Studying in Spain – Journal 17: Weekend at Sevilla – Saturday
Real Alcazar de Sevilla
The name of the royal palace in Spanish is “Real Alcazar de Sevilla”. The palace was fully packed with tourists from 9:30 in the morning. We wouldn’t have had the patience to wait for the whole queue hadn’t we already bought the tickets online, and I suggest that anyone who wants to visit the palace to do the same.
The Royal Palace in Sevilla was really different from the one I saw in Madrid. The style of the building was complex and with diversity. There is also a garden in the palace to visit, which was quite a big garden to take a walk around. The whole visit took quite a few hours to finish, and it was interesting to learn more about the history of the palace and people who lived in it. I definitely recommend anyone who comes to Sevilla to not miss this place.
The River
After the walk at the Royal Palace, we went for a walk at the river. There is a river that is just on the left to the city center of Sevilla, and like the river in Madrid, it also has a sidewalk for people to take a walk on.
The river flows through Sevilla and the view that it offers is just spectacular. You could see most of the city center on the other side across the water, and the sunset reflecting on the surface of the river was beautiful.
Bar Postiguillo Tapas
After our walk, we went to a tapas restaurant that our host recommended. It was a five-minute walk away from our apartment and was called Bar Postiguillo Tapas. The restaurant was crowded with people by dinner time, and we waited for at least half an hour before we could get in.
They had a large menu of various kinds of Spanish dishes, and a lot of the dishes have “tapa size” and “full portion size” to choose from. They have menus in 9 different languages online, including English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
We had a kind of Sherry cocktail for drink called “Rebujito”, which is made with Sherry wine and sparking water. According to the waiter who recommended this cocktail, Rebujito is very popular in Sevilla and is a must try for tourists. I personally enjoyed the cocktail a lot, although it was a bit too strong for me and I couldn’t drink a lot of it, the taste of the Sherry wine was nice and had a special fragrance to it. The drink wasn’t too sweet as well which made the drink more enjoyable.
Apart from the cocktail, I especially enjoyed the mushroom grill and garlic prawns. “Langostinos al Ajillo” is a kind of Spanish styled garlic prawns. It is usually served in small deep plate while the olive oil is still bubbling. The olive oil in the plate we had kept bubbling for at least 30 seconds before we could even try touching the food. The garlic in the dish was perfectly fried, not overdone to the point it would taste bitter and neither was it too raw.
The mushroom was grilled with olive oil and was served with salad leaves. Every single bite of the mushroom was juicy and full of taste. The seasoning was with a kind of sauce made with greens that I could not distinguish, and the freshness of the mushroom burst in our mouths as we savored the dish.
Dinner was an incredible experience for us as we hadn’t had much opportunity to try authentic Spanish meals before. I recommend people who visit Sevilla to not miss out this restaurant as well.