a southern lady in sevilla

I arrived back from Santorini, spent 24 hours in London, and then I was off again to meet my dear friend Courtney for our 9 day adventure in Spain! We started off in beautiful Sevilla (which was my favorite city throughout the whole of our trip).
                                        



I arrived on Wednesday evening, and Courtney was meant to arrive about 30 minutes after. Well I sat and waited, then finally turned my phone on and had a text from her that her flight had been delayed several hours from Lisbon. I decided to make my way to our hotel (Hotel Don Paco) inside the city, and get myself settled in. I went up to the rooftop bar and took in some of the sites and just relaxed after a busy two days of traveling. Courtney finally arrived at about 1 am and went straight to bed so we would be ready for a big day on Thursday.

As we were both coming straight to Spain from previous holidays, we hadn't done much research on places to go/things to see/where to eat. We found a few suggestions online, but mostly just winged it! Our first breakfast was a traditional cafe con leche and pan con tomato (coffee with milk and tomato toast). We went to Horno San Buenoventura which is a small chain in Sevilla. The coffee (and toast) were both really good and the women who worked there were really nice. Afterwards, we started walking through the winding streets of Sevilla and found ourselves at Parque Maria Luisa. Inside the park is the famous (and incredibly beautiful) Plaza de Espana. We spent several hours just walking around the plaza and park and enjoying all the beautiful scenery.

                     

 

photos from parque maria luisa and plaza de espana

After our long walk, we were feeling pretty hungry (and thirsty) but it was only 1:00. This is what you need to know about Spain…if you are eating lunch anytime before 2, you are very clearly a tourist. Not that there is anything wrong with being a tourist (clearly I travel all the time and support everyone who does) but I enjoy trying to pretend to be a local. So we stopped off at a cafe for another coffee, then strolled around in the winding roads to find a good place for lunch. We ended up at Bodega Belmonte in the Santa Cruz neighborhood. It was a fantastic meal and the sangria was perfect. We took another very long walk around Sevilla after lunch and made our way back to the hotel for siestas. Late lunches also mean late dinners, and most restaurants don't open until 8. We were going to Bodega dos de Mayo for dinner, which is a very popular restaurant in Sevilla. We went to the tavern next door for a glass of sangria, before making our way over to the restaurant. They serve traditional tapas and it's self service, so you go to the bar and order all of your food. We went a little crazy with our ordering, but everything sounded so good…and it was! We had an amazing dinner and I would definitely recommend this place.   After dinner we stopped for gelato and felt very sleepy after our full day of walking (and drinking sangria).

 

Friday was our second full day in Sevilla, and we were looking forward to visiting the Real Alcazar. We were both craving a healthy breakfast though, which is something that is very hard to find in a city which is dependent on bread and olive oil. But we lucked out, and found a great cafe called La Cacharreria. They serve yogurt and muesli, fruit salad and whole grain toasts. It's a tiny cafe though, so be prepared to wait for a table or eat at the bar (neither of which bother me when I know I'm waiting for a good meal!). After our delicious breakfast, we paid our bill and walked over to Real Alcazar. I really enjoyed seeing this old house and the gardens are absolutely stunning (and enormous!). You can easily spend several hours here just taking it all in. 

After our trip to Real Alcazar, we walked around Sevilla and ended up at Genova Cafe. We chose two fresh salads, grilled octopus and tortilla pie. The meal was delicious (one of my favorites from the whole trip!) and I would definitely recommend this gorgeous cafe. 

After lunch, we went back to our hotel to relax and get ready for the evening. We had a glass of wine at our hotel's rooftop bar and then made our way to a restaurant we had seen a couple of times during our walks called 'La Sal'. We thought it looked nice, so we decided to give it a try. Well we arrived, sat down, and was greeted by a very rude waiter. We asked for a glass of wine and the wine tasted like a sweet liquor. We decided to just ask for our bill as we thought we weren't going to enjoy this place. I'm glad we moved on, because the reviews weren't great (including a few people who spoke about how rude the staff is). Anyways, we ended up going around the corner into the square for tapas. We ended up having a good meal, even if it wasn't what we originally planned, and had helado at Rayas afterwards. Rayas is the BEST ice cream I have ever had! I am begging you…please go here if you are ever in Sevilla! 

Saturday was our last day in Sevilla and we ended on a good note. We went back to La Cacharreria for a healthy breakfast. The girls working there remembered us, and brought us the same breakfast from the day before. It was super crowded, as it was Saturday, but we had a spot at the bar and we were happy to chill out. After breakfast it was time to grab our bags and head to the train station…it was time to head to Granada!