Travel Reports

Sightseeing in Seville

March 28, 2008 on 9:20 am | In Sevilla |

In late summer 2002 I spent a two weeks short vacation in Andalucia, Spain. Besides Granada and Córdoba, I also visited Seville for a few days.

There are several lodging opportunities for a short stay in Seville. You can rent one of the Andalucia apartments offered by holiday letting agencies or book a room in a youth hostel.

Upon consulting my city map I found out that Seville offers some nice sights. In 1992, Seville hosted the World Exhibition Expo 92 on Cartuja Island („Isla de la Cartuja“) in the Guadalquivir river. So I decided to visit the former Expo site.

Today, Cartuja Island houses mainly the technology park „Sevilla Tecnópolis“ and the „Isla Mágica“ theme park. But many Expo pavilions, true futurist buildings, have remained as well, a lot of which still serve as venues for exhibitions, concerts, theatre plays etc. The Expo site is open to the public and can be accessed from many directions.

I spent hours strolling through the deserted exhibition grounds in the heat of the afternoon. I walked through the large gardens, passed by the artificial lake, entered left pavilions entwined with flowers and was always curious for something new. I imagined people passing by at the fair grounds and tried to revive in my mind the atmosphere of a past long forgotten.

From time to time I saw from far away single tourists passing by, also exploring the fair grounds, but most of the time I was alone. Suddenly I stood in front of the indisputable highlight of the Expo fair, a stunning actual size replica of an Ariane Sky Rocket, towering the sky. I had already seen it from far away but its actual size really hit me like a train.

Another amazing sight is the Parque Reina María Luisa. It was built for the Ibero-American exhibition of 1929 and is the largest and most beautifully designed park I have ever seen. On 400,000 square metres it houses a labyrinth of exotic flowers and trees, plazas, ponds, fountains, sculptures, monuments, avenues, statues, boulevards and the exhibition pavilions. I lost my way more than once in this maze.

The most famous tourist attraction, however, is the extravagant Pavilion of Spain, the Plaza de España, with its semicircular plaza, towers, galleries, arcade of semicircular arches, artificial lake and fountain in Renaissance style. The Mudéjar Pavilion („Mudéjar Pabellón“) with its Moorish and Neo-Renaissance style is another amazing monument. The spectacular scenery of the Plaza de España was used as a film set for George Lucas´ Star Wars movie „Attack of the Clones“.

Seville is famous for its spectacular pieces of Moorish architecture. Its many historical monuments are proof to the local architectural diversity which developed during the century-long Arab domination of Andalucia.

An amazing Moorish construction is the „Giralda“ (literally “weathervane”)) in Seville with its Almohad style, an ancient minaret from the city´s Almohad Mosque built between 1184 and 1198. In 1248 Seville fell into the hands of the Catholic kings of Spain during the Christian Reconquista. I climbed its endless stairs all the way up to the top – but was rewarded with a breathtaking view on Seville.

A further fascinating historical sight is the Alcázar of Seville (”Alcázares Reales de Sevilla”) with the „Patio de las Doncellas“ (The Courtyard of the Maidens), a palace of the Catholic kings of Spain with its Mudéjar, Mozarabic, Gothic and Renaissance style. The Alcázar (derived from Arab „al-qasr“ (literally „palace”)) was built between the 12th century to the 17th century on the site of the former Almohad palace „Al-Muwarak“ (literally “the blessed”).

A Roman-Catholic cathedral, the Cathedral of Seville („Catedrál de Sevilla“ or „Catedrál de Santa María de la Sede“), was built from 1401 to 1519 on the former site of the mosque and the Giralda was converted into a bell tower. The Cathedral of Seville with its Gothic, Baroque, Moorish and Renessaince style and breathtaking examples of Gothic woodcarving houses a large collection of religious sculptures, jewelry items and paintings and the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus. It is the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral anywhere in the world and is a must for every lover of Medieval Gothic church architecture.

The Alcázar and the Cathedral of Seville werde declared world heritage sites by the UNESCO in 1987.

About the Author

Markus Mross writes articles on Andalucia apartments and accommodation in Granada. Further articles written by the same author related to cottages and villa Andalucia can be found on the web.

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