We spent our last full day in Spain in Seville. Our plan was to check out the Alcazar, the Cathedral, and if possible, the Plaza de Espana. In the evening we had tickets to see flamenco dancing.
Alcázar de Sevilla
The Alcazar was amazing. I really had no idea what we were going to see until we got there and so it really blew me away. Unfortunately, we totally messed up by not purchasing tickets ahead of time and joined the amazingly long line to get in. We sent Aaron off to see if he could get any info or see how long the wait would be and he ended up finding an english speaking tour guide that was about to start her tour and still had open spots if we wanted to join. We did and jumped to the front of the line with her group.
It happened to be super crowded this morning and we had our double stroller with us, so it was a little tough being able to maneuver and stay with the group. Honestly, Adeline mostly just wanted to run around so I mainly stuck with her and Aaron got me caught up on the tour as needed.
The Alcazar was built by the Moorish rulers around 712 AD, but didn’t really become the palace recognized today until around the 12th century. By the 13th century though, the Catholic Spanish kings claimed the Alcazar as their own, bringing in elements of Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque styles. This created a new style called mudejar. Many buildings were completely rebuilt or added to during the Middle Ages.
The Alcazar is the oldest palace in Europe that is still in use and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Even though I was a bit distracted from our tour, I still enjoyed wandering through the palace seeing all the beautiful designs and colors. Our toddler loved finding all the stars on the walls and gave us something to look for in each room.
After our tour, we grabbed some sandwiches in the little cafe in the gardens. Our girls loved checking out all the fountains!
After we ate, we wandered through the gardens a bit. There were orange trees everywhere, but according to our tour guide, they’re bitter oranges that get used to make marmalade that is especially popular in the United Kingdom.
At this point, the Alcazar was less crowded and it was super pleasant walking around. We even poked our heads back into the palace itself for a few minutes while Aaron caught me up from our tour.
Seville Cathedral
We ended up spending a great deal of time in the Alcazar (which was totally worth it) and so it was mid afternoon before we made it over to the cathedral.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. It took over 100 years to build (1402 – 1506) and the interior has the longest nave of any cathedral in Spain. It’s also where at least part of Christopher Columbus is buried.
The cathedral also had a very impressive bell tower. Our girls had fallen asleep in the stroller at that point, so my mother in law was nice enough to sit with the girls while Aaron, his dad, and I walked up to the tower.
It was a ramp instead of stairs, which surprised me, but was kind of nice (it still would have been difficult with a stroller though). Along the way, there are corridors with objects and historical information that were interesting to look at.
The views from the top were incredible and we were lucky enough to be up there when the bells rang.
At this point, it was too late to visit the Plaza, so we grabbed a couple of tapas and headed over to the flamenco dancing.
Museo del Baile Flamenco
When we checked into our apartment in Seville (affiliate link), the woman checking us in highly recommended watching a flamenco dance show at the museum. She said that is was one of the best in the city and it offered earlier shows in the evening that would be fine for us to bring our girls to.
The show was amazing. No videos were allowed, but photos were fine. There was a female dancer, a male dancer, a singer, and a guitarist. The show lasted about an hour and was perfect. London loved it and watched the whole time. Adeline slept for about 2/3 of the show, but then was excited to watch at the end. You can reserve tickets online here.
After the show, our girls were both pretending to flamenco dance and it was the cutest thing ever. It was a great way to get a feel for the culture in Southern Spain and I loved that we could bring our girls and then grab a not-too-late dinner afterwards.
This was our last night in Spain and it was such a great way to say goodbye to the country. We loved our visit and enjoyed learning more about the history and culture.
Final Thoughts
- To read more about our visit to Spain, click here.
- I highly recommend visiting Seville. It had a wide variety of things to see and do and everything seemed fairly kid friendly.
- If you visit the Alcazar, don’t forget to get your tickets ahead of time! That line was awful and I wish we would have thought ahead a bit more with that.
- For me personally, I would have preferred going through the Alcazar sans tour guide so that I could go at my
owntoddler’s pace. It was still nice (and got us ahead in line MUCH quicker), but ideally, I would rather get tickets ahead of time and then explore on my own. - Seats filled up quickly at the flamenco dance show, get there early to ensure a good spot!
Daley Family Travels 