Studying in Spain – Journal 18: Weekend at Sevilla – Sunday
Plaza de España
Every major city in Spain has their own “Plaza de España”, and the one in Sevilla is widely considered to be one of the best in Spain. I personally think the Plaza de España in Sevilla was more amazing than the one in Madrid.
The ground size for the Plaza de España was larger than most plazas I’ve seen in Spain, and the architecture style was a mixture of Spanish Renaissance Revival, Spanish Baroque Revival and Neo-Mudéjar styles. The walls of the plaza were many tiled alcoves which represented different provinces of Spain.
Maria Luisa Park
Maria Luisa Park, or “Parque de María Luisa” in Spanish, is the main park of Sevilla and Plaza de España is also in it. After visiting Plaza de España, we took a walk at Maria Luisa Park.
The park was huge and just as nice to walk around as the Retiro park in Madrid. What was nice about the park was that it was also near the main river that crosses Sevilla, and we spent quite a few hours looking at the flowers and trees in the park.
Mercado Lonja del Barranco
After a walk at the park, we walked to Mercado Lonja del Barranco for lunch. Mercado Lonja del Barranco is a bit similar to Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid. They are both close to the city center and are clean and well organized, but with the downside of food generally being a bit overpriced as both are tourist attractions.
I wasn’t very hungry so I shared a plate of “Pimientos de Padrón” with my friend. Pimientos de Padron is a kind of traditional Spanish dish that is popular all over Spain. “Pimientos” is the Spanish word for pepper and “Padrón” is a place in northwestern Spain.
The peppers are usually deep fried and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, some of the restaurants or bars would put a sunny side up egg beside the peppers so that you could dip the peppers in the runny yolk as a sauce.
What is special about this dish is that every bite is a surprise. Pimientos de Padrón is usually made padrón pepper, and about 10% to 25% are particularly hot and spicy while the rest are just non-spicy normal peppers. It is fun to anticipate who would get a bit of hot pepper if you are sharing this dish with friends.
Torre del Oro
The Torre del Oro, or “Tower of Gold” in English, is a tower constructed in the first third of the 13th century. The tower first served as a prison during the medieval times, and was destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout Spanish history.
The building material of the tower was a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay, and because of that, the tower looked golden as the river beside it reflected on it. There were tickets available to go inside the tower but not during the evenings, so we didn’t get a chance to go inside.
Though the tower was smaller than what I had expected, I was still impressed by the golden color of the building.
