Pulchritudinous Places #1: Sevilla

I spent the Fall semester of 2004 studying Spanish in Seville, Spain. This was an amazing experience for about 1207 reasons, but I'm just posting this to tell you why I love the place itself. Ready? Go.


Every day I passed beautiful, historic structures. Fountains, bridges, towers, cathedrals. Here are a couple faves:

That's the Triana bridge on the left and the Torre del Oro 
(Tower of Gold, an old military watchtower) on the right.
This was what I saw every day on my way to school.
Photo credit Jessica Anderson

This is the Cathedral in Seville. Some say Christopher 
Columbus is buried here. All say this place is stunning.

The people are beautiful too. I remember a businessman I passed on the way to school each day who always slicked his hair back and wore slacks and a button down shirt and...a Cookie Monster backpack. I remember thinking that it looked like everyone was dressed for a rockin' 80s party, and by the end of my semester, I owned neon, neon, neon. I remember the classy Spanish girls with their large pearl earrings, cream skin, dark hair, and coordinating sweater sets. I even found the man with the bottle cap glasses and highwater pants who paced the bridge and talked to a large invisible crowd beautiful in his quirkiness (my roommate and I dubbed him Don Loco). 


The things to do in Sevilla are also gorgeous and varied. While I was there, I kayaked, jumped off the side of a bridge into a river, toured cathedrals and gardens and palaces, saw flamenco dancers, snuck into a five star hotel and swam in their pool, went to an amusement park, took dance classes (yeah, I didn't last long there), went to a flamenco concert, saw a bullfight, shopped too much, ate a lot of food that was fried in olive oil, and even learned some Spanish. 


My only complaint about Sevilla - my complaint about Europe, really - is that there is no Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. Yes, there's Coca Cola Light, but it is not the same. I gave up caffeine for the three and a half months I was there. And if a decaffeinated me can find beauty in a place, then it must be beautiful. Go visit. I command you.