Splendid Sevilla

Seville is a city of immense beauty and grandeur. Once the center of the Spanish Empire and of Europe, it is a sight to behold. It was my first travel within Spain and certainly worth it.

One of the prettiest views of the tower

I stayed at the Oasis Hostel Sevilla, part of a chain of hostels located in Granada, Málaga, Toledo and Lisbon.  The facilities are perfect for travelers and at 10 euros a night, nothing can beat it (that is unless you don't mind sharing the room with 10 people from all kinds of backgrounds). 

Organ pipes of the Seville Cathedral

On the Saturday we went and saw the Cathedral.  It is an enormous structure with pillars around 9 square meters in size and an impressive organ pipe almost reaching the ceiling.  What bothered me was the darkness within the church.  There were only a handful of windows that could scarcely have assisted Father Carlos in his readings! Jokes aside, it is certainly worth a visit, especially to climb the Arab built tower providing a fantastic 360° view of the city.

View from the tower of Canal de Alfonso XIII

A little later we went on a walking tour organized through the hostel.  It was free with the guides depending on the good will of their listeners. Taking a risk, we opted for the Spanish tour which was very good and I understood nearly everything. However, the guide enjoyed poking fun at people’s nationalities, especially if they were German (since I was the only German I had to take a lot of crap).  The best example being when he asked me to count how many circles there were on a wall.  I counted them but as soon as I told him how many he turned and continued the tour! All was in good nature and I did give him a tip (de Alemaña, I said).

The tour guide, Edu

In the evening we went for a flamenco show which was absolutely fantastic.  I must say that I was very impressed with how rich, and how many elements the dance, or rather the culture, had. All of them; the dancers, the guitarist, the singer all put so much passion and emotion into their performances that they really captured their audience.  The guitarist was exceptionally good and struck out one beautiful tune after another.

L to R: Dancer, dancer, singer, guitarist

Entrance to the Alcazaba

On the Sunday we went to the Alcazaba, an old Moorish fort used by every subsequent occupier of Seville.  It is very pretty, and well restored.  It is perhaps not as large or as overwhelming as the Mezquita or the Alhambra yet a very interesting look into the history of Seville which intrigued me very much. Since we were lucky to have nice weather on the Sunday, a coffee in the gardens was an apt solution to rest our legs.

View towards the gardens of the Alcazaba

All in all, I really enjoyed this city for its architectural beauty, its history, the tapas and the great company I was with :) 

Click here to view all of my photos from the trip.