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Plaza de Espana Seville (Spanish Square):
Wow! is an appropriate way to describe Plaza de Espana Seville. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful attractions in this Andalusian capital. The history is fascinating ad it is famous for its appearances in film.
Malaga to Seville by train:
Seville is only a two-and-a-half-hour train ride from Malaga. We left Malaga for Seville at about 2 in the afternoon, and before you knew it, we were sharing tapas with them in the center of Seville that evening. Very cool..no?
The trains are quite comfortable too. It cost €19.30 each way, based on a round-trip ticket, otherwise, it would have been €24 each way. The first-class tickets might be slightly more, but l wouldn’t know. I was quite happy with the rest of the commoners, like me.
There were about 5 stops along the way, but they were pretty quick ones. One of the stops was Osuna, where they are currently filming “Game of Thrones”, but since l don’t watch the show, l didn’t know what to look for. Sometimes, I swear it seems like Game of Thrones tends to be following us. First from Malta, and now Spain.
Anyhoo, we came into the Plaza de Espana from the back. We walked all the way from our hotel, the Alcantara (highly recommended, close to everything and reasonably priced) which was in the center, to the plaza. I was pooped, to say the least. It felt like l had been walking about ten miles when in reality, it was closer to two :-).
I perked up nicely though when l saw Plaza de Espana in real life. It’s one thing to see it in pictures, it is quite another to see it live. Very impressive. It was also funny for our friends to see us oohing and aahing, while they were just so unimpressed. I guess when you see something on a daily basis, you just become so blase about it.
Spanish Plaza Seville: A little history:
The Plaza de Espana was designed by Anibal Gonzalez. It is built on the grounds of the Maria Luisa Park. It was built to showcase Spain’s industry and technology exhibits, as part of the Ibero-American Exposition World Fair.
The style of the Plaza de Espana is a combination of Art Deco and Neo-Mudejar, which is a Moorish revival architecture. It is built in a semi-circle and is supposed to represent the four ancient kingdoms of Spain.
There is a huge fountain in the middle, called the Vicente Traver. Unfortunately, it was not on when we visited. Nowadays, the Plaza houses a bunch of government offices and the Seville town hall. Imagine having such magnificent views from your office desk.
Movies like “The Dictator”, Lawrence of Arabia, and “Star Wars – Attack of the Clones” have been filmed here. We get a kick out of seeing familiar places in the movie Knight and Day with Tome Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Please, do not confuse this Plaza with the same named ones in Barcelona, and yep! Madrid has one too.
Hard to come up with different names l guess. I also find it very interesting that a lot of the street names in Malaga are also to be found in Seville, and l bet all the other cities too.
Related Reading: Seville Parasol
Related Reading: Seville Cathedral
Wandering around, there were vendors selling fans, and little mementos of Seville. What l also love is that there are little alcoves of the different provinces of Spain represented.
Each alcove has tile work of the region, and little benches to sit on. I was told there used to be books about each region, so you could learn too, but all the shelves were empty. You could rent canoes, and paddle around.
It was fun to see people run into each other, and l was sort of hoping someone would fall into the water, but l was out of luck :-(. There were people on bike tours, as that is such a great way to get around the city, as well as those Segway scooters.
Seeing it was Valentine’s weekend when we visited this first time, there were also a lot of lovers taking carriage rides. Very romantic. I totally love this place. It is beautiful, grand, and majestic..just like yours truly!!! :-):-) :-). I highly recommend adding it to your must-see in Seville, along with Santiponce or Italica ruins.
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Have you ever been to Seville? Do you think the Plaza de Espana is impressive? Is it on your bucket list? There are so many fun things to do and see in Seville, which in my opinion, is one of the prettiest cities in all of Spain.
I love it- very beautiful! I love the huge public squares and intricate bridges!
It was very beautiful. I don’t think l could get tired of seeing that every so often . I can only imagine how crowded it would get at the height of the tourist season..
I went there by accident last year. I was staying right across the street, kept wondering about the building and then just wandered in. It was so beautiful, lots of people. They had music, also. All kinds of activities. Great place to just spend time on a nice day.
There’s nothing quite like people watching is there? One of my favorite pastimes. Glad you got to see it, even if by accident. You can never get bored. I liked watching the carriages with the horses, but not wanting people to ride the poor things.😌
I’m a HUGE lifelong Star Wars fan (and novice trivia buff) and that was Episode 2! The cost of that train isn’t bad at all. Is that one of the super fast ones, Kemkem? I love trains. LOL “Where’s Waldo…?” I see you on the second level on the left! No kidding on folks getting to see all of that everyday. I would be ohh’ing and ahh’ing as well. Have a great day! 🙂
That’s the one Mike! I would have pictured you more of a Star Trek guy, specifically Next Generation with Jean Luc. The train went up to speeds of 158km/hr at it’s fastest. I was pretty impressed at how fast and efficient it was. There were 3 cars with a capacity of carrying 236 passengers. Good eye :-). You have a great day too!!!
Wow! That’s absolutely stunning! I am sure that your skill to take photos makes these images so much better, but that plaza is true eye candy! And the train ride was really affordable too!
PS: You gotta start watching Game of Thrones! 😛
The place is gorgeous all by itself too :-), and yes, it is eye candy for sure. You can’t beat the price of the train ticket, very fair, and nice seats etc. I watched a few episodes of the first season, because it was filmed in Malta and Gozo, but l stopped watching when they killed the dog :-(. I can’t bring myself to give it another chance, even though l have heard so many good things.
Oh my goodness!! So beautiful!! I love the canals with the boats and the horses! Spain is defintiely a place I could spend a lot of time exploring or living!
It is really beautiful. I was gobsmacked because no matter what you think from the pictures, seeing it up close is just really cool. I am looking forward to exploring more parts of Spain this year too… 🙂
That’s a space-age looking train! Beautiful photos looks awesome. I’ve been wanting to go to Southern Spain since I was a teenager. We were going to see Spain then go across into Morocco. But then some family crap happened and I had to cancel – and have never made it to that part of Spain.
So if you had to chose between Malaga and Sevilla which would you recommend someone interested in using either as a base for 1-2 months?
Nice post,
Frank (bbqboy)
Thanks. You should definitely make it out here. Very nice :-). Depending on what you are looking for, either place would do fine. If you are a beach lover, Malaga would be the one as you are within minutes from one no matter where in the city you are. Seville has a bigger center, and more things to do and see though..tough call..
Definitely impressive. The architechture is amazing. It is a pity that they’re replacing the balustrades with concrete ones.
That it is. Very impressive. The concrete balustrades look so ugly. I wanted to take a picture, then thought better of it. I would rather have these beautiful ones in my memory 🙂
This is gorgeous, and how lovely that it was such a close destination for you guys! And so true–if you get used to seeing something over and over, it tends to fade into the background a bit, so it’s always nice to experience something from fresh eyes!
Yeah.. I guess it’s sort of like having a new car :-). You would swear up and down you wouldn’t eat in it, clean it weekly etc..etc..and in like 3 months, you’re totally over it..hopefully, they will see it through fresh eyes like you say. I think we oohed enough. 🙂
Is that the bullet train? I took that from Granada to Madrid I think and man it was so freaking fast! I loved Seville! The food and architecture are amazing. What strikes me as odd in Seville and many other European countries is that when you climb those towers the steps are so narrow…like they all had tiny feet. In fact someone told us that horses could get up those narrow staircases. I don’t know about that, but I do think back in the day everyone had tiny feet and were shorter.
Yep..pretty fast suckers, even though Federico was bored..lol. I wouldn’t be surprised at what those Andalusian horses can do. I agree that in those days, they were all little people, sort of like how 12 year olds look 18 and are like 6 feet..lol! In the future, they might be wondering how we were so short..hah hah. I totally loved Seville too. It is gorgeous.
These photos are stunning, Kemkem! You’re so fortunate to be a short train ride away from all of this beauty in Seville. If I worked in the government offices in the plaza, I’d definitely never get anything done with all of the beautiful scenery right outside my window!
Thanks Dana! Yep.. we are lucky to be so close to so many beautiful places. This year, l think we will focus on Spain a bit. I would spend all my time people watching if l worked in that building 🙂
Sevilla was one of the first cities I ever traveled independently. I remember just driving across the border and go for weekends there. Amazing place. Great report on such a lovely place.
Thanks Joao, that means a lot coming from a well traveled guy like you! You drove from Portugal l assume? We are probably doing a road trip next month that way to Faro and maybe on to Lisbon? Is the drive as pretty as it seems? I’m getting excited about it. Portugal looks awesome.
Lovely post, KemKem! We got a kick out of watching folks pose for their “perfect” Insta pics!😆
Thanks, Caroline! Hahah… I can only imagine. The world has gone crazy🥹😅.
Kemkem,
Great post and photos on just one of Spain’s most charming cities. The Plaza de Espana is certainly its highlight, too. We weren’t too impressed, though, when Steven laid his backpack on the ground beside him while sitting on a bench only to discover the backpack and all its contents has been stolen a while later! His fault, he acknowledged, for not keeping it in the bench or wrapped around his feet but still!
Thanks, though, for the memory of a beautiful city, Kemkem.
Thanks, Annie. I hope you guys are doing well. What a horrible thing to have happen to Steven. It certainly taints the memory of what should have been a happy one. Glad you enjoyed the city though.