What is the most beautiful city in the world? That is not a question I have the answer for - I haven't been to enough places to be even close to forming an opinion on that. What I can tell you, however, is which city surprised me the most - one I thought would be just pretty, yet it blew me off my feet.
We only got to stay there for 3 days, as it was the final part of our summer holiday. On that trip we went to multiple places, which I will surely showcase in a future blog post, but let's get to the city in question. It is...
Seville
Seville is located in the south of Spain, quite close to the Strait of Gibraltar and thus North Africa. I believe this is a part of what makes it beautiful, as the architecture styles blend in in a stunning fashion. There is a ton to see in the city and I will guide you with pictures to ensure you don't miss out on anything!
Our stay in Seville was packed with action as we had very little time. First of all, we stayed in a great accommodation, with a tiny courtyard, making for a very cozy place to sit. Sadly, we did not have much time to sit at all - we were on the go the whole time!
On this picture, you can see a panoramic view of Seville. The picture was taken from atop Setas de Sevilla - one of the largest wooden structures in the world, made out of some special Finnish wood. Honestly, it sounded a bit bizarre and felt slightly out of place - but it definitely added.. its own kind of charm to the city and the plaza it was on.
In general, everywhere I walked, I wanted to take a ton of pictures. It was truly difficult to resist, as every building seemed to be unique in a sense. I'd walk a street, stop, take out my phone and snap a photo! I wish I could say I was taking out a camera, but we're still in the process of saving up a little to buy a proper one. Here's a few photos we took along the way:
Isn't it just so charming? The best thing was that this was not even the best part of the city! We'll get to that one last, but on the way we've done multiple more! Let's start with the fantastic..
Real Alcazar
This stunning palace complex consists of a beautiful courtyard, lush gardens and (as everywhere in Seville) amazing architecture. It was developed in the 14th century in a moorish-inspired style I do not remember the name of. I could try for paragraphs to describe how pretty it is, but I'll just leave you with pictures instead. Just keep this in mind - we spent an entire afternoon walking around and did not get bored for a second!
While this was one of the highlights of that day, we also have the time to visit other attractions. We did not stray far off the beaten path, as there was not enough time in our itinerary, so the next steps was just us crossing off point after point of the "things to do in Seville" lists.
The first of these places is the Plaza del Toros. This is the oldest bullfighting arena in Spain and it was quite the experience to be there. Just the field itself is massive and inside the arena there is a museum in which you can learn a lot about the history of bullfighting, bullfighters themselves, their equipment and tons more! Do visit - I'm personally not a huge fan of extreme sports like this, I still enjoyed my experience.
We followed this one with a walk by the river (as every bigger European city has one running through the middle!) to the Torre del Oro - Tower of Gold. There is a museum on top of the tower, but sadly it was closed, so we just admired the tower from afar. It was a quite pleasant sight, but the true highlight of the trip came after. But first, Torre del Oro!
Or well.. us and Torre del Oro in the background
Plaza de Espana
Plaza de Espana in all its glory
We've been to Plaza de Espana three times during our visit and it never got old. It was built as a part of preparation for the Ibero-American expo, for which each country had its own building. This one was to represent Spain.
There are beautiful tiles and decorations wherever you set your eye. There is a bit of greenery to make it seem even more friendly, while everything is covered in a very typical kind of print for this region of Europe.
As this plaza was to represent Spain, it showcases every province of Spain at the time. This is done via "Provincial Alcoves" which you can see below. Each of these alcoves showcased something that is an important part of the province's identity: the ones below represent Malaga (where I am sitting) and Madrid (where my girlfriend is)!
Except for just admiring this stunning half-circle, you get to go upstairs and get a better view of the entire space - as you can see on one of the previous pictures. On top of that, there is a boat service, with which you can drift under the beautiful bridges and feel some breeze in your hair.
It gets even better at sunset. The way the sun falls onto the square makes it look out of this world - absolutely beguiling! Here is the fountain in the middle of the plaza, together with the sunset:
I'll try and keep it short - visit Seville! It is a fantastic city full of eye candy, where you simply will not get bored. I definitely want to come back and see much more of Seville and Andalucia in general! Here is a parting gift in the form of even more pictures.
