Sensational Seville

December 11^th, 2025 

Looking at the map, I realized that the city of Seville (Sevilla to the Spanish) was not a big detour from my journey towards Algeciras, where I plan to take a ferry to Morocco. 

 

I have to admit that the only thing that comes to mind when I think of Seville, is a Looney Tunes cartoon called the “Rabbit of Seville” that I saw numerous times as a kid on Saturday mornings.  It featured Bugs Bunny evading hunter Elmer Fudd by giving him a “hare-cut” (my pun, not Looney Tunes).  It was set to the comic opera named “The Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini which was first premiered in 1816.  Hats off to Looney Tunes by the way, as I, like millions of other kids, had some of my first exposures to classical music due to their cartoons!

 

A cute bit of Christmas decoration in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, my last stop before leaving Portugal.

It was an hour and a half drive to the city from the Portuguese border, but what I forgot was that I lost an hour due to the time difference, which shortened my time in Seville a bit, although I figured that 3-4 hours of walking around the historic centre checking out some of the sights would probably suffice.

 

I planned to park Octi at the end of the line of Seville’s one metro line (there are 3 others planned or partially constructed) so I didn’t have to navigate narrow, busy streets downtown.  During my research on the matter, I kept reading that parking was hard to find around the metro station and that is additionally difficult with my campervan as it is too tall to fit in underground parking.

 

Sure enough, the first few parking lots were full and the streets were lined with cars bumper to bumper.  I was about to think about an alternative plan, but luckily on a street behind a mall near the metro station, I found a spot.

 

My first destination in the historic centre of Seville was to check out the “Plaza de España”.  It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and it is still a tourist attraction but also doubles as offices for government agencies.  I lucked out with a beautiful sunny day with a comfortable temperature which made my visit here even better.

The "Parque de Maria Luisa" in the historic centre of Seville which boasts a half mile of tiled fountains, pavilions, walls, ponds, benches in and amongst a bunch of trees.

One of the towers of the Plaza de España.

A view of the plaza.

There were lots of horse and carriages for tourists.

I'm guessing that it was their first time in a rowboat...  ;)

The towers bookend each side of the semi-circular building.

There was a little "display" for each regions, cities and colonies of Spain.  A tile artpiece depicted something about its history and on the ground was a map of Spain, highlighting where this place was located.

Here's the picture for the Canary Islands.

There were quite a few of them...

They just kept going.

There was some Flamenco music and dancing happening at the centre of the plaza.

But I just caught the tail end of it...

There were a couple of spots that you could walk up to a second level for a good view of the plaza.

You may have heard a weird noise in that last video...and this one.  Turns out it was some kind of protest by medical staff.

I'm not sure what they were upset about...probably being worked too hard for not enough pay.

One last selfie before I move on.

You can just make out a little rainbow in the water.

Back into the park.

Which had a few feathered occupants.

Some statues at the entrance/exit to the park.

On my way to the next venue, the Cathedral of Seville.

It is a lovely city...at least the historic centre is.

Whoa, I never knew that nativity figurines were in such high demand.

A lot to choose from.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See - better known as the Seville Cathedral.  I'm not religious but it did look like an impressive building so I quickly Googled how much an entrance ticket was...and it was 40 Euros.  Um, no thanks, especially since I probably only had about an hour to allocate to it and who knows how big the lineup was.

The wall on the right is part of Alcázar, a historic royal palace of Seville and also one of the official residences of the royal family.  I didn't bother trying to get tickets to go inside, it wasn't as expensive as the cathedral, but I looked at some photos online of the interior, and it really isn't my cup of tea.

Looking back at the cathedral.  It was so big and the historic centre is densely packed with buildings  that it was hard to capture all of it. 

One of the cathedral's towers.

Looking to the right of the last picture.

The back or maybe the side of the cathedral...it was tough to tell.

I just liked the look of this area.

Next stop, the Metropol Parasol, better known by locals at the "Setas de Sevilla" which translates to the "Mushrooms of Seville".

It was built in 2011 and is considered to be the world's largest wooden structure.  Despite numerous schedule and budget overruns, it has become the third most visited landmark in the city!

I wasn't sure what to make of it...but it was definitely unusual.

A couple of young Catholic priests posing for their "Insta-moment".

Even though I was sprinting through Sevilla in an afternoon...I agree with this sentiment.

The streets must look amazing at night with all of the Christmas decorations and lights.

Many people were sitting outside bars and cafes, enjoying the lovely weather.

My last landmark to check out, the Torre de Oro (Tower of Gold).  It was built in the 13th century to control access to the city via the Guadalquivir River.  It is the fifth longest river in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal...well also Gibraltar and Andorra).  It's also the only major navigable river in Spain, which I didn't know until I saw tanker ships at some ports on the outskirts of the city!

That's one big nativity scene!  It must look cool at night.

This is the side of that building in the previous photo.  All of the statues were wrapped up in what looked like rope netting...

I wonder what they did wrong?!?

Well, it was a whirlwind tour of sensational Seville, but after more than 3 hours of walking around, I was ready to get out of town.  I checked my app and found a place to camp about an hour south of the city.

Out in the countryside, about an hour south of the city.

I was going to stay near this man-make looking lake, but I couldn't get a cell signal so I returned to an aire at a nearby town (yes, sad but true).

Gracias Sevilla!