About 2 weeks ago, my friend asked me if I wanted to take a weekend trip to Sevilla, Spain. Without hesitation, I said yes and I volunteered to plan everything including rides to/from Sevilla and a place to stay. I had mentioned to my host mother that I was going to Sevilla the following weekend and she told me that there was an annual fair every April and that it was probably the same weekend that we were planning to visit Sevilla! I looked on the internet and sure enough, La Feria de Sevilla was the same weekend we were going to visit! I was really excited to attend this event but also nervous that we would not be able to find a place to stay during this time since there would be so many tourists. I was determined to find a host from couchsurfing to host the two of us so we could have a local show us around town and also so we wouldn't have to pay to stay in a hostal, since the prices were much higher during the time of this big event. I asked two hosts, and one host named Alberto had approved my request on couchsurfing! I was really surprised that it was so easy to find a host, since I figured so many people would be trying to find a place to stay during La Feria. Apparently, I was the first to ask Alberto and after my request, he had received several more requests from other couch surfers asking to stay with him whom he had to reject.
I had planned rides to and from Sevilla via Blablacar. Blabla car is a car sharing website that you can find rides for cheaper than a train or bus. We met up with our ride, Irene, on Friday morning and she was with her friend. The drive to Sevilla was about 5 hours and we had some nice chats and napped a bit on the way up. When we finally arrived in Sevilla, we found the apartment of Alberto and dropped off our luggage at his flat. Alberto had just awakened and he was too tired to go explore with us since he was out partying the whole night before. By this time, it was about 1pm and the temperature was already pretty hot(about 80 degrees Fahrenheit). We set out to explore the beautiful city of Sevilla and find the main tourist attractions including the Cathedral, the Palace, and Plaza de España. We first walked through a beautiful garden and wondered around a bit. Then, we stopped and ate lunch and had some drinks at Cien Montaditos. After lunch, we set out to find Plaza de España. We walked around a University area thinking maybe it was the plaza. We quickly realized that was not the plaza and asked somebody where it was. We finally found the plaza and I was absolutely dumbfounded by this Plaza. This was the most magnificent Plaza I have seen thus far!! Plaza de España is located in the Parque de Maria Luisa and was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish Architecture. The town hall is located within the Plaza. This Plaza was used in the movie series Star Wars and was also featured in the 2012 film, The Dictator! After hanging out at the Plaza for awhile, we set out to find the Cathedral. When we finally found it, we realized it had closed 30 minutes before we arrived. We then decided to walk around some more and then head back to the apartment to see what Alberto had planned for the evening. Some other couch surfers were coming over to Alberto's to meet with us and go to La Feria altogether. We took the bus to La Feria and hung out for a few hours!
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| University |
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| Plaza de España |
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| Plaza de España |
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| Entrance of La Feria |
La Feria(directly translates to fair) de Abril is held in Sevilla, which is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Andalusia is in the south of the Iberian Peninsula so during the summer time, it gets extremely hot. La Feria begins at midnight on the Monday 2 weeks after Easter and runs until the following Sunday. For the duration of the fair, rows of casetas(tents set up on the fairground) fill the far bank of the Guadalquivir River. Most of these tents are private and rented out by families or clubs. There are about 1,000 of these tents spread throughout the fairgrounds!! At night, you can find many people flamenco dancing in their traditional attire, drinking Rebujito, or eating tapas. During the day, you will find loads of carriages transporting people throughout the city and to the fair.
We stayed at La Feria for a few hours walking around and chatting with some other couch surfers. The fair also had lots of rides and we rode the Ferris Wheel which was really cool because we could see all of the casetas from the top. After a long day and night, we walked back to the flat and got some good rest for a full day of touring again the following day.
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| View from Ferris Wheel |
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| Las Casetas |
On Saturday, we woke up at around 11 and planned to get to the Cathedral at around noon. We got to the Cathedral and not to our surprise, found ourselves waiting in a long line to get in and tour the Cathedral.
Catedral de Santa María de la Sede is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the World and is the burial site of Christopher Columbus! We wandered around the Cathedral for about an hour and went up to the top to see a panoramic view of the entire city of Sevilla. It was absolutely breathtaking at the top!
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| Christopher Columbus' Tomb |
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| View from top of Cathedral |
After
the Cathedral, we went 2 minutes to the northeastern side of the
Cathedral where the Archbishop's palace is located. We took a tour of
the Palace and again, I was astonished at the beauty of the palace.
There was a huge park in the back and we even got a little lost in
the park! We explored the different buildings and hung out at the
park in the back for a while. After touring the palace, we headed to
La Feria to see what the vibe was like during the daytime. Still,
there were many people dancing, drinking, and hanging out. We
went to a public caseta and ordered a pitcher of Rebujito. Rebujito
is a very traditional drink of Andalusia and it is a cocktail
consisting of Sherry(white wine) and soft drinks(usually Sprite). It
was very delicious and especially refreshing during another hot day.
After sitting down and drinking our Rebujito, we returned to Plaza de
España for the sunset and walked around viewing all the different
plaques- one for every main city in Spain. We finally made our way
back to Alberto's flat. By the time we got back, it was about 10pm
and we had walked probably over 6 miles that day so our feet were
aching really badly. We were not so motivated to return to La Feria
that night, but we decided to go even though we were exhausted. We
returned to La Feria once again but this time didn't stay long since
by the time we arrived, the majority of people had left and it was
pretty boring.
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| Park at the Palace |
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| Plaza De Torros |
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| Rebujito |
The next day, we took it easy and relaxed much more than the previous 2 days. We packed up our stuff and left Alberto's flat at about noon. We were meeting our ride at 4pm so we had a few hours to get a bit more touring in before having to return to Madrid. The first place we visited was Metropol Parasol. This is a wooden structure located in La Encarnación Square and was designed by a German architect, Jurgen Mayer-Hermann. It was just recently completed in 2011 and is said to be the largest wooden structure in the world! The structure consists of six parasols in the form of giant mushrooms, whose design is inspired by the vaults of the Cathedral of Sevilla and the ficus trees in nearby Plaza de Cristo de Burgos. At the top, you can walk along the terraces and view the city center. After walking around the Metropol Parasol, we set out to find fried fish. Pescaíto Frito(fried fish) is a typical dish of southern Spain and is very common in Sevilla. We found a good deal at a nearby restaurant and had Paella, fried fish, bread, and a beer all for 8 euros! I didn't exactly know how to eat the fish, so I just grabbed one by the tail, and ate the whole thing, head and all! Then we asked the waiter how we were supposed to eat it, and he said to take off the head then eat the body of the fish, but not the head or tail. We had a good laugh after that, considering I had just consumed the head of a small fish! To my surprise, Pescaíto Frito was actually pretty tasty! After lunch, we headed over to the river and relaxed until it was time to meet up with our ride back to Madrid.
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| Fried Fish |
We met up with our ride at about 430 pm then had a 5 hour ride back to Madrid. We slept most of the way back because we were so exhausted from the entire weekend on out feet and touring Sevilla. We returned to Madrid at about 10pm after a really awesome weekend. La Feria and Sevilla was definitely an amazing little weekend trip! Now I know why Sevilla is named one of the most beautiful cities of Spain. Every corner we turned, there was more beauty than the last! I am so glad I was able to experience Sevilla, especially during La Feria!
About 2 weeks ago, my friend asked me if I wanted to take a weekend trip to Sevilla, Spain. Without hesitation, I said yes and I volunteered to plan everything including rides to/from Sevilla and a place to stay. I had mentioned to my host mother that I was going to Sevilla the following weekend and she told me that there was an annual fair every April and that it was probably the same weekend that we were planning to visit Sevilla! I looked on the internet and sure enough, La Feria de Sevilla was the same weekend we were going to visit! I was really excited to attend this event but also nervous that we would not be able to find a place to stay during this time since there would be so many tourists. I was determined to find a host from couchsurfing to host the two of us so we could have a local show us around town and also so we wouldn't have to pay to stay in a hostal, since the prices were much higher during the time of this big event. I asked two hosts, and one host named Alberto had approved my request on couchsurfing! I was really surprised that it was so easy to find a host, since I figured so many people would be trying to find a place to stay during La Feria. Apparently, I was the first to ask Alberto and after my request, he had received several more requests from other couch surfers asking to stay with him whom he had to reject.
I had planned rides to and from Sevilla via Blablacar. Blabla car is a car sharing website that you can find rides for cheaper than a train or bus. We met up with our ride, Irene, on Friday morning and she was with her friend. The drive to Sevilla was about 5 hours and we had some nice chats and napped a bit on the way up. When we finally arrived in Sevilla, we found the apartment of Alberto and dropped off our luggage at his flat. Alberto had just awakened and he was too tired to go explore with us since he was out partying the whole night before. By this time, it was about 1pm and the temperature was already pretty hot(about 80 degrees Fahrenheit). We set out to explore the beautiful city of Sevilla and find the main tourist attractions including the Cathedral, the Palace, and Plaza de España. We first walked through a beautiful garden and wondered around a bit. Then, we stopped and ate lunch and had some drinks at Cien Montaditos. After lunch, we set out to find Plaza de España. We walked around a University area thinking maybe it was the plaza. We quickly realized that was not the plaza and asked somebody where it was. We finally found the plaza and I was absolutely dumbfounded by this Plaza. This was the most magnificent Plaza I have seen thus far!! Plaza de España is located in the Parque de Maria Luisa and was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish Architecture. The town hall is located within the Plaza. This Plaza was used in the movie series Star Wars and was also featured in the 2012 film, The Dictator! After hanging out at the Plaza for awhile, we set out to find the Cathedral. When we finally found it, we realized it had closed 30 minutes before we arrived. We then decided to walk around some more and then head back to the apartment to see what Alberto had planned for the evening. Some other couch surfers were coming over to Alberto's to meet with us and go to La Feria altogether. We took the bus to La Feria and hung out for a few hours!
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