Sevilla: My 2-Day Adventure

I haven't really yet said what I did while in Sevilla, so I though I'd show you. . .

 After I got off the bus, it hit me that I was in Sevilla. En route of wandering to find my hostel, I ended up over in the Parque de Maria Louisa, and found La Plaza de Espana. Although it was under construction it was still one of the most beautiful places I went to in Sevilla.

A block away from my hostel, I was distracted by yet another monument type structure: El Torre de Oro (Tower of Gold). It was only 1 Euro to go up for students (I had to pay 2E because I didn't show the lady my student ID. . . she never asked me. Lame), so I figured it'd be a great easy way to get a good view of the city, and check out the sights. From here I discovered the river, the bridges, the cathedral, and a few other nifty things. I'd say it was worth it.

I finally made it to The Living Roof: Backpacker's Hostel, which was only a few minutes walk away from the main attraction, The Cathedral. I loved staying here, and for my first Hostel experience, it's gonna be pretty tough to beat. The rooms were furnished by IKEA, and had AC. The rooftop had some nifty seating and a pretty cheap bar at night. Plus, the people I met there really made my weekend.

After checking in, I went over to The Cathedral of Sevilla, which is the Largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, 3rd largest overall. It was quite elaborate, and after I got out of the main room, each turn was full of surprises. Be it the treasure room, or a decked out oval ceiling, I really enjoyed my time there more than I thought I would. This pic shows the ornate nature of the ceiling of the main room in the Cathedral. They had this angled mirror on the floor so that you could look up and get a great view, Or so that everyone could stand in it and take a picture like I did.

The tower of the Cathedral is called La Giralda, and this is the view from the top of it. Walking up the slanted floor was quite a challenge for 32 floors, but not as hard as it was to walk down them. (Instead of stairs, it was just a slant. . . quite the calf workout). At the top were bells, as well as great views of the city as you can see here. I love being high up, so this just added to that feeling of awesome when exploring a new city. Also, through traveling I've noted that each city has its own color scheme. Paris is very white and cream, Sevilla was very light brown with pockets of color. I really enjoyed it, especially from the street level.

Next to the Cathedral was my favorite attraction, La Real Alcazar. It is one of the best remaining examples of Mudejar architecture, and all I wanted to know was when I got to move in. The grounds consisted of the palace itself as well as the gardens, and was enough to occupy 2-3 hours of my time. I'm not much of a tour person when I travel (ha despite being a tour guide at Michigan. . . that's different though) as I like to take my time where I want, and skip over the over generalized parts. This self guided tour took me in rooms and out into gardens and passage ways, leaving me hoping I didn't miss anything. It was great. I have lots of pics of this place on Facebook if you want to see more of its beauty.

On Sunday, I met up with two of the guys from the hostel, Rob and Jeff, to spend the day experiencing the local life of Sevilla. We started off by visiting an art market displaying work by local artists. It was great. I bought two small pieces of a narrow street in Sevilla, with a flowering building on the side, where one is far away view, and the other is close up. They work well together. It was fun to practice speaking Spanish to all of the vendors/artists as well.

The rest of the afternoon we just walked around the city, finding ourselves taking the more narrow road and getting 'lost' in the beauty of the city. Streets like this would emerge, and take us down more small roads before ending in a 5 way intersection of other streets. Regardless of how long we'd wander, we'd always find our way back. The amount of tourist shops was always an indicator of our proximity to the Cathedral.

After spending some time riverside, we made our way back through the small streets to find this highly recommended Tapas place. It was for sure a great choice. Not only for the drinks and the food, but for the atmosphere, and last bonding moments, I couldn't have asked for a better closure to my trip. The speed at which it came and went feels like a dream that I want to have again and again. Everything was just so perfect. (p.s. the picture on the top of my blog w/ the chalk writing came from this place. Loves it)

We made our way back to the hostel, I gathered my things and said my goodbyes. This was a much needed solo vacation, and one I will never forget. Not for the major sites, but just for the little things and how easy it was to connect with people, and go with the flow to have fun.

~Jenna