Oranges, sangria and non-stop beauty

And just like that, there's an addition to the list of favourite places I've ever been. After Greece and Italy last year, Laura and I had our sights set on Spain for this year's holiday and nowhere was further at the top of my list than Seville. Beauty, architecture, sunshine and authentic tapas - it basically boasts all of my favourite things. And what an amazing time we had!

On my more recent trips, I've been drawn to booking places that feel like they embody the local vibes, rather than just being a standard hotel that could be anywhere. We ended up choosing the Matahacas Pool & Luxury Apartments, as it was in a great location and the rooms were lovely, especially the pretty central courtyard. I was also keen to have a pool for those post-explore dips, but we ended up being so busy we didn't actually get time to use it. Anyway, the apartments were lovely and really reasonably priced. It looks super dark in the photos but that's only because we didn't actually get into our apartment until the evening, it was actually really light and spacious (I just like the get the standard info out the way first).

We'd had a painfully early flight form Stansted so we were in Seville bright and early and ready to explore! We hadn't gotten as far as coming up with much of a plan for our holiday, so we basically dropped our bags off at the apartment and then winged our itinerary from there. We basically just spent the morning wandering and my god, you could wander for hours in Seville and not get bored! Every street, building and doorway is so pretty and I loved all the rich colours. There were literally no ugly bits.

One of the prettiest areas though was the cathedral. For an atheist, I don't half love a religious building. We didn't actually go in and go round it as it was like a £15 entry fee and we didn't particularly want to spend the day indoors when the weather was so lovely. But it was definitely beautiful from the outside!

We didn't pick the best point to stop for lunch because we were in a major touristy area so obviously it was important we picked carefully. Me and Laura take our restaurant choices (especially abroad) very seriously, and we always check google reviews before sitting down anywhere - we've nearly been pulled in by a pretty spot loads of times before seeing it was only like a 3/5. Luckily, we found a lovely spot down a little side street that claimed to be a tapas place, but actually the dishes were massive so we only got 1 and a half each. My idea of tapas is more like 3 each, but we didn't need to be precious about it, since we'd obviously have plenty of other opportunities for tapas (we were kind of in the place for it).

At the top of my Seville list was the Plaza de Espana so after lunch we went on a (kind of long actually) walk down to the university area. Photos don't even do this area justice - it's literally so beautiful! The sun was really beating down at this point too so as tempting as it would've been to take a dip in the lake, we settled for the next best thing...

We went on it in a little row boat! You could rent them for only like €5 and obviously it's just a novelty thing - you can't go anywhere except round the central plaza and then back again. But it was still really fun. It was actually surprisingly difficult, although me and Laura did eventually get into a rhythm rivalling the Cambridge rowing team (sort of). Once we were back on dry land, we rounded off our day by exploring the surrounding gardens and then headed back to our apartment (we really got the steps in even in just the first day).

I went with very Sevillan colours for my outfit on the first night (kind of coincidentally), with this ASOS top and shein shorts. We'd been awake since 1am after only like 2 hours sleep each, so the outfit didn't get much of a night out, but we did go for dinner and sangria at the nicest restaurant. In fact it was one of our favourite restaurants of the whole trip. The food at Catalina Casa de Comidas y Más was insanely good - I got the cod and tomato gratin and it was amazing.

One of the recommendations I'd had for Seville for was the Setas. which is basically a really cool giant mushroom-esque structure. So feeling refreshed after finally getting some sleep, it was the first stop on our itinerary the next day! It was certainly a sight to behold and we had planned to see if the view from the top was just as good, but they wanted €16 per person just to go up it! It wasn't even that high up! So we said no thank you to that and just enjoyed the view from the upper terrace instead.

The next place we went to was somewhat of an underrated gem, and genuinely one of the most beautiful places I've been to. Palacio de las Dueñas didn't look like very much from the outside, but inside was a gorgeous palace and gardens with an audio guide to learn more about the history. Fascinatingly, a regal Spanish family still live there now, so the upstairs floor is blocked off to the public, but there's still plenty to see. I'm not sure I'd want random members of the public wandering around downstairs in my house, but thankfully this family must not have minded. Which worked out well for us because it's a definite must-see in Seville; the colours and the flowers were just divine.

Something Seville was amazing for were these tiny rustic tapas bars (most of them only had like 3 or 4 tables). Having ended up with rather generous portions for our meals the previous day, we were keen for the smaller tapas we know and love and this place delivered. The potatoes with some kind of sun dried tomato sauce was amazing! It was all pretty cheap too - my vino tinto was only about €2!

One of my favourite things to do on holiday is a little bit of nothing, and a little bit of everything. I basically just like to zoom in a bit on Google maps and go to anything that pops up with a picture. So that's how we spent the afternoon! We ventured north up to the macarena district, passing plenty of pretty buildings and churches (and orange trees) along the way. We went as far up as the Arco de La Macarena, and saw some of what remains of the old city walls, and then headed south again to find the Alameda de Hércules. At one point we were convinced that the giant columns had been moved or were no longer there as we couldn't see them when we got the point on the maps that Google said they'd be. Until we realised it was actually us who weren't where it said we were, and we were walking in the wrong direction. When we did make it to them, they were pretty hard to miss!

Drop me anywhere in the world and I'll find a rooftop bar. In fact, I usually make it my mission to. But the way that we stumbled upon this one was impressive even for me. We had our sights set on going to a rooftop bar, googled ones near us and headed to one that looked nice and said it was open. Only to find that it was siesta time when we arrived, and it didn't actually open again for another few hours. So we headed off to the next one on the list and as we wandered, we saw a little sandwich board outside a hotel with the 'roof' logo on it. So we headed in for a nosey around and found the most gorgeous rooftop bar, with pool and two storey terrace. It didn't exist on Google at all, which is obviously a great argument against the modern style of travel, and a terrible effort from their marketing team. But it did mean that it was super quiet and tranquil, we literally had the whole upper terrace to ourselves and the barman was practically waiting on us hand and foot. Because the weather was forecast to change the next day, we put a pin in our exploring and just enjoyed the sunshine (and lots of cocktails) for the rest of the day.

Then we got ready for the evening, and it was all about the brights for me this holiday! There was a funny story with this skirt actually. It was one half of a co-ord by love triangle (on ASOS), and I tried to purchase just the top, which was very pretty and down from £30 to £7.50. They accidentally sent the skirt, and I'd planned to send it back, but I tried it on and really liked it. So I checked and the skirt was £14 down from £30 so I decided to let that be a discount from the universe and kept it. I went with a real colour pop outfit and paired it with orange shoes and bag, and then a white off the shoulder top (all shein) and red lipstick.

Laura and I take google reviews for restaurants as gospel, especially on holiday, so when we found an area where they were all 4.6 and above, we knew it was where we had to head for dinner. We ended up at a lovely spot called Alfalfa 8, and had some amazing (if a little random) tapas dishes with a nice sizeable jug of sangria.

10/10 for the photography skills on this section, I know. As well as waiting on us hand an foot, the barman from the rooftop earlier had also given us some great recommendations for nightlife in Seville, and we had loved the sound of the paseo de las delicias. It's essentially a row of open air clubs along the river, and we tried out 2 different ones. They were really fun, and I loved the outdoor style as something a bit different. But, and I'm going to sound like a horrendous Brit now, all the music was in Spanish. I love Spanish music, I think it's really soulful and fun, but there are only so many songs that you don't recognise and can't sing along to that you can realistically enjoy in a row. Although, my Spanish learning is actually going pretty well (I finally stuck with it as my new years resolution!), so who knows, maybe by the next time I'm in a Spanish nightclub, I'll be singing along fluently. Until then, it was a fake-it-til-you-make-it scenario and Laura was actually quite impressed by how well I was able to pretend to sing along!

The next day I was feeling a tiny bit rough, but it was nothing by my usual standards so it was straight up to enjoy the day! Besides, a sangria a day keeps the doctor away (or something like that - not sure if my Spanish translation is 100%?). We put our faith in the same restaurant cluster as the night before and it paid off, as La Escalona was probably where we had my favourite meal. I had the most incredible Spanish tortilla ever, we shared a lovely grilled seafood platter and Moroccan chicken skewers, and then the waiter offered to bring us a dessert of his choosing and said he'd pay for it if we didn't like it. I don't often get dessert but this one was amazing, like a sticky french toast with fruit and nuts - incredible.

We'd prebooked our tickets to Royal Alcazar and despite the fact that it had been gloriously sunny during lunch, we knew the rain was coming. Look how threatening that sky was! So we hotfooted it there, hoping to beat the downpour and only very narrowly managed it - the heavens well and truly opened just as we were queuing to get our tickets scanned. Everyone was camped out in the gift shop for a while, trying to wait it out, but it wasn't slowing down any time soon so we made a run for it and commenced our tour. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass after all, it's about learning to dance in the rain (as long as your hair is already up in a claw clip that is).

We'd planned it all really well as most of Royal Alcazar was indoors, so it was the perfect rainy day activity. There was plenty to keep us occupied for the whole day there - I'd go as far to say it was a labyrinth of Moroccan beauty from a king who lived like a sultan, and we'd done the audio guide so it took us longer than others to make it round the whole place. The guy at the gift shop had said it would take 1-2 hours to go round but we took more like 3 and a half, but we did make it our mission to go round every room and listen to every audio guide. At times it was hard to keep up with which we'd been in and which we hadn't as they all loop round in a confusing maze. I guess if you wanted to do the palace in a quicker time frame you could skip a few bits, but it would be a shame as it was all so fascinating and there were so many incredible details, like in the ceiling of the throne room. The only downside was it was very busy. Trying to get around and see everything and take nice photos with people literally everywhere proved to be a challenge (but unavoidable at a major tourist attraction I guess).

The plaza area in the centre of the palace was particularly beautiful, and very much in the same style as the palace we'd seen the day before (but 4 times the size). I could never tire of this style of architecture, it's just so beautiful. And because it was a palatial day of exploring, I wore this suitably regal looking dress which was a miss selfridge one from last year - it felt very Seville to me though.

Luck would have it that the weather had dried up by this point in the day and had even almost brightened up, which was great timing for us to explore the gardens. They were massive and so nicely done, and it worked out perfectly that there was a raised walkway that ran the length of them so you could appreciate the styling from above. It also pretty much brought us back to the starting point and thus the end of our tour (that is, once we'd done a further two laps of the place trying to find where we were supposed to return our headsets).

We wanted a drink and a sit down after a long day of exploring, and serendipity would have it that as we passed the cathedral looking for a place, we noticed it was open. I don't know if it becomes free at certain times or if it was just because it was near closing time, but we managed to nip in for a little nosey without paying for a ticket, which is worth knowing. Then we went for the drink we'd been after and fancied an iced coffee to perk us up. Apparently iced caffe latte in Spain means a hot latte with a glass and ice - DIY baby!

That evening we decided to head south of the river, as we wanted to go to a flamenco bar and there looked to be a stretch of them along there. I matched my outfit to the flamenco vibe with this bright pink midi skirt and matching floral printed bardot top (with a bright pink lipstick to boot of course). That area wasn't quite as densely populated with incredible restaurants and the one we chose was probably our least favourite of the trip. However, it was still really nice, it just reflects how amazing the food in Seville is and how high the standard was!

Despite planning our whole evening around it, our flamenco plan didn't quite work out. The bar we were hoping to go to wasn't even open, and then most of the other ones appeared to just have one-off flamenco shows long before we had even made it out the apartment. So we settled for live music in a very traditional-feeling Spanish bar instead. All the locals were providing their own vocals whenever the singer was taking a break, so it was a really fun atmosphere!

Like I said, drop me anywhere and I'll find a rooftop bar. Well, this time I found 2! Interestingly, I think this was the one we were heading to when we stumbled past Roof, and I'm so glad we saved this one for the evening because the magic was really in all the fairy lights and lanterns. The views were just amazing, and the cocktails were pretty good too (this spicy margarita was extra spicy). Plus it was open until 3am so it was a great place to end up for the night.

After a late finish and a nice little lie-in, we started the next day by heading straight for lunch and with rain forecast again for later, we were keen to find a nice sunny spot to make the most of it. Well, I was; Laura always prefers the shade, but it was 1-0 to Jenni in this instance. Besides, the food was amazing! We'd looked at what felt like a lot of menus before ending up at Cinco Jotas but it was worth the wait.

We'd seen most of the main attractions that we'd wanted to by this point, so we had an extra list of bits we could tick off more leisurely over the last 2 days. The first was Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, which is a bullring and home to one of the most famous bullfighting festivals. We didn't actually go inside as it was a paid ticketed thing (there's a bit of a theme here - I promise we aren't cheap skates), but the building was very impressive.

Then we had a little wander around an artisanal market we stumbled upon, before treating ourselves to the most amazing gelato ever; I went with pistachio and cherries & cream. By this point the rain caught up with us again, so we found ourselves camped out in a doorway waiting for it to ease, but the whole thin was pretty funny and was a pretty short sharp shower so it didn't hinder our day too much. The only thing it did mean is that by the time we got to torre del oro (the big tower), they were about 10 minutes from closing and so we couldn't go up to the top like we'd planned. Still, it was a pretty good view from the bottom anyway so it wasn't all bad news!

The weather had brightened back up again on our walk home, so we made the most of a bit of chill time before getting ready for the evening by having a little sunbathe by the pool!

I almost always save the best until last with my holiday outfits, and this one was certainly my Seville favourite! This bralet was a new one and I love the Versace vibe it's giving. Naturally I paired it with orange shoes and bag because nothing says Seville like orange.

Even though paella is not particularly Sevillan, it is very Spanish and I wanted to make sure we had one while we were there. After a quick look at some google reviews, we decided that El Paseillo looked the best and headed there. Apparently our foodie spidey senses are right on, because they're apparently like one of the top 5 restaurants for it in Seville (according to another diner). I couldn't disagree either; our seafood paella was incredible and so packed full of seafood it seemed a miracle there would be any left in the sea.

After dinner, we went back to the giant mushroom (it looked pretty cool at night too), where there was a cocktail bar on the second floor. It also happened to be right near the club we wanted to go to, which was very touristy. Normally we'd see this as a bad thing, but this time we couldn't get enough of it as it meant... English music! All the classics we know and love and could dance the night away to.

I swear all we did all holiday was eat and drink! Although let's be real, if you're doing it any other way then you're doing it wrong. We were also very firm in wanting to eat local dishes (as we always are when we're away) so it was literally tapas morning, noon and night. This meal was quite a highlight as those patatas bravas were kind unique, and very tasty!

I feel like it's a universal truth that 4 days is the perfect amount of time for a city break. It doesn't seem to matter where in the world, or what city it is, but 4 days is the perfect amount of time. Given that we were in Seville for 5 days, it meant we had a day spare that we used to chill all the way out and soak up the sun. we'd initially planned to spend it at our apartment's pool, but after realising we wouldn't be able to use a toilet since checking out of our apartment, we went back to good old Roof instead. It was a blissful afternoon of sunbathing, and since I'd forgotten to get my book out of my other bag, I entertained myself by pushing on with learning Spanish instead. There really is nothing like being in the country and feeling inspired to get you motivated to learn a language.

There was just time for one last tapas feast (and one last sangria) before it was time to head to the airport and begin the long journey home. The drive back from Stansted at 1am was undoubtedly the worst part! But a little travel weariness is a very small price to pay for the amazing trip that we had. I'd expected to love Seville, but I'd never realised just how much I'd love it. It'll be somewhere that I start recommending to anyone who'll listen because I was blown away by the city, the beauty, the food. And to experience an incredible city with your best friend in the world? Well that's just the cherry on top really isn't it.