Spring in Sevilla

Sevilla!!

Sorry for the big glaring typo in my last post title!  Clearly we were on 'Spring Break' and not 'Sprink Break'!  Needless to say, I was completely embarrassed and fixed it ASAP.  Forgive my horrible grammar and lazy proofreading, dear friends!

Gorgeous patios are all over the city

Sevilla is in the south of Spain, and is such a romantic city.  Our hotel was in the old part of the city, with crazy winding streets, hidden patio gardens, and orange trees everywhere.  We were lucky enough to be there while the orange trees were blossoming, and the scent throughout the city was divine. 

Me and my favorite girl at the Alcazar 

I can still smell the orange blossoms! 

We took the high-speed train from Barcelona on the Saturday before Easter, and I had read in the travel guides that Sevilla would be really crowded due to the Holy Week festivities.  We headed out of our hotel in time to watch some of the parade, and were amazed by the thousands of people lining the streets. 

Semana Santa parade float

The floats tell the story of Jesus's death and resurrection, followed by marching bands playing somber music, and hooded and robed penitents carrying candles.  It was such a treat to see this special tradition of the Easter celebration in Seville.  It occurred to me that such a religious parade would probably not happen in the USA, where parades are very secular events.

Plaza de Easpana

We did all the typical tourist things, such as visit the Cathedral, wander around the Alcazar (which was a royal palace) and Plaza de Espana (where parts of Star Wars II was filmed), tour the bullfight ring and museum, and go to a flamenco show.  I really loved the flamenco show, and the kids agreed it was great, but after ten minutes into the hour-long show, they started to ask when it would be over.

Just because we are smiling doesn't mean we endorse
animal cruelty. 

We were grateful that the city was a lot less crowded after the Easter holiday, and we had a chance to relax and wander at our leisure through the city.  The waiters in the restaurants were also a bit friendlier after the crowds left.

View from the Cathedral tower

We such a fantastic trip to Spain, and it was a good balance of activities and relaxation.  I really laughed when I read my son's school essay about his spring break where he wrote that he did all these fun activities, but had to go on really boring tours of the bull-ring and church!  I suppose that it is normal that he was a bit bored, after all, I do get bored sitting at playgrounds all the time.    

Spring Break in Spain!

Barceloneta beach

 

We just got back from a ten day trip to Spain, where we enjoyed the sights, sunshine, sand-and let's be honest- I drank a lot of sangria!

 

 

My husband gets to travel to northern Spain a couple of times a year for work, but it had been 15 years since I had last visited!  My sister studied for a year in Madrid, and I knew after visiting her back then that a vacation in Spain would definitely be in our travel plans while we get to live in Europe.  My husband was also looking forward to seeing Spain from a tourist's perspective instead of as a business traveler (he usually only gets to see airports and factories when he travels for work).

in the Gothic Quarter

We decided to spend half our time in Barcelona, and the other half in Sevilla.  Of course, these two cities are quite far from each other, so we took the high-speed train to get back and forth.  Since moving to Germany, we have been a little intimidated by the train system, but it is something we would like to take advantage of since we don't have the opportunity in the USA.  Taking the train was great, and a much better experience than flying in an airplane.  It gave us the opportunity to see a lot of the countryside, which we would have missed if we had travelled by plane.

Bike tour

Bike tour stop at an old bull fighting ring

On our first day we took a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours, which was a great way to see all the main sights and get some information about the city.  For some reason, we don't often go on tours when we travel, but whenever we do, we always have a great time.  

While in Barcelona, we also visited the amazing La Sagrada Familia church, Parc Guell, wandered around the gothic quarter, played at the beach, went to the Picasso Museum, and ate a lot of tapas.  Luckily, the weather was wonderful while we were in Spain, with highs between 60-70F, and barely a drop of rain to be seen.

Checking out Gaudi architecture

I think we all agreed that our favorite thing we did was sit on the beach a couple of times.  The kids did so great on this trip, with all the walking and sightseeing, and it was great when we could let them run around and just play.  It wasn't quite warm enough to be perfect beach weather, but that didn't slow them down a bit.   

Parc Guell

I was really nervous about this trip, and I can't believe how much research I did to prepare. 
I took three years of Spanish in high school, but 20 years later I have seemingly retained none of it!  Luckily, almost everyone in Barcelona spoke English, but we struggled much more in Sevilla, where hardly anyone spoke English.  I actually realized how much German I have learned in the last 18 months, because every time I tried to say something in Spanish, it came out in German.

Since this post is running long, I will share more photos from Sevilla in the next post...