Seville, with Kids, on a Budget

From the cave, we took buses to Seville, with a stop in Granada just to sleep for a few hours.

It was my undying wish for a hot shower and to wash the fleas off the clothes in our duffel, but alas. The cheapest Airbnb we could find in Seville did not have that squeaky clean feel I was so desperate for. Despite the animal dander still clinging to my clothes, I refused to get into the moldy shower stall.

Grubby accommodations aside, the city of Seville has wonderful history, mind-blowing baroque architecture and the perfect Spanish Old Town. We nearly got lost in the higgledy piggledy cobblestone streets on our first day.

You absolutely could spend days, not to mention a bunch of money, touring historic buildings, museums and shops, but you may not be surprised to learn that my most favorite things to do in Seville were 100% free.

TO DO: Plaza de Espana y Parque de Maria Luisa

My #1 must-see in Seville was the Plaza de Espana. A street performer was making a million shining bubbles for kids to run through and it gave the place a magical feel. With arched bridges over the little mote, bright and intricately painted tiles adorning the spires, it was a romantic's dream come true. We even photobombed a couple getting their engagement shots taken.



You can wander through the pillars and arches, go upstairs for a nice view of the park or hire a boat to motor you around the moat, but that last one sounded silly to me. We enjoyed the water and the fountains by walking around, and didn't spend a centimo.

The Plaza is set at the north corner of the Parque de Maria Luisa, which was my second favorite thing. Stroll through the hedges, marvel at the architecture of the surrounding buildings, let your kid play on the playground. We could have spent all day meandering through the grounds.

Between the Plaza de Espana and the Real Alcazar is a little park where they had a fair of sorts set up. Carnival rides, bumper cars, a ferris wheel and an ice rink, plus churro and other food vendor stalls. We spotted it at dusk, because of the lights, and it definitely looked more charming at dusk than in the daytime, when we had time to get back and explore it. But we spent too much money to let Babs ride some rides anyway, because she's a good kid and deserves to be scared on a rollercoaster.

La Catedral de Sevilla

One of the big attractions in Seville is the Cathedral. The third largest church in the world and the largest gothic church in the world, it covers 23,500 square meters (253,000 square feet). Christopher Columbus is entombed there.

It started out as a mosque, built in 1184, but was consecrated a Cathedral in 1248 and had Gothic and baroque additions throughout the centuries.

We managed to time our visit to Seville on the worst possible day, the days leading up to Christmas. The tourists were so thick you could almost crowd-surf down the street. The line for the church went halfway down the block.

Luckily, after passing through Seville to Jerez, then Arcos, we decided to return to the city for a few nights on our way up to Madrid. Early January was a much calmer time, though the tourists never really stop flowing through the city.

Inside is cavernous, with stained glass, pillars and arches, alcoves of 15th-century artwork and shrines. There are slivers of time when you can climb the tower for free, but we paid the 9 euros/adult to spend an hour gawking at the cavernous cathedral, the ornate organ, the shrines, the tomb of Christopher Columbus, and climb the bell tower, La Giralda.

The view of the church spires from the tower is like something out of Beauty and the Beast.

Our Airbnb on our second run-through of Seville was a mere block from the Cathedral, tucked in charming Old Town right off a lovely square of orange trees, next to the Spanish turron (fudge) and sweets shop, Sabor, where much of the time they have baskets of samples and offer free tastes.

Comer: La Brunilda

We ate at plenty of bad restaurants. We were charged inordinate amount for tiny tapas plates, like they were almost daring us to complain. But I can recommend La Brunilda. It's tucked off the main drag and there was an actual line outside waiting for it to open. Everything was amazing, though a little pricey for our vagabonding standards. But totally worth it.

Shower Thoughts:

During our first pass through Seville, the square in front of the cathedral and in the Plaza de Espana were lined with horse-drawn carriages pulling tourists on sightseeing tours around the city for entirely too much money. Babs liked seeing horses up close.

But then we saw a horse slip on the stones and fall hard on her knees with a disconcerting clatter and it made me sad. We had just finished reading Black Beauty (for the second time), and I wondered how happy those cab horses really were. I wondered if they were being cruelly exploited to serve tourism and I wondered if we weren't an unwitting part of it. We want to travel too, to see these wonders dropped all over the globe, to experience different cultures, to learn their history.

Seville was a tourist hub on par with Granada, understandably so, given the beauty and the incredible history there. And I felt the same way about it as the Alhambra. Too many souvenir shops, too much comfort, too many American accents.

In any case, it was beautiful and we enjoyed our days in Seville. I'm glad we were able to hit it a second time and visit the Cathedral, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From Seville, we were headed to Jerez, where we would meet up with a friend from Colorado and spend Christmas.