After 28 hours of pretty easy travel, we made it to Seville! I say pretty easy because, with travel to a destination where your language is not the primary language, there are plenty of times where you get a little lost. That did happen here as well. Plane to train to automobile to train! Here we are.

Our apartment is in the Centro/Old Town neighborhood of Seville so pretty close to all the attractions. And it is lovely. On the top floor of an old building with a lovely terrace where you can get outside and hear the sounds of life in the tavernas below.

We set our luggage down and set back out to see what was happening in our little neighborhood. And of course, to get a glass of Spanish wine. Just a block from our apartment was Manducare – a traditional tapas bar. We ordered two glasses of Rioja and finally relaxed. It was a loud and lively place and seemed to host many locals although, other than them speaking Spanish, how am I to know?

First thing I noted about Seville – the Spanish wine is CHEAP. Cheaper than water! My kinda place…

Our first morning here was scheduled with a free walking tour. If you’ve read any of my past blogs, I love a free walking tour. I find that a few highlights of the city are covered by a local who is very passionate about his/her city. Which I adore.

Don’t book with paraguasrojos.com! We got to the meeting spot right at 10 am and the tour had already left. Oh well, they are easy to find so we straightaway booked with Free Walking Tour – a historical tour.

The tour started at the historic Plaza Nueva (New Square) which is where City Hall is located and the architecture is simply stunning. Our guide, Chel, was no exception to the rule of a passionate local turned tour guide. He had a passion for Andalusia (the region of Spain where Seville is located) as well as flamenco and the history of Seville.

We looped around and gawked at the stunning Catedral de Sevilla (Seville Cathedral). It is a Catholic cathedral and a former mosque. The architecture is fascinating – a combination of Renaissance, Gothic and Neoclassical. The bell tower of this cathedral is the one you can see from most places in the city center. It is called the Giralda and was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville. A minaret, if you did not know (and I did not!) is a type of tower that is used to project the Muslim call to prayer.

Another remarkable building worth staring at is La Adriática (the Adriatic) building. It’s extraordinary architecture is eclectic – a combination of multiple origins including Islamic, Plateresque and regional. It’s only downfall is the Haagen Dazs located on the lower level and the obnoxious sign on the building.

We saw he Torre del Oro, the Tower of Gold, in the Old Town. It is a dodecagonal tower (that’s 12 sides) that sits right on the Quidalquivir river and served as a defensive military watchtower. It is called the Tower of Gold because of it’s small golden cylindrical cupola which reflects the golden light onto the river.

The tour ended at the luxury Hotel Alfonso XIII – a stunning historic hotel built in the early 1900’s especially for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 – a world’s fair held here in Seville. Now it is a Marriot hotel where celebrities and the wealthy stay. There is a throne in one of the rooms. Chel described the patrons as “fancy and grumpy”. Well said. Although I’d like to try fancy and grumpy once in my life…

John and I were planning on trying to eat like the locals. Instead of breakfast at 7, lunch at noon, dinner at 6, they’re more likely to eat breakfast at 10-11, lunch between 2-4 and dinner after 8. But we took it a bit too far by not having something before our tour. Thus we were getting a bit hangry by the end. And it had started to rain pretty badly.

I do this every time I travel. Let myself get too hungry and then stop in one of the first places I see. Yet I never learn! Hungry and wet, we stopped in a cafeteria near Plaza de Espana, and were completely underwhelmed. So underwhelmed that I didn’t even take note of the name. Please learn from me. John and I have agreed to not let that happen again this trip. We’ll see….

What is one of the top things to eat in Seville? Churros con Chocolate – churros with chocolate. I’d been looking forward to this since we agreed on this trip. So off we walked in the steady rain, to Bar el Comercio (The Commerce Bar). This was recommended by a lovely Canadian we met at a tapas bar near our apartment. It was founded in 1904 and is very well known for the authentic churros. We got there at 3:30 and….they don’t serve churros until 4 🙁 I made the silly decision to go the other place the Canadian mentioned – Kukuchurro Seville – which is a local churros chain.

Another bad gastro-decision! The churros were cold. But the chocolate was delicious. We threw them away and headed back to Bar el Comercio. Finally, we had authentic churros and chocolate. Hmmmm, how do I feel about them? If you know me, you know that my favorite dessert is a hot, fresh churro. But these didn’t have any sugar and cinnamon on them. So, simply not as good (the best I’ve ever had is at the Christmas market in Montreaux, Switzerland). The dipping chocolate was divine, however, and believe me, I managed to get a few of them down! I’m not sure I’ll get any more while I’m here. So many other sweets to try!

After a quick rest we were back out for a night on the town. First stop, a rooftop bar to watch the sunset. I’d read about the Hotel Doma Maria that has a terrace with a lovely view of the Catedral de Sevilla. With a glass of red and a glass of white, we chatted and planned our next adventure. After the rain all day, the sky was dry but cloudy. We did end up seeing some cotton candy clouds which were lovely.

Finally – off to see what most people come to Seville for – a Flamenco show! I’d done a lot of research and asked everyone we’d met here for recommendations. There are TONS of shows to choose from and, it seems, most of them are pretty good. We chose Tablao Flamenco Alvarez Qunitero and it was absolutely incredible! The theater is located in an 18th century house that seats a maximum of 70 patrons. It was dark and intimate and very, very intense. These dancers and musicians are so talented. There were two dancers, a guitarist and a singer. All of them were so amazing. I was particularly shocked by the fact that it was not just dancing. The art includes the musicians, of course, but also the clapping and stomping that they do to create unique, dramatic sounds. The clapping is synchronized to correlate with the footwork and create music in and of itself. The footwork was nothing short of spectacular! I said to John afterward, that was tap dancing on steroids – and without taps! So amazing…

It was 9:30 – time to eat and I wasn’t going to be dissuaded from going to a tapas bar that I’d read about. John was onboard and we were off to El Rinconcillo (The Little Corner). The bar was founded in 1670 and is perhaps the oldest bar in Seville.

It was so crowded (at 9:30) that we stood at the bar. It’s a traditional tapas restaurant and the bartenders waiting on us seemed like they’d worked there for decades. All Spanish-speaking but they were able to provide English menus. We tried a few things – sheep cheese, Iberian Morcon, spinach with chickpeas and Iberian ham sliced off the pig directly in front of us. It was delicious. I was in my happy place, as John would say, surrounded by wine, meat and cheese.

Off to bed, more to come tomorrow.