Andalusia, Part 2: Sevilla

The second destination during my Andalusia Trip is, the capital of Andalusia itself: Sevilla!

Before I went, lots of my friends said that Sevilla is their most favorite Andalusian city, mainly because there are just sooo many things you can explore. It's modern, but the buildings are somehow classic. That part, I agree!
So, if you ever have to only pick 1 city to explore in South of Spain, I would recommend Sevilla.
BUT! My personal favorite is honestly Granada, above all.
Both cities are pretty different though. Granada is quite small, the Moorish influence is very strong, less people, and very hilly. But those are the very reason why it feels so tranquil there.
The prices are relatively cheaper, and Alhambra is just out of this world. So yeah.
Anyway.
I stayed in a hostel downtown. Sevilla is such a cool city. It's giving this vibrant vibe.
I walked most of the time there. The city got nice view here and there. The parks are amazing.
And they have sooo many restaurants, bar, brunch places all over the city.

The first thing I noticed when I first arrived in Sevilla is the orange trees!
The whole city smells soo nice, they plant orange trees everywhere I swear I felt like I could smell the orange all over the place, it's awesome. Like an experience in itself.

I arrived in the morning and after I put my luggage, I walked ~2KM to Plaza de España.
The walk itself was very beautiful as I walked through Maria Luisa Park. Again, the orange trees, the classic building, bar and restaurant sceneries, on top of this amazing weather. I felt like I was starting to understand the hype of Sevilla.
Plaza de España is the landmark of the landmark. It is a stunning, stunning building.

I spent ~3 hours there just to sit around and watch Flamenco shows. It was so much fun!
I have never seen anything like Flamenco show. It was passionate, artsy, and satisfying to watch.
I was planning to go see another Flamenco show which is all over Sevilla. However, since most shows are in the evening, I decided not to.

I was a bit sick because I kept going out at dawn every single day since I was in Granada that my body started to feel the impact. So I kept my day sweet and short, just trying to be cautious since I was alone.

After that, I just went around the old town.
I wanted to get into the cathedral but the queue was quite packed, so I decided not to.
My advice to you is to always, always prebook everything when you go to a famous city like Granada or Sevilla. Because everything is always sold out on the d-day.
So I just walked around the city, I ate some spanish food like paella, pulpo, and many tapas.
Oh also, Sevilla is very famous for their Iberian ham and other types of pork. You can see it everywhere.
I do not eat pork in general, but if you do then you should try this cuisine.

Next day, I went on a day trip to Cordoba which is only 40-min train ride away from Sevilla. I'll tell you about it in another post though.

My last day in Sevilla, I went to the place I was most excited about: Real Alcazar or Royal Palace of Sevilla.
Real Alcazar, just like Alhambra, was built by the Arabs during their time ruling South of Spain.
The building is, also like Alhambra, like straight from Aladdin movie, I even made a whole TikTok video about it hehehe.

I spent~3 hours in the palace, I was sitting in the garden, I was journaling, I was sightseeing, I felt like a royalty. The whole building is just so, so, gorgeous. Unlike the typical western European palace, Real Alcazar of Sevilla is just different. God I wish I could talk like an architect so I could tell you what difference that I meant.

But it was colorful, full of orange trees, the decoration is also based on some geometry shapes, it is a lot like Alhambra, probably in a smaller scale.

You know, being a muslim myself, I did not realize that the muslim royalty back then would build lavish, extravagant buildings like Alhambra and Real Alcazar since this religion is about modesty, but I guess there are just so many things context and culture back then that I am not aware of.
I wish I had hired a guide to explain stuffs to me, so this is also my recommendation to you.

In the afternoon, I had another spanish cuisine for lunch and I explored Sevilla old town.
There are just so many cute shops, souvenir stores, even shopping streets you can explore in Sevilla.
I doubt you'll run out of things to do. So I just walked around for hours, and hours.

In the dusk, I was just sitting in the old town, looking at all the horse carriages, the orange trees, the bell from the cathedral, all in this amazing weather. I feel like Andalusian people do live in fairy tale.

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I have to say, I wish I had been more healthy so that I can explore more places but I was tired, I took multiple naps, and I just tried to act accordingly.
If I had more energy, I would love to go to the Sevilla Setas which is this mushroom-shaped building where you can see amazing view of the whole city, also Plaza  de Toros de la Maestranza to see some bull fights (it cannot get any more spanish than that), even there's no live bullfights you can still book tickets to explore the venue.

Also, living in the hostel, I know just how much people party in Sevilla. I am sure the party scene in Sevilla is awesome, it's Spain after all.
When I left Seville, I walked out from my hostel at around 7AM and I saw so many teenagers just walked out of the clubs and bars, not looking so hammered though (impressive enough).