So here we are, in lovely Seville, Spain. How – or why – did we come here? As you know, we spent the last five months in Montenegro, living a by-the-sea, by-the-mountains, small-town lifestyle. It was great and we enjoyed every minute of it (except the torrential downpours during the winter).
As we have plans for late spring, we wanted to swing through a new place for a couple months before getting into a possibly intense project. We hate winter and are already in Europe, so we figured we should find the warmest place available on the continent. Options were drilled down to southern Spain and southern Italy, with Spain winning out due to its much larger options regarding flats, cities, and weather.
We considered Valencia, Alicante, Almeria, Malaga, and Seville, as well as the cities that are close to the latter: Cadiz, Jerez, Huelva, Cordoba. Crazy small towns were out of the picture because we only have two months, and because we just spent the last six (Montenegro plus a month in southwestern Germany) in small towns. We’re city people at heart, and it is city time.
We honestly weren’t sure where to go, mostly because we really don’t care. Every place has its own ups and downs. Every place is livable and likable for a variety of reasons, and every place has its annoyances. We enjoy everything, and never find ourselves needing to be in the “best” city or “best” location – whatever those are.
Flat searches began, and we found viable options in most cities. We had previously chit-chatted with Cat from Sunshine & Siestas via social media connections, and decided to seek out her advice. She lives in Seville, likes it here, and we thought, ‘Hey, why not?’ Seville it is.
That’s really what happened and really how much we don’t care about where we are. Great experiences are everywhere. Despite top-ten lists and best-places diatribes, that’s a fact, Jack. And despite the local pride that dictates what our friends from other Spanish cities had say about it, we knew Seville would be just fine.
Apartments were booked, a bevy of plane tickets was purchased, and we were ready for a new encounter. Do you know how hard it is to fly from one southern destination to another southern destination in the middle of off-season? Oy.
Three flights…
…one overnight stay…
…four countries and one island later…
…we landed in Seville.
And here we are. Time to get into all kinds of madness, relax and go crazy, learn about a new city and a new culture, meet new people, eat new food, and rethink and relearn the (Mexican) Spanish we already know. Ready? Let’s do it!
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When you go, how do you decide where you’re going next? Have you ever been to Seville? Any other thoughts or questions? Have your say in the comments!
Seville is a great city. You are centrally located and it is easy to get to other places. I would recommend checking out Valencia too. I would love to live in Spain.
Indeed, there are quite a few cities within arm’s reach of Seville. Hopefully, we’ll get to see at least a few of them! Thanks for the recommendation about Valencia; we hope to make it there at some point in the future. Also, thanks for reading and for commenting – love your blog!
Thanks for the mention, Mister! And for the record, I don’t like Seville. I could compose a love song to it (minus the stinky garbage that has been accumulating for those of us not fortunate enough to live in the city center). Hasta pronto!
Like, love. Pish, posh. Tomato, potato. We might not be here if not for our conversations, so thanks for everything! This garbage strike is getting out of control. I swore I possibly heard a garbage truck early this morning, but I have yet to go out and stink-vestigate.
Awesome, you two! Lo siento… con pero, tres! This is the post I’d been waiting for: The story on the selection of and journey to Seville. We all know your only true criteria was access to the strongest Barça, ahem- fútbol reception. Enjoy your visitors from abroad… and know there are more of us who wish we could swing through town for a private tapas tour and dialect coaching.
Haha, if that’s what we were going for, would we not have gone to Barcelona? Also, th-th-th-th-th!