Day 7 – Spain: Real Alcazar & Las Setas 

We woke up at 7:30am to get ready for the morning. Today we were touring the Real Alcazar, a famous palace in Seville that has a lot of history and is also the filming location for where they shot scenes in Dorne in Game of Thrones. We walked 12 minutes to Alfonsito speciality coffee shop (halfway to the real alcazar) to break up the walk for mom. I ordered a hazelnut latte and croissiant sandiwch. The latte was very sweet but delicious.

We walked 15 minutes further to the meeting point for our guided tour and grabbed a seat in the shade. We got there at 10:10, a little early as the email said to meet at 10:25am but you would think the guide would have been there to check us in. Our guide Carolina was nowhere to be found and rolled up exactly at 10:25. She seemed disheveled and the start of the tour seemed a bit unorganized. The tour was 2 hours long and I expected it to be a walking tour through the palace and gardens to learn about the history of the Real Alcazar. Instead, Carolina walked us into the main courtyard where we stopped and she told us a bunch of information about the history of Seville and some facts on the palace, room in the palace.  Some bits of the history was interesting but the first hour of the tour we were literally just standing in 2 different rooms which got boring fast. A few interesting facts from the tour was that Julius Caesar founded Seville and the concept of a “siesta” actually originated from the Roman’s who valued seperation of work and home life, so they implement siestas to breakup the day. The Real Alcazar is also the oldest active royal palace in all of Europe. 

After the 1st hour passed one of the girls in our tour group fainted out of nowhere, likely due to the heat and that she was dehydrated. It was a bit scary so Jen and I decided to ditch the tour and run to the cafeteria to buy water bottles for us, mom, and Stelios. We both agreed the tour was boring and we easily could have just paid the entrance fee and explored the palace ourselves, but with the tour guide we were able to skip the long entrance line which was a plus. Both Stelios and mom enjoyed the tour so at least that made it worth it. 

After the tour we explored the gardens and then made our way to the Plaza Del Toro to purchase bullfighting tickets. However, we didn’t realize it was Corpus Christi day so the bullfight was completely sold out. Because of Corpus Christi day there was rosemary scattered all throughout the streets and the air smelled delicious. Bummed that the bullfight was sold out, we started walking in search of a tapas spot for lunch instead. We grabbed 4 bar seats at La Brunilda, an elevated tapas spot where reservations are needed if you want a regular table but luckily the bar was wide open. I really enjoyed sitting at the bar because we got to see all of dishes come out the chefs window once they were ready. We tried the beet Salmorejo, patatas bravas, tuna tataki, grilled squid, pork shoulder and the cheesecake for dessert. This was hands down our favorite tapas spot of the whole trip. 

We told the server Jen’s allergies and she told us she could eat everything we ordered, but when the pork shoulder came there was what looked like crushed pistachios on the plate. We asked the waitress if they were pistachios and she smirked and said yes (was she trying to poison my sister?!) Jen ended up skipping that dish to be safe. For dessert we had a light and fluffy cheesecake to end a wonderful lunch. 

After lunch we walked towards the river and the sun was beating down on us. The shade is really what saves you in Seville and I was walking towards any sliver of shade I could find. We ordered a round of drinks at Faena cocktail bar and grabbed a table in the shade. I suddenly felt like I was overheating and desperately needed a water and to go indoors. I waited at the indoor lounge while Jen and mom finished their drinks and we ordered a taxi back to the airbnb. I had enough of the Seville heat for the day – time for a siesta in the AC ! 

We all took a 3 hour nap from 4-7pm. Jen laid out on the roof and enjoyed the outdoor cold tub while we napped. After emerging from our slumber the girls got ready and Stelios walked downstairs to the gourmet market to purchase jamón Iberico, cheese, and bread so we could enjoy a charcuterie spread with the wine we purchased from the winery in Ronda #GirlDinnerSevilleStyle

At 8:30pm we called a taxi to take us to La Plaza de España rather than facing the heat for a 30 minute walk. There was a concert happening within the main plaza so unless you had a ticket it was sadly blocked off. I guess we’ll have to return to Seville for both the bullfighting and the Plaza de España. Since we couldn’t walk through the main plaza we walked through the gardens instead which was very pretty.

Around 9:30pm we started to make our way towards Las Setas, a modern structure in Seville with an excellent 360 view of the city. All of the recommendations online say to get here 1 hour before sunset but they were sold out so we got tickets for 9:45pm entry. This ended up working to our advantage because it was less crowded and we were still able to enter 5 minutes after the sunset to avoid the crowds and catch the afterglow in the sky. At night they also light up Las Setas making it a unique experience rather than coming during the day. 

After strolling the walkway of Las Setas we grabbed an outdoor table at Nudo for a late night bite. We ordered a round of espresso martinis, mom had a tinto de verano, Stelios and I got cheesecake and mom and Jen had an appetizer. After our midnight snack we started walking to the bar and I randomly got a sharp pain in the top of my foot. Apparently you can sprain your foot from walking too much. WTF. Jen and I grabbed a slice of pizza to go and rather than going to another bar we decided to go back to the airbnb and pack up our bags. We had to leave Seville at 3:30am to catch our flight to Ibiza (the only direct flight from Seville to Ibiza available was the 3:30am Ryanair flight, but we all agreed it was better than doing a layover). Back at the airbnb we packed up, Stelios and I finished the bottle of Rosé from Ronda on the rooftop and Jen and mom napped for 2 hours. 

Reflecting on our short stay in Seville, it really was a place where there was so much more to do and see than I had anticipated. Plus with the heat, we lost 3 hours of the day to siesta time to avoid walking around from 4-7pm during the hottest part of the day. I would definitely come back or stay for a night if I had a layover on the way home from somewhere else that stopped in Seville. Overall it was a beautiful city, but I will not miss the heat. Hasta luego Seville, time to fiesta in Ibiza.