Our purpose in staying in Carmona is its magnificent parador. One of the finest on the Iberian peninsula, it’s location on a commanding hill makes it historically important and today its location allows us to spend three nights here with day trips to Sevilla, Córdoba, and Granada. The view from my room:

It will be impossible to include all the photos of Sevilla. There are so many treasures. We walked the old city in 110 degree heat to focus on the principle locations in world history. Situated miles inland along the Guadalquivir River, this spot has been occupied for all of human history. It is the launching place for Magellan and Columbus as well as the port that received all the gold and silver from the new world. It is also a center of art boasting names like Surburban, Velazquez, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, and modern film like Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, and even Game of Thrones.

Decorated in the Mudejar style it is a curious mix of the Muslim and the Christian. We visited the oldest continuously operated palace in Europe in the Alcazar, occupied since the 12th century.

Among other sites, we visited the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world and the grave of Columbus.