We were in Edinburgh, Scotland for November but said goodbye and went to Seville for December. Our time in Seville was magical!

I studied Spanish at university but never got to study abroad, so it’s been that long, so arriving in Seville was a dream come true. To be perfectly honest, at first I didn’t know how much I would like it, but I shed more than one tear when we had to leave.

Check out this Seville gallery:

Then read more about our arrival in the Macarena neighborhood of Seville, at Enladrillada street.

Seville arrival, Nathaniel gets to practice his Spanish

It’s amazing how far 20 year old, rusty Spanish can get you. We arrived at Seville airport, had no problems at all at customs, basically it was a “Hola, bienvenidos” (Hello, welcome) and we were through the gates. We caught the first taxi in the line and asked for “La Macarena” (our neighborhood) and Enladrillada at Plaza Pelícano. One thing you learn quickly here, is that everything centres around Plazas here in Spain. Tiny neighborhoods.
The driver got to Pelícano and then asked if we wanted him to drive us down the narrow, one way street to our place. I said no but I think the question was rhetorical, we crawled down the narrow lane and at one point I thought he would bash the rear view mirrors off but we got through fine. We gave him a nice tip for the short cab ride, which was pretty cheap and most welcomed for us with all our stuff! and set about waiting for our hosts to arrive.

The first night anywhere means I’m the most open to the feel of the place and while I was a little nervous standing in an alley in the dark in a new town, after a while I relaxed and it wasn’t a big deal. Mostly couples and older folks walking the narrow lane toward the centre of old town Seville. Macarena is surrounded by la Muralla, the old wall, which was the castle that defended Seville from attack in the old days. It’s winding paths, none straight or perpendicular to any other, means you can easily get lost. But we love that sort of thing.

Our hosts were lovely! Luis and Maria, I called them Don Luis and Doña María out of respect and for fun, they were all smiles and loved that I could speak with them in Spanish. I loved this too! They did not recommend eating at El Pelícano at our plaza, the food just isn’t that good, but recommended a whole bunch of other places. Our place was a bit dark and shut off from the light of the world, but a safe place to live and work which is what you want.

The next day we had a late breakfast (even without jetlag travelling can be tiring) and walked toward the old town centre, enjoying everything along the way. There was a garden, behind a locked gate, that I read was public, and we couldn’t wait to get back there.
We wandered for a while and heard church bells and people getting ready for the day and turned a corner and BAM, there it was, the Metropol Parasol and Alice and I broke down. How beautiful, and yet another reminder of how amazing new things can be, how amazing life can be, and of all the things we will see on this trip and might never see again. And of simply enjoying the moment.

On walking further we found another plaza, got the kids ice cream and sat on the steps of the church and people watched. Performers sang a song about “La Noche Buena” (the good night, the night before Christmas) in a way that made me want to sing along. Here’s a sample of the group’s performance:

Another highlight was stumbling onto the grand Plaza (it’s been used as a backdrop for the Naboo city scenes in Star Wars) and it took our breath away:

There’s so much more, so I have two more blog posts planned covering our time in Seville, then more about Canet de Mar/Barcelona where we are now.