Were the mix of Roman, Moorish and Christian history not enough, the city is home to no less than three UNESCO World Heritage Sites – La Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, El Real Alcázar de Sevilla, and El Archivo General de Indias. And of course, there are other tourist favourites such as La Plaza de España.
As with many places in Spain, I had long wanted to visit Sevilla, but every time I looked at flights or trains – six-hour bus journeys are NOT for me – they were ridiculously overpriced. So when I found a return flight for £49 (€60/US$83), I booked it without a moment's hesitation. Time to see what the hype was about...
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| View from my riverside walk |
My flight landed ten minutes early. I got the bus into town, and too late realised that I should have gotten off before Plaza de Armas. Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to re-trace the bus route and see the things that had caught my eye.
I walked along the banks of the River Guadalquivir, pausing to take a few photos of an interesting twelve-sided building. I later learned that this was La Torre de Oro (The Golden Tower), a military watchtower built around 1220 by Abu l-Ulà, the Almohad governor of Sevilla. Constructed of mortar, lime and pressed hay (!), the building gets its name from the golden shine it projected onto the river.
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| Torre del Oro |
On reaching the Old Town, I made a beeline for the first of the big-hitters – La Catedral de Sevilla. In the years after the Reconquista of 1248, Sevilla grew to become a major trading centre. To demonstrate the city's new-found wealth, a cathedral was commissioned. In 1401, work commenced on the site of a former mosque. Over 100 years later in 1506, the cathedral was completed. But in 1511, the dome collapsed and work began again. In 1888, an earthquake caused the dome to collapse once more, and repairs went on into the 20th century.
With a length of 135 m (443 ft), a width of 100 m (330 ft) and a height of 42 m (138 ft), La Catedral de Sevilla is the largest cathedral in the world, and the third largest church building. However, its claim to fame lies not so much in its size but in the fact that it's the burial place of Cristoforo Colombo (c. 1451-1506), better known – to the English-speaking world at least – as Christopher Colombus.
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| The south façade (with queue to enter) |
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| La Puerta del Príncipe |
Keen to see inside this 600-year old church, I joined the long and winding queue and stumped up the €8 (£6.50/US$10.50) entrance fee. But once inside, the cathedral did not live up to expectations.
For such a large space, there seemed to be little room to move without finding yourself under the feet of a huge tour group, hell-bent on taking ALL the photos. Even those wanting simply to sit and reflect fell victim to rude tourists who thought nothing of barging through the rows of seats in order to get that perfect shot. After all, why let a few people sitting on said seats get in the way of your quest for a great photo?!
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| The deceptively spacious interior |
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| Golden altarpiece |
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| Looking down the aisle |
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| Pretty much the only photo I got of Columbus' tomb |
In a bid to escape the manner-less morons, I moved away from the big draws and tried to focus on other things – the high ceilings, the length of the aisles, the stained glass windows... But to no avail, because no matter where I went, I found myself standing beside some tw*t suffering from 'photo envy'. You know, the kind of person who sees you pointing your camera at something and panics that they might be missing out on a must-have photo. Cue getting unceremoniously elbowed out of your own freaking shot!
I was most annoyed to have shelled out a less-than-purse-friendly €8 (£6.50/US$10.50) for what amounted to little more than twenty minutes inside a veritable cattle market. But, beyond fed up of being pushed and shoved by no less than THREE bloody Japanese tour groups, all desperate to take ALL the photos of Colombus' tomb – as if they even knew who he was – I gave up and exited stage left leaving much of the cathedral unseen.
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| La Puerta de los Palos |
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| La Giralda is all that remains of the former mosque |
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| The former minaret from another angle |
Back outside, safe in the knowledge that the world and its mother were in the cathedral, I joined the short-ish queue for the Alcázar. Then, on payment of €9.50 (£7.60/US$12.50) – just how freaking expensive are Sevilla's tourist attractions?! – I was free to explore.
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| A hint of what's to come |
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| The archway leading to the complex |
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| Patio de la Montería |
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| Patio de las Doncellas (The Courtyard of the Maidens) |
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| Detail above one of the doors |
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| Beautiful ceiling |
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| Close-up of the tilework |
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| Salón de Embajadores |
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| The ceiling in El Salón de Embajadores |
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| More tilework |
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| Close-up of stone carvings |
Having seen the buildings, I went to check out the gardens. But the steadily rising temperatures meant that I did little more than have a quick scoot round before heading off in search of food and shade.
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| Seating area under a canopy of vines |
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| Green as far as the eye can see |
It seems that even the Alcázar, Europe's oldest Royal Palace still in use today, could not change the quietly creeping feelings I had of Sevilla. This most beloved city is nothing but a lie, a big fat tourist trap thinly-disguised in centuries of history...
But since I was here, I figured I might as well continue hunting for whatever it is that people see in this city. And no trip to Sevilla would be complete with a visit to Plaza de España, a huge semi-circular plaza situated on the edge of El Parque de María Luisa.
Commissioned by Alfonso XIII, King of Spain (r. 1886-1931), the plaza was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American exhibition of the following year. Designed in the Art Deco and Neo-Mudéjar styles by the Spanish architect, Aníbal González Álvarez-Ossorio (1875-1929), it comprises a semi-circular building, a moat and four bridges, each one representing one of the ancient kingdoms of Spain. Running along the outer wall of the building is the tiled 'Alcove of Provinces', a big draw for tourists wanting to photograph themselves in their home/host province.
Having easily located the plaza, I stood in the centre surveying the scene. It should have blown me away, but instead I was left feeling a little 'meh'. Maybe I just don't get what makes other people tick, or maybe it was because of the seemingly endless stream of tourists, balancing on the edge of the fountain or posing for one stupid jumping shot after another – seriously, what is with that?! – but I just didn't love it.
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| The central building |
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| Covered walkway |
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| Close-up of the ceiling |
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| Looking out towards one of the towers |
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| View from upstairs |
The next day, determined to give Plaza de España a second chance, I returned. Perhaps because it was quieter and there was a distinct lack of stupid jumping tourists (nope, still don't get it), the place grew on me a little more. But not so much that I fell in love with the city, which still felt like one big tourist trap.
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| One of the four bridges |
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| Painted railings |
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| Pretty in pink |
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| One last look at the square |
I have no doubt that I have just committed blogger suicide by speaking of this tourist favourite in less-than-glowing terms, but I honestly did not get why people rave about this city. Based on what I had thus far seen – a couple of overpriced and overcrowded attractions that generally weren't worthy of the hype – I wasn't all that impressed.
So there I was, in a city I had longed to see and I was feeling utterly cheated. Pretty much every other blogger positively gushes over Sevilla, so what was I missing? To find out, check out part two of my trip...
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