Life as I know it.: The Enchanting City of Sevilla

Multi-colored alleyways twisting and turning until opening into a welcoming plaza filled with life, lovers and orange trees. Charming, cozy tapas bars filled with Jamón Serrano hanging from the ceiling and a fresh cerveza or glass of vino de tinto. Palm trees, sunshine and an air of mystery surrounding the palace and Cathedral. Horses with carriages galloping by while explorers stand in admiration.

The description above doesn't even begin to describe my love for Sevilla. The beauty, way of life, endless places to explore, the food and ‘loving life’ feeling is what made me fall in love with this city five years ago when I studied abroad here. When Derek and I had the chance to return this past weekend, I was reminded once again of the vibrant life in this city.

We arrived to Sevilla, the capital of the autonomous community of Andalucía, on Friday afternoon, after taking a morning train from La Costa del Sol in Malaga. On the train ride, we passed cliffs, rivers, orange groves and olive plantations. It was a great prelude to Sevilla. We arrived to the Santa Justa train station and were welcomed by warm weather, blue sky and lots of sunshine. After walking about 20 minutes, we found our Pension Pencracio, tucked into its own alley in the quaint old Jewish quarter, now called Santa Cruz. We stayed near the tiny square of Las Cruces (The Crosses), complete with three large crosses adorning the center of the square. After checking in and setting our belongings into our blue, cozy room, we started exploring for a place to grab lunch. We found a friendly tapas bar and ordered croquetas with ham, shrimp salad and shrimp patties. It was the perfect welcome to Sevilla.

Calle Betis in Triana

After lunch, my aim was to wonder around the city and show Derek the Sevilla I remember. We walked to the cathedral, passed the Alcazar where Abby lived, to the Toro de Oro, down the river walk, over to Triana, and to my old street of residence. After poor planning due to siesta, when all shops close in the afternoon, we couldn't do any pottery shopping. Triana is a neighborhood of Sevilla, located across the Guadalquivir River, and is known for its ceramic tile and pottery shops. After exploring a bit, we grabbed a beer and headed back over the river to La Plaza Nueva. When I studied here during college, I spent many hours observing plaza life in Plaza Nueva and later wrote an eight-page paper on life of the plaza. It's a place where parents bring their children after school; with soccer balls flying and roller-skates rolling, the plaza comes to life around 5 or 6 pm. Since the Spanish don't eat dinner until late at night - 9:00 or 10 pm, they have more time to enjoy the urban outdoors after work and school.

Our first Sevillan lunch

Derek and I strolled back to our pension in Santa Cruz and took a rest before finding a dinner location. There are so many choices; after all, there are over 2,000 tapas bars in Sevilla. We found a cozy tapas bar where we ordered everything off the menu. Not really, but we did enjoy manchego cheese with olive oil, tortilla Espanola (an egg omelet with potatoes), salchichas, and another type of meat. This sounds like a lot of food, and it was, but tapas are small portions. You can order many for a variety of tastes and still not spend much. An average tapa in the Santa Cruz area was 2.50 Euro. After dinner, we were beat. We had a relaxing night’s sleep in our pension.

On Saturday, we awoke to a foggy, chilly morning. We enjoyed a Spanish breakfast of eggs and bacon, bread with cheese and ham and cafe con leche (coffee with milk). Winding through the tiny streets after breakfast, we stumbled upon some ancient Roman towers between two houses. Every twist and turn is filled with surprises! Then it was time to tour the Alcazar, or Reales Alcazar, a Moorish fort later used by Isabelle and Ferdinand. My sister, Abby, lived in an apartment attached to this palace during our studies here. As a World Heritage Site, the Alcazar portrays an old world beauty, adorned with mudejar style designs on the walls. In one of its chapels, Ferdinand and Isabel met with Colombus after his second voyage.

Orange groves Alcazar gardens

The Alcazar gardens provided a retreat of orange, lemon, and palm trees with beautifully tiled benches and secretive gardens. Derek and I had a great time exploring, and an orange and lemon even fell into our backpack. Derek's goal is to grow a Spanish lemon and orange tree next year. After the gardens, we strolled to La Parque de Maria Luisa, an extensive urban park housing Plaza de España. This plaza was built for the world exposition in 1928 and displays tiled alcoves of Spain's provinces. We debated taking a paddle boat on the small river, but opted against it. Instead we walked to another plaza within the park, Plaza de America, and bought some bird feed. I was a bird lady! They ate from my hand and I was a bit terrified of poo. However, I successfully fed about 100 pigeons without an attack.

Plaza de Espana

My favorite photo: Parque de Maria Luisa

The rest of the day included a walk through Triana once again, winding through the streets and food market, another unsuccessful stroll through the pottery street - darn siesta- and across the bridge to the perfect place for a break. Have you ever had churros? They are long pieces of golden fried dough that you dip into a cup of thick, delicious chocolate. Derek and I enjoyed this experience. After our not-so-healthy snack, we found the Plaza de la Anuncion where Sevillians have constructed the largest wooden structure in the world. We marveled at the feat for a while and then strolled down the shopping streets, sat in the plaza again, enjoyed some sun along the river and stopped by the ceramic shops one last time. On a Saturday evening, there was no chance that they would be open. Poor planning by me. However, we headed back towards our pension and I did find a beautiful handmade pottery vase. Success!

For dinner, Derek and I wanted a full meal, but ended up at two different tapas bars. At the first we enjoyed croquetas once again - these are dough balls filled with ham, cheese, etc. They are my favorite Spanish tapa. I also attempted to order a meat dish and ended up with a cold soup. We strolled around until we found another place to relax and tried a few more dishes.

Flamenco at La Carboneria

Sevilla is known for its flamenco, a type of spirited, freelance dancing. When I lived in Sevilla, we visited this local place known for its cheap drinks and flamenco shows in the back room. Included in most tourist books these days, la Carboneria welcomes many tourists, but is also a hotspot for locals. Derek and I arrived around 10:30 pm and found a bench to share. We listened and watched in awe as the Spanish man sang in a spiritually deep voice and the Spanish woman danced Flamenco. It's hard to explain, but I'll include a video on here when I have high-speed Internet.

On Sunday, we awoke too early at 6:40 and left Sevilla on a 7:40 train back to Malaga. We flew out at 3:45pm and enjoyed a walk at the beach before parting ways with Spain.

I wish Derek and I would have had more time in Spain. My perspective of the city of course stems from my semester abroad, but there is truly something magical about the city and the Spanish way of life. To me, Sevilla has everything besides a beach - gardens, plazas, delicious foods, many shopping options, neighborhoods with differing personalities, easy access to other cities, and the list goes on. Every street we turned down had orange trees with plush, juicy oranges. Ever heard of Sevillan marmalade? That's where it comes from. I could go on and on. And so I don't bore you, I'll write another post soon about the top ten reasons to visit Spain.

After a year of attempting to speak German, my Spanish was very shaky while in Spain. However, it was nice to be able to communicate, ask directions, order, etc. in the language of the host country. This trip made me want to improve and practice my Spanish – after all, I did major in it. And with that, I'll leave you to enjoy some photos. If you would like any full-size photos from my blog, please just email me.