Sweet Sweet Seville-Part 1

Its been awhile but I'm back! Unfortunately there is a bug going around Granada and me with my weak weak immune system was one of the first to get it! But its alright because I subsequently gave it to about 6 other people...revenge! Just kidding..but they did get the bug as well! So I have been exhausted and stuffy/runny and dealing with life with a icky tummy for the past week but all is better now! I am so lucky that my host mother here is a nurse and has been keeping me drugged up and alive!

So now I will get y'all up-to-date with the second half of my trip to Cordoba/Seville with a post about the beautiful FUN city of Seville!!!! This city is such a beautiful destination for a weekend away and I want to go back someday FOR SURE! It was a little rough-around-the-edges (meaning people do get pick-pocketed frequently) but I thought it was awesome! We got there Friday night and spent some time in our hotel unpacking and relaxing from the 2 hour bus ride there. I was in a hotel room with my roommate Lizzy and another AWESOME girl named Rachel! This girl is adorable. Like pure adorable-ness through and through...I love this girl. Lizzy and I had so much fun rooming with her for the two nights we were in Seville! We had about two hours to wander around until we had to go to dinner downstairs, so Rachel, Lizzy, and a few friends and I went shopping!

That night after dinner, a bunch of us went to a free flamenco show! Two of our amazing advisers, Dani and Jorge, took us to this show! It was so much fun! That was the first time I had seen a flamenco show here in Spain and I loved it! After the show, a bunch of us went out on the town to a few different places and then I went home and slept like a BABY! I was exhausted after a long day of walking around Cordoba and Seville.

Some of our group at the flamenco show with some delish sangria!!!!!

The next morning we woke up and ate a big breakfast at the hotel. After that we all met up downstairs and took off for our tour of Seville and its historical places. We started off seeing the oldest still-in-use palace in Europe, Reales Alcazares. This was such a pretty palace that was built with the same Moorish architecture and style as the Alhambra. It was so ornate and decorative and absolutely gorgeous. The Spanish royal family still use this palace whenever they come to Seville which is why its the oldest palace still in use. There is a labyrinth in the garden area which was really fun! What was crazy is it used to be three times the size that it is now AND they used to put live animals in there for knights and whatnot to fight against! I mainly just ran around and pretended I was Harry Potter in the Triwizard Tournament (book number four for those of you non-Harry Potter fanatics like myself).

 

Me in the awesome labyrinth!

After the labyrinth we got to see the palace! It was so beautiful! After it was built by the Arabs, it was conquered by Ferdinand III where it was then turned into a palace for the monarchs. Many monarchs added onto the palace during their reigns which brought it to its final glory that is seen today! Check out some of the pictures from the palace!

One of the many fountains on the property

One view of the front of the palace

The main patio..see the beautiful Arab architecture

The entrance to the part of the palace we got to see

It was so beautiful to walking around the palace and leaning the history behind the palace! After the tour of Alcazares, we got a small break for coffee and snacks! Three of us found a cute little cafe that was delicious!

Cappuccinos are a necessity in my life!

Good friends and good coffee!

After our little coffee break we went to the Catedral de Sevilla which is in the center of Seville. I will tell you all about that and the Plaza de España in my next post...I feel like I've made this one super long already! So stay tuned for Seville Part 2! Till then...god bless!
Mackenzy