A Guide to Seville, Spain

A Guide to Seville, Spain

In April, I spent a week in Seville, Spain. I had a great time exploring the city and taking Spanish lessons every day.

I stayed in a families’ home. This was actually a very eco-friendly option as it meant I was supporting the local people, used fewer resources and was fed at home by the family for breakfast and dinner, thus reducing my need to buy takeaway food wrapped in packaging. 

Every morning, I would have four hours of Spanish lessons at the Giralda center. After this, my friend and I would go out for lunch. We found it easy to find places suiting our low budget where we could eat a delicious typical Spanish meal creating zero-waste. There were lots of meals to fit my vegetarian diet so this was never a problem. After lunch, we would explore Seville. We loved looking at all the incredibly intricately designed buildings.

Here are my must-see places:

• The Real Alcazar - we booked our tickets the night before after seeing how long the queues were. This saved us so much time (the queue was at least 2 hours long) and also money since we found we got a discount since we were students. 

• Los Jardines de Murillo (a park) - we had exams after the break so needed to revise and found this the perfect place to do so. It was quiet enough that we could revise peacefully without it feeling too desolate and the surroundings were beautiful.

• The Alfonso Hotel - this was incredibly luxurious but way out of our budget - one night there cost the equivalent of our whole trip! It was lovely to just walk around the hotel and there was a cafe within it which anyone could use to enjoy some tea and cake in the hotel.

• La Giralda - this is possibly the most iconic building in Seville. The architecture is stunning and we were fortunate enough to catch the end of the Semana Santa processions where we watched the procession enter and exit from the Giralda creating a genuine historic impression and emphasising the antiquity of the building.

• The Metropol Parasol - the views from this were incredible and it only cost $3 to go up to the top. We even got a free postcard from it - a bonus since I sent some to my family and this saved me from having to buy one!

Is it easy to be Zero-waste?

In many ways, yes. It’s easy to walk around everywhere and the restaurants, or at least the ones we found, serve everything in reusables. Just beware of the bread they try to put down on your table which is not zero-waste or free! Other than that, we did not find any supermarkets easily accessible and found it difficult to get fresh fruit and vegetables so you may want to do some prior research as to groceries near you and then see what they have. There are, however, several water fountains which have clean water where you can fill water bottles and there is a bus shuttle service to the airport for a fairly good price.

I hope you find this useful and happy travels!