Last week, it was finally time for our summer vacation, that we were gonna spend in Seville, Spain. I fell in love with this city with its amazing architecture, beautiful palaces and amazing summer weather. On our first day, we visited what would become one of the highlights of our trip, namely Parque Maria Luisa.

But first: food! We had an early flight and arrived at our hotel around 11 in the morning. We dropped our suitcases and started exploring, but first we needed a little something. Directly opposite our hotel we found a little restaurant called Carmela where we had brunch, Pan de Tomate with Iberico ham. Apparently a traditional spanish dish: bread with some tomato spread and iberico ham.

We were kinda tired from our flight and the early morning we had, so we decided to walk to a nearby park and relax a little. We came across some amazing buildings, such as the Teatro Lope de Vega, as well as palm trees and horse-drawn carriages.

One of the most lovely buildings we saw was Costurero de la Reina. It’s a tiny castle, built in the nineteenth century in the neomudéjar style, a style you see everywhere in this city. It was a place where Mercedes of Orleans, the future wife of King Alfonso XII could do her sewing. It was actually smaller than I had expected, but nevertheless a very cute, tiny castle that was rich with details!

We spent a couple of hours in the park, taking in the beautiful scenery around us. The park was lush and green, there were beautiful flowers everywhere, as well as trees I’ve never seen before. It was quiet here, apart from the occasional horse-drawn carriage and some other tourists. We could hear the birds singing. We even saw and heard some parrots. No idea what they were doing here, but it was lovely to see them in the wild instead of in a cage.

Also, there were ducklings! Besides all these birds, there were some insects that were quite new to me. I saw some pink dragonflies and a small insect that made so much noise: a cicada. I never saw or heard those before.

Anyway, I really loved this park. There were fountains and gazebo’s, all sorts of birds and insects, a waterfall and stunning buildings all around the park. It was a very romantic place. We even saw some people taking wedding pictures. It was a truly magical place and you could easily wander around for hours.

This park is really one of the highlights from Seville for me. I’d really recommend giving this park a visit, especially when you’re looking for a quiet getaway or a romantic stroll with your partner.