Yvon and I went to Seville by train from Madrid during our trip to Spain in 2012. We arrived into an ugly train station with no idea how to get to our hotel in the central city, but after an hour or so and with the aid of some helpful Spaniards, we got to our hotel. It was located on a street barely wide enough for three people to pass, and this is typical of the core of this beautiful medieval city.
Photo List (Total 360 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
-
Central Seville (110 photos) - This group includes photos of some of the main attractions of the city, which tend to be clustered in the south end of the old city. It starts with the Seville Cathedral, which by some measurements is the largest Cathedral in the world. Yvon found it ugly and dusty inside, I think because so few portions of it continue to serve a religious purpose. This gallery also includes photos of the nearby old Jewish quarter, and various other square and churches in the south side of the city. It ends with photos of the main commercial streets that bisect the city, and especially the impressive, modern, waffle-like Metropol Parasol which spans an entire square.
-
Southern Gardens and the University of Seville (63 photos) - The Southern end of the old city consists of a number of parks and gardens, with the University of Seville's main building in the middle of them. The largest of the parks, the Parque de Maria Louisa, contains a fantastical array of buildings built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Though the buildings and expansive waterways surrounding them will appear lovely in these photos, they had a slightly forlorn air of disuse, and it was unclear what, if any, purpose they now served. This series of photos shows lovely parks and the buildings and monuments that give them form.
-
Alcázar of Seville (67 photos) - Yvon and I paused outside this, the Royal Palace in Seville, pondering the 8€ fee to enter. The palace, which originally served the muslim Almohades, is a massive, rambling series of gardens, courtyards and rooms in a weird array of architectural styles, from mudéjar to a kind of gothic rustic. In the end, it was well worth the price, since a huge amount of the palace was open to the public, and we wandered through one lovely space after another, almost endlessly it seemed. After being amazed by much of what we saw, we needed to ask directions to "out". All of which is to say, I wish that I could be more specific about each garden or room in which these photos were taken, but our one page pamphlet guide to the grounds and palace contains no less than 53 separate areas, from the Patio de Banderas to the Jardin de los Poetas to the Alcoba Real, and most of the time we just didn't know where we were. So these photos are simply noted as being in the Alcázar, nothing more precise.
- Seville Waterfront (31 photos) - We took two distinct walks along the water, and both are in the gallery. In the southern end of the city, we went up the Torre del Oro and got some lovely views of the city. In the northern end, we saw some modern bridges and walkways, and towards the middle, a repurposed train station.
- Northern End (62 photos) - The north end of the city, where our hotel was, combined a more relaxed and less touristy vibe with the small confusing streets of the rest of the city. It seemed like the north end was more, in the older city, where you might find real sevillanos and sevillanas. These photos show our hotel, and other things in the north end like the Campo de Hercules, some churches, and commercial life, especially along Calle Feria.
-
Seville Subway and Spain Train Ride (27 photos) - I did not actually know that Seville had a subway, and when I came across the station in the southern part of the old city, I was skeptical, assuming it must be a light raid or premetro or something. But no, the one-line subway opened in 2009, and three more lines are planned. We decided to take the subway to the Guadaira station and get out there, because beyond that was an extra fare. In fact, we discovered that the station did not exist as yet, and so we went on into windswept fields bordered by a subway. This gallery also includes photos of our high-speed rail journey from Madrid to Seville, including those from the countryside as we passed by.
