Sevilla

We arrived in Sevilla on Friday morning around 11am and headed directly to the city center. We repeated our transportation route from the day before and had taken a commuter train to Málaga and a long distance train to Sevilla. The train station in Sevilla is not as close to the sights as the one in Córdoba so we took a cab, but it was less the 5 euros.

Of course I was hungry so we started the day at a cafe near the main cathedral. It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed breakfast outside in the sun.

We made our way towards the cathedral, where the Giralda is, combined these two monuments are by far the most popular in Sevilla. It was a major disappointment to find out that we would not be able to go up the Giralda due to construction, but we toured the cathedral anyways. The cathedral in Sevilla is the most extensive gothic structure in all of Europe, and it was the most impressive cathedral we had seen to date. Massive in size and amazingly elaborate in decoration, the cathedral was absolutely stunning.

We left the cathedral and made our way towards Sevilla's fortress, noticing that so far every town we have been to has had a cathedral, a fortress, and a castle or some combination of the three.

We had thought that the fortress in Córdoba was impressive, with it's beautiful garden and decorative rooms, but nothing can compare with the architecture and design of this monument. The fortress itself is enormous, and with no map it was impossible to see even close to the whole thing. We spent about 40 minutes meandering from room to room, marveling at the well preserved, incredibly ornate decor. It was so beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful building I have ever seen...and then we stepped out to the garden and that's when we were really impressed.

The shear size of the garden and it's immaculate upkeep is amazing. The garden is not necessarily the highlight of this monument but it definitely should be. The brightly colored flowers, the maze of hedges, and the decorative fountains and ponds are breathtaking, not to mention the amazing views of the cathedral from different parts of the garden which are spectacular.

We left the fortress completely in awe and made our way towards the Plaza de España, stopping for lunch near the university. It was really fun seeing all the college students around the city, walking around and riding bikes to class. It made me regret not studying abroad as I think Sevilla would have been a great place to study.

Up until now I had only vaguely remembered Córdoba and Sevilla from my childhood visits, but as soon as we approached the Plaza de España my memories became vivid. The plaza has a beautiful palace, which is now a military museum, with a huge fountain in the front and a small canal where you can rent row boats. I remember taking a horse drawn carriage with my family through the plaza and the botanical garden nearby. It was a great feeling to be living my memory again (no horse drawn carriage this time).

We left the plaza and headed towards the train station, walking through the center of town and stopping in souvenir shops. We took the train back to Málaga and then back to Torremolinos. We decided to eat at the same restaurant as the night before, and after about 5 hours of train travel and a full day of sight seeing we called it a night.