Had an amazing time in Spain with a friend the past couple of days. With this current trip, this would make Spain one of my most visited European countries, overtaking Paris now (not counting of course, Germany, which is practically my second home now). I'd been to Mallorca and Barcelona before, but this is the first time I'd actually made it to the capital. I took so many photos on this trip, so this post will probably have to be separated into several parts because I have no patience to write about the entire trip in one go. So here goes! Starting with the first day.
Day 1
This was an extremely eventful first day. We got on our plane and got to Madrid, easy peasy, no sweat. The plan was to take the train to Seville from Madrid because it was cheaper than flying there directly, and then coming back to explore the capital. We'd booked a Renfe train at 13:00, thinking we would have enough time to get to the train station from the airport, and we did. We also, however, made the mistake of thinking we had enough time for lunch before catching the train (we did not) and as a result, missed our train while we ran around like headless chickens trying to find the platform.
Thankfully, the Renfe customer service guy was a complete angel and managed to find places for us on a 18:00 train to Seville for only 15 euros more per person.
Train tips: Don't confuse the Metro in Madrid with the Cercanias trains! They're run by different train companies and the Metro ticket is not valid on the Cercanias trains. If you've bought a train ticket with Renfe, you can take the Cercanias trains straight to Atocha train station for free. All you have to do is look at your ticket in the section 'Combinadas', type that code into the Cercanias machines at the airport, and you get your free ticket inside the train. The Cercanias symbol looks a bit like an inverted 'C', that's how you differentiate it from the Metro.
Spanish countryside. Spot my reflection
By the time we got to Seville, it was already 21:00 and time for dinner. We went to an amazing bar/restaurant called Ovejas Negras, which translates to black sheep. Our airbnb host literally bleated to try to explain to us what that meant XD.
Really yummy Patatas Bravas here. We had more amazing food but I forgot to take photos. Don't worry though, we liked this place so much we came back another time so I have photos from then.
I signed us up for a walking tour with Pancho walking tours, so this is us waiting at a fountain near the Seville cathedral for the tour to start.
Funny story about this tower. Apparently it was built on the ruins of a Roman temple, and then this was followed by the Muslim architecture after the Moors conquered this side of Spain, and the the top of the Giralda tower reverts back to typical Christian architecture, with the bells and the figure on top.
I loved the mixture of Gothic architecture and the Mudejar style that you can see on the cathedral.
This plaque supposedly depicts a scene where the priest of the Cathedral tells off the traders for letting their horses poop all over the cathedral and tells them his putting up boundaries so the Cathedral doesn't smell like horse shit anymore.
Chillin' with ma homies.
Took a short detour through the tobacco house that Carmen (yes from that opera) was set in.
And I found a bunch of stray cats all chilling in the moat!
Plaza de Espana, where Star wars was filmed.
I, being the glutton I am, had three servings of tapas all to myself. I had the Pulpo de Gallega first (octopus Galician style).
My travelling buddy had the toast with Salmorejo(thick tomato puree), Iberian ham and fried quail's eggs.
If you're a big cheese fan, you'd like these. I forgot what they're called in Spanish, but they're fried cheese fritters with red pepper jam, and the cheese tastes like cottage cheese.
Forgot to take a picture before I started eating these but these mushroom croquettes were DABOMB.
Made a short photo-taking trip to Plaza de La Encarnacion to grab some pictures of the Metropol Parasol. It's a huge, wooden mushroom like structure and I'm not quite sure what the purpose of it is but it looks very cool and that's enough reason for me to take some pictures.
Headed inside the Seville Cathedral. Quick tip, if you're not very religious/not that keen on seeing Christopher Columbus' tomb, skip the paid part of the cathedral and just enter one of these free halls.
I mean, the inside of the cathedral is gorgeous of course, but you've seen one church in Europe, you've pretty much seen em all.
Headed to La Carboneria for some drinks and to catch a Flamenco show. Flamenco is native to the Andalusian region, so if you're here, you might as well catch a show! The Palos native to Seville is of course, the Sevillanas style. I tried to get some good shots, but it was way too fast to be caught on camera, so you're just going to have to take my word for it that the flamenco here is great.
Tip: La Carboneria is hidden away in a labyrinth of cobble-stoned alleyways, so make sure you have its location on google maps, or you're going to have a hard time finding it. They have affordable drinks, and the shows are every hour starting from 21:30. Get here early if you want a seat!
