Sunny Seville

Sun and warmth were the first things we noticed when we landed (courtesy of Captain Andy this time). Keep in mind we are coming from England so warmth is relative, right?

We got to our apartment a bit too early to get the keys so we wandered around and found this beautiful cathedral right around the corner from us.

Oranges were everywhere, the trees were full of them.

Then I saw this bag on the sidewalk…there were so many of these bags around the city, the smell was wonderful!

After checking in to our apartment we set off in search of food…sound familiar? We had a list of recommendations along with a map. We decided on a place very close to us but when we got there it was closed. Next place? Same thing. Next place? Same thing. At this point I could see Clara beginning to lose faith in her parents - and quickly! We happened upon a beautiful plaza that had a restaurant with seating outside that was obviously open. Clara announced that she really wanted to eat there because it was open. Glad that our expectations had been lowered so much. At this point it was 9:00 and open was all we really cared about. This was one of the buildings near where we ate.

It turned out to be the best meal of our trip. It was a tapas restaurant and the food was amazing - including pork cheek which I *think* I ate for the first time. Communicating Jonas's allergies was easy thanks to the ipod app where we had previously translated his list of allergies. After dinner we even ordered dessert since it was so good. After sharing chocolate mousse with Nell (her first proper dessert) we headed home. Nell's coat was covered in the same amount of chocolate she had eaten.

By now it was 10:45 and it seemed so normal to be heading home from dinner with our whole family - such a difference from our normal life.

After grabbing some pastries and hot chocolate for breakfast (except for Nell who honestly snacked on her jacket leftovers from the night before) we went to Real Alcazar.

But I'll bet Nell's snack tasted better than what Jonas was snacking on...don't ask me!

I didn't know what to expect which probably added to my surprise but it was so beautiful. One of my very favorite places I've visited so far. It reminded me of Istanbul with the Moorish influenced architecture. I took far too many pictures but every time I turned a corner I was amazed by a new view - so skip over the next group if you like, believe it or not, this is a small sampling. :)

We saw where Christopher Columbus planned out his trip to the Americas.

We also saw the room where Don Juan was born and it tops any delivery room I've ever seen. Then there were the gardens which were probably larger than the palace itself.

The children loved playing around and getting wet in the fountains.

It really was the perfect morning.

It was hard to drag ourselves away but we managed. Next was the cathedral we had seen the night before.

First we saw where Christopher Columbus was buried.

Then we decided to hike up the watch tower (pictured here).

It was made with ramps so horses could climb to the top. Don't ask me how they convinced a horse to ride up or down those ramps but we (meaning Devin) managed to push the stroller up to the top to see the views and back down again.

Just outside of the cathedral was a line of horse-drawn carriages.

After much pleading from Clara and Jonas we agreed to riding around Seville. It turned out to be a really fun way to see the city and was a much longer tour than I had expected. Here are some of the sights we saw along the way.

After the carriage ride we had gone far too long without food (for the Osterhouts at least) so we headed to a bakery and grabbed some food to eat on the steps of the Archivo de Indias while basking in the warm sunshine. Have I mentioned how much I love the sunshine? Nothing like the past two years to teach me how to appreciate the sun.

With a quick stop inside the archives to see Christopher Columbus's diary and some other maps and such we needed some gelato. Here Nell got her first taste of gelato (it probably would have happened sooner had we lived near Grandpa Osterhout but since we don't she was the ripe old age of 11 months before getting her first taste). I love how she looks so smug in the first picture and the second one shows what sugar does to her!!! Watch out!

Now for some shopping. I had seen many stores I was very eager to go inside if we had the time. First was this amazing children's shoe shop. Talk about eye candy.

I bought Nell her first pair of real shoes in my favorite shade of green as well as some red ones for the next size up. Jonas and Clara loved seeing her try shoes on and Jonas is always wanting her to wear them now.

We wandered by a few more shops (including one I splurged in) and saw more beautiful buildings like these on our way to the Flamenco museum.

Before arriving at the museum, Jonas fell asleep in the stroller which is very unusual. The funny thing was that his hand was in "fox" - what we affectionately call his fox backpack. Fox was his constant companion this trip. He always had it on his lap and since I bring his own snacks (thanks to food allergies), he was often snacking away when we weren't paying attention. Apparently it's very tiring work!

The Flamenco museum had a 7:00 show and it was unreal. I've never seen flamenco in person but it is loud and intense and beautiful. Clara and I sat mesmerized and even Nell didn't move a muscle when I would stand up with her to let her see better.

Jonas on the other hand was completely frightened once they began dancing and Devin had to take him out for a while but he managed to come back in and made it through the remainder of the show. If you ask him about it now he'll tell you in a very stern voice "dancing…stomping…boom".

After the show we decided to try one of the restaurants from the night before that had been closed. We found one and realized that it wasn't opening until 9:30pm!! No wonder they were closed the night before, we ignorantly thought they would be open at 8:30 for dinner!! So, at 9:30 we sat down to eat.

We ate quickly and got home to get the kids in bed since we would have to catch a taxi at 4:30am for our 6:30am flight to Venice. We were very sad to leave Seville, it was one of our favorite places to visit but we are very glad we included it in our trip. Here's Clara on the airport floor waiting to board the plane and feeling very sleepy.