Seville, Spain

After singing endless rounds of "Help me Ronda," it was time to move on to our next city in southern Spain, Seville.  We arrived just in time for tapas for lunch and decided to hit up the Museum of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes) afterwards.  This was small enough to not be overwhelming or too time consuming, but had a ton of artwork that we both enjoyed. 

That ceiling!

After our time at the museum, we wandered the streets a bit and found what I like to call the wooden mushroom. It's official name is the Metropol Parisol and it's claim to fame is that it's the largest wooden structure in the world.  Mike and I both questioned whether it was actually made of wood, but I guess we'll never know.  It was worth going up to the top, though, because the views were great and the cafe was the perfect resting place.  Plus, you get a free beverage with your entrance ticket!

We heard that the Flamenco Museum had a flamenco show every evening at 7:00 and that you could get a combo ticket for the museum and the show.  What we didn't realize was that people start grabbing seats almost an hour beforehand! We arrived around six and were advised not to go to the museum because we needed to grab seats, so we didn't end up getting to do the museum, but the show was still fun. It lasted about an hour and, by the end, both dancers were covered in sweat.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend an evening!  We are always looking for fun things to do in the evening since I can't drink right now and most sights close around six, so this was the perfect fit!

 Our night ended with dinner at a tapas bar, where there was pork literally hanging from the ceiling.  As we went along on our Spanish trip, I began to realize this was quite the norm.  It took me for surprise though!

Our first stop on our day two tour was at the Alcazar, which is a palace developed by the Moorish Muslim kings.  We really wanted to incorporate the Muslim history of Spain into our trip since Mike is technically still considered a Turkish scholar, so getting to see the Alcazar was high on our priority list.  It's amazing how many similarities there are between all of the Mediterranean countries, as well as between all of the Muslim territories and architecture.

Tiles! I love them all!

beautiful!

Mike really wants a courtyard in our dream home.  I'm more of a backyard with a deck kind of girl, but I wouldn't complain if this makes it in to our future home.  One can dream, right?

One of my favorite parts of southern Spain was all of the orange trees everywhere! They are sour oranges, so not really what we like to eat, but they were in every city we went to and all over the Alcazar!

Our last stop for the day was the Plaza de Espana, where we watched tourists row in the water and rested our tired legs.  It's tough being pregnant and recovering from mono!

I feel like you could spend a whole day just wandering around the city and down the streets of Seville, occasionally stopping for a glass of sangria.  We didn't spend a whole day doing this, but we had a few hours to kill before our second flamenco show, so we definitely did a little wandering!

 Our second flamenco show was even more entertaining than the first! The dancers were better, the music more upbeat (the first night seemed a little angry!), and our seats were in the front row!  We had a blast and were impressed once again with the skill and the passion of each of the performers.

Spanish Mark Ruffalo! This guy was definitely his twin!

This guy made the funniest faces when he was singing, but I can't judge because his voice was magical!

We ended our night and our time in Seville tapas hopping.  It's like bar hopping, except with tapas. We heard this was a thing, so we wanted to try.  Our mistake was going to actual sit down restaurants instead of just going to bars.  At restaurants, you usually have to pay a service fee for the wait staff, whereas a bar waives that.  Plus, the portions were larger at the restaurants, so we were both full after the second restaurant.  That being said, it was fun to get to compare menus and try a couple of different dishes at three different restaurants.  It was a fun way to end the night and our time in Seville!

We had a great time in Seville and loved embracing the Spanish culture and history.  The food was delicious, the flamenco dancing was entertaining and the history and art was beautiful.  It was a great escape from the cold and dreary Berlin winter!