Holiday Time! Seville, Spain

 September 2019

Attempting to escape the promise of winter, we headed to Spain for a long weekend, taking off both a Friday and Monday to make the most of our time. My absolute favourite thing about living in the UK is finding cheap flights to jet off to new locations!

We had chosen Seville, simply because we had never been, and flights were cheap. And it was sunny! After a Welsh summer, we were very ready for a sunny European holiday.

Reacquainting myself with those warm hued walls in shades of yellow that are so quintessentially Spanish was deeply nostalgic for me, as parts of Seville reminded me so very much of Valencia, somewhere I would really love to go back to. 

The days were mercilessly hot, the sun beating down, our only respite was shade and cold beer. It became a pleasant habit that whenever we were feeling too hot, we would find the nearest bar for cold beer and complimentary nuts/olives in the shade.

According to myth, Seville was founded by Heracles. The city was known by the Pheonecians as Hisbaal, after the fertility god Baal. It had a long history of being sacked and changing hands, which is clearly reflected in its varied architecture. 

Tired from all that epic history, we stopped for lunch. I highly recommend the tapas bar Ovejas Negras Tapas, it was so good we went twice. Ben was finally introduced to the glory of Patatas Bravas (and he was indeed a fan). 

We shared a number of delicious plates, from manchego with lavender honey to slow cooked beef cheeks in a rich sauce with silky mashed potatoes. My mouth is watering just remembering how delicious everything was!

We finished off with cooling icecream in the sunshine. Have I mentioned I love Spain?

We were in Seville on the cheap, however one place we did pay to visit was the Royal Alcazar of Seville, a fancy palace that is still partially used whenever the Spanish royal family visit Seville. 

Originally built in 913 AD, it was expanded in the 11th century, earlier architecture was demolished, and then again in the 14th century it was converted by the Christian kings, and built upon some more. Due to 500 years of construction and demolition, it is a mish-mash of styles and history. 

My favourite part was the sprawling gardens however, so green and lush compared to the rest of Seville, it was like stepping into a cool paradise. 

Another highlight of Seville was the Plaza de Espana, by the time we got there after the palace, the sun was starting to set, leading to a warm yellow glow to the whole square. Built in 1928 for the World Fair of 1929, it's absolutely stunning architecturally, and has even been featured in a number of movies, including Star Wars, and Lawrence of Arabia!

One cannot go to Seville without mentioning the Metropol Parasol, a huge wooden structure built in 2011. Not only was the project over budget and delayed, it ran into multiple issues - most notably two years into construction, when the engineering firm announced it was actually unfeasible, and thus had to be redesigned to be structurally stable. In total, it's estimated the project cost 100 million euros, and is rather controversial due to the total cost (double what was estimated) and not everyone likes the unique design either.

We paid the small fee to go up to the top at sunset and I can say this for it, it certainly provides the best view of the old city. 

Feeling rather hungry from all our walking, we went on an epic hunt for octopus. I had eaten the best octopus of my life in San Sebastian a few years before, so I had in my head that I could find excellent octopus in Spain, and was determined to be proved right. 

After some inventive googling, my hunch paid off, and we ate ridiculously delicious octopus for surprisingly cheap in a restaurant I usually wouldn't have set foot in, as it looked too fancy. Sometimes it pays to take the risk!

I couldn't believe how quickly the days had flown by, and how we would be going home in the morning. The only thing I wouldn't miss was the Airbnb, which whilst clean and cheerful, had a dire problem with the air conditioning unit, where if it was used for more than 10 minutes, water started gushing down the wall. This small detail aside, our stay had been perfect! 

We ended our trip with breakfast at the same place for the third day in a row, a cute cafe which made the best hot chocolates we had ever tasted. Guess whose breakfast is whose! What's the saying, you can take the boy out of England, but....