I drove into Seville (Sevilla) around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon and it was pretty unnerving, ghost town anyone? I immediately started thinking I’d made a serious mistake and was ready to keep driving to the next city, but something told me to give Seville a chance and I am so glad I did.
Seville is an old town with narrow cobbled streets and such rich history, driving through it was a bit sketchy for me. It is the sort of town that traps tourists in the most wonderful way possible. You can spend the day lazing away and forget time so easily. A glass of Tinto de Verano, great people, some nibbles and you can easily forget you have a room booked and paid for in the next town waiting for you. I met people that planned to stay there for just 2 nights, but were yet to leave on their 7th night.
As soon as I found my apartment, Villas.com Apartment: $164 for 2 nights, I immediately got on tripadvisor.com and found that Pancho Tours had a walking tour within the next 30 mins in the city center square. Armed with Sygic, my phone’s gps navigator app, I ran out of the apartment in search of a new adventure. I made it just in time to be grouped with a bunch of awesome folks that became my Seville travel buddies for the next 48 hours.
DAY 1
Panchos Legend Walking Tour + Pub Crawl – 19 euro:
Definitely worth it. For travelers looking to make like minded friends, you will meet a lot of folks here. They also had a separate large group for Spanish speaking folks, so you get good mix of choices.
Through the legends tour, I got to see older parts of Seville and learned of it’s history. I found one tragic story somewhat familiar to G R R Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice book, the Game of Thrones.
For the fans of the show and the books, we all know how Sansa naivety and wanting to marry Joffrey led to her father’s death right? Well, another lady, Susona, did similar out of love for her lover to her father and his friends. She died so sad and regretful that she had her skull placed on the window of her home to warn future lovers of the big mistake she made. For folks who want to read about the full gist, check it out here: The Legend of Susona.
I ended up not going to the pub crawl after the tour. Instead, we ended up going to a free Flamenco show that blew my mind. I thought Flamenco was danced only by women in a blazing hot red dress…well I learned differently in Seville and I was grateful for it.
DAY 2
Panchos Free Walking Tour
Our tour guide happened to be the founder of Panchos Tour, yay! We learned quite a bit of history and city tips. The tips that stood out most to me are:
- There are a lot of scam artists waiting to pounce on tourists. Shine your eyes well, well
- Avoid the gypsies if you are not in the mood to pay for a sprig of rosemary or a palm reading
- Check your menu for extra charges…you don’t want to end up paying for the basket of bread you didn’t ask for
- Try to read restaurant reviews before eating any where. Just because you are in Spain does not mean every restaurant would serve good food.
When the walking tour was done, I was convinced to check out the Alcazar. The Alcazar is pretty massive and has a lot of nice tile collections that gave me inspiration for my future home (amen). I fell in love mostly with the gardens in the Alcazar…too bad my phone’s camera is nothing to write home about. It was intensely hot and our feet could only do so much; we walked around for 2 hours and barely walked the entire place.
I went along with my new friends to the rooftop of their hostel (which has a bar and a pool!) got my drink of choice, Tinto de verano, applied some sunscreen and played a few card games with the gang and met more travelers like me.
The night was pretty tame, but we all had a good time getting lost in the city and found a bar that serves cocktails by the liter at 5 euro. All in all, good times.
It was hard for me to drive out of Seville to meet my friends in Madrid, I was tempted to tell them to enjoy Spain without me, but the responsibility of been the trip planner kept me from throwing caution to the wind and going where my feet wanted to. Quite a number of the people I met in Seville ended up traveling together for about a week, and their pictures sorta made me drool with envy. I still think of Seville and I know that 2 nights was not enough to explore the old town and it’s food culture. I must go back to Seville maybe 5 years from now, rent an apartment, and pretend to be a local for however long my pockets would allow me.
