Welcome to Seville

In the few weeks I have been in Seville- my favorite area are the streets that surround The Seville Cathedral. They are adorned with bars, restaurants, gelato shops, and retail stores. It’s the night before Valentine’s Day so my friends and I plan to dress nicely and roam the city. The open night sky envelops the city in a celestial tapestry adorned with twinkling starts while the city lights cast a gentle glow amongst the many tourists and locals walking the streets of Seville. Although I am not used to the chilly nights, the crisp night air wrapped around me like a comforting blanket as we walked through the streets. After enjoying a few sweet and cold Sangrias on a rooftop bar, my friends and I enjoyed some gelato and made our way to another bar to enjoy another round of drinks. We stumble across a patio in between two streets and decide to get drinks. The patio is in front of Fuente de Mercurio, a fountain accompanied by the statue of what seems to be a knight holding up a sword. The fountain sits in front of Banco de Espana, the grandest bank I had ever seen. It looks as if it were the Gringott’s bank out of Harry Potter. Every building in Seville is marked with symbols of angels, knights, and Spanish figures into light colored stone. As we sit, I take a look around and the minute breeze whispers tales of the city’s history. I am brought back to the memory of Lisa talking about the nun that had been convicted in the building across from us and the rooftop bar she recommended to the left of us. The warm glow emanating from the street lamps cast onto the cobblestone streets showed the many shadows of others sitting beside me. The waiter is uninterested in our conversation and stands behind my friend waiting to take our order. With no menu to browse we all order Sangrias. The sangria, a mix of local red wine, carried the essence of Andalusia for me. The drink was full of fruit, releasing a symphony of flavors that danced delicately across my taste buds. Notes of ripe berries, hints of oak, and a subtle earthiness painted a vivid picture of some my first drinks here in Europe. The sounds of the bells emitting from the Cathedral nearby immediately take me out of our conversation and I stop talking to look around once more. I realize I am in the very place in which I had wished to be in a year ago. I am enjoying a drink with new friends in Europe, the air is crisp unlike the heavy blanket of humidity I’d be in in Hawaii. The night continued, the temperature seemed to drop, but the warmth of our conversation and the glamor of the surroundings kept me anchored in the moment.