First Week in Spain

My first week in Spain was nothing but exciting. I learned and experienced so many different things, met some incredible people and ate some amazing food.

So far I have visited some breathtaking locations in Seville, such as the Lebrija Palace, Real Alcázar de Sevilla and the Cathedral of Sevilla.
Before coming to Spain, I never thought that there would be so many palaces and cathedrals in one city.

The Lebrija Palace was built from floor to ceiling with a wide variety of architectural styles. The statues and mosaics were one of a kind and it was truly a great site to see. Plus, I wouldn't mind living in here either.

This was the plaza for the palace; it let tons of sunlight in while remaining super quite from all the city noise!

The sun room; this was my favorite room as everything complimented each other and was so beautiful

Wishing I could have taken my prom pictures on these stairs; they're absolutely GORGEOUS

Enjoying my favorite wall art, as you can see

Real Alcázar de Sevilla absolutely took my breath away. The creative layout and multiple gardens made me fall in love with this place. The place was so big that I could spend an entire day exploring the palace and I would still have more to see. A part of Game of Thrones was also filmed here, which one can completely see why! To make it even cooler, a part of the palace is still being used today by the royal family, which makes it the oldest official palace to still be used!

There was so much creativity put into every ounce of this place that there was not a single place that wasn't used wisely

Alcázar had a garden that was bigger than the actual palace! 

The "Baths of Lady María de Padilla" -- The queen supposedly bathed in this pool. The pool is filled by grates on the sides that let in rain water. 

Every single ceiling was different

An example of one of the mosaics on the wall

Cathedral of Sevilla took me by surprise, I would definitely say this was one of my favorite stops so far. Walking into the middle of the Cathedral, my jaw dropped as I saw how tall the ceilings were. This cathedral is the largest gothic church in the world and the 3rd largest church in the world! The church has a great mix of the Muslim vs Christian reign of the cathedral, as was initially a mosque until it was conquered by the Christians in 1412. The altar was plated with all gold and the multiple paintings and sculptures along the walls made seeing the place incredible. There is a tower (La Giralda) that is connected to the cathedral, where you have to walk up 35 ramps to get to the top, however, the view was so worth it. I was able to see the entire city of Sevilla, which made me fall in love with this place even more. The cathedral became more special to me as multiple important people are buried here. San Fernando III, the one that took over the cathedral is buried here, and I will also be able to see his mummified body on Tuesday, which is unveiled in the cathedral in honor of San Fernando day. Christopher Colombus is buried here as well, which i thought was extremely cool.

The Tower, La Giralda

Inside the main part of the Cathedral

Parts that were added on after Christians took over the Mosque

The alter

View from the top of the tower

Plenty of flying buttresses!

In all the site seeing I did, I was able to do a couple other cool things in my free time such as watch a Flamenco show and take a trip to the beach to a little town named Rota, which is very close to the city Cadiz in Spain.

Beach view from Rota, Spain!

Flamenco Set up

Overall, my first week here in Spain was an awesome week and I cannot wait to see what the next 5 weeks have in store!