seville

"Who hasn't seen Seville, has seen no wondrous thing"
Andalusian saying

Seville is the setting for Bizet's Carmen as well as Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.

It is a seductive, sun-drenched city of orange blossoms, the twirl of the flamenco dancer, the strumming of the solo guitar and the delicious smells of Spanish cooking. It is a city where orange trees adorn every street and square. On every patio and every terrace birds sing and geraniums bloom.

The April fair of Seville

Seville is at its best during the spring. In the month of April Sevillanos celebrate their beloved Feria de Abril (April´s Fair), an explosion of colour and music that thousands join in a week of dancing and singing. The climax of spring may very well be Semana Santa (Holy Week). Dozens of lavish processions thread their way through the city each day, celebrating religious piety with Andalusian flair. Thousands upon thousands of people line the streets to participate in the colorful festivities.

At one time, Seville was Spain's largest city. It was the gateway through which the vast wealth of the New World poured. It served as the host of two World Exhibitions.

Seville certainly is one of the most beloved places by visitors to Spain. Although today Moorish influence is architectonically most evident - Andalusia was occupied by Moors for about 800 years - it had been a cultural center long before. The fertility of this land, its climate of mild winters and an average 3000 hours of sun per year encouraged the Phoenicians and Carthaginians to settle here. Later came the Romans and two of their emperors in fact, Trajan and Hadrian, were both born here.

Seville has been home to a number of famous and infamous figures of history. The legendary "Don Juan" started from here, conquering the hearts of women across all Europe, while Columbus started from a port close to Seville to discover a new world. Prosper Merimee's "Carmen", who couldn't make her decision between the officer Don Jose and the bullfighter Escamillo - the consequences you can watch still today in opera houses - was a worker in Seville's old tobacco factory. By the way, this factory serves today as University, a fact that might give you a glimpse on Andalusian talent for improvisation.

When you visit this city, you are in the very heart of Andalusian culture, the center of bullfighting and Flamenco music. Take yourself time and take life easy, as Andalusians use to do, and interrupt sightseeing from time to time to have a few "tapas", those typical "small spanish dishes", and a glass of Sherry wine in one of the probably thousands of bars in this city, and consider a few of the hints on the following pages to make your stay a memorable one.

Places of interest in Seville

Barrio Santa Cruz

This romantic part of town, formerly the district of Moors and Jews, is located right in the historical center of Seville. You may have a walk through the narrow shady lanes, inbetween beautiful buildings with courtyards plenty of flowers, and visit some of the town's major monuments:

The impressive cathedral with its tower, Giralda, Seville's landmark. The king's palace Alcazar in its typical Moorish style, surrounded by high walls. The Archivo de Indias, a Renaissance building which serves as an archive of all the documents related with the discovery of America. The Archiepiscopal Palais. All those buildings are located at one single large square.

More monuments worth visiting in this district are the churches Hospicio de los Venerables and Iglesia de Santa Maria la Blanca, the latter located at the edge of the beautiful park Jardines de Murillo. Walking from the Giralda towards the river you will find in Santander Street the Torre de la Plata, a tower which served as silver depot in the times of the Moorish domination. Just to its right there are the Hospital de la Caridad and the church Iglesia de la Caridad.

Park of Maria Luisa

This great park is named after Infanta Maria Luisa, who presented to the town half of the gardens of her Palace of San Telmo in 1893. In 1929 took place here an Ibero-American Exposition, and many interesting buildings were constructed.
Specially remarkable are the works of architect Hannibal Gonzalez, his great Plaza de Espana, Pabellon Mudejar, Pabellon Real and the Archaeological Museum, as well as many smaller buildings of latin-american style.

San Telmo Palace

If you walk from Plaza de Espana towards Guadalquivir river, you arrive first to a sort of "micro-castle", the so-called Costurero de la Reina ("the Queen's Sewing-Room"), at the edge of the gardens of San Telmo Palace. This palace is a very beautiful example of Baroco Sevillano, the regional baroque style. Directly behind it you'll find the Real Fabrica de Tabacos , the old tobacco factory (the most prominent worker of which was Carmen, the opera-figure), being today Seville's university.

The Torre de Oro

A Moorish tower located at the river, is another landmark of the city. Face to face to it there is the bullring, Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza.

Crossing the river at the Bridge of Triana, you enter one of the most typical and traditional quarters of Seville, the Barrio de Triana.

Palaces in Seville

There are many beautiful palaces and manorial houses in Seville, many of them strongly influenced in their architecture by the Moorish past of the city. Most impressive is perhaps Casa Pilatos, built in 15th and 16th century. Should some taxi-driver tell you that this "House of Pilatus" was a holiday-house of the famous Pontius Pilatus, who used to come to Seville in Easter-week to watch the famous processions - don't believe him. Another building that is absolutely worth a visit is Palacio de las Duenas , a palace belonging to the Dukes of Alba.

Churches and Monasteries - If you look over Seville from a viewpoint, you will see an incredible number of towers of the city's churches and monasteries.

The new Seville after 1992

The World Exhibition EXPO'92 has brought many changes to Seville. No fewer than 70 kilometers of new streets were built, a new train station, Santa Justa, and the high-speed train AVE connects Seville with Madrid in less than 3 hours.

Also Guadalquivir river, which had been detoured around the city for centuries, was now brought back into its original river-bed. Some impressive new bridges, which are among the city's most important monuments of this century, have been constructed:

Puente del V Centenario, Pasarela de la Cartuja, Puente de las Delicias, Puente de Chapina, Puente de la Barqueta, and Puente del Alamillo.

Other buildings which were made for the EXPO '92 are the Maestranza Theater, face to face to the bullring, the Cartuja Auditorium and the Congress Palace with its huge golden cupola. The old train station of modernist style, Antigua Estacion de Cordoba, was restored and serves today as an exhibition hall.

Isla de la Cartuja

The "Cartuja Island" was the exhibition ground of the EXPO, today you find here large gardens and an artificial lake. Many of the pavilions are still in use, and there are numerous performances here, such as concerts, theaters, etc.

The most interesting historical building at the territory is certainly the Cartuja Monastery. Christopher Columbus was buried here. Later on it was the seat of an important producer of traditional ceramics, while today, after having been restored, it serves as a museum.

The enormous cathedral, the burial place of Christopher Columbus, is the third largest in Christendom and claims to be the largest gothic building in the world. Its bell-tower - the famous 12th c. Giralda - was originally built by the Moors as a minaret and later appropriated by the cathedral.

Seville offers one of the finest hotels in the world - a 1929 landmark, built by King Alfonso XIII to house his guests. It still serves as a meeting place for Sevillan society.

For those who prefer a more intimate setting, Seville is also home of a lovely, small inn made from renovated houses in the medieval Barrio de Santa Cruz.

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Costa Almeria | Cadiz | Cordoba | Granada | Huelva | Jaen | Malaga | Sevilla

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