On Thursday, May 3, Hali and I decided that we would take a trip to Sevilla on Friday, May 4, and spend the weekend there. We couldn't have picked a better time! We had no trouble reserving a hostel with only one night's notice; since it was the week after Feria, no one was in Sevilla, anyway. We were able to purchase our ida/vuelta bus tickets the morning we decided to travel. The bus ride was six hours long, but it always feel shorter with good company!
We saw the Alamillo Bridge while we were driving into town.
My dear friend, Annie (from Elon) is has spent the semester studying abroad in Sevilla. I should feel lucky that she decided to spend her last weekend with us; she is returning to the US on May 11. Hali also has a friend, Chuck (App. State) studying in Sevilla; he returns home on May 17. We were excited to be able to see both of them, and make a new friend, Anna (from Germany, visiting Sevilla from studying in Badajoz), while we were hanging out!
The weather was pretty spotty... but you can't tell from the pictures ;) Everything in Sevilla was gorgeous. I would love to spend more time there, someday.
The most well-known staple of Sevilla is the Catedral, with the Giralda. We walked passed it everyday! On Saturday, May 5, we had the chance to go inside and see the tomb of Christopher Columbus. We also took some time to climb to the top of the Giralda and look out over the whole city. What a gorgeous sight!
The Plaza de España is a beautiful semi-circle complex of government buildings, featuring tiled "province alcoves" all along the border. It has been used for location shooting in the films Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and The Dictator. With Annie as our tour guide, we spent the whole afternoon there on Friday afternoon, May 4. (We weren't the only ones--there was a couple shooting their wedding photos there, too!)
Originally a Moorish temple, Hali and I visited the Real Alcazár on Saturday afternoon, May 5. In present day, the facility is used by the Royal Family as the official residence of Sevilla. It rained a little bit while we were there, but we were able to enjoy the flora and fauna despite the weather.
We were obviously incredibly excited to see the peacocks that live in the gardens. As you can see from the pictures, the first peacock was exciting, but not quite as cool as the last peacock, or the peacocks that walked so close to us that we could have touched them!
Mercury Pond was the other highlight of the gardens at the Real Alcazár. So beautiful!
Annie joined us in the Torre de Oro, which is also the Naval Museum of Sevilla. We climbed up to the top of the torre, took some pictures, and then took our time looking around the museum. Hali's and Annie's favorite thing (sarcasm) was the "real live dead shark" hanging on the wall. Correction: Hali and Annie hated it and were quite disgusted, but I found it hysterical to tease them by petting the dried shark skin hanging on the wall.
Later that night, after Annie had to go home, we met up with Chuck, who took us out for dinner to the first restaurant where he ate out in Sevilla, Tex Mex. We ate a delicious Mexican food dinner, finishing with margaritas to celebrate Cinco de Mayo ;) We were joined by our new friend, Anna, who is originally from Germany, but she is spending the semester studying in Badajoz, and she decided to take a side trip to Sevilla. I snapped some pictures of the town while we were walking around, at sunset.
Annie joined us again on Sunday, May 6 when we went to Las Setas. Las Setas (meaning "mushrooms") is a very modern structure, built within the last two years. We were lucky to have beautiful weather that morning, and we spent a lot of time on top of Las Setas, taking pictures and playing around. So fun!
We will always be children, at heart ;) <3
Sunday afternoon, May 6, was bittersweet. We had a delightful sangria-and-hamburger lunch, before saying goodbye. Hali and I had to catch a bus to Madrid at 3:00pm, and Annie was off to finish preparing for her end-of-semester-departure.
The most ironic story of our Sevilla-adventure was that after dinner on Saturday night, Hali bumped into an ex-boyfriend (named Jordan) on the street while we were walking back to our hostel. The funny thing is, she knew that he was studying abroad in Europe this semester, but she had no idea that he would be visiting the Sevilla the same weekend as we were! The following morning, upon recognizing Hali's App. State shirt, a girl at our hostel introduced herself to us as Jordan, from Elon. How funny! As it turns out, Jordan from Elon, and I, actually lived in the same residence area last semester. And, funny that she has the same name as Hali's ex-boyfriend XD What a small world =)
Can't wait to go back to Sevilla,
Love, ~Taylor
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