After Barcelona, I flew straight to Sevilla, the southern part of Spain.
Many friends who I met from Burningman last year lives in Sevilla. I heard of so many wonderful stories about this magical place that I knew I had to visit it. So I did after an hour or so cheap flight through a budget airline called Vueling. I booked it using dohop.com. This website usually include European budget airlines in their search results. It never disappoints.
Gladly my close friend was willing to let me stay in one of the extra rooms in his apartment. His place was fortunately located in the center of everything, right in downtown. So my stay in Sevilla was situated before I even got there. Thank god!
I was told by many to not cab in Sevilla, because the cab drivers are known to rip off foreigners, which is pretty normal. However, once I got off the plane I went straight to the taxi drivers and negotiated a set rate beforehand so everything worked out pretty smoothly. From the airport into the center of Sevilla was only a 20-30 drive. I did it for about 25 Euros or so.
I remember the feelings I got when the cab driver reached the center of Sevilla and continued through the narrow streets filled with nothing but beautiful historic architecture. I felt physically and emotionally this incredible sense of excitement, romance, and comfort just by looking at my surroundings. It was a warm night and there were plenty of folks sitting outside of tapas restaurants/bars just chatting it up with a beer or wine in their hands. Some times I would hear people singing in groups for fun and others were playing flamenco style guitar songs. It was amazing. I knew from the 1st day that visiting Seville was an excellent decision.
SEMANA SANTA (HOLIDAY)-While I was in Sevilla for 2.5 weeks, I happened to be there during a big holiday called Semana Santa. A hugeeee ol’ celebration of Easter pretty much. Everyone dresses up for this full week. You’ll see big religious floats being carried by 30 or so men through the crampy streets almost all hours of the day throughout an entire week. These religious floats are beautiful as they usually have a statue of Christ a lot of the times decorated with candles and flowers. The streets are CROWDED almost all of the time around the center of Sevilla. Overall, it was an incredible and deep experience to be able to be a part of something so special and new to me. Spiritual experience.
TRANSITION (HIPPIE/RAVE/TRANCE FESTIVAL)-This fest took place about 30 mins outside of Seville in the woods. It’s basically a mini-burningman but in Spain. I danced my ass off with my friend and his friends then some strangers to techno, trance, psychedelic trance, EDM, just to about every genre available. There were a bunch of folks camping there, plenty of hammocks around, camp fires, great organic food, and a lot of folks with dreadlocks 😀 After being there for 4 hrs just pure dancing, I got tired and decided to explore the woods away from the fest. My friend and I ended up running through the short trees into the woods like little kids and surprisingly found 2 hand drums. Immediately, we started drumming while the sun was setting. Ohhhh how beautiful the moment was! It was perfect. I had so much fun at this event and would recommend anyone to go!
WALKING TOUR-I had 2.5 weeks to explore Sevilla and that was a perfect amount of time to see almost all of what this city has to offer. I stumbled across these places: Alcazar, Plaza de Espana, Barrio Santa Cruz, Giralda Tower, Seville Cathedral, Flamenco Show, Archaeological Ensemble of Italica, Triana, etc. Luckily, I had a friend who’s a native to show me around town. These places can also be found on tripadvisor. You must visit these places because then you’ll come to realize Sevilla’s style, especially architecture was influenced by the muslims, jewish, and romans back then. Sevilla is very different from the rest of Spain and it’s worth exploring.
FOOD-The tapas and their ice cream shops are to die for. The food there is very affordable. For example, I remember a typical tapas dish is usually around 6 Euros, not bad at all. And if you plan to go grocery, you can even save way more money. Quite honestly, I think I broke my bank dropping by the ice cream shops twice every day for 2 weeks, it’s just too damn good to not do that. Funny thing is, I was lactose intolerant before I went to Seville, but now my body can actually tolerate lactose. Ice cream cured me lol. I don’t remember the names of my favorite restaurants but in any case where ever you are, please try these types of dishes:
1. HAM (big deal in Spain)
2. Fried pork cooked in whiskey, garlic, salt
3. Octopus cooked in olive oil, cheese, paprika, salt
4. Steak (like a Spanish version of filet mignon)
Keep these in mind though: Condiments like bread sticks will cost you extra at any restaurant, not free. A lot of restaurants close in the afternoon usually between 2-5pm (plan to bring your own food or starve until restaurant opens).
PARTY SCENE-There are plenty of night clubs but I didn’t really go to any. I was already enjoying the tapas and just chilling outside with my friends, didn’t really feel a need to rage.
GO ROLLERBLADING-can’t do this in the center but if you walk several blocks outside of the center you can rollerblade along the river and bridges. Many folks do this.
MUSIC-Seville is one the most musical cities I have ever been to. Flamenco is all over the place. It seemed like everyone were very comfortable with themselves and loved to express that side through the guitar. I also went to some jazz shows near the Alameda Center and it was perfect.
Everything I experienced in Sevilla was unforgettable. The people are very friendly and extremely good looking, the weather is great, the city is beautiful, just everything was good. I want to go back…. 🙂
Traveling Photographer 