Our First Impressions of Seville

We’ve now landed in Seville for a few months! We live in a gorgeous little apartment right in the middle of things, and we’re eager to dig in to life. (Also, to food!) Here are our first impressions of Seville.

Seville Proper

We hesitate to mention this because of all our friends currently suffering through blizzards. But the first thing we notice is that the weather is good. Like, really good, 60/15 and sunny. There are orange trees everywhere; rumor has it over 40,000 of them. (We haven’t counted yet.) We’re close to the river Guadalquivir, and there are lots of promenades and restaurants nearby, which we love.

The architecture is also stunning, big old buildings in earthen hues, with lots of yellows and oranges and browns. And those tiles we love, everywhere! There are many modern buildings, but they’re interspersed with the older ones in really interesting ways. The city seems very walkable.

And, of course, the quintessentially Spanish stuff obtrudes: we live near a bullfighting ring. Tapas bars populate the streets, as do stores selling flamenco clothing and mantillas. In fact, we’ve come to see that most of what we know about Spain is really about southern Spain. Though we’re not sure if that’s because it’s more popular with tourists, or because (as with Italy) that’s where most of the emigrants come from.

Food

We knew about the ham, but we didn’t realize it would be literally so large, or so prevalent. Even our tiny local grocery store has huge legs of jamón ibérico for sale. Many restaurants also display their hams. Obviously, we’ll have a lot more to say about food, but for now: paella, sherry, seafood, tapas. Also, goat cheese, sangria, alfajores, hot chocolate, and churros.

People, Culture, Language

Our Spanish is rusty, at best – and now mostly replaced by Italian – but that has not stopped people from being incredibly friendly. From the dentist where we walked in to book appointments, to various waiters, to our landlords, people are interested in talking to us. And they’re not afraid to get into it, even with strangers: one of our very first conversations was about American politics, and we’ve also learned a little about Spanish politics from various interactions.

We have already learned that in the south, people speak even more quickly than elsewhere, and that they mumble most of their words. About half of the people we have encountered speak fairly good English; the other half usually slow waaay down and we can communicate at a rudimentary level. As you may remember, we typically try to pick up some of a language, but we’re focused 100% on learning Italian at the moment, so we have chosen only to learn food words. Because, well, priorities.

We will have a lot more to say about the Spanish schedule, and about the prevalence of the siesta, which is among the most important of our first impressions of Seville. For now, know that we went out to dinner the other night at 10:30. In the evening. It’s a good thing we make our own schedules, isn’t it?

Money and Costs

There are many good reasons why people retire to Spain (especially the south). Paramount among them is the cost of living. Spain is part of the EU and uses the Euro, but so far everything we have encountered costs less than in most of the rest of western Europe. E.g. a jarra (pitcher) of sangria in a restaurant is €12.

So there you have it: our very first impressions of Seville. Laurel’s worry that John would fall in love with the place now feels even more justified. Then again, here wouldn’t be the worst place to end up…

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