the walkways wider than normal.  Can you guess why?  (Answer below):

Answer: When the tower was a mosque, the priests would ride horses up to the top to call for prayer.  Since they had to do this five times per day, it made more sense to take horses than to have to walk up each time.

Aside: Laurel seems to be getting into the flow of visiting antiquities now.  Previously, she was expressly not interested in cathedrals, but with the carrot of gelato afterwards, and having her read from the Rick Steves book describing what we were seeing, she really seemed to enjoy herself.  She rated the visit a 3 out of 10, which is 2 points higher than she would have rated it a few days ago.