Our second day in Sevilla, we first went to the Alcazar, which was close to the area we were in the day before by the park. The Alcazar of Sevilla is originally a Moorish fort, when the Moors came to Spain in 711. It is the oldest royal place still in use in Europe, and parts of the upper palace is still used by the Spanish royal family today.

In the Alcazar, there was a lot of Muslim architecture and beautiful gardens. We saw some of the most interesting gardens designs, but nothing matched the Alhambra, of course. In a way it kind of reminded me of a mini version of the Alhambra. What was even more interesting and unbelievable was the detail and artwork that was put into the whole palace.

After seeing the palace, we went to Sevilla’s Cathedral and the Giralda tower. Sevillas Cathedral is the fourth oldest cathedral in the world and the Giralda tower has a 360 degree view of the city. What I also like about these monuments in Spain is how much funding the government gives them. That it’s important for them to preserve and save the history of their country and that they put in the funding to do any necessary construction if necessary. The church was beautiful because they changed it up for the Holy Week. my daughter said that when she came to Sevilla with her study abroad program 2-3 weeks earlier, the church had different sections and looked different than it did that day we went.

Once we left the church, we made our way to find somewhere to eat. Since it’s Semana Santa in Sevilla, tourists are everywhere and the Spanish have a long weekend for religious reasons. So we had a bit of a hard time to find somewhere to eat. When we eventually found a tapas bar, where we ended up having Spanish food again, the service in Spain is non existent. We are so used to being so taken care of in the United States when we go to a restaurant that the service in Spain is very strange for us why they take so long to get your order. I ordered a chicken apple salad, my husband had a Sevillian dish called salmorejo y jamón and my daughter had a chicken kebob. After lunch we made our way to Triana, which is the neighborhood on the other side of the Guadalquivir River, which is the second longest river in Spain.

El barrio Triana, was very different than the other side of Sevilla. People from Triana consider themselves a different part from the rest of Sevilla and has a very strong flamenco culture. Also, it has a street dedicated to Christopher Colon and the supposed place that his ashes were thrown into. After walking along the river and the Triana neighborhood, we decided to head back to the hotel since we were so tired to hang for the main procession at midnight, La Macarena. We got ready for our day trip to Cordoba the next day!

Sevilla Day 2 Image Gallery

Our last day in Granada we headed to the train station and headed to the beautiful city of Sevilla. Our daughter has already been here because her study abroad program took a weekend trip to Sevilla very recently at the end of February. But this time around during Semana Santa, her experience in Sevilla will be different because of the religious celebrations taking place. According to some of her Spanish friends, the celebrations in Sevilla are famous within Spain and the catholic world. In fact, they are known as the best celebrations with probably the most religious people.

When we got to our pension in Sevilla, I knew right away I was going to be uncomfortable staying there because I’m very sensitive to clean sheets. Long story short, we got out of the pension that my daughter booked and checked into a brand new Hilton hotel. My daughter was a little mad at us for leaving the pension because we weren’t around the celebrations anymore, but I was very uncomfortable there and I knew I had to leave.

Once we finally got settled into our hotel room we set out for the city and the first place we went to was el Parque de Maria Luisa, where we saw Sevilla’s famous Plaza de Espana and a few more plazas that have beautiful buildings like the Plaza de las Americas. We spent our whole afternoon walking around in that park because we just couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. It was at that moment in the Plaza de Espana, where I realized that out of all the countries I’ve traveled to in my lifetime, Spain has got to be the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen! There is so much history and culture every part of the country that really defines how you perceive the city.

After we left the park, we had dinner at a tapas bar called Cien Montaditos, where we tried some Spanish tapas and I had tinto de verano, which is wine with lemon and sprite. I liked it a lot, and the food was delicious, which was weird because Spanish food is very bland and hard to get used to. We continued to walk around the city that night and saw one of the processions for the Holy Week taking place by the Sevilla Catedral. We saw a similar procession in Granada the day before, so it was interesting to see the differences in the processions in each city especially since Sevilla is known for their processions.

Sevilla Day 1 Image Gallery