Everyday life in Sevilla was wonderful. How could we NOT love living in the land where the Siesta was invented?! What I didn’t realize before moving to Spain, however, is that the Siesta isn’t widely used for sleeping. Instead, between the hours of about 2 and 5pm, most people close down their businesses and use it as a time to eat, drink, and enjoy the company of loved ones. What a wonderful part of Spanish culture – I can definitely get behind the hang-out-with-loved-ones-everyday thing! It was fun to see big multi-generational families hanging out in the January sunshine, sipping beers on the piazza while the kids ran around playing. Why can’t we do that in the US in the middle of the day on a Thursday?!

The typical scene in a neighborhood piazza on a warm sunny afternoon.

Things that surprised us in Spain:

• No one works at coffee shops. Ever. It’s downright impossible to find a place to hunker down with your laptop to do a couple hours of work while sipping on a latte. We were spoiled in Chiang Mai.
• It is acceptable to do shots of vodka before noon at your local neighborhood cafe, provided that you accompany it with a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.
• Almost all businesses (except tourist-oriented ones) are closed on Sundays. Even major grocery store chains.
• The coffee in Spain was SO disappointing. No bueno. We were spoiled in Chiang Mai. (Noticing a theme?)
• Clothing is remarkably cheap compared to the US. Kevin bought a high-quality lightweight duck down jacket for just $40!
• Alcohol is incredibly cheap! Delicious bottles of temperanillo can be had for just 2 euro. A glass of Vino Tinto de la Casa (House red wine) at a restaurant will usually run you just 1 euro! Beers at the grocery store are usually south of a Euro, but are not delicious in any way shape or form. And a love affair with Spanish Wines was born…

So what was daily life like for us in Sevilla? Read on for info on where we lived, what we ate, and what we did with ourselves all day.

Where did we live?

Our Airbnb Rental Apartment

Sevilla was our first venture into rent-an-apartment-blindly-on-Airbnb-for-a-month-without-seeing-it-first world. We were a little nervous because Airbnb can be a bit hit-or-miss; we’ve definitely had some interesting experiences in the past…

In Amsterdam in 2012 we accidentally booked a place at the end of a dark alleyway, located next to a halfway house, and which had dirty sheets and a gross bathroom. There was also the Singapore Chinatown debacle of 2014 where we stayed in a room that was more prison-cell than chic-hotel and shared a teeny tiny bathroom with 12 other people.

Sometimes interesting Airbnb experiences are great, though. We rented a private room in Koblenz, Gemany in 2012 from a fantastic couple. Our hosts Michael and Henrik came to breakfast on our last morning wearing their leiderhosen outfits! It. Was. Amazing. We really loved having them as hosts, though we never did figure out how to use their bathtub/shower…

In spite of the risks, we think month-long rentals on Airbnb are definitely the way to go, because they can be waaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than hotels and hostels. The downside is that you’re completely locked in to the apartment once you hit that “book” button. The “long term” refund policy is enforced on all Airbnb rentals that are 4 weeks or longer, which means there’s no way to back out of a 1-month without losing at least 4 weeks worth of money. So it’s important to choose wisely!

We really lucked out this time in Sevilla. I was able to negotiate our monthly rate down even further from what was on the Airbnb site – we saved over 150 euros this way! Our apartment was extremely comfortable, had a great kitchen which we used a LOT, and was in a wonderful neighborhood.

We stayed at our Airbnb for 30 nights for €697 (about $800 USD at the time), which works out to a little under $27/night. Curious what $800/month gets you in Sevilla, Spain? Here’s a video tour of our apartment:

The Neighborhood

We were a 15-minute walk North of the tourist hotbed. This is PERFECT when you’re staying somewhere for a month. No one should stay in the epicenter of the tourist zone for more than a week because things are more expensive, and it insulates you from a lot of the best cultural experiences. For example, outside the tourist area, it’s not as common for restaurants to have English menus, but I 100% guarantee you that the food is better! Also, I am thrown into an anti-tourist rage when people are constantly bumping me with their selfie sticks. Here are a few snapshots of the neighborhood we called home:

We were just down the street from a quaint little church.

Another nearby square in Sevilla, with the new-ish “Mushroom” sculpture.

Balconies in Sevilla are all overflowing with flowers and succulents!

Here’s Kevin at the Lidl Supermercado, our grocery store of choice. Kevin’s doing what he always does, seeking out each country’s best rated and best value beers!

Sure, these old brick streets are adorable, but we averaged 2.3 ankle sprains per week.

A remaining Part of Sevilla’s old fortified wall. What we’ve come to call “old-ass ruins” are a part of daily life in Europe.

Here’s a palm tree near Basilica de la Macarena, about a 5-minute walk north of our Apartment. A palm tree. Near our home. I never thought I’d say that!

Apartment Downsides

The TV in our apartment was no spring chicken, so it didn’t have an HDMI input. That means that we had to watch this year’s Super Bowl on Kevin’s tiny Macbook pro monitor! It was sad to watch it that way (made even sadder by the last play of the game – BOOOO) but we made due.

We went on an overnight internet blackout since the game started at 12:30am in Spain, and watched it in the morning the next day.

Nothing says Superbowl like 9AM beers, AMIRITE?!

We had some Spanish-inspired snacks. Chorizo and Manchego Cheese stuffed mushrooms (it doesn’t get much more Spanish than that):

I also made cheese straws, but I don’t have a rolling pin so I rolled them out with a coffee mug. Airbnb is turning me into Macguyver in the kitchen.

What did we eat in Sevilla?

One word: Chorizo. We’ve learned a lot about grocery shopping since we left the US in April 2014. First of all, everyone will look at you like you’re a lunatic if you ask where the Grocery Store is. The rest of the world calls it a Supermarket. Secondly, the rest of the world doesn’t tend to stock as many non-local products. In Spain, you’ll never find a store stocking fruits from South America like we do in the US. Heck, you’d be hard pressed even to find imported Italian Sausage or cheeses from Switzerland. People just tend to eat a lot more locally. So we did as the locals did, and used Chorizo in nearly all of the meals we cooked at home.

Also, oranges in Spain are SO cheap. The going rate seems to be 5 kg for just 2 euros, that’s just $0.20 USD per pound! So this was the typical scene in our kitchen:

So many orange! Also, delicious red wine! Temperanillo, YUM.

Info on Spain’s Ham Culture

Spaniards are absolutely fanatical about pork! We ate so much cured meat during our time in Sevilla that I was afraid I might be slowly pickling myself with salt. All over Sevilla, you’ll find charcuterie shops like these, selling different forms of cured pork:

A typical cured meat shop in Sevilla.

Nice legs.

There are even cured meat VENDING MACHINES on the streets here!

Now that I’ve talked pork culture, I should tell you about some of our favorite restaurants in Sevilla. In somewhat random order, here are the best places we visited:

Best Tapas Everrrrrr: Eslava Tapas Bar

After eating at a few tapas bars, you start to realize that everyone’s dishing out mostly the same thing: heavy meats, cheeses, and breads. You start to long for something different and out of the ordinary, maybe something other than sausage and pulled pork. Eslava fills that void perfectly! Without being ridiculously expensive, they serve up artful, delicious tapas that even the biggest foodie in the world would love. They were hand down the BEST tapas we tasted in Spain. If you visit Sevilla without eating at Eslava, you are making a huge mistake.

Pro tip: tapas are served in the bar area only. Check out their location and current hours here, and arrive a bit on the early side to avoid crowds.

Best Tapas Atmosphere: Bodega E. Morales

Bodega E. Morales serves tapas in a back room full of giant Adobe jugs, and their food is both reliably delicious and cheap! Pick your tapas from the chalk board (check out the sign just over Kevin’s left shoulder in the photo below); most tapas are 2-3 euros.

Most Hipster: El Pespunte

Aside from feeling like we had totally teleported to a hip bar in Portland, El Pespunte had the most delicious cured meats we found in Sevilla. They also had a delicious house white wine.

Unanimously Best Wine Ever: Bodeguita Antonio Romero

We’ve all heard of “Love at first Sight”. In Sevilla, Kevin, our visiting guest Greg, and I discovered a new phenomenon called “Love at first Sip”. The house red they were serving the day we visited Bodeguita Antonio Romero was the lovely beauty pictured below. This wine from Northern Spain was the perfect red, with a perfect vanilla finish. We looked all over Sevilla to try to find a whole bottle; eight grocery stores and two specialty wine shops later, we were still empty handed. Word on the street is that you can indeed find it in Seattle for a somewhat hefty price. It’s also served at Eslava Tapas Bar in Sevilla.

Best Wine of my life. If you see this anywhere in Sevilla, buy it. Now!

The tapas were so good I forgot to take a photo. I highly recommend the Montaditos (tiny sandwiches) at this spot.

The Only Spot with Authentic Paella: The Calle Feria Sunday Market

Upon arriving in Sevilla, we were sad to realize that paella is mostly a Southeast spain thing, much more common in the Valencia region than it is here in Andalusia. Being the stubborn food lovers we are, we were determined to find a good plate of Paella in Sevilla. Many touristy restaurants do serve it, but after a disappointing experience which involved previously-frozen-then-microwaved Paella, we were discouraged.

That’s when we discovered the Calle Feria Sunday Food Market! This is probably the only place in Sevilla where you can get a small plate of fresh Paella. For just 3 euros, you get a plate AND a beverage. We didn’t realize it would come with wine, so we ended up having a few unplanned glasses of Vino Tinto before our afternoon 6-mile run. That wasn’t very fun, but boy was it tasty!

The Calle Feria Sunday Food Court. Heaven on Earth. Front and center here is the Paella guy.

TIPS: Arrive right at 2pm on Sunday afternoon and wait for the Paella to be ready. It sells out lightning fast, so you need to be on time. The market is located here, and the food court area is in the backside furthest from Calle Feria. Buy your tapas tickets from the cashier (he’ll also give you your beverage of choice), then give the ticket to the food booth to get your food. On sunny days, there is usually live music!

What did we do all day?

We had to shift our schedule drastically in Spain. GONE are the days of being in bed by 9pm, asleep by 10pm, and up by 7am. In Spain, things happen later in the day. Lunch is never before 2pm and dinner is never before 8pm. To think I used to eat lunch at 11am in Seattle! Madness. We started going to bed at midnight and sleeping until at least 8am. It was a wild ride.

A typical day in Spain went something like this:

• 08:30 – Wake up, have coffee
• 10:00 – Breakfast
• 12:00 – Go for a walk
• 14:00 – Have lunch
• 16:00 – Run a few miles on Sevilla’s great riverside bike path
• 17:00 – Snack (because WHO in their right mind can last from 2pm to 8pm without a snack?!)
• 20:00 – Cook and eat dinner, drink some Vino.
• 24:00 – Bed time. Listen for the regular guy who walks past our window playing flamenco music on his guitar.

Most of our remaining time was filled with working. Right now, “work” for us is studying, blogging, reading coding books, and getting ready for interviews. We sprinkled in some sightseeing here and there, went on lots of walks, and spent some serious time people watching. If this is what retirement feels like, I am IN.

Ask anyone who has ever visited Sevilla what you MUST do while you’re there, and they’ll unquestionably tell you to go see a Flamenco show. For some people, this is THE reason to travel to Andalusia, and Flamenco in Sevilla is undoubtedly the best. With dozens of shows to choose from, there’s something to fit everyone’s tastes and budgets. Whether your’re looking for a big dinner-and-a-show production, a simple hour-long show, or are hoping some impromptu Flamenco will break out in a local bar, you can find it in Sevilla. In this post, I’ll tell you about the two ways we experienced Flamenco in Sevilla.

What in the World is Flamenco?

This is Flamenco:

Flamenco at La Casa Del Flamenco

This is not Flamenco:

This is a Flamingo, not Flamenco

Now that we have that straightened out, here’s a little more background. Flamenco is a music-and-dance art form, rooted in Roma and Moorish cultures. Most shows consist of a male and female dancer, a guitarist, and a man or woman singing. The outfits are beautiful, the footwork is amazing, and the guitar playing is spectacular.

What I didn’t expect, though, was the emotion that would radiate from the dancers. When you’re not gaping at the lightning fast legwork of the dancers, the passion and emotions they project fill the room and leave everyone in a state of breathlessness. I’m not kidding – the show left me breathless; I actually had to remind myself to breathe!

Because of its roots in Moorish cultures, Flamenco songs remind many people of the Muslim call to prayer. The Muslim culture that was part of Spain so long ago has really left its mark here – I think that’s one of my favorite things about Spain. It really sets it apart from the rest of Europe and creates such a unique culture. Flamenco is an important part of that culture, and is something that is not to be missed!

Impromptu Flamenco at La Carbonería Bar

We visited La Carbonería Bar a few different times while we were in Sevilla in hopes of catching some impromptu Flamenco. Based on the somewhat chilly welcome tourists receive at La Carbonería, I don’t think the bar employees are very happy that they’ve started showing up in guidebooks. If you stop in and ask about Flamenco, they’ll undoubtedly tell you it’s not going to happen. But if you come in on a Friday or Saturday night at about 10pm, grab a big pitcher of Sangria (a whole Liter is just 9 euros!), and hunker down in the corner, you might just luck out and get to enjoy some music.

(Sidenote: I’m sorry these photos are so terrible. I didn’t to be “that” tourist running around to get a better angle on the photos. I love you, readers, but I try to avoid giving a bad name to tourists when possible.)

A Flamenco Guitarist and Singer at La Carbonería.

We enjoyed listening to a guitarist and singer from about 10-10:30pm. But at 11pm, things really got going! The musicians started up again, and local women who had come to hang out in the bar took turns dancing. An older guy who uses a cane for walking even hopped up and showed off his dance moves. Luckily, the cane he was flinging around wildly didn’t put anyone’s eyes out. Any night of Impromptu Flamenco comes with inherent risks, right?

Impromptu Dancing at La Carbonería

Here’s a little video snippet I took during one of the songs. It helps give you an idea of what you might expect late at night at La Carbonería:

While this definitely wasn’t as awesome as a paid Flamenco show (half the fun of Flamenco is the costumes!), it’s a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night and get a taste of Flamenco, especially if you’re on a budget.

A Flamenco Show at La Casa Del Flamenco

We went to the excellent show at La Casa Del Flamenco. I can’t rave enough about this show! At 18 euros per ticket, it’s a little pricey but worth every penny! (PRO TIP: during the winter months, there will often be a gal near the Alcazar handing out flyers with a promo price of just 15 euros. Look for her!)

The Stage at La Casa Del Flamenco

La Casa has several different groups of four artists (two dancers, a guitarist and a singer) that alternate performances throughout the week, but I’m certain they’re all excellent. The male and female dancers at our show killed it – I can’t believe how fast their feet can move. I’m also pretty sure that the guitarist should be dubbed a guitar magician or something. The passion for their craft was very clear in their performance, and I loved every minute of the hour-long show.

Typically, La Casa Del Flamenco shows run each day at 7pm, with an additional show at 8:30pm every now and then, especially during high season. It’s a good idea to book tickets in advance, and show up at least 30 minutes before showtime to try to get one of the best seats in the house.

La Casa Del Flamenco

Perhaps the best thing about La Casa Del Flamenco is their tiny venue. With just three rows of chairs, there’s hardly a bad seat in the house. Still, everyone pays the same price, so if you can arrive early to snag a front row seat, you’ll find it’s worth it!

Sevilla’s Beautiful Plaza de España

Sevilla is an absolutely fantastic place to be based for a few weeks! In addition to its wonderful churches that I wrote about in my blog post last week, it is packed with other fun sights. Our three favorite Sights in Sevilla (coming in behind the Cathedral, of course!) were the Royal Alcázar (Sevilla’s Moorish Palace), the Plaza de España (a fun outdoor area where people relax and socialize), and the Bullring.

Royal Alcázar

The Entrance to the Alcazar – check out this line!

I’ll be honest, we mostly wanted to visit the Alcázar because some scenes for next Season Game of Thrones were just filmed there. In fact, filming wrapped up just a couple months before we arrived in Sevilla! Fellow Game of Thrones fans, keep your eyes peeled during Season 5 episodes set in Dorne’s Water Gardens. Those scenes are Sevilla’s Alcazar!

Gardens at the Alcazar

Even if you aren’t a huge Game of Thrones fan, the Alcazar will still knock your socks off. (I’m being very literal. I am literally wearing only one sock at this moment.) Between the beautiful gardens, the amazing history, and the opulently decorated rooms, you’ll find something to enjoy.

Look at the Roof! Amazing.

The Alcazar was originally a 10th century Moorish palace, and is the oldest palace in Europe that is still in use! The Alcazar feels a bit like a miniature version of the Granada’s more famous Alhambra, but along with less fame comes fewer crowds – music to my ears!

The Alcazar – LOVE this Courtyard.

The Alcazar

The Alcazar

Tourist Tip: The Alcazar has free entry every Monday for the last hour it’s open! (Hours vary between Winter and Summer, so be sure to check their website.) The line can get quite long for free-hour even in the Winter, so we recommend you arrive early if you’re planning to make that your only visit. If you love palaces, it’s worth it to just pay the full €9,50 to go in during non-free times. Otherwise, you might find yourself wishing you had more time to explore!

By far our favorite part of the Alcazar was the gardens:

There was a family of Peacocks!

Can you find Kevin? We got lost in the maze. It was a-MAZE-ing.

The Beautiful Alcazar Gardens!

Plaza de España

Plaza de España

I’m calling it. Plaza de España is the best place in Sevilla to catch a sunset. According to the travel books, it might also be the best place to be conned or pick pocketed in Sevilla, so bring your paranoia along with your picnic.

Check out this view! Perfect for sunset light.

The Plaza de España is a big square and ring of buildings that were built next to a cute Park for a 1929 international fair. There’s a big, beautiful fountain in the center of the square:

Plaza de España’s Fountain

Also, you can easily hire yourself a horse and carriage ride from here:

Carriage Rides at Plaza de España!

You can also rent a boat to paddle around the small man-made moat/river, or you can just climb the stairs, enjoy the sunset, and laugh at other tourists trying to paddle around. We watched a group of three ram their boat into the wall repeatedly. Sigh.

You know it’s photo-worthy when Kevin busts out his iPhone to take pictures!

The highlight for many at Plaza de España is the amazing tilework on the buildings.

Check out some of this tilework!

On the ground level, dozens of alcoves are covered in elaborate tilework scenes representing each of Spain’s many provinces. If you’re in Sevilla and it’s a nice sunny day, pack a picnic and head over to the Plaza de España to relax and people watch, you won’t be sorry.

Plaza de España is lined with lots of alcoves covered in Sevilla’s signature tilework.

Plaza de Toros (Bullring)

Sevilla’s Bullring

This was the last touristy outing we had in Sevilla, and man would we have missed out if we’d skipped it. It wasn’t bullfighting season in January when we were living in Sevilla, so there were no actual bullfights. To be honest, I’m not sure I would want to attend a bullfight now that I know the sequence of events of a bullfight that ultimately culminates in the bull’s bloody death. However, I didn’t have any problem visiting the ring itself and learning about bullfighting in their small museum.

Check out the brick seating – would you be able to sit through a 3-hour bullfight here?

The Plaza de Toros is the 2nd oldest bullring still in use today. It took 120 years to build, and was finished in 1881. It costs 7 euro to visit (though you can go for free on Mondays between 15:00 and 19:00). A paid visit to the Bullring comes with a guided tour of the ring itself, as well as the museum. Our guide was fabulous, spoke perfect English, and made lots of jokes. She showed us around the ring, took us through the Museum, told us all about the history of bullfighting, showed us the Bullring’s Chapel, and ended the tour at the horse and bull stables.

We loved the Bullring visit!

Quick note: this post is coming out of sequence. We left Sevilla almost 2 weeks ago, so I’m stepping up my posts to 2 per week until I get caught up. I’ll be posting on Tuesdays and Fridays for the next month or so.

Having grown up in the US, I’ve always had a negative attitude towards graffiti. In most US cities, graffiti is considered an eyesore and is unquestionably illegal and frowned upon. At best, a witty graffiti artist might give you a chuckle by tagging a building with a clever cartoon. At worst, it can be an indicator that you’re in a dangerous neighborhood. I was surprised at how different things are here in Spain – Graffiti in Sevilla is considered an art form!

We came to love the bike path along Sevilla’s beautiful Guadalquivir River, and grew especially fond of the graffiti that seems to cover every square inch of the walls that run along the path. From what I can find on the interwebs, graffiti is indeed illegal in Sevilla, but it seems that this particular law is generally ignored by the locals and unenforced by police. Whole families bring spray paint cans along with their picnics on Saturday afternoons so they can work on their latest graffiti projects.

I took my camera along with me one day when I went out for a run – here are a few of my favorite pieces of Graffiti in Sevilla.

Graffiti as Art

Does anyone remember what movie this one is from?

I love this one. I hereby call it “Brain Fart”.

What would a post about graffiti be without Walter White from Breaking Bad? Clearly American pop culture is alive and well here in Spain.

Amazing

Honestly, who can resist a purple woolly mammoth?

The eyes!!

This guy is Kevin’s favorite. Notice the hot dog on the left. Scroll down to read about Sevilla’s elusive Hot Dog Artist.

I love both of these – the guys at the bottom, and the totally random black and white cartoon on the top.

I thought this one was interesting.

Nice hair.

Maybe this one is making a statement about war that I’m not fully getting. I thought it was interesting.

Added this to the collection because it never failed to make me chuckle.

This one’s probably PG-13, but it had to be added because of the incredible detail.

Plain Jane Graffiti

Sevilla also has its fair share of just “vanilla” graffiti. Some if it is inspirational:

You are magic. This inspirational piece of graffiti greeted me every single time I went out for a run along the river!

Sometimes the plain Jane graffiti made me a little sad, because people defaced some of Sevilla’s amazing old doors. If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for giant, old doors. Shame on whoever decided to tag these ones:

Big Old Door #1

Big Old Door #2

Big Old Door #3

Big Old Door #4

The Attack of the Hot Dog Artist

Sometimes, graffiti is just hilarious. There is an elusive graffiti artist scampering all over Sevilla plastering it with HOT DOGS. Yes, hot dogs. Here is some of his/her work:

A classic example of your typical “hot dog” graffiti in Sevilla.

Once I started watching for it, I found hot dogs all over the city. Rarely would we go more than a day without spotting one in a new location. It was absurd, and amazing.

And here it is, the Pièce de Résistance, what I have dubbed the “Parade of Hot Dogs”, located by Sevilla’s River.

We Want to Hear From You!

I hope you enjoyed a quick tour of Sevilla’s fun graffiti. Have you visited a city where graffiti was a big part of the local culture? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Sevilla’s Gigantic Cathedral

I’m not sure how or why my obsession with old churches in Europe in began. Maybe I like old churches because I have the soul of a very old woman (this is a running joke between Kevin and I because of some of my more quirky tendencies). We’re not sure how else to explain my affection for TV shows like Matlock and Wheel of Fortune, or my deep desire to be asleep by 10pm.

To indulge my grandmotherly ways, we visited a handful of the Churches of Sevilla during our month living here. I strategically spaced them out to avoid giving Kevin church fatigue, which I believe is a real condition that can only be remedied by dark chocolate and red wine. (Thankfully, there is plenty of both of those things available here in Europe.) We visited Sevilla’s biggest and most famous church, the Cathedral, made a stop at the Church of the Savior which holds a much-revered statue of Christ, and we went to the Basilica de la Macarena, home of the Macarena statue that has ties to that annoying song that we’ve ALL danced to…

Cathedral & Bell Tower

Sevilla’s Cathedral is a beautiful monster of a building. In fact, it’s the third largest church in the world, coming in behind St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and St. Peter’s at the Vatican in Rome. Like so many of Spain’s churches, it was built on the site of an old Mosque that stood in this spot until the Spanish Reconquista roared through Spain, kicking out all the moors. When plans for the construction of this Cathedral began in 1401, builders announced their plan to build a cathedral so big that “anyone who sees it will take us for madmen.”

Inside the Sevilla Cathedral

And boy howdy, madmen they were. The sheer awesomeness of the Cathedral is tough to describe in a blog post, so you’ll have to go visit it yourself. It’s amazing just to be inside such a massive building, imagining the engineering feats it took to build a structure like this so many years ago.

The Altar adds to the wow factor of the Cathedral – it’s the largest altarpiece ever made. It definitely is blingy, ornamented with a ridiculous amount of gold leaf. It took three generations to complete, and tells the story of Jesus and Mary with 44 different carved scenes. It certainly does make you feel small!

The High Alter in Sevilla’s Cathedral

If all of that isn’t enough for you, Sevilla’s Cathedral also allegedly holds the remains of Christopher Columbus. Because his body was moved around so much after his death (it started in Valladolid, Spain, moved to Sevilla, then to the Dominican Republic, then to Cuba, then finally back to Sevilla, wow), some people doubt that the remains are actually his. A DNA test was performed to give “some evidence” to substantiate that the remains are indeed Christopher Columbus’. I’m not sure what percentage sure we are that it’s actually Columbus in there, but “some evidence” was good enough for me to be excited to see the tomb.

There is “some evidence” that this tomb contains Christopher Columbus’ remains.

Our favorite part was climbing the Giralda bell tower. The climb is made easy by the fact that there are hardly any stairs, just one long spiraling ramp! The tower was formerly the minaret of the mosque that previously stood here; the ramp was chosen instead of stairs so that someone could ride a donkey up to the top of the tower five times a day to give the Muslim call to prayer. The views from the top are absolutely beautiful, well worth the climb.

Giralda Bell Tower

If jewelry is your thing, the treasury is home of the world’s largest pearl!

The crown on the left holds the world’s largest pearl. It’s the body of the angel that is front and center.

Oh man, check out these organ pipes! Amazing!

Tourist Tips:

• It costs 9 euro to get in. This ticket includes admission to one of Sevilla’s other churches, the Church of the Savior (described below).
• It’s worth the effort to also visit the Cathedral during Mass (for free), when you can hear the organ played by the Cathedral’s talented organist. Check their website for updated times, but when we were in town, Mass was held every day except Saturday at 10am, with an additional 1pm Mass on Sundays. They shoo you out pretty quickly after mass, so we recommend also paying to visit. Otherwise you’ll miss most of the best sights!

Church of the Savior

Sevilla’s Church of the Savior

If you’re already planning to visit the Cathedral, it’s worth making a stop at the Church of the Savior since it’s included in the Cathedral ticket price. In fact, you can buy the 9 euro combo ticket here, which always has shorter lines.

The Church of the Savior is Sevilla’s 2nd biggest church, and is decorated in the Andalusian Baroque style. Baroque doesn’t exactly jive with my personal decorating tastes. It’s a bit, um, ornate for me. The cathedral was absolutely dripping with silver and gold leaf, and everything that could possibly be covered with ornate carvings was packed full of ‘em.

Why visit this cathedral? It’s a great chance to see one of the floats that is carried in each year’s Holy Week Parade.

The Holy Week Parade Float on display in the Church of the Savior.

It’s also home to the famous Christ of the Passion statue. Pilgrims and Worshippers come from near and far to pray here and kiss his heel.

The Famous Christ of the Passion Statue

Also, there is a statue of an angel with a sword and shield, standing on top of a DRAGON. A dragon! Clearly you must visit.

Angels and Dragons

Basilica de la Macarena

Sevilla’s Basilica de la Macarena

There is a rivalry in Sevilla unlike any others, the rivalry of the Virgin Marys. There are two top contenders, La Esperanza de Triana, who lives in the Church of Santa Ana, and Virgen de la Macarena, who lives in the Basilica de la Macarena. According to Rick Steves, it’s customary here upon meeting someone to ask which Virgin Mary they favor. I’m going to have to practice my Spanish skills a bit more before giving that a go so I don’t ask someone “who is your favorite virgin?” No bueno.

The revered Virgen de la Macarena

Now let me blow you away with another piece of trivia. The band that sings that catchy 1990s hit that we’ve ALL danced to, the song we all think we know the words to but totally don’t, is from Sevilla. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Los del Río band members were allegiant to the Virgen de la Macarena because of the name of their huge hit song, “The Macarena”.

Let me further blow your mind by linking you to the song’s music video. Since it was a hit before Youtube was born, I had never seen the music video! Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if watching this video causes you to get sucked into Youtube and waste hours watching 90’s music videos.

In all seriousness, this church is a fun visit since it’s free. It’s worthwhile if you combine it with a stroll on the nearby riverside walking path. However, I’m pretty sure I had more fun watching the Macarena music video than I did visiting the Basilica.

The interior of the Basilica de la Macarena

Tourist Tip: It’s free to visit the church (open daily 9:30-14:00 & 17:00-20:30), but costs 5 euro to visit the treasury, which holds some of the most impressive Holy Week Parade floats.

We Want to Hear From You!

What’s the most awesome church you’ve visited? Westminster Abbey in London? The Cathedral in Cologne, Germany? Let us know so we don’t miss it as we bounce around Europe!