Seville, Spain in Pictures!

This post has been a long time coming! In my defense, I've hopped back on the fit-train this past couple of weeks and between gym and errand time, I haven't had a lot of extra blogging time. So without further ado, my pictures from Spain!

Tapas menu outside one of the many, delish tapas bars. We seriously ate our weight in tapas while in Seville.

Cute little cafes  were all over the city. So were these oranges. As a side note, these oranges aren't really eaten. They are made into cat food, medicine and sent to England to be made into marmalade.

There were gorgeous parks in Seville with lots of trees, tiles and oranges. I loved how beautiful this fountain full of oranges was.

Another shot of one of the parks. Such a beautiful place to relax.

This was some sort of statue down by the river. I'm not sure the significance of it, or what it is even supposed to represent.

This is one of the two main markets in Seville. This one was not as busy as the other, but the outside was very pretty.

This is inside the other market (Triana market) These are all legs of ham. A common sight in Spain.

I love the markets in Spain. We got some fresh (cheap) strawberries that were sooo good.

Waiting on our tapas and sipping some sangria.

When we travel, I'm always on the lookout for cool doors or doorknobs. These did not disappoint!



Seville was full of these close alleyways and back corridors. I loved the asthetics of this one.

Paella! Something you have to try if you go to Spain. Or so everyone says...



More oranges along the walk to the park. I told you these things were everywhere!

The above two pictures are from the flamenco show we attended. It was called Casa de la Memoria de Al-Andalus. It was a smaller, more intimate flamenco show and it was amazing. Totally not what I expected. Sean and I got lucky and got to sit on the first row and the tickets were way cheaper than any other flamenco show in town. I highly recommend it.

This building is VERY photographed and is on one of the main pedestrian streets in Seville. It looked so pretty at night, that I couldn't resist twenty, a few pictures.

This is the cathedral in Seville. It *apparently* holds the remains of Christopher Columbus and is the third largest church in Europe. Sean and I planned on seeing the cathedral, but were foiled by poor planning. The first we were there we ran out of time, the second day it was closing earlier than normal so we missed out on it then and the third day it was closed for a celebration. Can I just say I was super sad that I didn't get to see Christopher Columbus' bones?

This is one of the inner courtyards of the Real Alcazar. First built by Moors and later added on by later monarchs, it is an amazing sight to see in Seville. It was probably my favorite thing in Seville, as I LOVE Moorish-style architecture. I think it's so beautiful.

Some inner rooms in the Real Alcazar

Tiles inside the Alcazar

One of my favorite parts of the Alcazar were the many peacocks in the gardens. I love peacocks!

This was one of Sean and I's favorite tapas. It's jamon and bread with quail eggs on top. Delish!

This is part of the Plaza de Espana, which was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American exposition of 1929. There are tiles all over the plaza, depicting different cities all over Spain. It is a beautiful, beautiful place.

Another view of Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana at night. One of my favorite pics from the whole trip.



This was taken at the fountains at Plaza de America. I beautiful spot that I found on Flickr and knew I had to take some photos there as well.

Fountains at Plaza de America at sunset

Plaza de America. Loving those palm trees!

I have a ton of pictures of Seville, so if you'd like to see more, email me and I'll send you the link to my Facebook album.

And...just as an FYI...some of these pictures are already on my Etsy shop for sale, so if you see anything you like and want to buy it, let me know!

Barcelona: Pics and Commentary

Our second stop in Spain was to Barcelona. A few of my friends who had been there raved about it, but to be honest, I didn't like it as much as I liked Madrid. Don't get me wrong, it was still an interesting city with great food and lots to see, it just wasn't my favorite Spanish city. For one the smog was crazy. I haven't seen smog like that since I last went to Los Angeles.

The accommodations we stayed at in Barcelona were probably my second favorite of our trip. I found this place on bedandbreakfast.com and it's called Padilla Guest House. It was basically an apartment with about 5 different rooms, two bathrooms and a large kitchen. The kitchen was stocked with breakfast items and although the guesthouse was located farther to the north of the main tourist part, we were still only a couple of blocks from Sagrada Familia and the metro was two streets away. We also had a great variety of grocery stores and restaurants to chose from, but we found a tapas place that we loved so much that we went there every night we were in Barcelona.



This is Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi. It was started in 1882 and by the time Gaudi died in 1926, it wasn't even a quarter of the way finished. It's still not finished and they think it will be another 25 years before it is. It's amazing to look at, both inside and out.



Here is some of the detail on the Nativity facade side of the church



This is the inside of the church. I thought it was beautiful, one of the prettiest churches I've been in. However, I'm one of those people that doesn't like a lot of gold and gaudy stuff in churches, so others might not agree with me.

The first full day we were there we walked down Las Ramblas, checked out La Boqueria market and then walked around the harbor. The market was my favorite part, mainly because I love seeing all the different varities of fresh produce, meats, snacks and flowers. The only downside to the market was a gypsy tried to get in my bag while we were sitting down eating lunch, but she didn't end up getting anything and I was surprised how concerned the waitstaff was. They kept asking me if I was ok and if she took anything.



Fresh seafood at the market



This picture is too gross not to share. There were several meat booths in the market that had all kinds of body parts. Tongues, brains, livers and these delightful sheep heads with the eyes still in. Ew.



This is down by the waterfront. I'm not sure the signifigance of these two, but I found them interesting.



Parc Guell was the only other Gaudi sight we actually went into, we stopped by Casa Mila, but I didn't go inside as I found the admission price to be a bit high. Anyway, the park was very fun to walk through, it was originally planned to be a gated type community for the wealthy, but at the time none of the women wanted to move out there. So it's now a park and an interesting one at that. It had some great views of Barcelona.



This was a quieter area of the park and I just happened upon this guy with his guitar.



A church we passed in our travels around Barcelona



On our last day in Barcelona we went up to Montjuic for some views of the city and to see the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 games. They now use the stadium for soccer games, but it was still interesting to see what was leftover from the games. The tower in the picture was built for the 1992 games to transmit the coverage and is supposed to symbolize an athlete holding the Olympic Torch.



I saw this sign several times while we were in Barcelona and I couldn't help but laugh. Because every dog poops a small triangle. Right?



Loved this fountain on Montjuic



The top of Casa Mila, with the infamous statues.



I can't do a post and not include some delish food. These are polpitos (octopus) and they were phenomenal. We had them twice in Barcelona, plus a plate of Manchego cheese, jamon, patatas bravas, anchovies and grilled mushrooms. All fantastic. I really miss tapas.

Madrid: Pics and Commentary

Let me start off by saying that Madrid was Sean and I's favorite city that we stopped at. In fact, Spain in general was just awesome. The food was amazing, it was probably the cheapest western European country we've visited and we had pleasant weather while we were there. Our flight from Amsterdam was delayed a few hours, but we still made it in plenty of time to enjoy a good 1.5 days there.



One of the first things we did after checking into our hostel, was to get some lunch. I had a calamari sandwich and Sean had a tortilla espanola sandwich. Both sandwiches were delish, but Sean's was my favorite.

I really don't have much to say about where we stayed. It was a hostel (Las Musas Residence) but it wasn't anything special. The location of it was nice, but I found the beds incredibly hard and noisy (we had bunkbeds). The breakfast was also less than stellar. I don't think if I'm ever in Madrid that I'd stay here again.



This is standing in Puerta del Sol looking at the Tio Pepe billboard (the only billboard that is allowed in the square)



After we walked around Puerta del Sol and the surrounding area, we decided to try our hand at tapas. Boy am I glad we did! I could probably live off tapas because there are so many choices and they are simply cooked and delicious! The above picture is pigs' ears with some spices and oils. I think they're fried, but don't quote me on that. I found them to be pretty tasty, similiar to bacon, but with some cartilage.



These are Pimentos de padron. Grilled jalapenos with salt, spices and oil. They were very, very tasty!



These covers have the official seal of Madrid on them: a bear with a Juniper tree.



An early morning, more expansive view of Puerta del Sol.



I loved these street signs with pictures on them. From what I understand, the pictures come from when back in the day when many people were illiterate and couldn't read the names, so they put pictures on the signs to help them.



This is Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol. It is now a post office, but I believe when Franco was in power, his political prisoners were kept there.



There is a convent here where nuns make cookies/other sweets and sell them throughout the week. We came by on a Sunday when they are obviously closed (as the sign says) and we meant to come back the next day to get some, but forgot. I was so disappointed!



This is supposedly the oldest door in Madrid. How they know this, I have no idea, but it does indeed look quite ancient!



This is the Royal Palace of Madrid. You can go in and tour it, but we chose not to. For one, it was a bit pricier than we wanted to spend. Also, I've been in one palace and I got bored just looking at room after room after awhile. Besides Versailles, I'm not sure I'm really that interested in seeing another palace.



I liked this sign, just because it was eye-catching and it also has the last name of one of my friends on it.



We had a simple, but delish meal in the Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham) There are several of these in Madrid and we wanted to try it out. We got two sandwiches, a plate of cheese and water for about 6 Euro. The ham in Spain is amazing, I think I almost like it better than prosciutto.



Blue roses at this huge antique market near our hostel. Seriously, it was massive. It had a huge number of stalls and a large crowd of people. I wanted to buy some old bullfighting posters, but again...no space in the suitcase.



This camera was at the antique market. I'm not sure I've ever seen one of these for sale. Would have been awesome for my collection!



The street performers in Spain were by far the best I've ever seen. I still have no idea how this guy was hanging out like this.

While we were in Madrid, we checked out the Prado Museum which was on my "must-see" list. I was not disappointed. We happened to catch it when it was free, but of course the trade-off was that it was very crowded. I still was able to see some great works of art and really enjoyed the collection they had there. If you go to Madrid and you love art, I really recommend you checking it out.



If you ever go to Spain, get the churros and hot chocolate. You will NOT regret it!