SEVILLE, SEVILLE, SEVILLE. My FAVORITE city out of the entire trip. Words cannot even begin to describe the beauty that this city held, as well as the history, nightlife, friendly people, yummy restaurants, breathtaking views... this city was one for dreamers. If I wasn't already studying abroad in Australia starting in July, I would have studied abroad here in the Spring time. We spent 4 whole days in Seville, and thank goodness for my teacher and tour guide planning to spend the most time here because there was SO much to do. We arrived in Seville after we traveled through Morocco for 5 days, and I can tell you that returning back to Europe felt like coming home again after being in Morocco. Out of the whole trip, this was the one city that I absolutely fell in love with. If I ever live in Spain one day down the road, this is the city that I'll be residing in. If you ever visit Seville, you will understand why.
Things I did in Seville..
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If you love gardens, pretty views, and/or history, this should be at the top of your list while visiting Seville. This was similar to the Alhambra in Granada; (in my opinion, the Alhambra was much better), but the Alcazar was still an amazing sight to see. For you Game of Thrones fans, the third season was actually filmed here at the Alcazar in Seville!! A lot of people on the trip were excited about that. The tile work, architecture, fountains, and gardens were spectacular and definitely worth going to see. They say it's even more amazing to view at night too!
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This was probably my favorite thing that we saw in Seville. This is the ONLY flamenco museum in the entire world, so it was pretty cool that we got to visit it. Not only did we get a lesson on the history of flamenco dancing, but we also took a flamenco class with a famous instructor from Seville, and then got to see a live show afterwards. Flamenco dancing is unlike any other type of dancing in America because of the three elements of dance, guitar and vocal. Three performers are on the stage and perform together to create an emotional and soulful performance. Even if you don't get a chance to come here, I recommend going to see a flamenco show somewhere!
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Yesssss, yes, yes, I know.. another cathedral. But how many times will you get to go to Spain in your lifetime? You might as well learn as much about it as you can and see the history of it while you're at it. This is the third largest Cathedral in Europe, and the largest Gothic Cathedral in all of Europe, so it's a pretty important one. You can also climb to the top of the tower to see spectacular views of Seville for very few euros...... and a ton of stair climbing.
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On our day off, we roamed around and stumbled across the Royal Bullring of Seville, and decided to tour the inside and ended up learning a lot about bullfighting and it's history in Spain. We entered for a small student fee of 4 euros and got a 45 minute tour of the bullring. Unfortunately, we weren't in Seville during a bull fight, but they do still hold them here every month! I'm not for bull fighting, and it makes me sad that the bull dies, but it would be cool to experience that part of Spanish culture.
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If you go to Granada, you shouldn't even go unless you stop and visit the Alhambra. It's a lot of walking, but you can walk on your own or walk with a tour- and I PROMISE that it is worth it. I felt like a fairy walking through these gardens and that I should have been wearing a pink ballgown running around looking for my prince. The colors of the flowers were in every shade of red, pink, orange, yellow, white (and even purple), that you could possibly imagine. The views were spectacular... e.g., all of the pictures with green in them shown above in my gallery. The cost to visit is fairly cheap for a day, and it is an experience of a lifetime.
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Although many people find Cathedrals, museums and historic architecture boring, I found it pretty fascinating. Seeing the same things over & over again got boring and repetitive, but when learning about history, taking it all in and having positive views and attitudes about it makes it much better. We visited this specific cathedral in Toledo, and the architecture on the outside and the inside was GORGEOUS. The colors, statues, ceiling work, paintings, sculpturing, everything... was unlike anything you could ever find in the USA.
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Clicking on the link above will take you to the homepage to the historically famous Prado Museum located in the heart of Madrid. It was amazing to walk around the museum and see ancient works of world-famous artists such as Goya and Picasso. I got to see 10 original paintings done by Picasso which was pretty amazing. Even if you are not really into art or museums, it's still an awesome thing to say you have seen and done.
The Plaza Mayor is a square, or the city center of Madrid. It is like the Times Square of Madrid, if you would say. The square goes back to the 1500's and is surrounded by a three-story high residential building that wraps around the city center with 237 balconies overlooking the square. It is an interesting place to visit, to take pictures and to just relax or eat with friends while observing a great part of history.
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