The Guideless Traveller: España: Days 121-124 (Seville)

Day 121:
4th of November and it is pouring rain in Seville. We wont let that keep us down though. We were destined to explore! We went to this pretty good Lebanese place for lunch called, El Rincón de Beirut. They had outdoor seating even in the rain which we were very thankful for because we had Coco with us.

Coco was a trooper in this rain!

Tabouleh at El Rincón de Beirut

Hummus at El Rincón de Beirut

Chicken kebap at El Rincón de Beirut

Chicken doner at El Rincón de Beirut

An alternative mode of transportation here in Seville, by horse and carriage. We did not hitch a ride but I can say the horses seem to be paid well. Their rain gear was top-notch👌

The one downfall of this AirBnb is that it is on the ground level so you hear a lot of noise from the small street just outside the window. It seems to be a good passing point on foot or by motorbike to the bars...we tried to siesta a bit before heading to our next spot, dinner. We kept trying to go to this tapas place our AirBnb host recommended, Bodeguita Romero, but every time we tried, there were no seats or space available. We are always limited to the outdoor tables when we travel with our little Coco babes. We ended up at this place called Los Palillos and immediately fell in love! Spanish Asian fusion and they have outdoor seating! Even though it was raining on and off, the waiters were on the ball. They even provide you with this little device where you can push a button if you need service. We really enjoyed the food here and the location was great for people watching.

Melvia y Pimiento Morrón (melva and sweet peoper) at Los Palillos

Salmon Niguiri at Los Palillos

El Beso Brut cava

Gyozas at Los Palillos

Yakisoba de Pato (noodles and duck) at Los Palillos

Seville street art on the way back to our AirBnb!

Day 122:
Today we are trying to get in as much walking and sightseeing as we can since it is not raining...the rain can come at any time though...we bought a 5€ umbrella in the event. The Torre del Oro (tower of gold) is very close to our Airbnb! I think you can walk up the tower but we did not. This 13th century watchtower was named after the color that is reflected onto the river due to the towers building materials. Fun fact: the tower served as a prison during the middle ages.

Torre del Oro in Seville

Rio Guadalquivir

Rio Guadalquivir (second longest river in España)

As we made our trek over to the Plaza de España, it started to rain. We got there and took cover under the huge archways until the rain stopped and it turned into quite a beautiful day!

Outside Plaza de España

Plaza de España's river and tower, part of Parque Maria Luisa and built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition World's Fair.

Plaza de España

Loving the beautifully tiled walls and ceilings at the Plaza de España

Walls in the Plaza de España represent different provinces in Spain. This one: Córdoba (where we were a few days before!)

Today most of the buildings are government buildings / offices

Another great province of España: Granada

We 💖 Madrid

Coco checking out Plaza de España

The amazing ceiling work at Plaza de España

Vicente Traver Fountain in the Plaza de España

Province of Seville represented at Plaza de España

Valencia has been very good to us in España as well

On our way to lunch, we walked through the beautiful flowers and statues along Jardines de Murillo . We ate at Catalina Bar de Tapas where we really enjoyed the unique combination of flavors and twists on traditional tapas.

Jardines de Murillo

Seville shows live for Christopher Columbus in Jardines de Murillo

When you see a reasonable price for your favorite bubbly, you must go for it. Moët at Catalina Bar

Croquettes at Catalina

Fresh grilled veggies at Catalina

Patatas at Catalina

Chicken curry with rice at Catalina Bar

On our way back to our place, we stopped off in the old town area and had some drinks, watched the sun go down and then I shopped! I love this shop on Pasaje de Andreu, 5 called Be Happy. Later in the day I had a massage appointment at the YHI Wellness Spa Gran Melia Colon. It was more of a sports massage so I was being stretched as well as getting a hard pressure massage which was great and exactly what I needed. I made the mistake of saying yes to this Bengay-like cream so I was freezing the whole time. I don't know if it was the combination of it being cold out (I walked in the pouring rain to get there) or if it was because I had just shaved my legs but I needed warmth....my teeth started chattering, no joke. When I got home, we siesta-d and when we siesta, we siesta too hard and sleep too late to get ourselves together for dinner. So, Scott and I got ice cream instead....on the way back I saw an Italian restaurant called Andiamo with almost the same look of my Andiamo! tattoo.

Ristorante Italiano Andiamo

The Andiamo! Tattoo I created (using 3 different fonts). I got this tattoo before we left the states. The Italian word andiamo speaks to me because it translates to "let's go!" or "we go!" Which is exactly what I said to Scott when he asked if I would want to live in Europe for a year, splitting our time between España and Italia

😆

Day 123:
It is our 3rd full day in Seville and 6 of November. The sun is shining but it is relatively cold out. We got tickets online to visit Real Alcázar of Seville and had to be there on time for our special tour! I have zero photos from this tour because they make you check your bags, camera's, everything, in a locker outside the door of the Cuarto Real Alto (royal living quarters). Understandable considering the upper levels are still in use by the royal family. That is crazy to me...you are royalty and yet you allow all these random people in your home?! I guess the White House does that though, now that I think about it. The Real Alcázar is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe and is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I highly recommend doing this as part of your visit. You are given this audio stick that takes you (and the guard) through each room, telling the history and use of these royal rooms. It was pretty cool.

Courtyard of the maidens at Real Alcázar of Seville

Ceilings of the Alcázar

I just want to take photos of all this beauty at the Alcázar!

Jardines of Real Alcázar Seville

We had many failed attempts at getting a table at restaurants after our visit to the Alcázar. After our visit, we picked up Coco and made our way to a few different places but finally ended up getting seated at La Chala. We were quite lucky to get seated and we waited about 30 minutes. They turned away a lot of people but let us wait probably because I was annoying and persistent.

XIII Lunas (13 moons) at La Chala

Pastela (chicken wrap) at La Chala

Scott's sandwich or hamburger at La Chala

Gazpacho at La Chala (I personally did not like this)

Vegetables and beef at La Chala

We have tickets for the futbol match tonight....FC Barcelona vs. Seville FC! This is my first Spanish fútbol match and we had amazing seats. We bought tickets ahead of time on the website and picked them up on site. The stadium itself was weak. Really no snack or drink vendors. It reminded me of a high school stadium but with a snack stand that has the bare minimum. The game was very exciting. I love the life and culture of the game. It was a lot of fun being there in person (although I still don't have patience to watch on television).

Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in Seville

Seville FC vs. FC Barcelona

This poor guy (on the right) never got to play. I watched him practicing is ass off on the sideline the entire match and coach never put him.

Day 124:
We wanted to have a chill day with not too much tourist activity so we walked to a plaza, found a place with bocadillos, got little bottles of red wine and had what I like to call a casual Spanish lunch....enjoy our vino and bocadillos in a sunny plaza. Coco certainly enjoyed as well.