Travel Guides: All Countries / Europe / Spain / Northern Andalucia / Andalucia - Seville / Seville
 |  | Travel Reviews : Seville |
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| | | | Review by Bin LI from Paris
avoir the restaurant La Albahaca, situated at Plaza de Santa Cruz, 12. In fact, all our sejour at Seville which is so beautiful a city is spoiled by this restaurant: service is so so, and food is terrible---my friend went to the hospital the next morning by ambulance because of the Ostras naturales she had. We have no time for a legal pursuit to this restaurant, but we have the responsibility to alert other tourists. A shame for this restaurant and a pity for Seville.
Wonderful atmosphere
We passed through Seville on our way back from Portugal, by which time it was too late to stay any longer than a single night. What bad planning!
Had we known, we'd have arranged to spend more time there. The atmosphere in the evening was absolutely terrific.
I can't remember all their names, but there are squares, or plazas, dotted all over Seville, with cafes and restaurants spilling out on to the streets. There are many churches that we would have liked time to explore and some really beautiful architecture, exhibiting a strong Moslem influence.
The bullring is fantastic to look at. Seville is well known for its bullfighting history.
We didn't have anything booked but, after eating on the patio of one of the little restaurants, we found an old hotel in the centre of town. We were a few floors up, and the tall windows in our room looked out over a small plaza.
Being August, it was pretty hot, even late at night, so we had the windows open wide all night, but the shutters pulled to. What a wonderful experience!
We fell asleep to the muffled sounds of late-night conversations out in the square, charming rather than irritating.
Travel guide: Seville
Sweet smell of the south
Many towns have an individual smell. On a bad day the Parisian air can become a melange of dog dirt, Gauloises, croissants and uncertain drainage.
Bangkok smells of sweet new flowers mixed with stifling car fumes, Beverly Hills of vanilla, Cracow of industrial smog and Boston of beer.
Nowhere, however, smells like Seville - because Seville smells like the Garden of Eden.
I've never been to a city that smells remotely like it: a mixture of orange blossom and jasmine, which in the spring, when we went, can make you feel almost high.
But then I've never been to a city where you can walk down quiet, ordinary side streets and pick oranges and lemons off trees planted by the council in the pavements.
And I've certainly never been to a place where so much can be made of a patio. Sevillians love their patios, and urban gardeners such as me, looking for ideas for their little patch of British green, will find ideas to spare here.
It doesn't matter how small or overshadowed the space: with creepers thrown over whitewashed walls like coloured lace shawls, palm trees charging upwards towards the light and baskets of garlands hanging from balconies, Seville's thousands of patios are justifiably a source of much local pride. Every year there are competitions in May for the prettiest.
I didn't know much about Seville before I went there for a weekend. Yes, I was aware that the best flamenco in Spain was said to be in Seville, and that Christopher Columbus set out from here on one of his voyages to America but, apart from that, not much.
Which all goes to show how quietly Seville has been selling itself to tourists this past 30 years. You'd never believe that it's the fourth biggest city in Spain.
Sevillian history began long before the Arabs, the Romans having left a spectacular amphitheatre just 15 minutes by bus from the city centre.
But it wasn't until the North Africans arrived at the beginning of the 8th century that the Seville we now know, and which we tourists want to visit, began to take shape.
Travel guide: Seville
Seville got to her
My girlfriend, a woman of principle, would come to Seville only on one condition. 'You promise not to take me to a bullfight,' she said.
I have never made an easier promise. It was like taking a pledge not to strangle puppies.
Ah, the fickleness of women! Just three hours after getting off the plane, she was plucking winsomely at my sleeve. 'Darling, how do you feel about going to the bullfight tonight?'
Seville had got to her. It was all I could do to stop her buying a flamenco dress and singing arias from Carmen.
You cannot move in the city without reminders of its most infamous pastime.
Bullfighting posters adorn every tapas bar. Shop windows bulge with matador costumes. Middle-aged men corner you in bars and try to show you the scar they got running with the bulls at Pamplona. You sit down to a meal in a restaurant and a waiter recommends the 'bull's tail'. It is like a disease.
But five minutes of bullfighting on television, X-rated and nauseating, ensured that we would not contract it. We did visit the museum of bullfighting at the handsome 18th-century Plaza de Toros. It was simultaneously gruesome and hilarious.
Having spurned the bullfight, we had dinner in a lively restaurant near the cathedral. There was no English menu and the staff spoke only Spanish but I thought I knew enough, just, to get by.
Wrong! Having ordered, we thought, squid with garlic, artichokes, spicy lamb casserole and a jug of sangria, we got meatballs, salted cod, grilled chicken and a bottle of mineral water. Very nice, too - though I did send the water back.
Travel guide: Seville
Exploring Seville
Giggling, deep male voices were coming up fast behind me. I turned to see a gang of twenty-something Spanish men wearing polka-dotted, flamenco-frilled aprons over jeans and T-shirts.
After filing through a cobbled square past amused diners at La Cueva in the old Jewish quarter of Santa Cruz, they ducked silently into a quiet, dimly-lit bar.
This was a stag night, Seville-style, with the groom identifiable from the others only by his mantilla and a slash of red lipstick.
Their restraint was impressive; it may have been early evening but somehow I couldn't see them whipping out handcuffs, downing pint after pint or emulating their rambunctious British counterparts.
Like its inhabitants, Seville is a mature, gracious city.
Earlier that day, on a two-and-a-half hour flight from London, my travelling companions were rather different from those one might traditionally associate with southern Spain.
A sedate bunch boarded the plane: retired couples in panamas, bankers carrying golf clubs, honeymooners and trendy families with offspring answering to Noah, Nancy, Pandora and the like.
Yet the serenity of Seville is thanks, in part, to these cultural tourists who wield their cameras respectfully and leave, while the sun, sex and sangria masses descend on the Costas.
Apart from the soothing sound of cicadas, sparrows, and guitar music in tapas bars, noise levels are disarmingly low.
Ten minutes from the airport, Santa Cruz houses the most treasured monuments, such as the Hospital de Los Venerables, a 17th-century home for elderly priests, which has a restored baroque church.
Travel guide: Seville
Is this the cultural capital?
Madrid is more probably the cultural capital of Spain than Seville, if there is such a thing.
It has the Prado and the Reina Sofia for art (pictures include Las Meninas and Guernica - probably the most famous paintings in the world after the Mona Lisa). There are also a number of lesser-known museums, the Sorolla, for example, and a thriving opera, contemporary art and concert life. It has the only cathedral completed in the 20th century.
Within an hour of Madrid you have: El Escorial - the palace as tomb, Toledo - which has El Grecos lying all over the place, Segovia - huge Roman viaduct, Aranjuez, er, concierto de Aranjuez, Alcala de Henares, birthplace of Cervantes, and Chinchon with its statue of the woman who gave us the G&T,
Seville has even less in terms of culture than Granada or Cordoba, although superficially it is more attractive. It's also full of pickpockets.
Travel guide: Seville
Roque star of the Costa
From the Mail on Sunday
As well as the 'Costa' (a strong pound has made property very affordable) and the 'Sol' (reputedly 350 days a year), the other big attraction of southern Spain for the Brits is now golf. The signs on the N340, which runs from Gibraltar to Malaga, have been amended accordingly: below Costa del Sol they have added Costa del Golf. This just in case you hadn't noticed the dozens of courses, which have become part of the landscape like remnants of green carpet thrown down in a desert.
Thousands of retired Brits now sip their sangria at the 19th hole and, if they are nostalgic for the UK, they can go and sit in a jam on the coastal freeway, which will remind them of the northbound M1 on a Friday night.
Given that no one in our family can tell a seven iron from a putter and resorts such as Estepona, San Pedro and Alcaidesa (spreading, mock-Moorish urbanisations with cranes standing around like grazing giraffes and gritty, unattractive beaches) hold little appeal, we came clean and owned up to the children that, along with buckets and spades, guidebooks had been packed and some sightseeing was on the agenda.
We drove north from San Roque, where we were staying, looping round the mountain roads until the Rock of Gibraltar and the coastline of North Africa were distant specks. At the point where the children had given up hope that there was anything at all to see, Ronda came into view, impossibly perched on the top of a cliff.
Ronda is one of the better known 'pueblo blancos', so named because they are whitewashed in Moorish style. It is probably the most spectacularly positioned town in Spain, split by a dramatic gorge, the Tajo, with the two parts of the town joined by an 18th-century bridge spanning the 300ft drop.
As we wandered down the main street, we caught glimpses of the pale yellow Andalusian landscape at the end of little alleyways. It was as if we had climbed to the 25th floor of a skyscraper and were looking down on the rest of the world.
Travel guide: Seville
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| | | | Pergolas, flowers and fountains
The greatest attraction has to be the Alcazar Palace. Although originally a fortress home of the first Arab governor of Andalucia, it wasn't until the 14th century, when Spain was once more ruled by Catholic monarchs, that the palace became recognisable as it is today.
And the stroke of genius here was that the new rulers made use of the Moorish artists and craftsmen left behind by the retreating civilisation - thus creating mudejar art.
The result was that the Alcazar became a series of exquisitely patterned, arcaded courtyards and salons, each one leading to another through a succession of inverted horseshoe-shaped arches.
Ornamentation is everywhere but what dazzles most is the delicate lattices in the plasterwork. It looks as if someone has crocheted the walls.
Wandering through the Alcazar is like being lost in a beautiful marble and stone maze until suddenly, emerging on the far side, you reach the gardens, and then you see the other great gift the Moors bequeathed to Spain.
We all know that modern maths was invented in the Middle East, but here in the gardens we see it put to sublime use as a series of geometrical shapes interlock with each other and with nature to create a series of formal gardens of palms, Mediterranean pines and pergolas, flowers and fountains.
Next door to the Alcazar is another of Seville's treasures, the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world. But, to be honest, I found it remarkable only for its size.
When it was being built in the 15th century it was said that those who commissioned it wanted a cathedral so big that future generations would think them mad for attempting it.
Well, they got it. It does boast the tomb of Christopher Columbus, but Columbus was much buried, his remains being constantly dug up and moved, so whether what lies beneath his monument is really him we have to take on trust.
Much more interesting than the cathedral, originally the site of a mosque, is the bell tower alongside it - the Giralda.
Originally a minaret for the mosque, it is 319ft high and has views right across Seville.
Moorish and Christian styles combined
In the background, spectacularly floodlit, the great bell-tower of the cathedral rose above the city.
La Giralda, as the tower is known, was once the minaret of the Moorish mosque, which preceded the 15th- century cathedral. As we discovered, it really is a stupendous building.
Everything is constructed on a heroic scale, from the silver candlesticks in the sacristy, taller than a man, to the 8ft-high bronze figures supporting the coffin of Christopher Columbus.
But every column, every stained-glass window, every side chapel, was exquisitely crafted.
Next stop was the Reales Alcazares, a 14th- century palace in which, again, Moorish and Christian styles combined to stunning effect.
Although it boasted some fine rooms, notably the domed salon de embajadores, with its gorgeously carved wooden ceiling, it was the walled garden that seduced the eye.
Just yards from the traffic-congested streets, a haven of pure peace had been created, with tree-lined paths, sunspangled fountains and a profusion of spring flowers.
Creepers entwined themselves around crumbling statues. A black cat slept under a magnolia tree. There was a scent of lilac and orange blossom.
Cumbersome, not beautiful
Dominating the city is the cathedral La Giralda, the largest in Europe, which is built on the site of a 12th-century mosque.
Expect a queue, set aside at least an hour to look round and check out the shop for Seville marmalade and azulejos (vibrant, glazed ceramic tiles peculiar to the city).
Cumbersome rather than beautiful, the sheer magnitude of the interior, with treasures including the Tomb of Christopher Columbus, is overwhelming.
But mobile phones ringing and a tourist buzz make it the least likely place to pray, which somehow defeats the point.
Outside, the blistering heat - which is why Seville is referred to as the 'frying pan' - lasts well into October so don't envisage whizzing around.
Pace yourself by stopping at Flaherty's behind the cathedral, one of hundreds of cafes and bars, where a pint of draught Guinness is £2.60.
If you've started out late, horse-drawn carriages from Plaza de Los Reyes or an on-off bus tour are ideal. This costs £7.
On arrival at an especially beautiful place, panic usually sets in that there is not enough time to see the copious number of essential sites.
Yet, without hyperventilating, Seville can be explored effortlessly in three nights, with leeway to chance upon tiny chapels, dappled courtyards and gardens.
I was pleased not to have overlooked the Hospital de la Caridad, said to have inspired Don Juan, or the Real Alcazar, home to Spanish royalty for seven centuries.
The Moorish tiled and carved arched salons; the orange tree terraces, patios and ornate gardens take at least half a day to wander round.
Discovering the Moors
But it was not just the topography of the place which provided excitement for the children in Ronda. It was there, just over 200 years ago, that Pedro Romero (who slew nearly 6,000 bulls in his lifetime without receiving a scratch) developed a new style of bullfighting in which the equestrian was replaced by the unmounted bullfighter.
We visited the bullring, one of the oldest in Spain, and wandered round the colourful museum which displays the matadors' fabulous Goyaesqe knickerbockers and jackets, bright pink capes, bandilleras (the darts which are thrust into the bull's back) and swords used for the kill.
Beneath the understandably furious gaze of some massive bulls' heads, which the children had trouble believing were real, we looked at black and white pictures of Spanish royalty and celebrities and spotted one of Orson Welles, apparently a big fan of this brutal sport. We then wandered around in the blazing, dusty heat of the ring, now able to imagine the scene and the roar of the crowd, but quite thankful that there was no corrida that day.
Before leaving this compact little town, we visited the 15th-century Mondragon Palace. This Moorish residence is built around a series of little gardens and 'patios' - a word which was then used to describe an internal courtyard where the inhabitants sought shade, rather than the paved terraces where we British optimistically wait for the sunshine at home.
We read up about the Mudejar style: the word literally means 'those permitted to stay' (referring to the Moors who were not kicked out after the Christian reconquest of Spain), and describes the distinctive and exotic style of architecture which is so characteristic of this region. Before we crossed the children's boredom threshold, we also had time to pop into the town's main church, Santa Maria La Mayor, which still retains the minaret of the 12th-century mosque which it replaced.
Another, much smaller but almost as improbably positioned little pueblo, is Castella del la Frontera, a few miles from the coast and just off the road to Ronda. The old village lies within the castle walls and is perched on top of a huge rock with a spectacular 360-degree view of national parkland and, from the ramparts of its castle walls, we watched birds of prey swooping and diving above the cork oak trees below us.
Though now mostly inhabited by German hippies and stray cats, Castellar remains much as it has for hundreds of years. In the village bar we noticed that even the back wall of the room was still simply the bare rock of the mountain.
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| | | | Take a horse-drawn carriage
The emir who had it built wanted to be able to ride his horse up it, so you can now stroll to the top by way of a series of fairly shallow ramps rather than climb hundreds of steps.
While I'm thinking about horses, I should add that one of the most pleasant ways to see Seville is to take a horse-drawn carriage around the Parque de Maria Luisa and on past the university, which must be the only college in the world which started life as a tobacco factory. In fact, it was here that Bizet imagined his operatic heroine Carmen worked.
That Seville should have built a neo-classical palace for use as a tobacco factory is testament to the wealth which came from the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries.
After that, the river silted up and put an end to Seville's ocean-going trade. Her great days were gone.
Of course, only the grand and powerful lived in palaces, and it is the old towns huddled around the great places of religion and state which now offer the most insight into the way ordinary people lived.
Seville's old town is a real warren of adventure with its narrow alleys and pastel-coloured houses. Churches, as you might expect, are seemingly around every corner, some with paintings by Murillo (if they weren't stolen by Napoleon).
But the most surprising place in the old town is a Renaissance mansion, Casa de Pilatos, complete with - you guessed it - two beautiful gardens.
To say that I was surprised by Seville would be an understatement. Everything seemed so culturally polite, from the very pretty hotel Las Casas del Rey de Baeza on Calle Santiago in the old town, to the restaurants - a meal in Meson Don Raimundo being akin to having dinner in the Old Curiosity Shop.
In fact, my only regret was that a three-day weekend trip wasn't quite long enough to look at the shoe shops, which are said to be among the best in Europe.
And with so much to see and so much walking to do around Seville, a man needs a good pair of shoes.
TRAVEL DETAILS: British Airways Holidays features stays at the four-star Las Casas del Rey de Baeza, Seville with scheduled flights from Heathrow. For reservations call 0870 443 4439.
A cluster of villages
Like all great cities, Seville is a cluster of 'villages', each with its own character. At lunchtime, we crossed the Guadalquivir river and ate al fresco in Triana, the old gipsy quarter.
No grand palaces here: just simple vernacular architecture. But the rows of whitewashed houses pulsed with life: women in black dresses sat in doorways peeling tomatoes and gossiping with neighbours; flamenco music boomed out of tapas bars.
The Barrio de Santa Cruz was another area rich in atmosphere. It is the oldest part of Seville and used to be the Jewish quarter. Some of the streets are so narrow that they are impassable by car, but that rabbit-warren quality gives the area its charm.
We turned left, right, right again, found we were back where we started, tried a different turning, ducked down a side-alley, turned left, then right, then emerged into a sumptuous little square, with the jacaranda trees in full bloom and the lights of a restaurant beckoning in the corner.
In the distance, was the faint sound of cheers from the direction of the bullring.
My girlfriend pricked up her ears, like a war-horse at the sound of a bugle. But I had no trouble keeping her on the straight and narrow. Seville is one of those cities that really does have something for everyone.
Travel facts: Magic of Spain. Tel: 08700 270400, or visit website http://www.magictravelgroup. co.uk.
Sipping chilled sherry
Waving fans (£3 from street stalls) is as common among the women here as sipping chilled sherry; so don't be shy to adopt them for flicking away pesky flies.
As for dispensing of my euros, I looked at enough silk shawls, (from £20) and plates to snap up as los regalos (gifts) for relatives, but cute leather bags and strappy sandals remained impossible to find.
At Bar Citroen, just before the grand red-bricked tiled buildings of Plaza de Espana, you can eat an omelette or paella under an awning, listening to the banter of locals.
Shamefully, I'd assumed most Spaniards breezed through English so learnt a smattering of phrases on the plane. If I did rattle off a sentence, I then had no comprehension of the reply.
Do take a phrase book as menus are often only in Spanish, but unlike French waiters, less disdain is shown if you stutter an order for a sandwich.
After lunch, Hemingway fans may be able to stomach an afternoon at the bull-ring, the Real Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, built in 1760.
It is alleged to be the most beautiful in the world, with a white and ochre façade and marble columns inside.
I couldn't bring myself to go in, so wandered across to the bronze statue of Carmen, whose character worked in the tobacco factory in Seville.
Every moment of a languid day is drawn out here. With lunch eaten between 2pm and 4pm, followed by a siesta, dinner is any time after 9pm, so the city stirs only after 11pm.
In Spanish there is even a word - madrugada - describing midnight to dawn.
Strolls along the Rio Guadalquivir are a nightly pastime and here, beside the 13th-century defensive lookout, Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold), hour-long boat cruises (£8) run until 11pm.
Surfing the Spanish waves
The big excursion from the coast was to the capital of Andalusia, Seville. Though it was perfectly manageable as a day trip, with all the principle sights close to the city centre, it would probably take a week to do it any justice.
Here, too, we enjoyed the legacy of Moorish culture: the Torre del Oro (Golden Tower), the Reales Alcazares (the royal residence) and elements of the Cathedral which, having been built on the site of a mosque, retains some significant Islamic parts.
The Cathedral is the biggest Gothic building in the world and the sheer size of much that's inside is enough to keep the average Guinness Book Of Records-hungry child quite happy. For example, you'll find the World's Biggest Retablo (the carved screen behind the altar), which is almost 115ft high, and the massive sarcophagus of Christopher Columbus, held up by four awesome statues.
The place, however, which scored top marks for children and parents, was Tarifa, the most southerly town in Europe. Here we had history (a 10th-century Moorish castle), geography (clear views of Morocco and the Atlas Mountains) and, not just the opportunity to use buckets and spades on the five spectacular miles of pale sand, but the added thrill of a wild, translucent sea.
This time it wasn't the biggest, but the best: the best windsurfing beach in Europe, where the winds from the Atlantic blow into the Mediterranean. On the day we visited, there were not just windsurfers, but old-fashioned surfers standing high on the waves, in true Bondi Beach style. At last, we'd found the perfect beach - with not a golf buggy in sight.
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| | | | An atmospheric place
A hotel outside the centre of Seville is preferable - it is cooler, the air is clearer and views stretch beyond the huddle of the medina.
Ten minutes away, in the village of Sanlucar la Mayor, Hacienda Benazuza once belonged to the Crusading Order of the Knights of Santiago.
Looking across dusty olive groves to Seville, this is an idyllic spot. Standing in a cobbled courtyard, the ancient castellated whitewashed and ochre house and chapel has only 44 rooms.
For such an atmospheric place, it was without a hint of mustiness. With dark salons, a discreet restaurant and bar leading off a scarlet-walled courtyard, it's the sort of place you'd snap up on winning the lottery.
Counting trees as I wound through secret walkways in the gardens, I nearly got lost: carob, fig, jasmine, lemon, lime, orange and palm.
Past terraces and tiled fountains, the poolside restaurant, Alberca, is a canopied, Moorish tent festooned with cushions and drapes.
Here, a tapas lunch of garlic prawns, lamb, ham and the finest tea this side of Marrakesh was £14.
Any preconceptions about Seville have been quashed. To my surprise, there were neither signs of ostentatious wealth nor rundown quarters.
Gipsy women may have tried to press lavender upon me, but to be honest, I had unfairly braced myself for grimy streets, lame dogs, beggars and senors flogging single red roses in every restaurant.
Proud and well-preserved, Seville is far more romantic than most tourists will anticipate.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
The Mediterranean Experience (http://www.themed.net tel: 020 8445 6000) offers breaks at the Hacienda Benazuza including return flights from London Gatwick to Seville with GB Airways, return private taxi transfers to/from Seville airport.
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| | Available rental properties in Seville |
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| |  | | La Yerba Buena
Brand new Villa in the heart of Utrera, Seville full of character and great for family time or party time in the cosmopolitan Seville
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1 of 3 detached villas set in private gated grounds, with a large swimming pool and communal Summerhouse with kitchen, bar and games facilities.
|  | | Villa Laurel
Comfortable, well equipped villa with private pool and garden only 15 minutes from Seville
|  | | Villa los Azahares
Beautufil villa vith private pool in an Andalusian garden of 1200 sq m only 15 minutes from Seville
|  | | Stylish bright Loft appartment with pool
The apartment is part of our Award winning Villa but with enough privacy to relax in the garden or pool. It is ideally located, walking distance to bu
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