Seville - a week of Spanish sun part 1

Seville, one of the southernmost cities in Spain. Here, I spent a beautiful sunny week in February and charged up my Vitamin D reserves a bit. 

But not only that, my main reason for the trip to Seville was to visit my cousin again and also a friend from Scotland.

On my first day, we visited the amphitheater of Italica. It was once one of the largest amphitheaters of the Roman Empire and had a capacity of 25,000 people. It was mainly used for gladiatorial contests and fights between humans and animals. 

Then we casually and spontaneously passed by the Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo. A beautiful place, very quiet and particularly lovely during the golden hour.

I have now visited Seville for the second time and thus was able to simply enjoy the vibe of the city, the time spent with my cousin, and a lot of ice cream without doing too much touristy stuff. In the following days, we strolled through the city, as always just walking down streets that looked interesting and ate a lot of good food. But above all, I was again taken by the orange and lemon trees that were all bearing fruit at that time.

Some sightseeing was definitely necessary in the end, as I hadn't been to the Cathedral of Seville before. A beautiful Gothic building and the second largest religious building in Spain. 
Construction took more than a century before it was completed in 1519. Since 1987, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I must honestly say that I found the mass tourism that was ushered through this church quite exhausting. You can only enter with a pre-purchased ticket, and even though the line moved steadily to get in, it snaked around the building and it took more than ten minutes to actually see the inside of the cathedral.

However, the first glimpse into the nave was indeed very impressive.

But sometimes you also had to wait inside to look at certain parts of the church more closely. And that's exactly what makes it super stressful and exhausting. You just can't really enjoy it. Normally, I usually like to visit a church, often churches exude a certain tranquility, but unfortunately that was not the case here at all.

Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to go up to the (also quite crowded) church tower. Because as has become known, I always try to see a city from above.

Despite the crowd, it was nice to see this special cathedral, and I really enjoyed the view over Seville. 

On my last evening, my cousin and I strolled through Seville again in the dark. We took in the hustle and bustle at the riverbank and walked once more over the Plaza de España. 

I definitely enjoyed the time with my cousin again and would love to come back anytime. Seville is truly a beautiful city and I can only warmly recommend everyone to visit the city. I think especially in spring or autumn it's worth it the most. Still, or already in the off-season and still or always pleasantly warm during the day.