Seville (Spain): First impressions
After several months wandering around Europe, we realized that one month = one city was much too short. We decided to extend our stay, at least for Seville, from one month to a month and a half
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
How to get there?
From the South of France, I naturally took the train to Marseille and then a low cost plane (Ryanair) to Seville. I don’t know if Ryanair’s conditions got milder or the people in the South were particularly nice, but I had no remarks about my hand luggage, which was a bit heavy
From the plane, you can see the creeks in the sky… and many houses with swimming pool !
Airport => City center
From the plane I can see a nice white town, I think it’s Alcalá de Guadaíra
At the exit of the airport, nobody bothers me (no cab cabs in all directions). I go out to take the bus EA (4€/person) which drops me off at the Plaza de Armas. 15 minutes later I walk to the Airbnb. We’ll talk about this airbnb later
Seville: a very very beautiful city
How good it feels to be abroad again. Even if we made a little visit in France, I have the impression that the fact of being in a foreign country where a little bit marvels us ( ohhhh they have Carrefour and Fnac in Spain too!!), we missed it enormously! Being in a nice city, we missed it even more
Palacio Marqueses de la Algaba
We started the visit of the city by the Palacio Marqueses de la Algaba (free entrance) whose architecture imitates that of the royal palace; with its small garden, the fountain in the middle, and very impressive ceilings
We then discover the Mercado de la Feria, with stands of meat, vegetables, fruits and special seafood tapas. We will come back to it very soon
Alameda de Hércules
Next to it is the Promenade d’Hercule, full of nice bars, cafes and restaurants. My airbnb owner tells me that this place is more local than other places in Seville. He’s right since we could eat a lot, a lot (and very well) for only 17€
El Cortes Inglés
On the 5th floor of this very “Galeries Lafayette” store is a nice gourmet corner
What is even nicer is the view of the Cathedral of Seville and the Plaza de Espana
Mercado Lonja Del Barranco
This very trendy market was recommended to us by a fine gourmet. It looks like other markets, with tapas stands, but more posh (and expensive). I have the impression that the locals come here to drink and the tourists to eat
Cathedral of Seville
A quick passage in front of the Cathedral makes us understand that it is better not to visit it on a Saturday because we can still get married there (luck!!)
In any case, it is enormous, grandiose and very very beautiful from the outside. From the inside, it must be even prettier
Palacio de las Dueñas
I don’t know why, but when we went there, there were only French tourists. The Spanish tourists must have been having lunch I think (3:30 pm)
It is even more beautiful than the Palacio Marqueses de la Algaba. The Duke of xxx (???) still lives there, hence the entrance fee of 9€ (enough to finance his tapas), and 2€ for the audioguide without much interest
However, the gardens, the vegetal walls are pretty pretty pretty. And I visit this palace with wonder, I haven’t seen anything so beautiful in a long time
I’m going to put a ton of pictures, because I like it too much!
Eslava
I also have a huge crush on this restaurant just a stone’s throw away. There is all the time in the world, outside and inside. The establishment is divided in two: gastronomic restaurant and tapas bar. The tapas are to fall, it is very refined everything being accessible (3€ to 4€ for a small portion). Some tapas have won tapas competitions
I have a crush on beef tataki. And when I saw that it was also on the menu of the gourmet restaurant (24€ per dish anyway), I noticed to go back there later. I’m extremely picky about food so if I say it’s delicious, take my word for it!
Eslava: Calle Eslava, 3, 41002 Sevilla, Spain
Closed on Monday, limited hours on Sunday
Other photos and infos
What I like a lot is this quiet, late riser, late sleeper side of the Spanish. It’s perfect for a groundhog like me. The first day, it’s a bit surprising not to find anything open at noon (most people still have breakfast). But after two days, you get used to it. Now, we trained to have lunch at 1:30 pm and dinner at 8:30 pm (only 30mn earlier than the locals)
I also like being served very quickly. The locals can go from one bar to another, two tapas here, three tapas there… and make a tapas marathon in one evening
The food here is so good that even when you aren’t hungry, you feel like eating all the time. In the supermarkets, you can of course find a lot of jamon serrano, cheese, as well as frozen croquetas😀
I found my Spanish vocabulary. Even if my spying attempts (i.e. listening to the conversation at the next table) fail miserably – they have an impressive speech rate – I still manage to communicate well with the waiters, and have an acceptable conversation with my Airbnb landlord on Whatsapp
Speaking of Airbnb, as usual, I filmed the apartment and posted online. We paid 16xx€ for 40 nights – about 40€/night – not expensive at all
The bad surprise is that it is on the first floor (I hadn’t paid attention to this detail), and that there is some work just opposite (it wasn’t mentioned in the description). As it’s an old city, there are works a little bit everywhere, but just in front of our house, it’s a shame!
The owner is friendly and polite etc. He gave me lots of information and marked on the map all the addresses he recommends. But he got me drunk from the moment he repeated for the second time “you have to be very careful not to break the glasses or damage these chairs dating from the 60s”. I am dealing with a perfectionist and maniac
When two perfectionists meet, there is always one who feels uncomfortable, since he is less perfectionist than the other (and in this case, it’s me). He stressed me out right away by making me understand that all the furniture in this airbnb was art, or custom made… and if I break something, I can also break my PEL
All this made me realize how tiring this desire for perfection can be. By wanting to create a perfect and artistic airbnb, he also adds too many fragile, breakable => unusable elements. While I would have been very happy with a furnished IKEA airbnb
In my former life, I was often a perfectionist and demanding, without always being justified. This made me realize that I had to work either with clients who were as demanding as I was (no more, no less, or someone would be unhappy with that), or I would have to lower my level of demand on myself and others when it came to things that were of little importance and little impact on my personal happiness. For the most important thing is that it is done
Part 2: Practical Tips
Budget
- Transportation
- Plane : from Marseille => Ryanair with hold luggage : 80€
- Airport => City center by bus (line EA) : 4€
- Bus (not really necessary because the city is very easy to visit on foot)
- Rechargeable card: Tarjeta multiviaje 1,5€
- Mandatory refill for 10 trips: 7€
- Airbnb: for a long time like us, it costs 40€/night/2 people. Otherwise it is necessary to count minimum 60€/night
- Visit
- Palacio de las Duenas: 9€/person + 2€ for the audioguide (not obligatory)
- Food
- between 2,5€ and 4€ per tapas
- Count between 17€ and 24€/meal/two people
