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 city / town

Sevilla
by mrtraveller

Live and Breathe the Fire of Spain

area
140 km² When people think of Spain, it's usually Seville and its environs that comes to
mind. Barcelona may be more cosmopolitan, and Madrileños may live faster,
calling code but Seville exudes an undeniable charm that is distinctly Spanish. This is the
954 home of flamenco and bullfighting, classic images of Spain's romance and
grandeur. This is the city to which people flock during the huge festivals of
website Semana Santa and Feria de abril, with processions and wild celebrations that
http://www.sevilla.org/ are among the most rousing in all of Europe. This is the city where the maze
impe/sevilla/portada of streets in the Santa Cruz neighborhood hides tapas bar after tapas bar, all
against a stunning backdrop of sights: the Catedral, the third largest in the
population world, and the Alcázar, a Moorish-inspired palace used by the Spanish king
699,145,154 and queen to this day. And the huge student population guarantees not only
a vibrant nightlife but also prices that are among the most reasonable in all of
other names Spain. Go to Barcelona for art, go to Madrid for the big-city feel, but to soak
Seville up the finest in Spanish culture at budget prices, go to Seville.

by cristina

3 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 4

Highlights
Sevilla
Attractions Eating Highlights
Sevilla
voted for by the tripwolf community voted for by the tripwolf community

Real Alcázar Plaza del Triunfo Casa Carmelo Calle de Gloria, 4, 41004, Sevilla,
sight restaurant España
Cathedral Plaza del Triunfo Taberna del Alabardero C Zaragoza 20
sight restaurant
Plaza de España Plaza de España, Sevilla 41013 Alfalfa 10 Plaza de la Alfalfa 10, Sevilla 41001
sight Café
Archivo de las Indias Plaza del Triunfo Bodega Santa Cruz C Rodrigo Caro 2, Barrio Santa Cruz
sight restaurant
Giralda Plaza Virgen de los Reyes, Sevilla Antonio Romero Calle Antonia Díaz 19, Sevilla
sight 41004 restaurant
Torre del Oro Paseo de Colón Eslava Eslava 3, Sevilla 41002
sight restaurant
Casa de Pilatos Plaza de Pilatos s/n Doña Elvira Plaza Doña Elvira, 6, 41004, Sevilla,
sight restaurant España
Museo de Bellas Artes Plaza del Museo 9 Bar Alfalfa Corner C Alfalfa and C Candilejo,
museum / gallery restaurant Barrio Santa Cruz
Real Maestranza de Paseo de Cristóbal Colón, 41001 Casa Salva C Pedro del Toro 12
Caballeria Sevilla, Spanien restaurant
sight
La Campana C Sierpes 1
Antigua Fábrica de Tabacos C San Fernando 4 Café
sight
Customize your trip and get all the infos you need:
Customize your trip and get all the infos you need: Create your own trip on tripwolf.com!
Create your own trip on tripwolf.com!

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Highlights
Sevilla
Nightlife &
Entertainment
voted for by the tripwolf community

La Carbonería Calle Levies 18, Sevilla 41004

club
La Zapata Calle Betis 39, Sevilla
club
Naima Café Jazz Calle Trajano 47, Sevilla
bar
Elefunk Adriano 10, Sevilla
club
Ilustre Víctima Doctor Letamendi 35, Sevilla 41003
bar
Ciudad Condal Alameda de Hércules 94, Sevilla
bar
Flaherty's Calle Alemanes 7, Sevilla
bar
Utopia Calle Barco 1, Sevilla
bar
Casa La Anselma Calle Pagés del Corro 49, Sevilla
bar
Café Hércules Calle Peris Mencheta 15, Sevilla
bar

Customize your trip and get all the infos you need:
Create your own trip on tripwolf.com!

7 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide

 Real Alcázar......................................... 11
Cathedral.............................................. 13
Plaza de España.................................. 15
Introduction

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On the following pages, we have listed the highlights for your destination
chosen by the tripwolf community (if votes were available). Get more ideas on
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sight

Real Alcázar

The most beautiful example of Andalusian Mudéjar style: the royal 18 popularity
on tripwolf
votes
palace in Seville and its gardens.

address: Plaza del Triunfo Real Alcázar

website: www.patronato-alcazarsevilla.es
opening hours: Oct-Mar Tue-Sat 0930-1800, Sun 0930-1400; Apr-
Sep Tue-Sat 0930-2000, Sun 0930-1800, last entry
1 hr earlier Even if the delights of tapas and the heat of the day are seducing your hours
price level: budget in Sevilla away from you, don’t head for home without seeing the Alcázar,
rates and features: €7, students and retirees free as you’ll be derided by any friends who have. While you’ll see horseshoe
telephone: 954-502323 arches, stucco, calligraphy and coffered ceilings throughout, it’s not a Moorish
palace. It used to be, but little remains from that period; it owes its Moorish
look to the Castillian kings who built it after the Reconquest: Alfonso X and
his enlightened son Pedro I.

The informative audio tour (Spanish, French, English, German and Italian)
costs €3 and uses quotes from various of the kings responsible for the
building’s construction.

As well as being a sumptuous palace, the Alcázar was once a considerable

fortress in this impressively fortified city, a fact easily appreciable as you pass
through the chunky walls in the dramatic red Puerta del León entrance gate,
named for the tiled king of beasts guarding it. You emerge on to a large
courtyard dominated by the impressive…
[read more on www.tripwolf.com]

11 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 12

sight

Cathedral

A Gothic edifice of staggering proportions crammed full of artistic 10 popularity

on tripwolf
votes
treasures.

address: Plaza del Triunfo Cathedral Reviews

website: www.catedraldesevilla.es
opening hours: Mon-Sat: 1100-1800 (last entry 1700), Sun burnoutberni
1430-1900 (last entry 1800) Uberwältigender
rates and features: €7.50, €2 students under 26 and retirees Sevilla’s bases of ecclesiastical and royal power, the vast Gothic cathedral,
and the sumptuous mudéjar Alcázar, face each other across the sunbeaten Ausblick über die
telephone: 954-214971 Stadt von der Giralda.
Plaza del Triunfo, once just inside the city’s major gateway. They’re both
heavily visited, and with good reason: you should give plenty of your time to Beeindruckende
visit either and linger in a quiet corner while the tourist groups surge past. In Vergangenheit....
the squares around, horse carriages sit under the orange trees ready to trot einfach schön... von
visitors around the sights of the town.… innen und…
2008-06-27
[read more on www.tripwolf.com]

by mrtraveller

13 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 14

sight

Plaza de España

9 popularity
on tripwolf
votes
address: Plaza de España, Sevilla 41013

Plaza de España

In the middle of Parque de María Luisa you will be amazed to find Plaza de
España, just like a film set, surrounded by a magnificent semi-circular building
whose outer walls are adorned with tiled mosaics depicting historical scenes
from the 50 Spanish provinces.

by Vindy

15 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 16

 Essentials
The travel info for Sevilla
Background
Authors and Content
While Sevilla legend attributes the founding of the city to Hercules, it is
Partners
likely that the first permanent settlements on this site were built by the
Harasymowicz
Tartessians in the first half of the first millennium BC. The Phoenicians
established themselves here shortly afterwards, and they extended and
fortified the existing town. It became an important trading centre in the
Western Mediterranean, and continued to be so after a Carthaginian takeover
in the third century BC. In 206 BC the Romans defeated them in the battle
of Ilipa, near the city that they named Hispalis. They also established the
town of Itálica nearby, originally as a rest camp for mutinous Italian soldiers.
The river in these days was known as the Betis. Caesar arrived here as
administrator of the town and enjoyed his stay by all accounts. The people
sided with him against Pompeii and were rewarded by being conferred full
Roman citizenship. When Augustus created the province of Baetica, Hispalis
soon became the capital, and both it and Itálica became very important
Roman cities. The emperor Trajan was born in the latter and Hadrian grew
up there. Christianity took early root in Sevilla and, after early persecutions,
soon flourished. The city was sacked by Vandals and Swabians as the Empire
collapsed, but then prospered under Visigothic rule, with the wise historian
and archbishop San Isidoro particularly prominent. The Islamic invasion in
711 put an end to the Visigothic kingdom; Hispalis was transliterated to
Isbiliyya, from which Sevilla is derived, and the river was renamed al wadi
al kibir (big river), or Guadalquivir as it is now written. Sevilla spent the first
few centuries of the Moorish occupation under the shadow of Córdoba, but,
on the collapse of the caliphate, became an independent taifa state and
grew rapidly to be the most powerful one in Al-Andalus. Under the poet-king
Al-Mu’tamid, the city experienced an exceptional flourishing of wealth and
culture. Much of Sevilla’s Moorish architectural heritage dates from the 12th
century and the Almohad regime. The city walls, the Torre del Oro and the
Great Mosque, now the cathedral, were all built during this period. In 1248,
Isbiliyya was conquered by Fernando III, and nearly all its Muslim population
were expelled and their lands divided among noble families. In the mid-14th
century, Pedro I, an enlightened and curious character somewhat unfairly
17 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide
nicknamed ‘the Cruel’, had the Alcázar rebuilt in sumptuous mudéjar style. He
frequently took to the streets dressed in ragged garb and hung out in taverns,
getting into fights. In 1391, a massive anti-Jewish pogrom occurred in the
city. Synagogues were forcibly changed into churches and the Jewish quarter
virtually ceased to exist. The current cathedral was begun soon afterwards.
With the discovery of the New World, Sevilla’s Golden Age began. In 1503, it
was granted a monopoly on trade with the transatlantic colonies, and became
one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Europe. The 17th century,
however, saw a decline, although this was the zenith of the Sevilla school of
painting, with artists such as Zurbarán, Murillo and Velázquez all operating.
The expulsion of the moriscos (converted Moors) in 1610 hit the city hard
and merchants left to ply their trade elsewhere. A plague in 1649 killed an
incredible half of the inhabitants, and in 1717, with the Guadalquivir silting up Authors and
rapidly, New World trade was moved to Cádiz. Occupied by the French from Content Partners
1810-1812, Sevilla only really rose from its torpor in the 20th century. The Harasymowicz
massive Ibero-American exhibition of 1929 bankrupted the city but created
the infrastructure for a modern town and many fine public spaces. In the
Civil War, the oddball general Queipo de Llano bluffed his way into control
of the city. Workers struggled against the rising and were brutally repressed,
with much of Triana destroyed. In 1982, the Sevillano Felipe González was
elected the first Socialist prime minister since before the Civil War, governing
until 1996. The city, beginning to stir once more, hosted a World Cup semi-
final and, 10 years later, Expo 1992, having already become the capital of
semi-autonomous Andalucía. The event left the city with enormous debts but
attracted some 15 million visitors and boosted Sevilla’s international profile.
The city continues with urban improvements, with the metro and tram system
under development, and extensive pedestrianization of the old centre recently
implemented. Unemployment, poverty and homelessness are still massive, if
not always visible, problems.
Best time to go
High season in Sevilla terms is March to May; this period encompasses the
most pleasant weather and the two major festivals, Semana Santa and Feria
de Abril. Prices are notably higher during this time. Summer is a quiet time as
temperatures rise to almost unbearable levels (hitting 50°C a couple of times
in the last few years); autumn is a good time to visit, and winter is much milder
here than in other parts of Europe.
Directory
Emergencies For general emergencies, call T112. For the police, call T091;
for local police, who deal in everyday matters, call T092; for reporting a
crime, T902-102112; for an ambulance 061. Internet There are dozens of
options in Sevilla, most around the €1.50/hr mark. These places tend to
appear and disappear quickly, but the tourist office keeps a list of convenient
ones. Most offer Wi-Fi access, sometimes free, sometimes charging. Ciber
www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 18
 Ducke, C Trajano 11, €1.50/hr, daily 1030- 2200; Internetia, C Menéndez
Pelayo 47, €1.20/hr, daily 1000-2300; Beep, C Adriano 7, €3/hr; Workcenter,
C San Fernando 1, €3/hr, Mon-Fri 0700-2300, Sat and Sun 1000- 1400,
1600-2100, handy location on Puerta de Jerez, Locutorio Ciber Alcazar, C
San Fernando 35, T/F954-210401. Speedy internet €1.50/hr, cheap phone
booths, send/receive faxes; Seville Internet Center, Av Constitución 24,
2º piso, digital photo services too, expensive at €3/hr but handy location.
Mon-Fri 0900-2200, Sat and Sun 1000-2200. Language schools There’s a
huge and growing number, and you’re recommended to do lots of research.
Instituto de Estudios de la Lengua Española (IELE), C García de Vinuesa
29, T954-560788, www.iele.com, a popular school whose current prices are
€467 for 4 weeks at 15 hrs a week, €530 at 20 a week; Lenguaviva, C Viriato
Authors and Content 24, T915-943776, www.lenguaviva.net, offers crash courses and longer
Partners options, various accommodation options and excursions; CLIC, C Albareda
Harasymowicz 19, T954-502131, www.clic.es, a frequently recommended school with lively
teaching, youngish students and packages including accommodation and
excursions. Laundry Centronet, Plaza de Armas shopping centre basement
level, €9 for a service wash. Lavandería Roma, C Castelar 2, T954-210535.
Near the cathedral, self-service laundry. Medical services For minor medical
emergencies, the best centre is: Centro El Porvenir, Av Menéndez Pelayo 33,
T954-421861, opposite the Jardines de Murillo. Doctors: There are numerous
Centros de Salud around town. Some central ones are El Cachorro, C Castilla
s/n, T954-330000 in Triana, and Nuestra Señora de los Reyes, Av Marqués
de Paradas 18, T954-248950. In all cases you’ll need proof of medical
coverage in your home country (eg the European Health Insurance Card)
or proof of travel insurance. Hospitals: Hospital La Macarena, Av Doctor
Fedriani 3, T955-008000; Hospital Virgen del Rocío, Av Manuel Siurot s/n,
T955-012000. Post office The main post office is on Av de la Constitución 32,
T902-197197. There’s also one in Triana on the corner of C San Jacinto and
C Pagés del Corro. Open Mon-Fri 0830-2030, and Sat 0930-1400.
Festivals, holidays and events
It’s well worth planning your trip to coincide with the solemn Semana Santa
processions or the subsequent Feria de Abril, but you’ll be paying more for
accommodation and should reserve rooms well in advance.
Getting around
Most of Sevilla’s sights are in the old town. As it was once one of the biggest
cities in Europe, this is a fairly large area. However, large sections of it are
pedestrianized and walking is by far the best way to get around. Don’t bank
on your sense of direction, though; even the locals often don’t know the
shortest route between two given points with any confidence. A stroll from the
cathedral to the Museo de Bellas Artes will take 15 to 20 minutes; and from
the Plaza de España to the Alameda de Hércules about half an hour. Sevilla
is building a metro, whose first line should finally be in operation by the time
19 www.tripwolf.com your travel guide
you’re reading this. Line 1 links the satellite towns of Mairena de Aljarafe and
Dos Hermanas with the city centre and Expo site. Useful stops for visitors
are Prado de San Sebastián bus station, Puerta de Jerez near the cathedral
and Barrio Santa Cruz, Plaza de Cuba at one end of Triana, Parque de los
Príncipes in Los Remedios, and Nervión, in the prime modern shopping area
and near the Sevilla football stadium. However, most of the interesting parts
of tourist Sevilla are not covered by the network. Simple tickets were due to
cost €1.30, with a day-ticket costing €4.75. As part of the same project, a
tram line has been put in. Line 1 of Metrocentro, as the tram is known, is a
handy service that zips between Plaza Nueva and Prado de San Sebastián
bus station, via the cathedral and Puerta de Jerez. It’s due to be extended
to the train station by 2011. Other lines will link outlying towns like Alcalá
de Guadaira with the Metro system. A single ticket costs e1.10. For other Authors and
destinations, or to avoid the fierce summer heat, take one of Sevilla’s orange Content Partners
air-conditioned TUSSAM city buses . Sevilla isn’t a great place to have a car. Harasymowicz
The narrow one-way streets of the old town, lack of parking on the street, sky-
high car crime, and the confusing layout don’t make for a great experience.
There are plenty of underground car parks that cost about €1.50 per hour/€20
per day, and most hotels have a car park or arrangements with a local one.
Taxis are a good way to get around Sevilla. A green light is lit on top if they
are available and they are comparatively inexpensive.
Getting there
Sevilla’s airport is 10 km northeast of the centre. Budget flights include a daily
Ryanair service from London Stansted and Liverpool, and services from many
German cities. Regular airlines also serve it daily from London and several
other European cities; it is also connected by many daily services with Madrid
and Barcelona. A bus runs to and from the airport to central Sevilla (Prado
de San Sebastián bus station) via the train station. It goes roughly every half
hour Monday to Saturday (hourly or better on Sundays) and takes 30 minutes
(€2.10). A taxi into town costs a fixed €19.04 during the day, slightly more at
night or weekends. A cab from town to the airport can cost from €15-23. Sevilla
is one of Spain’s major destinations for interurban buses. They arrive and
leave from two stations, Plaza de Armas for destinations north and west, and
Prado de San Sebastián for the south and east. Sevilla’s train station, Santa
Justa, has frequent high-speed connections to Madrid as well as services to
the rest of Andalucía and Spain.
Safety
On a Western European scale, Sevilla is a very safe place. Muggings are rare
but not unheard of, and car crime is low-key but rife – foreign cars are an
obvious target for theft attempts. Bag snatchers have been known to operate
at red lights, so keep your doors locked when driving around town. Dial 091
for a police emergency, 092 to speak to the local police. The handiest police
station is on Calle Betis s/n, on the Triana riverfront side, halfway along.
www.tripwolf.com your travel guide 20
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