Gibraltar & Sevilla pictures

That´s Africa back there, across the Mediterranean. No big deal.

This is one of I believe 3 mosques in Gibraltar, with the Rock in the background. This is approximately the opposite direction from the view of Africa, shot from almost the same exact spot.

This rock ape took my apple. I had brought the apple into the ape sanctuary fully intending to give it to an ape, but also hoping to coax said ape into some cool pictures. This intrepid dude jetted right up to me as I was taking a picture (I didn´t see him). Kinda freaked me out, but I kept a grip on the apple, and then gave it to him ´cause he gave me a reproachful look and I felt bad.
This rugged guy accosted our friend Stu and pulled a banana out of his pants pocket, eliciting (1) incredulous, high-pitched and non-stop yelling from Stu and (2) a bunch of dirty jokes involving bananas, pockets and monkeys.
First picture I took while walking into Gibraltar... Bird of Paradise. Killer.
And we´re into the Sevilla pictures. This is one of the towers at the Plaza de España. Lens flare provided free of charge.

Picture in the Real Alcazar in Sevilla. Part of this palace, originally built by the Moors, has been added onto by three separate Catholic rulers of Spain, and includes space still occupied by the royals when they travel to Sevilla.

By far the coolest thing in Sevilla, though, was the Catedral.

The Cathedral in Sevilla stands on the spot formerly occupied by the city´s Alhama, or main Mosque, during the 700 years of Moorish rule of al-Andalus. As in most such cases, the mosque was almost entirely razed and built over-- only the irrigated patio (with its orange trees and fountain for ritual pre-prayer ablutions) and Alminar (minaret) remain. The old Moorish Alminar has been built over in Christian style, and a bronze statue of a 4-meter-high woman holding a shield stands atop the tower. This one-ton woman, whose shield is designed to catch the breeze such that her other hand will always indicate the wind´s direction, is named Giralda and lends her name to the tower itself. These are some shots from the very top of the tower, which is scaled by way of 34 long slopes-- no stairs.

the bull ring of Sevilla, as seen from the Giralda belltower.

Sevilla & the Guadalquivir & some bridge -- Approximately the same stretch of the river on which we pedalboated later that day.

the aforementioned patio, from atop Giralda.

Torre de Oro-- kind of a deceptive name, since only the dome is actually Golden, but whatever. Shot from surface of the Guadalquivir, in a hidropedal. Sweet.

Monument on the banks of the Guadalquivir, next to a large plaque with a quotation from Elie Wiesel, which I will not try to translate in its entirety but which is about tolerance. Cool stuff.