My final post about the city of Seville is entitled "Sevilla, Sabor y Siente" which means, "Seville, Taste and Feel." The "sabor" refers to several tremendous meals I had while visiting the city and the "siente," to a performance that was so filled with emotion, it nearly made me cry. Let's get started with the first focus of this Sevilla post - Sabor (Taste): El Disparate El Disparate is a restaurant located in Seville that serves Andalusian and fusion cuisine. "Dispar

Metropol Parasol My third and final stop in the country of España, was in the city of Sevilla. The picture above captures my sentiments about this city. I do indeed love Sevilla (Seville, in English). Sevilla is the fourth largest city in Spain, following Madrid and Barcelona, which I posted about recently, and Valencia, which I hope to visit someday. Sevilla is also home to the world's largest, gothic cathedral, the world's largest, freestanding wooden structure, and it h

My culinary tour of Madrid was a little different than my usual, food tours in a new city. Like part of my Chicago visit, rather than sit down at any one restaurant for multiple courses, I visited multiple restaurants to try just one amazing dish from their menu. In Chicago, I called them "one dish wonders," and in Madrid, I am calling them "platos perfectos" or "perfect plates." Mercado de San Miguel I started my journey in search of los platos perfectos at the Mercado de

The second city I visited on my tour of España was the 2,000 plus year old, capital city of Madrid. The city was full of many surprises, the first of which was its name. "Madrid" is not the city's original name, nor is the name Madrid, Spanish in origin. Rather, it is Arabic. Parque Emir Mohamed I The city was named by Emir Mohamed, who founded it at the end of the 9th century. The River Manzanares, which flows through Madrid, was originally called "al-Magrit," meaning "w

I will bookend my Barcelona series with food, one of my favorite topics. In my first post in this series, I brought you along on my walking tour of tapas, the classic, Spanish cuisine. In my final post on Barcelona, I want to feature two, sit-down restaurants that were exceptional, and take you to a magical spot I found, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Suculent Suculent is a gem in the heart of Barcelona's Raval district. The name "Suculent " is a play on the

Antoni Gaudi Statue You cannot visit Barcelona without seeing the stunning contributions of Antoni Gaudí. The city is a veritable museum of his works, seven of which have been named UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gaudí was an architect and designer whose work was driven by his passion for God. Noting that there were no straight lines or sharp corners in nature, Gaudí copied God's blueprint in his buildings. La Sagrada Família The Basilica de la Sagrada Família The Basilica

Welcome to my series on the fabulous country of España. My visit to Spain was absolutely amazing. I had the opportunity to visit three major cities, starting with Barcelona, which is located in Spain’s Catalonia region. Barcelona was spectacular and surprising in so many ways. Some things I learned about Barcelona while I was there: 1) The city is older than Rome. 2) Barcelona is the most popular destination in Spain for international visitors (even though the capital ci