Hola, PenPalz! Seville turned out to be the bucket-list destination we didn’t know was on our bucket-list. It was such an incredible city. While we were only there for 3 days, we could have spent weeks exploring the city! Seville had such an interesting mix of rich old historic sites, with cool, sleek modern vibes.
We actually arrived in Seville with every intention of only spending about 24 hours there, and then making our way to the town of Granada. However, after our first 3 hours there… we cancelled our hotel and shows in Granada and made plans to stay in Seville for the full 3 days.
We got really lucky with an awesome hotel in the city center with a rooftop bar/restaurant and a roof top pool! We thought the pool was supposed to be closed… but surprise… it was freezing cold, but it was open! We got tapas, sangria, coffee con leche, helado (ice cream), and at night wandered the newer architecture structure that was finished in 2011 the Setas de Sevilla (“Mushrooms of Seville“) or Las Setas (“The Mushrooms“).
On day 2, we had a bike tour through AirBNB booked. It was the highlight of our trip. We were on the bikes for 3 hours all over the city. I mean… how cool is this?!
After a little rest, pool time, we joined the busy nightlife for more ice cream, tapas and sangrias.
The hotel breakfast fueled us in the mornings, even if it was kinda cold and blah… but we of course found more coffee along the way. On Day 3 we walked around the famous Seville Cathedral where Christoper Columbus is buried. Then we explored the Real Alcazar- or in English-The Royal Palace- where Spanish kings to this day stay when they are visiting. The gardens and the grounds for the palace were just insane. The girls enjoyed the gardens, the cafe and the peacocks there! We’ve seen a lot of castles and beautiful articecture here in Sicily…. but everything in Seville was SO well taken care of… it was insane to see how well preserved and maintained it was!
With kids you can only do so many tours and sigh seeing spots… but if you ever go there without kids… you could spend weeks exploring the rich history of the city!
In the afternoon of day 3, it was recommended to us to go walk around and shop in the “cultural area” of Triana across the bridge. We were massively underwhelmed and honestly kinda disappointed. It was busy, yes, with some more tapas restaurants and bars… but we literally saw 2 ceramic shops and tons of pharmacies… and no “cool, hip, fun” shopping areas. Plus with the timing of the day everything was so busy we could not get a table anywhere to eat after walking miles and miles that day.
Luckily, the very last spot we ate at saved the day. We had the best meal probably of our entire lives. Plus… the service was incredible. We actually didn’t have great service at any restaurants in Seville until this place. It’s like everywhere was “too busy” to care. But here… the hostess made the girls comfortable, the server who i’m pretty sure was the manager helped us with the menu because we had no idea what we were looking at and our translators weren’t working on our phone… and he just totally took care of us. The girls had burgers with waygu, we had tuna and avocado, ceviche, spanish black rice, and salmon. Plus some of the best wine, ever!
After that… we made our way to a hotel close to the airport for an early checkout the next morning. We were all exhausted and had just enough time and energy for some baths and some hotel pizza before rocking out.
The Seville airport and car rentals were a breeze. It was a small airport, so very easy to navigate, and in nicer condition then the Catania one in Sicily, so it just felt very easy. Almost everyone in Spain in the airports and hotels spoke english, so it was just very easy. Plus if you have an American Express card (free for Military), you get access to the VIP lounges- and they are 100% worth it!
So, Penpalz, we collected the postcards and one box for one special surprise family from a little shop in Seville, and the girls really had fun making these cards for you! Tag us on Instagram when you receive them!