Overview
Set on the Guadalquivir in the south, Seville grew rich as the port for Spain’s American trade, and the wealth built its great cathedral and palaces. It is a hot, passionate city of narrow old lanes, orange-scented squares and a deep flamenco tradition, at its most intense during Holy Week and the spring feria. The heat is fierce in high summer, but spring and autumn are glorious, and the pleasures are the monuments, the tapas and the evening life of the plazas.
Highlights
The cathedral, the largest Gothic church in the world, rises beside the Giralda tower, once the minaret of a mosque. The Real Alcázar is a dazzling Moorish and Mudéjar palace with famous gardens, and the semicircular Plaza de España is a showpiece of tiled pavilions. The old Santa Cruz quarter, the riverside and the flamenco bars of Triana fill the evenings.