We arrived in Sevilla after a long day of flying from Dublin to Madrid to Sevilla. Our only checked bag (containing all our clothes for 6 months) was too tired to make both flights and instead spent the night in Madrid (this would explain wearing the same clothes three days in a row in pictures).
Once we gave up on the luggage bit, we caught a cab to meet our host at the Airbnb and headed out for tapas. Our airbnb was in between the tourist section of town and the locals’. Tapas was held deeper within the local section of town at Duo Tapas.
Our first dish out was patatas bravas, basically french fries. We had several other items arrive at our table, all of which had the unknown inclusion of a potato. A hearty addition to be sure, but we could only laugh as each tapas came out and we began to feel more Irish than Spanish.
The next morning we grabbed breakfast at another local spot far away from the monuments and hotels. No biscuits in Spain, as everything comes on/with toast. I (Clay) ordered too much toast. Not enough marmalade, butter, or jamon y queso. We did not manage to eat all eight pieces of bread before we left on our first tour, but we tried. We did manage to eat all the jamon y queso (we have priorities).
Our first excursion on this trip was a walking tour around Sevilla. It covered most of the high points of Sevilla. The Cathedral, Alcazar, a few plazas, a beautiful former Tobacco factory (inspiration for the opera Carmen) and an empty Plaza de Espana. The Cathedral was incredible as was the Plaza de Espana.
There are not a lot of words to describe such places other than amazing. The Plaza de Espana is where we learned about the World Expo held in Sevilla in the 1920’s. I then mentioned to Elizabeth that Knoxville, TN held one in the 1980’s. She did not believe me.
After the tour of the city, we headed to the Alcazar. One of the many palaces for the royal family of Spain, it’s another old building. And another amazing one. Learning about the history of Spain between the Romans, Moors, and Catholics is fascinating. Lots of terrible times, but still fascinating.
Much of the part of the Alcazar we toured (and I photographed) is heavily influenced by the Muslim artisans, Mudejars, who created these structures. The style most people would associate it with would probably be Moroccan. The Mudejar were using Arab design in Christian buildings. Incredible tile work, carvings, and ceilings. Of course over time the building changed owners and the building now consists of so many styles it’s just a mish mash from over the last 1000 years.
While touring the lovely gardens of the Alcazar, Elizabeth fell down the stairs in front of a lot of French high schoolers. They were not impressed and continued smoking their cigarettes. Clumsy Americans. Her only injuries were her pride and her thumb. Her thumb has recovered.
After our exciting day, we grabbed some cured meat, cheese, and wine and watched the sunset on our rooftop.
That same night, we had a flamenco show scheduled. We were somewhat familiar with flamenco dancing, but this was intense. We were within a few feet of the stage and the pounding of the dancers feet surrounded us.
It was very loud and exhilarating with singing and dancing. We didn’t understand a word, but we could understand the looks and body language present between the dancers and between the dancers and the singer. To us, flamenco was like passionate tap dancing. Lots of movement of the body across the stage in addition to the movement of the feet.
The following morning Elizabeth begrudgingly agreed to go for a run through the city and down by the river in Sevilla. Suffice to say it was more walking than running but we did get to do a bit of sightseeing, catching a glimpse of the bullring, the river, and some old tower from the 1200’s. Amazing to get to see such ancient buildings.
After the run, we headed to the Cathedral of Sevilla for a tour of the inside of the building. Again, more amazing craftsmanship. The intricate pillars and columns are so detailed. The woodworking in this Cathedral is also quite impressive. The cathedral happens to be the third largest in the world and largest Gothic style in the world. It was big.
We then climbed the bell tower/minaret for a view of all of Sevilla. The tower is a bell tower now but was previously a minaret when the site was host to a mosque, long torn down since the Muslims left and the Catholics moved to town. The Catholics tore down most every bit of the Mosque except for the minaret. I suppose this bit of craftsmanship was too nice to destroy. The Catholics just added another section on top of the minaret, added a bell and a cross, and voila, Muslim tower no more.
Views from the tower are lovely. We were able to see the sections of city we had already visited, the river where we ran, the bullring, and ever the area where we were staying. Really great views from here.
After the Cathedral, we traipsed around the city with no direct plans and found ourselves at the Espacio Metropol Parasol. We left after a bit and headed back to our rooftop for some snacking and to continue to celebrate our trip with some cava.
For dinner, we went to a place call No Lugar and we were the first to arrive as the doors open at 8:30. Spain really is at a different pace and we are still trying to figure out who siestas when. I ordered too much food for us at dinner, but we managed to shovel it down. We stuck to mostly vegetables as our diet as of late consisted almost exclusively of jamon, queso, toast, and potatoes.
The next day we took a day trip to Cordoba to see the Mezquita and roman ruins and then it was off to Granada. All in all, Sevilla was a lovely and lively city that introduced us to the history of Spain.
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