I'm back from 1 month writing hiatus...only to realize that I have 3 trips to report on. This definitely puts into perspective how much traveling we've been doing lately. Oh well, can't stop now! :)
Our trip to Seville was prompted by lovely Joanna's visit to Europe and the need to take her somewhere down south to forget the Toronto winter blues.
The Saturday started at 8 am and finished 8 am on a Sunday, translating into a 24 day of exploring the city, making new friends, running into old friends, and bar hopping Spanish style. In a typical tourist fashion, our day got started with an open bus tour of the city, where we saw the highlights of Seville and the neighbouring across the river Triana. The nerd in me learned lots about Columbus, Seville's monopoly trade with the Americas and the Spanish Moorish wars. We then proceeded to do a 90 minute tour of the city centre on foot, visiting the old ceramic quarter, the Jewish quarter, and learning about the role of oranges for the city. This also answered our question of why the heck there are thousands of orange trees around the city, and the answer is that they were brought over first by the Moors to make gunpowder to protect the city. For a break, we did our favourite thing in Spain, which is to feast on tapas. Seville is a relatively cheap city, so we were able to eat to our hearts content.
Our evening got kicked off by a visit to the live flamenco show, where we watched classically trained artists play the guitar, sing and dance. I must say, it was one of the most impressive talent displays that I've ever seen, and I would recommend it to anyone. One show and one new friend later, we went to have dinner at Vineria San Telmo, which we collectively dubbed as the best tapas place ever. It was so good, that on the next day, Anna and Ann cut their hammam visit short to run there in the rain so that we can place an order before the kitchen closes for the afternoon. That says something, because Anna wouldn't run just for anyone or anything lol :)
Vineria San Telmo was stop #1 in our 8 hour and 8 bar pub crawl, which included: classy sangrias, the only place on earth that seems to specialize in orange wine, student bar madness on Alfalfa street, a photo op filled trek to Triana, randomly running into party buddies from Prague, finding Waldo, dancing, aaand feasting on churros aka Seville post bar food at 7 am in the morning. Whew! All in all, best bar crawl night ever with an awesome new friend.
Good thing that the next day was a spa day. We visited Seville's hammam Aire de Seville for some R&R and relaxing massages. Aire de Seville is a great place that should be a stopover on any girl trip Seville itinerary. Situated in a giant riad, and decorated to mimic true ancient Arabic baths, this hammam is both beautiful, tranquil and serene (and a perfect R&R spot after a 24 hr action packed day hehe).
Here's our trip in pictures :) Don't be alarmed by the volume of food pictures, I just really wanted to highlight the tapas! Writing this on a hungry stomach doesn't help either :))
Our trip to Seville was prompted by lovely Joanna's visit to Europe and the need to take her somewhere down south to forget the Toronto winter blues.
The Saturday started at 8 am and finished 8 am on a Sunday, translating into a 24 day of exploring the city, making new friends, running into old friends, and bar hopping Spanish style. In a typical tourist fashion, our day got started with an open bus tour of the city, where we saw the highlights of Seville and the neighbouring across the river Triana. The nerd in me learned lots about Columbus, Seville's monopoly trade with the Americas and the Spanish Moorish wars. We then proceeded to do a 90 minute tour of the city centre on foot, visiting the old ceramic quarter, the Jewish quarter, and learning about the role of oranges for the city. This also answered our question of why the heck there are thousands of orange trees around the city, and the answer is that they were brought over first by the Moors to make gunpowder to protect the city. For a break, we did our favourite thing in Spain, which is to feast on tapas. Seville is a relatively cheap city, so we were able to eat to our hearts content.
Our evening got kicked off by a visit to the live flamenco show, where we watched classically trained artists play the guitar, sing and dance. I must say, it was one of the most impressive talent displays that I've ever seen, and I would recommend it to anyone. One show and one new friend later, we went to have dinner at Vineria San Telmo, which we collectively dubbed as the best tapas place ever. It was so good, that on the next day, Anna and Ann cut their hammam visit short to run there in the rain so that we can place an order before the kitchen closes for the afternoon. That says something, because Anna wouldn't run just for anyone or anything lol :)
Vineria San Telmo was stop #1 in our 8 hour and 8 bar pub crawl, which included: classy sangrias, the only place on earth that seems to specialize in orange wine, student bar madness on Alfalfa street, a photo op filled trek to Triana, randomly running into party buddies from Prague, finding Waldo, dancing, aaand feasting on churros aka Seville post bar food at 7 am in the morning. Whew! All in all, best bar crawl night ever with an awesome new friend.
Good thing that the next day was a spa day. We visited Seville's hammam Aire de Seville for some R&R and relaxing massages. Aire de Seville is a great place that should be a stopover on any girl trip Seville itinerary. Situated in a giant riad, and decorated to mimic true ancient Arabic baths, this hammam is both beautiful, tranquil and serene (and a perfect R&R spot after a 24 hr action packed day hehe).
Here's our trip in pictures :) Don't be alarmed by the volume of food pictures, I just really wanted to highlight the tapas! Writing this on a hungry stomach doesn't help either :))
Tapas Tapas Tapas!
The mythical orange trees
Exploring Plaza de Espana
Intro to Flamenco
No comments:
Post a Comment