Today was an amazing day in Seville. Our first full day in the city, we took a bike tour around, toured the Alcazar, ate amazing food, and drank amazing drinks. Starting in Puerta de Jerez, we took off on our bikes. Weaving in and out of crowds of people, we made our way to the Plaza de Toros, one of the most famous bull-riding stadiums in the country. After admiring from the outside and learning some interesting information about the history of bull riding from our API guide, Juan, we headed down to the river, biked along the bank, and ventured over to Maria Luisa Park. One of the most heavenly parks I’ve ever seen, it was lined with orange and coconut trees, making for a beautiful bike ride all the way to the Plaza de España. The semi-circular structure with an enormous water fountain out front seemed to be something straight out of a fairytale.
This also marked the end of our bike tour as we went off to enjoy lunch on our own (for me, this meant a pizza margherita and a glass of sangria).
After lunch, we ventured over to Real Alcazar, one of the former palaces of the Spanish Monarchy. Following our tour guide, Pilar, we traveled back in time to the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries as we looked through the piece of art that this palace was constructed to be. We even got the opportunity to feed some peacocks (which is a sentence I never thought I would be saying in my entire life).
With dinner scheduled for later in the evening, we all dispersed after this tour to discover the city for ourselves. Wandering the streets of the Seville center as the sun was setting was truly a magical and transformative event.
Being abroad has this amazing capability of showing you what it means for a city to have “life”. Being in Lowell you see the college “life” but you don’t get the experience of people gathering for an afternoon cappuccino on the patio or walking the park with their kids. It’s just not the way of life in the US. Being here has shown me already how much more freeing life is and how much people here enjoy going about their everyday lives. At one point, we just stopped and sat for a few minutes, observing the people around us meandering around, walking at a pace that at home would be considered unbearably slow, simply just enjoying their lives…it was mesmerizing. After our wandering came dinner. At home, I am one of the most picky eaters you may ever meet in your entire life. However, I have a rule – when abroad, I have to try almost everything put in front of me at least once, so for dinner, I did my very best and actually surprised myself with how far out of my comfort zone I went to try almost all of the different foods presented to us. The first round was hummus with pita bread. Again, being one of the most picky eaters in the entire world, I had never had hummus before tonight, and although I was not a huge fan of it and did not go back for seconds, I still put myself out there and tried it. Next was an ensalada con salmón. A salad made with what looked like quinoa, tomatoes, lettuce, and raw salmon, I could not pull myself to venture out of my comfort zone for this, but everyone at the table was raving about it, finishing four full rations before the meal was over. Up next was patatas bravas, essentially potato wedges dipped in a spice sauce and topped with sour cream. These potatoes were amazing. Not normally one to handle spice well (at all), I did not let the word “spice” prevent me from trying some and I am so glad I went for it because they were truly delicious. After the patatas came the pollo. The small, fired chicken niblets were one of the best foods I’ve had so far. A fact that I’m sure almost everyone here with me could agree with as I am pretty sure all four baskets of pollo were gone within a matter of minutes. Next was the ribeye. A beautifully cooked beef salted to perfection and served with more patatas, I could not have asked for a better dish to finish the dinner. Lastly came desert. The waiters served us a variety of cheesecakes, all beautifully made and plated in a way that made my mouth water before they even hit the table even though I was so full from the dinner already. Taking a bite of the chocolate one was like taking a bite of heaven itself and I wish I could relive that moment over and over for the rest of my life.
However, all good things must come to an end and so must the day. Before turning in for the night, we stopped and had a drink at a local bar and began talking about how we can make the most of the rest of our time here. I can’t wait to see where the rest of the week takes us.