Sevilla was probably my favorite city in Spain. It was small, but full of culture. The only gripe I had was that it was a bit touristy, but other than that I would even see myself living there. We had a great time just walking around the old parts as well as the new.

When we arrived in Sevilla, one thing I noticed was the streets were super narrow again. Finding the hotel took a while too and the guy there had to park our car because the garage entrance had barely enough room for our car to pass (we had to fold the mirror in order to get through). The hotel, Hostal Sierpes, was really nice in the lobby and hallways, but our room was horrible. The worst part about it was the bathroom. There was barely enough light to see yourself in the shower, and it was dirty. The lobby here, and in all other hotels/hostals that I noticed, were very nicely decorated with walls of Islamic-style tiles. Very cool.

Here, as in other parts of Spain, we were warned about thieves. We were paranoid about never leaving things in the car, and we always carried our money belts. Nothing ever happened, though, and I’m not sure if it was because we were careful or we just had decent luck.

Our first day in Sevilla started out rainy, but then got nice and sunny. We had our laundry done with a drop-off service. That was cool because we didn’t have to waste time doing it ourselves.

Our first stop was the cathedral, with it’s huge bell tower. Outside was a little courtyard where I got pooped on by pigeons. Yuck! The ramp leading up to the bell tower was very wide because it was built for horses to go up. From the top of the tower, amongst the bells, we could see all of Sevilla.

The next stop was the Alcazar Real. The Christian monarchs Alfonso X and Pedro I employed Moorish craftsmen to build it in the 14th century. It was very cool, with a big elaborate garden in the back.

At night, we hung out by the waterfront which was very romantic. It was surprisingly dead at only 2 in the morning.

The next day, we went to the Plaza de España, which was modern addition to Sevilla. It’s a large open space with a water fountain in the middle surrounded on 3 sides by a huge government building. Inside, we went to the Museo Militaire where they had some old missiles and guns.. it was interesting (but Theresa got bored quick). When we were there, tour buses kept coming by with all the tourists getting out and taking pictures, buying souvenirs, then leaving. I swore I would never do that. What’s the point, really? You can’t get a taste of the local culture by doing that.

After visiting the Plaza, we went to the waterfront one last time before heading off to Jerez..