Sevilla- True Gem

Before we headed to Cadiz, we were fortunate to get to explore the Real Alcazar which translates into a castle (think Jay Gatsby’s estate in the 15th/16th in Spain). The grounds were vast with so much detail from mosaic tiles (the Spanish are obsessed with beautiful and intricate tiles) to neatly trimmed bushes, and hand painted artwork that was nearly faded alongside the entire property. I can’t imagine how many rooms the entire place had or how many people had to work there to keep the place working.

Sevilla is such a large and well known city that a few us decided it would be worth it to spend another few hours there before heading home to cordoba.   After quite an AVE mess of affairs of having few trains running from Jerez on a Sunday, we managed to use our Spanish street skills to find a bus station with routes to Sevilla and then take an Ave train back to Cordoba later in the evening.

The bus ride was quite scenic as we were on a highway that hardly had any cars let alone traffic compared to lake shore drive on any given day. We passed cows, horses, small towns, and fields full of sunflowers (sounds like something’s from a movie).

Once at Sevilla, we went to explore the city a little further at the Plaza de España. This plaza is stunning- a huge open area with so much art and mosaic images. There are several Spanish cities represented along the plaza that show something unique about that particular city and also had a map on the ground directly in front to show the location of the city.

Now this is where the Spanish literature and art junkie kicks in: alongside the building were mounted at least 40 head statues of famous Spanish writers, artists and figures from the country’s history. Some of my favorites were Goya, Lope de Vega and Velazquez.

In true Spanish style we finished the Sevilla trip with tapas along the Avenida constitucion that included espinacas con garbanzos, paella, patatas, y tintos de verano.