Buona Sara Travels
We love travel. We want to help you love it too. In each episode, hosts Sara and Kevin chat about a favorite destination while sharing a drink native to that area.
Buona Sara Travels
Seville, Spain
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Seville, Spain - A city that began Roman, then Moorish Muslim and finally Christian. It might be the best region of Spain to find the oldest and well preserved customs, food, culture and, of course, Easter traditions that were slightly jarring (at first) to us Americans.
In this episode, we talk about the month we spent in Seville with our three year old daughter who loved chasing the pigeons in all the pedestrian-only squares and alleys. We'll check out a church-themed bar, the origins of the 90s hit 'Macarena' and those infamous Semana Santa robes. We'll walk you through the incredibly beautiful and culturally significant landmarks like the Alcazar (shout-out Game of Thrones), Plaza de Espana, the charming Jewish Quarter, Metropol Parasol (aka the mushrooms) and the Seville Cathedral (which may or may not house the remains of Christopher Columbus). We'll also give our best suggested day trips including a bike trip to the Roman city of Italica, Setenil de las Bodegas and the city of Cordoba. So grab a cold bowl of gazpacho, a vermouth on the rocks and let's visit the gem of Andalusia - Seville, Spain.
¡Salud!
Hi, I'm Sarah.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Kevin.
SPEAKER_01And we're the hosts of Buenos Aires Travels. I'm a travel writer and travel consultant, and together we love the art of slow travel with our six-year-old daughter Maeve and finding new destinations that are off the beaten path. Each episode we'll be discussing a favorite destination while sharing a festive drink that is native to that area.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_01Um today we're going to be talking about Sevilla, Spain. Uh we spent a month in Sevilla in um 2023. And um Yeah, do you want to talk about like what we're drinking today?
SPEAKER_03No, you know more about it than I do. Oh, I mean.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a little easier to find uh regional beverages as far as European, you know, drinks.
SPEAKER_01But um we did find a Mencia, which is a Spanish wine, not really from Andalusia, which is more the south of Spain, that's where Sevilla is. But you know, we're doing our best. We're drinking Spanish wine, we're talking about Spain, and that's all we can do, basically. Yeah, but no, this is a good, this is a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Pretty easy. Pretty easy to find uh wine from all over the world, including Japan, uh, which I didn't realize had such a wine culture, or not culture, but it existed as much as it did.
SPEAKER_01They make wine here, right? Yeah, I wasn't really very familiar with Japanese wine until we got here, and um a lot of restaurants will serve it, which is interesting. But that's another another topic for another podcast, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, so we um when we went to Sevilla, we were choosing we kind of wanted to choose a location in Europe that was gonna be warm in February to March. So we were coming like mid-February to March, I believe.
SPEAKER_03So we were traveling total for what, four and a half months?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And this was gonna be our second spot, right? Right after Vietnam.
SPEAKER_01Yes. We started in Vietnam and got through most of February, then in Vietnam, and then we decided to, yeah, we wanted to go somewhere warm. So, but in Europe, which is not a lot of places in February, March. So um did some research on some kid-friendly spots, found some via, it seemed like there was a ton to do, seemed like we would not be bored if we stayed there and plopped for a month, because what that I mean at that time Maeve was only three years old, so we were absolutely wanting to just slow travel and just place ourselves in a town for the entire month. Maybe do some day trips here and there, but not be at a pace where we were going to a different location every day.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and our our jam is you know medium-sized towns that we want to hang out in for a month or so, and then like you know, really kind of do the local stuff as much as possible. We quite like uh um history and culture that you know is kind of rooted to like the older parts of the country, and it sounds like the south is where to go for the most of that. At least that area seems like it has oh, there's so much.
SPEAKER_01There's tons.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, tons of history, tons of culture, and then like tons of uh traditions. Our jam is to typically find like medium-sized cities, um, and this is the first time we've ever been to Spain. We were kind of recommended Sevilla as a as a as a good spot from a few friends. Um but yeah, our we we typically like to try to find the the most like historic, the most uh towns that have like a lot of culture going on, traditions going on, and as you'll find they definitely have that, sometimes in um little creepy robes that we'll get into later.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh we can mention it really quickly, but we were there during Samana Santa, which is um the Holy Week in Sevilla, and it is a big deal. Not a KKK rally, it is a big deal. Um we'll get into all of that in a bit, but first we're just gonna chat about like the best things to do, things that we really enjoy doing, and then after that we can kind of get into the Holy Week madness. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a little jarring, but yeah, we'll get into it. Um Cathedral. Is that a good starting point? Cathedral is, you know, well, really quick, even before cathedral, like um a little like quick history of Sevilla. So it was like uh it was a Roman history uh called Hippalis, um, which was connected to the Roman hit town of Italica, which we'll also get into, uh, and then conquered by the Moors, and then that's where the Muslim influence came, which we'll talk about in the cathedral, but Moorish design, Moorish history, Muslim influence uh is very, very uh unique to the area and pretty interesting when you're going around to these super old uh buildings that have like called the prayer towers. Um but yeah, cathedral was built in the 15th century, it's the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. I think it's the third largest cathedral or like church in the world.
SPEAKER_01It is, it is one of the biggest in the world. It became a UNESCO heritage site in 1987. It is massive. I mean, in complete for our purposes, like Kevin was talking about, there are influences from you know uh Muslim religion as well, but um Gothic. It's very, very Gothic.
SPEAKER_03It's very gothic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um they have the huge tower attached to it. Yeah, Coralda.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Coralda. I'm glad you pronounced it, not me, but uh um so that used to be the Call de Prayer Mosque. Um, and that's even older than the the um the cathedral that was built even before that is the Call de Prayer. Um and for that reason it doesn't have any steps to go. It's now a bell tower, but it doesn't have any steps, and that's because they used it for uh to ride up on horseback because they need to go up there three times a day.
SPEAKER_01No donkey, I think. Oh donkey, donkey. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um but yeah, it's just a ramp that people back in the day went up three times a day for call to prayer, and that's why they didn't do steps because but luckily for us, we were like, okay, we have a three-year-old who would never climb that many steps.
SPEAKER_01But a ramp, a ramp is is do is more doable. So we were actually able to bring her all the way up to the top, which is great because the views from uh at the from the top of Sevilla are incredible.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So many good photo opportunities up there.
SPEAKER_03It's the equivalent, I think, of 36 floors.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03Which you know is significant.
SPEAKER_01It was a climb, but it wasn't it wasn't too bad. Um, also, don't forget about allegedly Columbus was very there.
SPEAKER_03Um, his grave is there, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's places all around the world that claim to have domains.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but we didn't come to Sevilla to to to honor uh Chrissy. Um yeah, Dominican Republic claimed it, and I think when we were there it wasn't confirmed, but DNA testing did confirm.
SPEAKER_01Since we've been there, like in the last couple weeks.
SPEAKER_03I think in the last few years DNA confirmed that it is in Sevilla.
SPEAKER_01Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, uh Dominican Republic.
SPEAKER_01I guess we saw Columbus's tomb. So there's that. Um yeah, aside from the cathedral, um, there's the Alcazar, which was a former Islamic citadel, turned Royal Palace. Um this place just blew me away. The interior, the exterior, the design, the mosaics, the gardens. The gardens, the architecture, I mean everything about it just blew me away. I was so pretty cool enamored when I was in there. Um Maeve, not so much, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we went there on a weekend, it was kind of crowded. She's like, you know, how long do we have to be here for type of thing?
SPEAKER_01But um, but I mean it is a must. I mean, both the cathedral and the Alcazar are must sees if you're in Sevilla.
SPEAKER_03Um Game of Thrones spot.
SPEAKER_01Um if you are a Game of Thrones fan, it is the it's actually, I mean, like Dorne, the the region of Dorne. I don't know. I I You know, you remember I'm not like up on my Game of Thrones history, but it is yeah, it's the region of Dorne, and so kind of like places where that was shot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, got beheaded probably in the garden at some point or something.
SPEAKER_01Um we're gonna get all these reviews, like you don't know what you're talking about. Um but yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um such a wide audience, we're gonna upset the Game of Thrones contingent.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, anyways, other good spots to visit. Um, the Plaza de Espania.
SPEAKER_03Um Yeah, this is a weird spot for me because it was pretty like incredible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, it's so enormous, but it it looks so much older than it is. So it was built in 1929 for the Barrow American Exposition.
SPEAKER_01Basically like a world's fair.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, but it looks like it's like Venice or as old as Venice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's all these little bridges with mosaics. There's mosaics everywhere. Yes, and mosaics and tiles, beautiful, colorful tiles and canals too.
SPEAKER_03So you could rent a robo.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and amazing fountains. Mae was just playing by the fountains for a while. Um, and then you'll usually, because it's such a popular tourist spot, um, you'll maybe see some street flamenco dancers there. We definitely did when we were there, which is great. Um, because flamenco is huge in Sevilla. Um actually I didn't even put this on our list, but they do have a um flamenco museum, and doesn't surprise me. Yeah, there's uh I think it's probably one of the most well-known ones in Spain.
SPEAKER_03I was surprised by how popular it was because I I s attributed flamenco as like the Irish dancing when you go to Ireland. Like, yeah, you could go out of your way and see Irish dancing, but people aren't Irish dancing in the streets in Ireland, and if they were they're probably not Irish, they're probably Americans and Yeah, but no, it it is a thing here. Um yeah, and taken very seriously, like and actually if you want to tell a quick story, we took Mave to a performance, like a paid ticketed performance, and she made like a wrestling of a carrot bag, and this woman turned around and gave us like the most biggest death stare I've ever received. So she didn't we didn't make it through the whole performance. So we didn't we didn't feel like we uh they were we fit in.
SPEAKER_01The Americans surrounding us were not having having it with Maeve being behind us.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it was America. You don't think it was Spanish that were Oh no, they were 100% Americans. They were Americans.
SPEAKER_01Good for them, I guess. Yeah, you know, we again when you have a three-year-old, you try out, you see what works, you see what doesn't work. That didn't work, that's okay. That would be um well on that note we did um so I don't know if there are people how would people think about this, but but we did, because we were there for a month and also then traveling for four and a half months, we um found online a reputable babysitting service from in Sevilla with English speaking babysitters and um it's called so you can get some uh royalties from bubble or something? No, it's called um Mary Pop.
SPEAKER_03Mary Pop.
SPEAKER_01Kind of like Mary Pope. Um, but found a lovely girl who was studying medicine in Sevilla and she's from Paris, and she babysat I think twice for us. Um, but both times she did. We were able to go out to this amazing late night spot called well for flamingo, yeah, yeah. For flamingo called La Carbonaria, and I mean if you go to Sevilla and you are childless, yeah, go to La Carboner. Um, because it's in our opinion so much better than the actual performances that you're gonna buy a ticket for. It's just like off the cuff, different performances every night. I think they are two different kinds of times that they do it. One's like 9:30, one's at like midnight.
SPEAKER_03I don't know, they're really late before dinner, essentially, for Spanish people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. Um, and uh it's just such a unique experience, and I would highly recommend that for sure.
SPEAKER_03One more thing, too. I we kind of mentioned, but the coolest part about the Plaza de Espana is um these like alcoves. So there's like four 48 alcoves that have benches on it representing the each Spanish province, and um each one's you know kind of designed that it's supposed to look characteristically like each of the province. You're you go find your little bench and you take a photo, I guess, for the locals to do or Spanish people to do. But yeah, that was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01It was it's beautiful, it's absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Um Italica, you kind of mentioned before, is um a site of Roman ruins. It's kind of outside of the town.
SPEAKER_03And um Yeah, it was the first uh Roman city in Spain. Um, and yeah, I mean it's just kind of like this bonus thing. We we are at least I really like uh I'm a American male, so I guess I love Roman history.
SPEAKER_01I don't think it's just American males.
SPEAKER_03I think it's just all males, you know, Western males are obsessed with the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_01So yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh but yeah, give me any sort of Roman ruins, uh a bonus Roman ruins that I wasn't necessarily expecting, and I'm gonna go check it out. So um, yeah, that was what, like uh we rented bikes, rented bikes pretty much the whole time, but um biked there and it was I don't know, like a 45-minute bike ride.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably like 40-45 minutes. Um well it would have been if you hadn't blown your tire.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, let me talk about it first. Uh yeah, so it's it's where a bunch of people used to live, like the neighborhood essentially that fed the the original Sevilla um Roman city. Um but yeah, it the pretty much the thing that's the most preserved is the the massive amphitheater that held uh 25,000 people. Um that was really cool. It it one of the like least populated or like you know busy Roman amphitheaters that we've been to. Maybe the other one was like in in France, but um yeah, another Game of Thrones spot, but I didn't look too far. Sorry, Game of Thrones fans, but didn't look too far into what scene or what regards. Um but yeah, so we biked there, and I don't think you knew what we were getting ourselves into. I planned the whole thing out and you know, had a bike already, uh halfway to it in this pretty outside residential neighborhood, popped the tire, and um, you know, I think you had service, I would assume. I didn't, but like we didn't have the you know, what are we gonna call 911? Like we didn't have the the the bike.
SPEAKER_01No, I think they tried to call the bike shop and nobody answered. Yeah, well that sounds about right.
SPEAKER_03They were taking a three-hour nap or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was the middle of the day, so it makes sense.
SPEAKER_03So we just like went to this cafe and got a snack or something, and I think I in English and maybe a little bit broken Spanish asked if there's like a bike shop like anywhere nearby, and the woman kind of understood our issue that I got a flat tire, whatever, so she communicated with this other guy at this table who was a biker, had his you know, Spanx bike suit on, so he was a you know real real real biker. Um and he came by with this fancy bike tire fixer kit and fixed it without speaking a lick of English, didn't ask any questions or certainly didn't ask anything for it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, they were so sweet, yeah. Him and his wife. Um they really helped out and got us where we needed to go, which was so nice. We tried to buy them beers because they were drinking beers, but they wouldn't have it, and yeah, they were Yeah, they were so sweet.
SPEAKER_03And you know, this was already like an hour into the trip and it was super hot, so I don't know if you want to turn back, but I'm like, well, yeah. Because it wasn't like a permanent solution to this to the tire, it was just this like filler that like will hopefully get you to the next spot. And I'm like, all right, we're almost to Italy, let's go. Um so anyway, made it there, made it back. Uh, but yeah, that was pretty uh pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. Um, another thing, another area of town that you should check out is the Jewish Quarter. Oh well, like sidebar. Basically, when we were there in March is when that's when all of the um orange trees start blooming, and there's orange trees everywhere in Sevilla. Oh, also, second sidebar. We're calling it Sevilla. Um, I know British people, I think mostly British people tend to call it Seville.
SPEAKER_03Um that sounds so American.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I feel like a Chicago things from Americans, but I feel like I've heard more Americans call it Sevilla. Um, maybe because of just like the Spanish connection there. But um, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, we're not weirdos where we call everything by the local tongue. We're not calling it like aroma and uh you know Hispana and stuff like that, but yeah, whatever Sevilla stuck with us, and that's why we're calling it that.
SPEAKER_01That's why we're calling it that.
SPEAKER_03Um But yeah, really quick with those orange trees too. Um, so yeah, there were just oranges everywhere on the ground. Maybe we'd pick them up and I don't think people ate them much because I think it was a type that they would make more marmalade.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're not really that tasty, I don't think, when you're eating them particularly, but they are everywhere and they are so fragrant. Yeah. They make the in they made the entire town just smell absolutely beautiful the whole time we were there.
SPEAKER_03Well, and then the best part is when they were ready to be uh um harvested, these like cars come or like these trucks come by, put a like uh uh mechanical like grip onto them, and then just shake them, and then all the oranges just shake into a basket, which is like one of the cooler uh municipal inventions I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01Um but yes, the Jewish corridor is another very interesting area in Sevilla to walk around in. Um, I think that Rick Steves has like a great just like stroll through the Jewish corridor kind of thing. Which we did when we were there, but um a lot of history, a lot of um interesting buildings. We also did a walking tour where they took us through the Jewish corridor and gave us a lot of information there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the two things I remember is that the streets are like really, really narrow, and I think I read that you can, you know, the balconies are so close that you can like kiss someone else's hand on the other balcony. Not just like shake hands, you have to kiss somebody's hand because that's uh and then wasn't I didn't get the full story and I'm sure it was told to us, but the Don Juan thing, uh so I don't know it's the inspiration for the play Don Juan Tenaroyo Tenaro and Don Juan, which apparently is quite popular and big in sp Spanish, you know, culture.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like the Don Juan, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh that was written, you know, the guy lived there, and then that it was like uh inspired by this fountain in the middle of that neighborhood. Um again, I'm like they made it seem like a really big deal on this walking tour, and I'm like, alright, that's but you know, it's not real story, and it's like the guy just kind of wrote it. Like Oz Park in Chicago. It's like, oh, the author was kind of around here when they wrote Wizard of Oz. I was like, okay, like that's not that exciting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um But it was like probably the most like s uh quaint uh neighborhood uh in the town.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and also filled with orange trees, which made it even more picturesque. Yeah. Oh, the Metropol Parasol is um I feel like super weird. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people think it's cool, and then a lot of people are like, why is this in the middle of the city? It's these huge, I guess, buildings structures that are shaped like mushrooms. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I would call it like an art installation, if nothing else.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you can go, I mean, you can go inside of it, you can go to the top of it, which we did. Um, yeah, good view of Sevilla. Kind of interesting to walk around for a second, but also just I don't know. I mean, I think that for a city that is that old and has so many amazing architectural gems and historic architectural gems, uh these mushrooms just kind of are an eyesore, sort of. I think a lot of people I I didn't necessarily consider them that, but I think a lot of people do consider them an eyesore.
SPEAKER_03Right. Well the the the locals certainly seem to that it's it was made for tourists. That's that's why it was created. It's the it's the largest wooden structure in the world, technically. Which is insane if you think of About it, but it's weird. Yeah. Um but yeah, it's just like the most one of the most modern, like yeah, like art installations that's functional because you can go inside of it that I've ever seen in one of the most, you know, well preserved uh historic medieval Baroque Gothic towns I've ever been in. So you know, the juxtaposition, all that great all that good stuff, but like yeah, I for a local I would just be like, this is where our tax tax money's going towards. Like clearly just for tourists, and was kind of an eyesore, in my opinion. Um it reminded me of like what you know the the the Parisians would think of the Eiffel Tower when it was built. Like, didn't they call it like a big eyesore and like whatever? But yeah, no, it's you know, it's fine.
SPEAKER_01Um there was that really good Chinese place at the bottom of it, though. Remember, we would sit outside. I mean, not right at the bottom, but I think across the street that Chinese place we would go to the street. No.
SPEAKER_03Is that where the slide was?
SPEAKER_01Because I was like, No, it's like on the it was like across the street, I think was the Chinese place was.
SPEAKER_03Because I was looking at old videos and photos of our time there, and then I saw a video of Maeve go. I mean, kids just like jump on this thing and they're not supposed to because it's kind of fenced off, but they don't care, and then they just like slide down the side of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um it was a huge kid party there going on.
SPEAKER_03And Maeve tried to fit in, but she just yeah.
SPEAKER_01The parents are just kind of having wine, chatting with their friends, and the kids are all like climbing the side of this structure and just sliding in. It's yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, cool, cool uh lights at night though. It was lit up pretty well at night, I thought, but yeah. Strange.
SPEAKER_01I mean, do it if you're there for a while, I guess, but um it's gigantic, but I'm gonna let you get into the non-cookie treats because it's my specialty. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, I think I probably found this on like Atlas Obscure or something like that, but um, it's this cloister that has been making these sweet crackery, I would g call them, treats since the 13th century. Um, but the the the most fun part of it is the way to get them is you go into the cloister, ring a bell, put down money in this what would what I would call almost like a lazy Susan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then rotate it into where the nuns are. They take the money, they give you the change if you need it, and then they give you these these uh they roll it back around.
SPEAKER_01You never see them.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01And you're not having any interaction with a person, just giving your money and so this order, I believe.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this order I believe uh maintains a vow of uh seclusion. Uh at least they did back in the 13th century. So I that's where it came from. I don't know if they still are not allowed to see people, but um yeah, kept it going for a while. I would describe them as like communion wafers for us Catholics, um but like a little sweeter.
SPEAKER_01Kind of like communion wafers, so not like the tastiest. If you've ever had one of those, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Not the tastiest dessert I've ever had in my life.
SPEAKER_01No, but I mean, still just like a fun little novelty thing to do in Sevilla.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01And maybe it probably costs like 50 cents. She's like, Where are they taking your money? Whoa, wait, what's this? Um kid specific stuff. If you do go there with kids, um bullfighting. Not bullfighting. We're not um I kind of forgot bullfighting was even happening there. We did not partake in any of that.
SPEAKER_03I did have that on the list though, and just really quick, I'll do the bullfighting because it's like two things, but it's the arena is one of the oldest and most famous like in the world by far, and bullfighting is still very much a thing. Maybe that I I would imagine it's gotta be one of the biggest cities that still embrace it in Europe. You know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I know like South America and Mexico do it quite a bit, so but Valencia, I think, has a big one too. But they don't kill the bull. So like Sevilla very much still kills the bull at the end. And um you know, and these these guys are like honored as like heroes and they're like the most famous dudes in town.
SPEAKER_01Um Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03Well Yeah, not for me.
SPEAKER_01No, not for us. I don't think we that's just not something we're interested in. But um if you do, you know, then we ate bull.
SPEAKER_03I mean, probably I thought so.
SPEAKER_01I don't remember eating bull, but that could have happened. It wasn't very good, as I remember, but yeah, but um, yeah, so some kid specific stuff. If you do go there with kids, I'd recommend a carriage ride around the city. They're just everywhere. There's like usually you can kind of pick them up around the Alcazar or the cathedral. Usually take the tour for around, I don't know, half an hour, 40 minutes, and it's just a nice little kid little treat. And we also went to the aquarium there, which was you know, pretty cool. Again, we were there for a month, so it's like you have laker days, you know.
SPEAKER_03I don't remember it much. I remember there was like tons of field trips there, and I was kind of annoyed by it quickly, but Maeve didn't, you know, she was kind of old enough to appreciate it, but not full-fledged, but uh yeah, it existed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so yeah, let's get let's dig into um I have Samana Santa.
SPEAKER_03A couple of a couple other quick ones. So the Macarena neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Um Well, I was gonna that's fine.
SPEAKER_03The Macarena is one of the big statues that they well I know, but I just want to talk about the neighborhood and you know, obviously the song. Let's we could dedicate the next 25 minutes to the song and the history of it.
SPEAKER_01Singing the Macarena.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, Los del Rio uh is from that hood. And uh wanted to honor uh the neighborhood by naming it Macarena, um, which is that that neighborhood is home to one of the most famous churches, which is home to one of the the the most famous Marys, which we'll get into with the um the parades of the the Easter parades. But that neighborhood's really cool because I was actually I kind of forgot a lot about that neighbor because we only like stumbled upon there in the afternoon. But remember those ancient walls like right outside? So those are pretty preserved. I think the whole city was walled in, but those were the most preserved area of it, and those were all built by Julius Caesar, so it goes back um you know 2000 plus years. And then the the the famous Mary, I remember specifically going in this church, and I was still like chuckling because it was named after uh the Los do Rio song. Yeah, but the famous Mary is in there, and this was a few days before uh the the parades, and there was a girl just like crying, just witnessing it, the the the Mary statue.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, it's such a huge deal.
SPEAKER_03But my favorite part of it was, and you could cry, like I'm not gonna make fun of you, but her boyfriend was making fun of her, which I'm just like um I feel bad for this girl who's like didn't expect to weep in public, and then everyone's staring at her, and this boyfriend's just like calling her out about it.
SPEAKER_01But uh but also kind of well, uh not on that note, but like you walk out of the cathedral, and then there's just like all of these tourist shops with like all this low salary mockery and merchandise, which again, this is from the mid-90s. Like, could you even imagine what this was like in 1996 or 1997, whenever that song came out? I can't even imagine.
SPEAKER_03It's a place to bake.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, because I'm like, they're still they're still riding that train there.
SPEAKER_03That Mary, which again is one of the two most famous, too, has um a discolored cheek fan famously, uh, supposedly because a drunk guy threw a bottle of wine at it, um, and it they weren't able to wash it off. So her cheek is like discolored.
SPEAKER_01I remember that fact. Okay, so yeah, so basically, Samana Santa, let's get into it.
SPEAKER_03Hold on, I just have one more thing about the market, but we could we could skip the market, it's fine.
SPEAKER_00What market?
SPEAKER_03Like the cool like old market that from like the 17th century that we went to a few times. You bought uh um oxtail there?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, that's that was a cool market.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so dates back 1719, has cool old stands. That's where we went. We went there a few times because we grocery shopped for some unique things, like including the oxtail for oxtail ragou we made one time. Um, but they have these really cool uh little like restaurant y stands, like seafood stand, like restaurants where you just get like these specialty kind of seafood things, like little bars. Um yeah, I I thought it was one of the cooler markets.
SPEAKER_01It was a very cool market. Um okay, can we get into Samana Santa? Okay. Um so basically, even we got there a couple weeks before Samantha Santa, the holy week started, and even then you were witnessing it the the it was like rumblings, like starting. Basically, like you could see that people were like starting to build the structures that practice, yeah. The structures that they would be carrying the sculptures on throughout town. Um yeah, and then actually doing the practicing of it. So you'll just be walking on the street and there'll just be a bunch of like random old guys like carrying these wooden statues, just just I think practicing for the weight element of it. Well, I think they train. Yeah, they're training.
SPEAKER_03Not only is it a ton of weight, and it's not just a few old guys, it's it's uh there's like or brotherly order hood uh orders of this. So like Yeah, there's like what'd you say, 60 brotherhoods throughout town? Yeah, and you know, this date back a really long time, but no, I mean like the the first one I took a video of and I was looking at earlier today, with it must have been 45 dudes that you could only see like their knees down, and they were just carrying this like as steadily as they possibly could, and it probably weighs you know a ton. So, yeah, they have to train for it, and then not only they have to do this, but they'd have to do this for like well for for a really, really long time.
SPEAKER_01I feel like we're not explaining this very well. During the we during the week, we're like just all over the map, but during the week, there'll be different parades, and during those parades, each brotherhood or church um kind of has their own statues, and they are carrying those statues throughout town, process through. Processing through at their, you know, each have their own kind of time to do this. Yes, they are wearing robes that resemble, let's face it, KKK robes. Um so if you are an American and you're familiar with that, the KKK, as we all are, um, it is a bit jarring to see all of these men dressed like this um walking through town.
SPEAKER_03Not kids. I I I took a f a photo of a family taking a family photo. So a photo of a family photo, and there was like a like a women are dressed to the nines.
SPEAKER_01The women there were dressing so posh and so fancy for all of these events, and then yeah, they're just taking these family photos with their kids in the robes as well, and um, but also speaking to what you were talking about with like the training to carry these throughout town, they're not wearing shoes. Some of them are some of them, yeah. I think most of the ones I saw were barefoot, right?
SPEAKER_03They look at it as an act of penance, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So leading up to Easter, again, there's all these per there's all there's all these processions, um, but there's two main ones. There's the Macarena and the Triana. Do you remember what the Triana one was called? The one from Triana, which is the neighborhood like across the river um in Sevilla. Yeah. And I forget her name, but I'll put it in the show in the notes. But um the Macarena, I think it's on Holy Friday, the Macarena and the Triana sculpture of Mary, they are on the opposite sides of town, and they start off at the same time and they start processing and processing slowly and slowly into the center of town and kind of meet there, and basically the entire town is then just surrounded by the other.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I wish they were, but like, don't they like face off? I mean, not like really, but just like people look at it that way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of like one side of town versus the other, and like whose culture is better, basically. Um, and you know, everyone has their own allegiance, but it is it's such a solemn and sacred event that it's not really like it's not like a competition necessarily.
SPEAKER_03It's just um No, but it it, you know, it goes back to I'm sure generations of rivalries and and and whatever, but yeah, it's we thought it'd be more like party atmosphere. Um and I'm completely fine, it wasn't, but yeah, when when these floats would they would usually go like a half a block at a time very slowly, and then they would stop. And when they stopped, everyone was like completely silent. So May was on my shoulders for some of some of it, and it's hard to make a three-year three-year-old silent. Well, she she got the midst of it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01She was doing better than some of like the there were like the teenagers who were kind of like drinking and whatever, and they were being like, Hey, you guys, be quiet. Like they were being told, like, do not right, right? Yeah, like you have to be solemn and reverent, and it was. I mean, we have videos of where the the sculptures right in front of us, and it is just complete silence on the street, but surrounded by hundreds of people, and it was just like an amazing experience to witness this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um it was one of the cooler, maybe outside the polio in Italy, that was one of the cooler uh um neighborhoody or town traditions, customs that that we've seen in person.
SPEAKER_01We don't, I mean, we were raised Catholic, we don't we're not like crazy practicing Catholics, but we um no, I mean just we don't practice a lot. I would say we don't go to mass every week, but just being there, even f even if you're not, just being there and witnessing it is such a incredible experience, I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, to see people's reaction to it um and how much they care about this and how important it is to their um their identity and as a civilian?
SPEAKER_02Sean?
SPEAKER_03Sevian. Yeah, because I feel like they probably don't even think of themselves and they they do, but as Spanish, they're Sevillaan first, and it's similar also to like the the regions in in Italy. It's like I'm this region first, Tuscan first, European second, Italian third, is what a lot of people would consider. And I f I felt that that was very similar in in that region.
SPEAKER_01I could see that, yeah. Um, if you do stay for a while in Sevilla and you want to pop out and do some day trips, there is there's some options. Uh we did Cordoba.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Cordoba was pretty incredible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, most people go to Cordoba for the Mesquita, which is the cathedral. Um, was a mosque.
SPEAKER_03No, no, so yeah. 10th century or no, okay. Roman temple, turn Gothic church, turn mosque, turn Catholic Church. So it was a you know pagan Roman temple.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, and then turn got you know, so pretty, pretty incredible. Like you don't see much of much of that stuff in it besides maybe Rome.
SPEAKER_01It's very like there's the juxtaposition in it is really interesting because you go in and it is just very mosque-like, I would say, at the beginning, and it's absolutely I mean the whole place is absolutely beautiful, and then you just hit this one part and you're like, oh, okay, this is just like a Catholic cathedral, and they're just combined, they're just next to each other.
SPEAKER_03I think I kind of remember reading, uh maybe like it was a Rick Steves thing or something, but saying, like, the only way they won't demolish this, and this was back in the day, not recently, but like when it turned Catholic, the only way they're not gonna just like tear us down for a Catholic church is if we just build this Catholic basilica inside of this old mosque. So it's just like, yeah, you're you're going around and there's 850 pillars that are taken from Roman ruins. So it's it's you're in like this I don't even know how to scribe it. It it just looks like this endless amount of just like these arched arches, yeah. Not even hallways, but just like a big room with a bunch of arches in it. Um and extremely, yeah, extremely Muslim and and um and Moorish looking.
SPEAKER_01Um and then out of nowhere, there's this like you step into the next room and it's like this insanely baroque was it broke or gothic, right?
SPEAKER_03No, that's a good question.
SPEAKER_01I I think it might have been more baroque, but yeah, I think it was kind of broke cathedral, which is just very interesting. Yeah. That they're just right in the same building connected to each other.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and they still hold mass there. I mean it's it's probably more you know uh visited by tourists than um than actually for mass goers, but yeah, it's like walking through a museum to get to your church or to your to a to a mass that you're attending. Um but the the town of Cordoba is super interesting. I listened to an a podcast about the history of that whole region, um, but the town of Cordoba in the 10th century was the largest in the world, largest uh city in the world.
SPEAKER_02What?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, most of most advanced in Europe by far, and then had a population of half a million people. And was like extremely diverse because they would trade with everyone, they were very open with religion, and um I mean it's the 10th century, but yeah, it's um seemed like a pretty interesting spot. Um yeah, and then I remember the exterior of the the mosque was really cool too. Um with all the like the courtyard of the orange trees as well, but that had a name, I don't remember what it is, but um yeah, that was really cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean reason enough to go to Cordova is this the Mosquita. It was another incredible highlight of our time.
SPEAKER_03I remember the food is really good too. I don't know if we like did a lot of research for what good spots to go to, but I feel it was like better than Sevilla.
SPEAKER_01Could have been, yeah, maybe. You don't remember any of that?
SPEAKER_03I don't really I think that's where we ate bull.
SPEAKER_01Maybe I don't know. Yeah, another like uh like other um train or short car ride away. You've got the Alhambra in Granada and Ronda, which is known for that famous bridge over the gorge. We didn't go to these places, so we can't really speak to them, but there are a and Malaga is only what, like an hour and a half, two hours away? Like there's a lot like when you get to the coast.
SPEAKER_03You can go to Africa, but not pretty easily. Well, easily, but it's not it's really not far.
SPEAKER_01No, you're I mean you're really south as far as um where you are geographically.
SPEAKER_03Alright, so this one I need help pronouncing this town.
SPEAKER_00Uh Setanil de Las Bodegas?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so this I had on our list. I really wanted to go, we just kind of ran out of time, but it's a town that's built into limestone rock. So like when you're walking down like the main town in this or the main uh road in the street, it's just like above you is rock. So it's it's it's looks insane. It's probably a tiny town. But it reminded me of a Terra, um, Italy, where these families would live in these like caves for thousands of years and um you know it's passed around through generations, but now it's probably pretty touristy. But if you look it up, that that just look up uh you know Rock Town. If if you didn't uh if you can't spell Sarah's pronunciation. Rocktown in southern Spain. It did come up because that's how I searched for it.
SPEAKER_01So there you go.
SPEAKER_03It looks super cool, but maybe it could be it could be awful and touristy, but yeah, pictures look cool.
SPEAKER_01Really quickly, things to eat. Um, you know, the mate, you're in you're in Spain, so the main thing you're gonna be looking for is some tapas.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So, you know, candidly, I think we were uh a little disappointed by food in southern Spain. Don't want to speak for all of Spain, yeah, but as super traditional places go, like Tuscany, you're not gonna have a ton of um variety.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So a lot of the restaurants were pretty similar as far as the menu goes.
SPEAKER_01Um, and a lot of the food was just like brown and beige and um vegetables, I feel in our time there. There's a lot of meats, a lot of heavy braised meats, a lot of um fried Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Fried everything.
SPEAKER_01Fried everything, like I I think I ate more potatoes in Sevilla than I had have like even on trips to Ireland.
SPEAKER_03I I mean Yeah, I mean fries just seem to be served with everything.
SPEAKER_01Well fries do, but like on top of that, it was just like every type of potato. Like, but yeah, lots of potatoes. Um it's just kind of not really our favorite type of food.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it was a bummer because we were there for a while, so it's not like we just you know got bummed out and started cooking, though. We we really went out of our way to like really, really look for stuff, and again, it's a traditional town, so these are just like the the dishes people have been eating for generations and they don't change much, which is super cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, but which is great for like if you're in Sevilla for a couple days, not everyone most people who listen to this podcast are not going to be there for a month straight. And if you're there for a few days, I mean, literally, there's so many amazing Tapas places. There's a whole like we did Tapas. crawls when we had um family come to visit us while we were there and the tapas restaurants or bars are really really cool in that you know so many of them just have like stuff all over the wall just stand-upy ones where you can just kind of walk in and there's really no places to sit you just are kind of going up to the and you're s you're standing next to uh you know an 85 year old dude that's um you know drinking wine with you which is it's it's a it's a unique uh atmosphere for sure um and the food wasn't bad it's just that when you're doing it for a month it gets a little a little old and heavy yeah you go to the coast I'm sure it's much much better I have heard that so the MAVE school Boundless Life also has a location in Andalusia in Estepona on the coast and I have heard that it is better there there's a lot more seafood but I think it's just because Sevilla is landlocked it's just a little more meat heavy and again I mean there's nothing wrong with eating meat.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I mean we love Tuscany lived in Tuscany for three months uh and that was a lot of braised meat yeah but just for us it was m just a little too much of the meat and potatoes after a month of it but right all good you know you can't win them all um yeah I remember they had really good pizza there actually yeah we found a really good pizza spot we're not these you know again we're not these people playing Chinese place by the mushroom yeah we we sound super lame when it comes to food we're not but we try the traditional stuff I I promise you oh yeah my my favorite part with food or or and drink culture though is they essentially have the same thing as apertivo in Italy. Theirs probably starts at like you know eight o'clock versus like five or six o'clock um but they would drink uh either like a two dollar beer the beer was so so cheap there same with wine but they drink vermouth uh straight sweet vermouth on ice a huge thing um which I didn't never really drink straight vermouth but I did there and it was good and it was really cheap and um yeah I I I quite enjoyed it. Um the the the the wine and the f and the beer there were maybe the cheapest in any place we've ever been to I thought.
SPEAKER_01Yeah but I mean so solid I I'm always think a Spanish wine is just a solid choice. Um it's um you know yeah uh uh you can't go wrong you really can't go wrong with um the drinks there beer you I mean you feel like you had a bunch of beer too yeah just like and nothing like that I'm not a big beer drinker but nothing that like was that memorable it's just um good light easy drinking cheap beer that is great to drink in uh piazza or you know yeah Mae really enjoyed the churros as well yeah um which are pretty popular there there's a lot of different churros spots and um yeah so should we I I suggest if just definitely if you're going with kids get some churros because they love that.
SPEAKER_03So in the the States aren't churros like Mexican churros just the fried dough with like cinnamon or sugar on it?
SPEAKER_01Whereas there you dip them in this I mean they might have that at like festivals or carnivals that they have chocolate dipping but yeah there it's very it's like they give you basically like a ginormous bowl of chocolate sauce that you're I mean yeah I don't really know how you can do that. You would need like I feel like twelve churros to like eat all the chocolate sauce that they give you. But it is you know I mean it's it's a yummy treat especially for a kid. Um yeah I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Anything else with food?
SPEAKER_01Um I'm trying to think anything else with food. I mean again we did have some amazing Tapas crawls where we the tapas was the best.
SPEAKER_03I feel if we went to like a even a fancier like Spanish restaurant which we didn't do much but like even like an elevated one those we were most let down by yeah the traditional small plates spots where they've been around for like 400 years was the places that we've we like the best by far. Remember those like clams that clam spot that was like I remember because I was looking through photos it was I put 200 years older than our country so it's not even like the oldest I think spot in town.
SPEAKER_01We don't make your descriptions completely random um I love it.
SPEAKER_03Well yeah I don't really have anything else I don't think come on we're missing maybe the greatest part about Sevilla or at least if you have a babysitter.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah you can the church bar.
SPEAKER_03There is this church bar that um I try to find the name of yeah we didn't write down the name okay well I'll describe what you look for the name it's I'm not sure how we found it it's you know in an area where has probably a lot of nightlife we didn't do that much obviously but this barloci maybe outside of like the robot restaurant bar in Tokyo was the most ridiculous over the top bar I've ever been to in my life.
SPEAKER_01It is just this like Renaissance style churchy It's basically like going into church and then drinking cocktails.
SPEAKER_03But going to church that's covered from floor to ceiling with just like church stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah yeah like a church on steroids like a Roman Catholic gothic y renaissancey church style.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I mean it's like all styles I feel but like they're I weren't they playing like you know hymns?
SPEAKER_01Yeah they're playing hymns you walk in and you're just like hit with the incense smell which is like you know really and I don't again I don't want to what was there by drink called should we even say it like it's it wasn't I asked Blood of Christ. Yeah yeah yeah I mean but apparently people didn't find it disrespectful I think we asked somebody we did ask we asked like locals and you know we're like you guys are probably Catholic and they're like yeah um do you find this like disrespectful and they're all like no this is incredible this is amazing like yeah we're we're we're good Catholics and we love this place like so I don't think I think it's just um an homage I guess yeah homage to Roman Catholicism at its heyday I guess I don't know but it is it's if you go there and you are yeah my dad my boomer dad and his friends came uh to visit us and we brought them there and they're just like where what is this place?
SPEAKER_03Like how does this exist?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm yeah yeah their parent their parents are like rolling around their graves watching them to sit through the have a cocktail there. But yep if you get there definitely go uh check it out yeah for sure yeah overall overall really liked uh Sevilla I think we I loved Sevilla I thought it was wonderful we had such a great experience and time there um just so much to see I feel like especially for like a slow travel place like you can really just settle in there and just do something different every day there's so much to see and do and day trips from there are really easy so yeah Civia great place go check it out and I don't know if you got anything else I do not all right well you know cheers to our red Mencia wine and uh yeah first podcast in a while from Japan yeah all right cheers everyone bye