Sevilla: Palmeras y Naranjas (Seville: Palm Trees and Oranges)

This weekend a group of friends and I went to Sevilla (Seville for you Americans). It was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. Props to Ms.Courville for the recommendation! The first thing you will notice about this sweet little city is the abundance of orange trees. Almost every street is lined with orange trees. There are also palm trees everywhere. I wonder if the people who live here realize that their home looks like a scene from a movie or fairy tale. The city is extremely clean and comfortable. It's so easy to move about by walking, biking, or taking the metro. Not many people drive, because it's so very easy to get around.

The trip to Sevilla was about 6.5 hours so we took the 01:00 bus and arrived at around 08:00. We grabbed breakfast in the bus station cafeteria and then headed to the Cathedral. 

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (Spanish: Catedral de Santa María de la Sede), better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville (Andalusia, Spain). It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.(At the time of its completion in the 16th century, it supplanted the Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world. Previously, the Hagia Sophia had held the title for more than a thousand years. The cathedral also serves as the burial site of Christopher Columbus. -Wikipedia.

Here are a few photos of the Cathedral. 

One of my favorites!

There was a mass going on when we entered.

The gang :)

 After the Cathedral we came across some horse drawn carriages. I begged to go on a ride, and everyone agreed. We had the nicest guide who spoke slowly so that we could understand him. He took us around the city to all of the landmarks. It was a beautiful morning and a great start to our trip! 

The rest of the SLU-Madrid peeps.

The Tower

Thought is was funny.

Universidad de Sevilla. Our tour guide's daughter attends this university.

This guy was sitting there singing. He waved to us and yelled "guapisimas" (pretty girls) as we rode by in our carriage.

He ran after the group behind us as he serenaded them. He actually wound up spooking the horse!

This museum features Moorish art. Moors were people of Spanish and Moroccan decent -a blend of Islam and Christianity.

The Military Headquarters of Plaza de Espana

 

Next stop was the hostel. We stayed at Sevilla Urbany hostel. Ehhh, the hostel scene isn't really my style. I'll opt for splitting a hotel room next time. 

After settling into our hostel we went out to get some lunch. We came across this small bar offered the menu of the day for only 6 euro! The food and bread was really good -although Mari makes waaaaaaaaay better tortillas espanolas. 

After lunch we did some shopping and wandering. We ended the night with a flamenco show at La Bodega. It was INCREDIBLE! You could feel the emotion in each step the dancers took. Videos coming soon! 

I'm afraid I'll have to close this entry here and pick up with the tale of the flamenco in my next entry. It will be worth the wait! Videos of the flamenco show will be included. Until then here is a link with ALL of the pictures I took in Sevilla. Enjoy! 

MORE PHOTOS OF SEVILLA



Hasta luego!