Seville - April 2017

Just rediscovered this gem in my drafts - it's been months since this vacation, and I still can't figure out how to get those darn photos to center, so I'm just going to publish it like this. Cheers.



Sometimes you just need a quick vacation. Sometimes you're planning lessons and you want a nice break. Sometimes, spring break is only a couple of weeks away, but that just isn't soon enough. If you're ever in southern Spain when this feeling hits, I would definitely suggest a few days in Sevilla.

We arrived in the center of Sevilla just in time for lunch. Our plan was to head to our Airbnb right away, but as we walked through the streets to our destination, our noses caught a familiar smell. Meaty, cheesy, greasy... what could that smell be?

Sidebar: Food is an important part of culture, and I am all about eating the local food when you visit a place. However, local food can be expensive and inconvenient. People beat themselves up when they go on vacation and eat at, for example, McDonald's, but honestly, McDonald's is convenient and cheap, and if it makes your stomach happy and frees up some time for you to see cool things, go for it. Get some authentic food later. That being said, I've had plenty of authentic Andalusian food. I live here.

So... when we smelled the delicious smells of a nearby Taco Bell, we just couldn't not stop. It had been 6 months since my last crunchwrap, and it was almost like a magnetic force was pulling us into the restaurant. 

2 crunchwraps later, we headed to our Airbnb, and after we dropped off our bags and got the key, we were ready for an adventure!

Our first stop was the Metropol Parasol, also known as Las Setas because it looks like a bunch of mushrooms. We took some pictures from below, then took the elevator to the top to enjoy the view. 

After that, we were in the mood for a movie (can you believe our town doesn't have a movie theater?) So Braden took me to see Beauty and the Beast. He paid for the movie, I paid for the movie snacks.

Chupa Chups are a great movie snack. Not pictured: the Reese's I snuck into the theater in my purse.

And after the movie, we went out to a nice dinner. And I'm pretty sure we saw Steven Spielberg at the restaurant.

Whoever he was, he totally saw us take his picture.

The next day, we headed to the Plaza de España. We walked around a bit, then we took a lovely boat ride in the moat around the plaza. Braden rowed, I took selfies.

If this looks like Naboo, it's because it is Naboo!

If you look closely you'll see that his eyes are totally closed... can you believe I let this guy navigate?

I couldn't let Braden have all of the fun, so I took a turn rowing. It's not as easy as it looks!

After our lovely romantic boat ride, we headed over to the Alcázar de Sevilla. This gorgeous palace has been here for a long long time (they have found building remains on the site from the 1st century) and the royals family of Spain still uses the upper levels as a residence when they visit Seville! I was hoping to get a glimpse of the queen, but sadly all I saw were a bunch of other tourists. 

    

After touring the inside of the palace, we explored the gardens outside.

In the evening we took a walk around the river!

The next morning we fulfilled one of Braden's life dreams to see the Cathedral of Sevilla and climb the Giralda.

Columbus may be buried here. Maybe. Who really knows anyway?

And because we could, we rode a bicycle built for two. One of the guys who drives the horse drawn carriages totally told Braden that I wasn't pedaling.