9 reasons why I love Sevilla

Next stop this past weekend: Sevilla, also known as Seville. Why is it my new favorite place in Spain?

1. It houses the only flamenco museum in the world. There, I was able to see my very first flamenco show (and as it exceeded all expectations, it will definitely not be my last). I debated writing a whole post about flamenco, but decided against it this time--maybe another one will pop up in the future. For now I just have to say: flamenco is AWESOME. 

2. A scene from Star Wars (Episode 2) was filmed at Sevilla's Plaza de España. Do I have to continue? I watched the clip. It was great. 

3. It has an above-ground trolley system! That, with the picturesque buildings and streets, made it feel like a Disney movie. 

4. The aforementioned picturesque buildings and streets. I could have spent an entire weekend just weaving my way through the tiny streets for the fun of it. There is something so comfortable and humane about having to walk through streets that are too small for cars to fit through.

5. Historically significant! The cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world and is home to both the tomb of Christopher Columbus and that of his son. 

6. This weekend they had a cultural market there spanning the length of an entire park, which featured food from Brazil, France, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Germany, India, and many many more countries. I had the most amazing crepes there of my life: a mushroom, cheese and pepper crepe and a dulce de leche flavored one. My mouth is still watering. 

7. It's the first place I have visited in Spain that balances old and modern architecture almost seamlessly. As we drove into the city, we passed some modern and interestingly designed bridges across the river, and as we entered the center of the city we saw the 800-900 year old cathedral...and it didn't feel out of place. 

8. It doesn't feel touristy! Even though the cathedral is a huge tourist hot spot, and even though I heard a lot of English spoken on the streets, overall, I really felt like it was a city where real people actually live. Other cities we have visited in the South such as Granada and Córdoba are so small and the tourist industry is so big that it really seems like the whole city is based on its tourism. Sevilla is not like that however: we only saw two tourist shops the whole time, and one was part of the university. 

9. This is the first place I left feeling truly sorry that I wasn't able to spend more time there. I know there were whole sections of the city I didn't have time to explore, and I would have loved to spend more time walking around! 

Sevilla, you are one of the things about Spain that I will definitely miss when I leave. Much love ~!