Did you know, that Seville smells like citrus?

I’ll never forget the smell of Seville, either because I had just spent multiple hours on a bus and was desperate to be anywhere other than that bus, or because the city smelled as strongly of citrus as how I remember.

Arriving in Seville, was an odd mix of relief, excitement, and familiarity. If you’ve ever been to Kansas City Missouri, chances are good that you visited the Country Club Plaza, a treasured outdoor shopping district, modeled upon the one and only, Seville Spain. A mere shadow of the real thing, it still elicited a feeling of unconscious familiarity, walking past the actual structures themselves, for the very first time.

But back to the citrus. Lining the streets of Seville, are orange trees, oranges not for eating, but commonly used for making marmalade as they are considered too bitter for eating. The trees provide shade to the buildings and sidewalks, from the relentless Spanish sun, with the bonus of a sweet citrus smell wafting through the air.

Sometimes, less is more.

If you ever attempt to plan a trip for more than two people in Europe, you’ll quickly discover the challenge of finding multi-person rooms. Additional challenges might also be for stays of less than three nights, which was a hugely limiting factor for us while in Seville.

However, all things being equal, we opted for a four-person room at a hostile, in the area which we hoped to concentrate our limited time. Some rooms had private bathrooms, while ours only had communal, but all had access to laundry service and the location was AMAZING. If you need to save a few bucks, and still want that gold star location, I’d suggest giving them a try.

*Point of fact, we were still able to book this hostile room through Airbnb (HERE)

My experience of Seville, albeit limited by time, was very pleasant. Something I observed, was how clean the core of the city was, no trash or foul odors to be found. Trash was collected each day, and the trash trucks were followed by cleaning crews which would wash the dumpsters and surrounding areas. I’ve never observed something like this in any other place I’ve ever visited.

This is not a game.

But parts of Game of Thrones were filmed here.

Built for the Worlds Fair in 1929, the Plaza de España is a wonder to behold, and I can’t recommend it highly enough, taking the time to tour it.

Gotta get some of that church…

The Seville Cathedral, still a functioning church, regularly holds services which you might observe while wandering through its chambers. More than just a church, it’s also the final resting place of Christopher Columbus, which is available to view from an exterior entrance.

It was short but sweet, and I would consider returning to Seville. I would choose it again over visiting a larger city, such as Madrid.

Iberian Peninsula: Post 2 of 6

Questions or comments, leave them below!