Two Days in Seville:: My One Week Andalucia Road trip

Doing a road trip around Andalusia has been a dream of mine for a long time and it finally happened this April! We decided to take a week driving around Andalusia in a loop – starting at Seville, visiting Cordoba, Granada and Marbella and finally chilling at Vejer.

The first day after landing in Seville airport, we took a cab (about 20 euros) to our hotel IMG Rey Alfonso X in Barrio Santa Cruz, dropped off our bags and then just wandered around Seville soaking in the atmosphere, eating tapas after tapas and of course, relaxing with a siesta! 

Walking around Seville is a pleasure – it’s a city with such charm and gorgeous Moorish architecture. Since we were there during the Holy Week, we also got to see some Santa Semana processions led by various brotherhoods which were fascinating. 

On the second day we visited the Cathedral which was stunningly impressive. I believe its one of the biggest Cathedrals in the world. Originally, there was a huge 12th century Mosque which knocked down and a decision was made to build "a church so large, future generations willl think we were mad". My favourite part of it was the Giralda – a former minaret of the original mosque that remains and was converted to a bell tower. You can climb all the way to the top and its fairly easy one since there are no steps but just a sloping pathway winding all the way to the top (so that a rider on a horse could get to the top!). 





It was about a half hour wait to buy tickets (8 euros) and get into the Cathedral. The Alcazar or royal palace for the rulers was next to the Cathedral but closed during the Holy Week. Tip: I’ve heard it’s faster to buy tickets there for both and see it first. We also saw the Metropol Parasol – a weird mushroom structure that I didn’t find very appealing. The structure itself is impressive but with its sad beige colour looks rather worse for wear.  It was fun walking on top of it and since its cheap entry (3 euros) I didn’t mind but it’s a hardly a must see sight.

Courtyard of the Cathedral with Orange Trees

We stayed at the IMG Rey Alfonso X – which was modern, clean and in the most brilliant location. Right it in the middle of Barrio Santa Cruz, we could easily walk everywhere. It perhaps lacked a little in charm but was extremely functional with big, comfortable rooms and I totally recommend staying there. There are 3 main central areas in Seville: Barrio Santa Cruz, El Arenal and El Centro so finding a hotel in one of them would be ideal if you want to be in the heart of Seville.

Seville is now of one of my favourite cities. The city centre has some beautiful architecture with Moorish influences and there are TONS of amazing places to eat. So many that I compiled a kick-ass spreadsheet with all the details. What can I say – I had a lot of time to research on my favourite subject! (Leave a comment below if you’re planning a trip and would like to see the spreadsheet. I’m happy to share!)

So here were some of the places we checked out:

La Brunilda

Best meal of our entire trip. La Burinilda is a modern tapas restaurant near the bull fighting stadium. It was great value, absolutely no fuss to get a table and we got to have some brilliant innovative food with new pairings and flavours. We had an utterly delicious salad, some seared tuna slices served with flavourful couscous, delicious confit duck with puree and the piece de resistance - seared foie gras with plums in red wine sauce. And all that with countless beers and dessert was just 30 euros. Amazing value for money - I can’t stop singing praises of it.

Located at Calle Galera 5 in the Arenal district. It opens at 1p.m. for lunch and 8:30 for dinner and is closed Sunday night and all day Monday

La Bulla

My second favourite meal in Seville was at La Bulla. They serve traditional tapas with a twist. I loved their selection of croquetas that came with different filling of spinach, seafood and jamon. The salad was amazing as well. I don’t know how they make a simple salad so tasty yet light and fresh as well. 
Located on Dos de Mayo 26 in Arenal near the opera house and bullring.

Bar Europa

Bar Europa is listed in quite a few guidebooks and is a gastro bar that’s been around for a while. The jamon was amazing and I loved the ajo blanco soup – a cold soup of crushed almonds and garlic though the orange salad was not that great – much to sweet. When getting ready to pay the bill, we realized we had totally missed out on ordering the signature dishes at Bar Europa - gorgeous looking langoustines in tempura and salmon tartare that the all the other tables had ordered. 
So don’t forget to order those if you go! It’s on Siete Revueltas 35 in the Centro district near Plaza del Pan.

Casa Morales

We made a quick stop at Casa Morales, another well-known traditional tapas bar. It seemed very popular and I enjoyed the Morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) there. 
Casa Morales is at Garcia de Vinuesa 11 in the Arenal district.

Las Teresas

Best dishes were the potato salad and the boquerones – tiny grilled fish. Though be warned - It was the rather expensive with each dish coming to £8.

Las Teresas was near our hotel in Barrio Santa Cruz on Santa Teresa 2.

Coming up...Day 3 & 4 in Granada and Cordoba