Today is Saturday, February 4th. We’ve had somewhat of a busy week and I neglected to write this blog post until now. So, I’m going to do my best to start from where I left off. We left for Sevilla early on Friday(January 27th) – around 6:30 am. It was our first flight on RyanAir. It wasn’t too bad. I was actually able to sleep a fair amount during the flight.
When we arrived in Sevilla, we were greeted by gorgeous orange trees. We have orange trees in Barcelona too but the ones in Sevilla were glowing. The oranges also seemed riper and less damaged than the oranges we were used to seeing in Barcelona. So, a few of my friends and I decided to try one. They were extremely sour.
After our orange experiment, we all wandered into a local breakfast spot and enjoyed some classic Spanish Jamon Iberico on toast. It was pretty good but we wanted something sweet after. We were going to get churros at the same breakfast spot but they were all out. So, we went to a local churrería(shop selling churros). The churros were not what I was expecting. The churros I had eaten before were coated in sugar and were quite crispy. But, these were more of a soft stick of dough. We decided to add some sugar and take part in the tradition of dipping them in hot chocolate. ¡Muy delicioso!
We couldn’t check into our hostel until 2 so we decided to wander around the town center until then. First, we traveled to the Gardens of Murillo – a beautiful local spot with palm trees, fountains, and flowers. There were restaurants sprinkled around the outskirts of the gardens with locals and street performers. We wanted to go inside the Garden Maze that was at the center of the Gardens of Murillo but the tickets were 7€, so we decided to come back the next day. Instead, we walked around the local area and enjoyed the architecture. The buildings reminded me of Disneyland or something. Super pretty and colorful. There were also a bunch of horses and carriages bringing people around the city. We were watching our backs the whole weekend to ensure we didn’t get trampled by these guys.
On our way to the hostel, we walked through lots of narrow alleyways. It was very different from Barcelona. Barcelona feels much denser whereas the city center of Sevilla felt much more spread out. But these little alleyways were unlike anything we’d seen in Barcelona thus far. There were shops with apartments overlooking the city above them. And almost all the walls in Sevilla had street art. It felt very European. One of the coolest stores was a candy store with these barrels full of glass-enclosed candies.
Around 2 we arrived at the hostel. It was actually really nice! When we first walked in there were people sitting at desks doing work and everyone was very welcoming. Our room was really nice too. Four sets of bunk beds, two balconies, and a bathroom. Atop the hostel, there was a rooftop bar and a pool. Sadly, it was a little too chilly to swim but it was really cool. I didn’t get any good pictures of our room. But, I did take a video. However, WordPress won’t allow me to upload videos so I took the best screenshot I could from the video. Sorry if it’s a little blurry.
We also had an amazing view of “Las Setas.” Las Setas is an amazing wooden structure with a beautiful sunset view of the City. We never actually went up there because it costs 15€. But, it was a beautiful structure to be so close to.
Then, we went to meet up with some of our friends from Madrid who, as I believe I mentioned in the last post, were also in Sevilla for the weekend through their Study Abroad program. On our way, we crossed this beautiful bridge with an overlook of the city. After we met up, we all grabbed some drinks and empanadas.
Afterward, we traveled back to our apartment for the hostel happy hour on the rooftop bar. It was really cool. We all played some card games and enjoyed €1 Sangria with the sun setting over Las Setas.
After happy hour, we were all splitting up to grab food before going to the local bars. While a few of my friends were out eating, Dan, Matteus, and I began playing soccer with some local boys who were playing beneath our hostel. We played for a while until Dan accidentally kicked their ball onto a roof where we couldn’t retrieve it. So, Dan left to go buy them a new ball, and in the meantime, Matteus and I talked with them and learned about what it was like to grow up in Sevilla. When Dan returned with two brand-new soccer balls, the boys were happy and their parents offered to buy us a drink. We sat and chatted with the parents for a while and it was amazing. This was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had thus far in Spain. Meeting these local boys, playing soccer with them, and getting to communicate in Spanglish with them and their parents was super cool. Not to mention, the whiskey cokes they bought us were pretty great too.
We went out to some local bars for the night but we were all super tired so we came home and knocked out after only a few hours.
The next day, we got breakfast at this amazing local spot. I got ham and cheese pancakes and fresh orange juice. After we ate, we headed out to visit the garden maze. We purchased the 6€ student tickets online rather than the regular price of 15€. But, after waiting in line at the garden’s entrance, we were told that these tickets were for European citizens only. So, sadly, we didn’t end up going into the garden maze. But, it was still a great day. Our next destination was Plaza de España. A giant structure with beautiful architecture and a giant fountain. While here, we once again met up with our friends from Madrid. They showed us where parts of Star Wars had been filmed in the Plaza. So, my friends and I remade a picture from a scene that was filmed here.
After our time at the Plaza, we walked around María Luisa Park. It was a beautiful public park with palm trees, walking paths, and tons of birds. This was the first time I had ever seen a Swan in the wild. We bought some bird feed and I got to feed them! It felt funny when theya ate out of my hand. Sometimes, they would clamp down on my fingers. It didnt really hurt, just felt kinda funny. They started to get aggressive when we would throw feed into the water because groups of swans and ducks would all compete to eat. We tried our best to disperse it as evenly as possible.
Here is a picture of some of us at the gardens!
Nick Henderson
11:07am
Barcelona, Spain