Justin's Notes

Jun. 30, 2024

This past week, Syd and I got to visit our friends Clayton and Tate in Seville, Spain. We had an amazing time. It was honestly pretty difficult to write this, mostly because it is hard to put into words how fun this trip was and how fun it was seeing my friends and just every part of the city we experienced and saw. I still wanted to document the trip, though, with all the things we did and places we ate. This way, if we ever go back or if I know someone visiting there, I can just send them this record of all the sights and foods we enjoyed ourselves.

Days 1 & 2 (June 8th & 9th)

The majority of the first two days were spent traveling. We left Portland and flew through Dallas to Madrid. It was a bit brutal. Because of the time change, we essentially skipped Saturday night, with our Dallas flight leaving at 7AM PST and our Madrid flight landing at around 6AM CEST. The flights were fine—nothing special. Once we got to Madrid, we made our way towards Puerta de Atocha, the main train station.

As we waited for the train, we hit up a brunch spot called Scarlett, which was delicious. It was right across the street from the train station. I would highly recommend it. Their food was super tasty—so tasty that we ended up going again on the way back home. After eating, we got on the train, and we both basically slept the entire three-hour ride until we got to Seville. We arrived at the main train station in Seville (Santa Justa) and made our way to the Airbnb, took a two-hour nap to try and find any ounce of existence within us, and then went and had our first experience with tapas with Clayton and Tate, a restaurant called Bar Postiguillo. It was pretty solid—lots of meats, cheeses, tomatoes with tuna and bread. Clayton thought it was only decent the time we went, but I still enjoyed it. I love the tapas life, basically just eating appetizers for every meal. We also had our first gelato of the trip, which was an almost daily event in Seville.

The boys finally back together for the first time since Syd & I's wedding last September.

Day 3 (June 10th)

Syd and I slept for 14 hours. We went to bed at 11PM and woke up at 1PM the next day. I don't know if I have ever slept that long. It has to be the closest I have ever felt to being in a comatose state. After we woke up, we met up with Clayton and Tate and went to this Middle Eastern restaurant called Restaurante Arabesca. It was so tasty. We shared some delicious hummus, baba ghanoush and different tajine dishes. I ordered a lamb one that had nuts, apricots and plums, which were so good with the lamb. There is something about Middle Eastern food that has a way to my heart; I love it all.

The rest of the day was our first experience, walking all over the city. It made me hate cars more than I already do. Being in a pedestrian city was super fun—walking anywhere and everywhere. We visited Plaza de España and spent quite a bit of time just hanging out in the park next to it. We got to see some flamenco groups perform there, which was quite fun. We then headed towards the river, passing tons of stuff. The University of Seville, Torre del Oro (an old watch tower) and Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla (the bull fighting arena), to name a few. Every building in Spain has so much character, and any old building feels so unique and ornate.

The front of the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla bull fighting arena.

We made our way across the river to a restaurant called Restaurante El Sella Triana because Clayton has a strong affection for their fried peppers. His affection was warranted. We also had some patatas bravas here, which quickly became one of my favorite tapas. They also had an interesting Asturian cider that you used a kind of pump to pour into your glass so that it would aerate correctly. It was mad yum and had a pretty unique flavor and dryness that I haven't experienced in a cider before. After dinner, we made our way back home to the Airbnb, and it was crazy how many people were out. Because of the heat, everyone in the city seems to come out at 8PM or so.

The riverside and everywhere else in the city seemed to fill up once it cooled off for the evening.

Day 4 (June 11th)

The next day we woke up at a way more reasonable time, being around 11AM. Syd and I headed out to a breakfast spot called Brunch Milk Away. It was great. I just got a yogurt bowl and a cappuccino, but it was still quite tasty. I was loving the yogurt and protein-type breakfast bowls on this trip.

After breakfast, we headed to the Catedral de Sevilla. It was incredible. The stained-glass windows, the giant organs, and the courtyard full of orange trees. I loved seeing everything that was inside. I am always amazed to see buildings, especially old churches, older than America. They just offer so much history, and the buildings have such an intricate and elegant feeling. We also got passes to climb up the tower to see the city from there. It was beautiful. We could point out almost every landmark and location we had visited the day prior, and we also got to see some places we were going to be going throughout the rest of the trip.

View of the outside of the Catedral de Sevilla, including the tower we climbed up to view the city from.

After we left the cathedral, we grabbed some gelato and went to a smaller cathedral in the area that our passes got us into, called the Iglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador. It was a lot smaller, but it was still a beautiful building. Once we left there, it started pouring. Clayton told us rainstorms pass after 15 minutes. Not this one. We waited for a while to see if it would die down, then decided to make our way in the rain to Royal Alcázar of Seville. This castle is centuries old and still houses the royal family to this day, I believe. It was beautiful inside, especially the gardens. We spent quite a bit of time out in the gardens of the palace, had some pastries in the palace café, and saw some peacocks before they closed.

Once we got our fill of the palace, we headed to a ramen restaurant for dinner called Buga Ramen. It was pretty solid, but I would definitely say there are some Portland ramen spots that are better. I had a bowl of ramen, and we shared some dumplings and fried chicken. As far as the atmosphere goes, though, it was like an anime convention exploded inside. The entire restaurant was covered in anime memorabilia. They even had a robot deliver the food to you. After dinner, we parted ways. Syd and I grabbed another gelato, watched a girl fall into a fountain while getting her picture taken, and just enjoyed hanging outside for a bit before calling it a day.

Day 5 (June 12th)

We slept in again. What kind of vacation doesn't include sleeping in? We made our way to Purita - De vuelta al Origen, a brunch spot, to meet up with Clayton and Tate. I had a chocolate croissant and some savory toast that was pretty tasty. After breakfast, we split up because of some errands Clayton needed to run. Syd and I walked around the city for a little bit and then went and relaxed at the Airbnb since we knew we were going to have a later night that evening.

After meeting back up with Clayton and Tate, we went up on top of the Setas de Sevilla monument. It is supposedly the biggest wooden structure in the world. I honestly still don't totally know the purpose of it, but I think it is just kind of there. Going on top was really cool, though; it offered another unique view of the city.

Setas de Sevilla, one of, if not the largest wooden structure in the world.

We then went for double tapas dinners. We had quite a few hours to kill before the Flamenco show we were going to go to that night. The first tapas restaurant we went to was Restaurante Alcazar Andalusi Tapas. We had some delicious tinto de verano drinks, which are a red wine and lemon spritzer-type cocktail. They are amazing. They are so refreshing and easy to drink. We also had some solid tuna, excellent patatas bravas and a few other tapas. We then went and saved our spots at the show, then went to Bar Antojo which was another tapas restaurant. Clayton and I ordered way too much food and basically ended up trying to champ four tapas down essentially alone, while Tate and Syd watched skeptically. We felt mildly successful, but it was the wrong choice to order four more tapas.

Lastly, we went to Peña Cultural Flamenca Torres Macarena, which was an older flamenco venue celebrating their, I think, 55th year anniversary. It was fantastic. The percussive-ness of flamenco performances, the heartfelt singing, and the focus and determination of the dancers. It was all incredible to see. Even without knowing anything that was said or sang, it felt emotional. You could tell how passionate the artists were about their craft and the story they told.

We made our way back to the Airbnb after that. One of the coolest parts of Spain for me honestly was how safe the city felt and also just how late people were out. We left the flamenco venue at 12:30AM and walked a mile back, not once feeling sketched out or worried. Every time we passed an open restaurant, it was packed with people eating, drinking and just being social. It really is a very friendly city where people genuinely are just enjoying their time, even into the morning hours on a Wednesday.

Day 6 (June 13th)

We made it to our last full day in Seville. We started off the day with brunch, as usual. I am normally not really a breakfast person, but on vacation, one of my favorite things to do is eat breakfast. I think because I don't often eat it at home, I just want it all the time when on a trip. So we went to a restaurant called La Mala Brunch, which was underneath Setas. It was amazing. If we had more days in Seville, I think Syd and I would have gone back to this place a few more times. Again, I had a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino, along with a salmon bagel sandwich. It was a solid meal.

For our last day, Clayton gave us the option of either heading to the coast, or going to Cordoba to see a castle and the cathedral in the city. Everyone seemed pretty indifferent, and I really wanted to see the castle. I had seen a thread on Twitter of photos of castles and talked to Clayton about it a month or so before the trip, and he remembered there was one close by. Clayton and Tate made their way to our Airbnb in a rented car, and we headed out towards Cordoba.

It took about an hour to make it to Castillo Almodovar del Rio. It was absolutely worth going here instead of the beach. It was incredible. The castle was restored in the early 1900s, but is originally from something like 740. Is that not insane? It blows my mind. The majority of the castle was open, so we basically climbed every tower, taking in the views of the countryside. I am not a Game of Thrones watcher currently, but some of the 7th season, I think, was filmed at this castle. There were tons of different artifacts, like old Roman money, replicas of armor and weapons, and even proof of the sale of the castle itself. I just loved being there and exploring a castle for the first time.

After the castle, we headed into Cordoba. We walked around, desperately searching for a restaurant that was open because it was around 4PM. In Spain, many restaurants close in the afternoons due to the heat. So it took a while for us to find lunch, which ended up being a Jewish food restaurant called Damasco. It was pretty solid, but it was absolutely the most expensive place we ate on the whole trip. Which in reality was like $50 for Syd & I, aka pretty regular American prices. We then walked towards the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. It was beautiful inside. I know I say that about every building, but it's just a fact. There were all of these columns lining the inside, with all these small rooms on the sides of the building. In their center, there was another organ area, similar to the Seville cathedral, and an area where it looked like mass services took place. We didn't go up the tower at this one; we were exhausted from the castle, and it seemed like we would have had to walk upstairs all the way to the top. Maybe next time.

Syd & I in the courtyard of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba.

We made our way back to Seville and had one final dinner with Clayton and Tate. We went to a more "local" spot called La Filo Anda Que No. It was so good; we got a few rounds of tinto de veranos and probably 4-5 tapas. It was incredibly cheap. I think with drinks and food, it was maybe $30 total for all of us, or something like that. It was the perfect spot to end our time in Seville. We made our way back to the Airbnb and packed up, ready to leave the next morning.

Days 7 & 8 (June 14th & 15th)

We woke up probably the earliest we had the whole trip and headed out of the Airbnb to meet up for one last meal with Clayton and Tate at a breakfast spot called Jester. I grabbed a protein bowl and another cappuccino, said our goodbyes to Tate, and then walked towards Santa Justa with Clayton to get to the train station. Once we got there, we said our goodbyes to Clayton and got on the train. It felt a bit hotter than the train on the way, but we were awake this time, so we may have just not noticed. It was fun actually being awake and seeing the country. It isn't super scenic along the train line, but fields of oranges and olives were still pretty cool to see, I thought.

Once we made it back to Madrid, we ended up back at Scarlett, where we ate before we went to Sevilla. It was just so good the first time. I got a poke bowl, which was so good. I love raw fish; it's my favorite way to eat fish. I also hadn't had white rice, I think, for the entire trip, which is a pretty long time for me. After we finished eating, I saw on the map that there were book stalls across a street called C. Claudio Moyano nearby. We walked up the row of bookshops, which was really cool. Finding Dune, Haruki Murakami, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and other books on my shelf at home in Spanish was super fun for me.

We made our way to our hotel, which was a random Marriott by the airport. As we planned the trip, we felt like we would probably want to rest for the afternoon and have a free shuttle to the airport. In hindsight, I think we both would have liked to maybe be more in the city and just wake up earlier to Uber to the airport. The hotel wasn't by anything; it was a little hot in the room, and we couldn't really watch TV because it was all in Spanish. We ended up eating in the hotel restaurant and watching a movie on the iPad. We went to bed and headed to the airport, making the trek home. Flights were fine, the Philly airport is terrible, and eventually we got home.

All in all, this trip was one of my favorites I have ever been on. I loved getting to really travel with Syd. It had been 9 months since I had seen Clayton or Tate, and it was so freaking good to see them. The sights in Seville were fantastic, the food we ate was delicious, and the country of Spain is one I will recommend to friends and family for the rest of my life.