After the cool, dark interior of the cathedral, climbing the spiralling ramp up to the top of the Giralda, you feel a bit like Simba in The Lion King, blinking afresh at each window, waiting for your eyes to adjust to the bright Andalusian sky. An alternative to rehashing a classic children’s movie, there is a feat of travel to accomplish by attempting to dig out your sunglasses without dropping your camera down the side of the largest cathedral in Europe.
When climbing up the tower, there are periodic interruptions to what would otherwise be a rather tedious climb. They have some small exhibitions on the history of the tower as part of a Moorish mosque, see the orange grove below, a typical feature of (former) Mosques in this region. There are also displays on how the bells at the top were lifted to their place, archaeological evidence, etc.
On the way to the top, there are also windows from which you can view over the top of the cathedral getting spectacular views of the architectural construction of the building. And you can make friends with the permanent residents of the cathedral.
As cool as climbing the tower is, the views from the top are what you really came here for.
It is nice to be back on the ground though!