I fall in love with every city I visit. It feels impossible not to: there’s a siren song that pulls me in inexplicably, inevitably, and suddenly I find myself head over heels. Sometimes it’s the people, or the food, or the way of life, and sometimes it’s the complete departure from what I’m used to and familiar with. Sometimes it’s all of the above.
Seville proved to be no different. Through awkward fumblings of saying “obrigada” instead of “gracias” (this is Spain after all), the charming, historic spanish town won me over through and through. Not only is there THE cathedral (took over 108 years to build, record time for a building that size), there was the Real Alcazar which is the oldest European royal residence used today and is a UNESCO world heritage site. You could spend hours and hours getting lost in the history, architecture and the stories that every room could tell. Everything was old, or had the air of witnessing history even our Airbnb. It was such a gorgeous building with its own quirks, including the circuit breaker being thrown if more than 4 things were plugged in at once. I am thankful I was taught how to reset it.
I could spend an entire entry talking about the food alone. I know I have already waxed poetic on food culture in Portugal, but it truly has spoke to me on such a deep level, and it was no different in Spain, if not even more emphasized. Everything feels relaxed. Meals are at a slow clip in every aspect, including the times you eat. It is common for dinner to start at 8:30 pm and last until 11, and the traditional way of eating is called Tapas (small plates). My love of Tapas stemmed from New Years Eve at 43 Autumn Lane, where my family would make Spanish inspired plates to share, so it felt even more meaningful to be in Seville and sit at those tables and experience those meals first hand. I only hope that my parents can do the same, because I was thinking of them in every bite I had.
Seville was also such a cool experience because we were there for one of their World Cup matches where they beat Belgium, and we got to watch it at a (shocker) Irish pub! I still seem to find my people (the Irish) no matter where I travel.
I also have learned that travel has taught me so much about other people, how they were raised and what is a priority when exploring new places. There were 8 of us in Seville, and because we were a big group, it is hard to do every single thing that everyone wants and planning can be a lot with so many people. Luckily the immediate city of Seville is very easy to navigate and splitting up was not a huge deal.
My friend Ryan pointed out that Seville looked very similar to cities in Mexico, and then he corrected and was like “oh well i guess it would be the other way around since Spain conquered Mexican territory.” The history of Spain’s world domination was evident everywhere, and it was almost off putting how proud and aware of their history and part they played in colonization. I got to see (what I assume) is Christopher Columbus’ remains in the Cathedral of Seville, honored, revered, and on display. We went to the Archives, where meticulous records of land, resources, and supplies in every country Spain colonized were out for observation. I have lived in and visited countries who have conquered most of the world… Just interesting food for thought. I also am in no way encouraging the denial of world history, it was more interesting to see how Spain approached it with passive observation (at least from what I saw) as if it was just a fact of their existence and not in some circumstances, ridiculous crimes against humanity.
I guess thats part of the difference between a vacation and traveling. I think when you take a vacation, it is easier to accept the beautiful polished versions of the places you see, and do all the touristy things, without necessarily evaluating things beyond the surface, or ask about the context, or the why. And that is ok! I think part of what makes travel so beautiful is that you can love a city despite its flaws, recognize the disparity, learn the history and still envision a life for yourself in that place just the same. Neither is right or wrong or good or bad, I think the lovely thing about traveling is that you get out of it what you put in and want to experience. How awesome is that.
Enjoy some photos!
