A Travel Blog
At the southern end of Seville, just inside the vast Maria Luisa Park, is the imposing Plaza de España.
This collection of architecture was constructed for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition World’s Fair and was designed to showcase various types of regional and historic Spanish architecture.
Our Airbnb apartment is in an area of Seville known as La Macarena.
The neighbourhood is most famed for its Basílica de la Macarena and a long stretch of the original murallas, or protective city walls that date to Roman times.
Seville has no shortage of beautiful and photogenic sites. The Palacio de las Dueñas, tucked away in a residential neighbourhood not far from our apartment, is one of those.
This complex is much smaller in scale than the vast Alcázar we explored on the weekend, but it shares a similar aesthetic with intricate Mudéjar architecture, arched patios, and lush gardens of fountains and citrus trees.
The Real Alcázar (Royal Alcazar) in Seville is a Royal Palace constructed by a succession of Moorish Kings beginning around the year 913.
It is now a sprawling complex of beautiful buildings, gardens, fountains, and baths, and is one of the most visited sites in Seville. The royal family still uses some of the upper levels as an official residence.
The Seville Cathedral (formally the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede) was constructed on the site of a former mosque beginning in 1401. It took roughly 100 years to build and is considered the largest Cathedral in the world (but not the largest church — it’s complicated).
From the outside, the Cathedral has the feeling of a fortress, with solid stone walls rising on all sides. It is intimidating rather than welcoming despite the ornamentation that hints at what is inside.
Earlier this week we’d walked past the Metropol Parasol (commonly known as Las Setas — “The Mushrooms”) but tonight we paid our €3 fee and went up the elevator to the viewing platforms above.
We timed our visit to coincide with the 6pm sunset, hoping for good views, and we were not disappointed.
The grounds of Trinity College dominate a large swath of central Dublin on the south side of the Liffey. Trinity is a highly ranked university, but it also attracts hordes of tourists, many on walking tours.
But the unmistakable highlight, for us and many others, is the Book of Kells and Old Library.
This archival post was migrated from an old Facebook album, so please excuse the choppy writing and odd formatting.
We stayed at Hotel East Houston (since renamed the Edge Hotel as of 2017) for the first time. This is the view of the hotel from the north side of Houston St. It’s very close to lots of trendy neighbourhoods, but still maintains a bit of grit through its proximity to the Lower East Side, Houston Street and the Bowery.
This archival post was migrated from an old Facebook album, so please excuse the choppy writing and odd formatting.
The view up Elizabeth Street from our hotel room. We stayed at the Nolitan Hotel for the second trip in a row. It’s in Nolita (aka “North of Little Italy) and is pretty much on the boundary between SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Lower East Side. It’s a great central point with good access to multiple subway lines.