Castles · Tour

Private Cathedral and Alcázar: Why the Minaret Survived the Mosque

Three and a half hours with a private guide, in whichever language you book, across the Cathedral, the Giralda and the Alcázar. The question the tour is built around is a good one. After the conquest, Seville pulled down its great mosque and put the largest Gothic cathedral in the world on the site. But it kept the minaret, and turned it into the bell tower. Why demolish the building and keep the tower that announced the call to prayer? The answer is not a footnote, and it explains a lot about how Christian Seville dealt with what it inherited. The Alcázar is the oldest palace in Europe still in use, and the Spanish royal family still occupies it when they visit. Roman, Arab and Christian history all sit in the same few hundred metres of ground. The Cathedral is the third largest church in the world. The remains of Christopher Columbus are buried in it, and scientific testing has identified them. One practical point that differs from most bookings here: the entry tickets are paid to the guide on the day rather than being included in the price, and the group goes in on a skip-the-line pass. Check-in is at the Naturanda tourist office.