Cityscape on Camera: Seville, Spain

I planned to share photos from my time in Seville, Granada and Ronda today, but there were just way too many photos. So today your get a special dose of Seville, and the other two Andalusian cities will be showcased on September 24. Next week is another topic-based week (see bottom of this post for the prompt).

Photo via @mcstroup on Instagram

After weeks of hostels and smuggling free breakfast items out of said hostels for lunch later, we got to travel in style through Andalusia because Mom was picking up the tab. (Thanks, Mom!) She lives in Switzerland, so she took a short vacation to meet up with us in southern Spain for a week. First stop: Seville.

Note: I always want to type Sevilla, and I always say Sevilla when I'm talking about it, but then I realized I don't call Rome Roma or Prague Praha, so I should stick to English for consistency. Same with Andalusia/Andalucia. It's so confusing! I think all location names should stay in their native language no matter where you are. The United States should always be the United States and Germany should always be Deutschland, etc. What do you think?

Back to the photos, here is the view from our apartment on the Canal de Alfonso XIII:

Daily activities in Spain included sangria and tapas. I should have taken pictures of the tapas (from tuna with pumpkin sauce to Iberian ham to potato croquettes, they were all delicious!), but alas, that didn't happen. I did get this photo of our first pitcher of sangria, though:

Our first major sightseeing stop was the Seville Cathedral (a.k.a. the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See) and adjoining Giralda Tower. Like in Rome and the Vatican, I was very impressed by the gorgeous ceilings in the Spanish churches and palaces. These were more impressive to me, however, because of the intricate carving and tile work, usually covering the walls and ceilings. Fun fact: The Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.

That pearl in the middle is the largest pearl in the world. I expected it to be bigger, but then after looking at it for a while I realized, "Dang, that is big!" lol

Another major point of interest is the Real Alcazar. We also visited the more famous Alhambra palace in Granada, but I have to say, I thought this one was prettier!

My brother noticed that one of these tiles seems to be facing the wrong direction. Do you see it?

And finally, the Plaza de Espana, where we paid five euros to row a little rowboat around the moat for half an hour.

Nice. I couldn't find a normal picture of us rowing haha.

And a few last snapshots of the capital of Andalusia:

Next week: How much of a country's official language do you learn before traveling there? Do you speak any other languages (fluently or partially)? Remember: All travel-related posts will still be welcome! You do not have to address the prompt if you want to write about something else instead.

Link up with your travel stories and/or tips below! I only ask that you include my button and/or link back to my site. :) Have a wonderful week!


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