Seville

The oldest bull ring
see all photos »

We arrived in Seville our first stop in Spain after a horrible 12 hour bus journey. Seville was the closest stop for us to portugul (in the direction we were heading) so thats why we organised a stop in this town. However we were both pleasantly suprised by this exciting, buzzing city. The dessert shops, to Meagans disgust, shut before the tea places open (meaning meagan missed out on chuirros for dessert).

Our first activity while in Seville was to visit Spains oldest bullring which is still being used today. A good bull fighter can earn as much as €300,000 per fight, however there is a high risk of death. The tour leader said that 50 percent of fights the hospital is needed. It was hard to believe that this tradition is still as strong as ever. To us it seems cruel and barbaric but to many people here it is honourable and noble and feel it is a much better may for a bull to live. Thoe whole experience was fascinating from learning about the origins of bullfighting to actually learning the ´best´way to slaughter the animal.

Some Spanish music
see all photos »

After the bullring we headed to a beautiful part of town surrounded by parks and gardens. There was a magnificent public space here made better by the old couple belting out some spanish tunes. After this we went past a spectacular church and old muslim palace/fortress and then got totally lost in the old Jewish quarter of town.

For tea we went to a nice tapas place right across from the church but got hit up with some hidden extra costs which made us feel ripped off and then we went to a spanish bar that holds free flamenco every night. The place was packed so we didnt have the best views but it was still a really entertained and enjoyable night. Overall Seville was really great considering we werent going to stop here.