Plaza de Espana turned out to be my favorite sight in Seville. It was the Alcazar that earned Seville the second spot on my Lisbon-Seville-Sintra itinerary (sorry Porto — next time). I had always heard about how amazing the Alcazar was, and don’t worry, it didn’t disappoint. But I was totally ignorant about the exceptionally colorful Plaza de Espana, until I saw a full-page photo of it in my guidebook, Frommer’s Seville Day By Day. And then, I thought: I must go there.

Set in the Parque de María Luisa, Plaza de Espana is like Venice meets a ceramics shop on steroids. You can even rent boats and row through the canal, but I would rather spend my time looking at all of the beautiful tiles. It was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition World’s Fair, to showcase Spain’s industry and technology exhibits. Today, the buildings are used for government offices — nice place to work!