After visiting Cordoba and Granada – you can check the itinerary here – we return to the starting point of our journey in southern Spain: Seville. To give you an idea, Seville is among the four most important cities in the country and is the capital of the Andalusia area. We arrived in the city on Saturday night and stayed until Monday at the end of the day and in this post, I will tell you a bit about what we did in those two days there.
We rented an apartment through Booking and it was certainly our best lodging experience in southern Spain. Super well located and spacious, it had a bedroom and a sofa bed and also a washing machine, hairdryer, tv, internet … Super modern and clean. Our stay was great. The owner was very friendly and as there were no guests checking in on the day of our departure, he allowed us to leave the luggage at the place until the time we would go to the airport – which was very nice. We would definitely stay there again. It is worth remembering that the apartment and many of the places we visited during these two days are in a region known as old Seville, and, as the name suggests, is very old, with narrow streets, charming architecture, and places that are Unesco’s patrimony.
As we arrived in Seville at night, our schedule was not very intense. We took a shower and chose a restaurant for dinner – obviously, it was a tapas restaurant! Sal Gorda is small, with tables outside and features a delicious tapas menu (there are several meatless options for vegetarians) as well as a selection of beers and wines. We ordered several tapas – croquettes, risotto, shrimp. All tapas were delicious!
The next day, Sunday, we woke up late and we had breakfast at Panaria Pan y Piu. It’s a big bakery with a few tables to sit and endless choices of food – there are sandwiches, cakes, bread… If you want to eat something typical, try Tortilla de Potatas – which is a kind of omelet with potatoes. They also have natural orange juice, fresh! After breakfast, we started exploring Seville.
We passed through the Cathedral of Seville, Roman Catholic. It is the third-largest church in the world, as well as the largest Gothic church. To enter, you pay €9. You can also go to the top of the tower. For us, it was enough to see it from the outside on that day. In front of the Cathedral, there is a very beautiful square and next to it is the Real Alcazar, another super famous attraction of the city, our next stop. The entrance is € 11.50 and if you can buy it before, on the internet, do it. The line was long! It is a royal palace and the upper floors are still used by the royal family as the official residence of Seville and are administered by the National Patrimony. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe and was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as Patrimony of Humanity. The place is huge, and the architecture is incredible – it was created by Muslim Moorish kings in the 10th century. Beyond the magnificent architecture, there are still the gardens, which are wonderful. We spent about two hours there and the place is amazing.
Close to the Alcazar, there are many charming restaurants. We walked a bit and decided to stop at Casa Tomate, a tapas restaurant … of course! The tapas were great, as were the sangria and the beers. We sat at a table outside because the weather was permitting. After lunch, we walked to the Plaza de España, a postcard of Seville. We went in the late afternoon and the light made the place even more incredible. It is wonderful! This “plaza” is located in the Parque de María Luisa and it is very recent. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Today, it is composed mainly of government buildings. The Plaza de España was certainly my favorite place in Seville. It’s magic! We returned to the apartment walking along Avenida de la Constitución. As it was the Christmas season, the city was very ornate and there were lots of people on the street!
The next day, we went back to Pan and Piu Bakery. We really enjoyed the options offered and had breakfast there again. We pass again through the Cathedral and continue to the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza. Bullfights are still part of the tradition in southern Spain and Seville is not left out. The place is very beautiful on the outside and it is possible to visit with a guide inside but we had no interest – particularly, I do not agree with this practice. Plaza de Toros is next to the river and we stop there, in the Paseo Alcalde Marqués del Contadero, a very beautiful and quiet riverside area. You can see the cute buildings in the district of Triana, which is on the other side. We cross the Puente de Isabel II and stop at the Triana Market. It is a kind of public market where you can find olive oils, olives, meats, sausages, and more. Worth exploring. We bought two olive oils there. We continue walking through the neighborhood until we walk around San Telmo Bridge, from where we continue to the next stop: Torre Del Oro.
After the Tower, we decided to go to Plaza de España again – I said that we loved the place, right? I confess that I liked the place more at the end of the day – the atmosphere is more magical, I can not explain! Then, we walked to 100 Montaditos. It is a Spanish chain (several addresses in Seville) serving mini-sandwiches. Prices are great – from 1 euro! Beers are also cheap. Worth it.
We took a taxi to the airport (which, by the way, is not far from the city central area), where my sister and brother-in-law left for Paris, and we left for our last destination on this trip: Lisbon. But that’s a topic for another post.
Pictures: Meiry – Flanerie Photo
I hope you have enjoyed my post about our days in Seville!
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