Sevilla Favorite Tips by tompt Top 5 Page for this destination

postal services

Favorite thing: If you are in Seville you might want to send a postcard to friends or family. Maybe to show them how wonderful the city is, or just to make them jealous.
In this case you need the services of the Correos, the spanish postal services. Their colors are yellow and blue. Their website: http://www.correos.es is in spanish only.
Stamps required for mailing postcards or letters are sold at Postoffices and outlets known as estancos (establishments authorised to sell tobacco, stamps and seals)

roman influences??

Favorite thing: S.P.Q.HIS

An inscription in the cityhall. As this cityhall is made in the 16th century it could not possibly be a roman inscription as they were gone for centuries by then. But it must be inspired on the romans. The roman S.P.Q.R (the senate and the people of Rome) must be the inspiration. But what is HIS? some would ask. Well Sevilla was not always known as Sevilla. In roman times it was known as Hispalis. Therefor the inscription would read: the senate and the people of Hispalis.
The name Hispalis changed to the arabic name Isbilya, which later became Sevilla.

oranges

Favorite thing: The streets of Seville are lined with orange trees. And at the end of february, when we visited, the oranges were falling to the street.
They look great but we didn't dare to taste them. Later we learned they are collected later and shipped off to make orange marmalade.

Santa Cruz, a simple neighbourhood

Favorite thing: In this picture you can see an other example of the pilar in the corner of a building. This pillar, as said in the previous tip, is to protect the building from damage from carriages. Most of these pillars are reused materials. Maybe from ancient Roman buildings or monuments. In this picture you can see (you will probably have to enlarge it first) another example of reused material. Under the red paint, to the right of the pillar, one can find a circle. This is an old millstone.
The Santa Cruz was not a rich neighbourhood and they had to use recycled materials to built.

Weather in Seville is mostly sunny and hot

Favorite thing: Except for the time we visited, the weather in Seville is sunny. It has at least 300 sunny days a year (statics say). And in summer it can be just too hot.
In that time it is nice to have a shower after a sweaty day. It is good we had rainy weather and only 9°C. Because as you can see in the picture Gonnie had a little difficulty to reach the taps for the shower. ;-))

Doors of Sevilla

Favorite thing: The doors of the ancient houses in Sevilla are very special. Usually they are very large. And in many cases there is copperwork on it. Some knobs and a copperplate at the bottom.

Very often you will find a nice patio behind such doors. So don't be shy, look inside once in a while.

Azulejos Plaza de Espana Review

Favorite thing: Azulejos are glazed tiles in lovely colors. They are strong, cool in summer and for those reason everywhere in Seville. The art of making them is brought to Spain by the Moors. The word azulejos comes from the Arab word az-zulayj (stone). Origianlly it was used to make colorfull mosaics with little stones of one color. The colors the Moors used were blue,green,black, white and ochre.
Later the art of glazing was further developped and the tiles had several colors in one tile and even entire pictures were glazed on a tile.

The tiles in the pictures are on a balustrade in front of the Plaza de Espana. Here you can find some great examples of the azulejos. More pictures can be found in our Plaza de Espagna travelogue.

El Cid Campeador

Favorite thing: The statute honoring Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador, is standing in the middle of the Avenida del Cid. El Cid Campeador is riding his horse Babieca. He holds a shield on his left arm, his right hand raised high and holding a spear with flag.

El Cid Campeador was born in 1043. He ia famous Spanish folk hero. El Cid grew up in the the household of Sancho II of Castile. Prince Sancho was the eldest son of King Ferdinand I. When the king died, he divided the kingdom between his 5 children. Sancho got Castile, Alfonso got Leon, Garcia got Galicia, Urraca got Zamora, and Elvira got Toro. Rodrigo was given the highest position in court by Sancho, who believed that the kingdom should stay united and Rodrigo stood by him. Sancho's siblings didn't feel that way. Sancho was assassanated in 1072. Alfonso was now the King of Castile and King of Leon. Rodrigo accused Alfonso of taking part in the murder of his brother. Rodrigo was sent to Sevilla as ambassador and was accused of stealing from King Alfonso. Rodrigo was exiled; he went to serve several Arab kings. He remained loyal to King Alfonso despite the King's refusal to forgive him.
In 1090 Rodrigo, with the kings of Saragossa and Aragon, concentrated on resisting the advance of the Berber Almoraids in eastern Spain. In 1094 he conquered the region of Valencia with his troops and offered Valencia to King Alfonso. Alfonso accepted his offer of Valencia and Rodrigo was made Lord of Valencia. He ruled there until his death in 1099.
His nicknames:
In 1067 Sancho sieged Zaragoza, and Rodrigo was his general. A Hebrew chronicle of that time gives all the credit to Cidi Ru Diaz, so Rodrigo must already have been known as mio Cid (my Lord). Four years later when Rodrigo was 28, he was involved in a combat to settle a boundary dispute between Navarra and Castilla. He was spectacularly victorious over the champion from Navarra, and from that time on he was called El Campeador (the Great Warrior).

Bullfighting Bullfighting Review

Favorite thing: Bullfighting and Seville are closely connected to each other.
In 1730 when Philip V gave a concession for holding bullfights, the Real Maestranza decided to build its own bullring. It was square and wooden. Later it became oval because the corners had prooved to be dangerous.And in 1761 they started to built of stone. In 1786 Charles III prohibited bullfights. The building stopped. Later it was allowed again and building commenced in
1881 it was completed.

Bullfighting is not actually fighting but ritually killing a bull. It is highly controversial because of the cruelty against the bulls. The bulls are specially breeded for this slaughter, but have no training at all. They graze on green meadows until it is time for the bullring.

Decide for yourself if you want see to this or not, it is however populair in Seville.

The Guadalquivir river Guadalquivir River and Bridges Review

Favorite thing: In the days of the Roman Empire, the Guadalquivir river becomes important as a means of marine transport, it was navigable from the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of Andalusia, or the port of Seville. Later the Muslims were impressed by its greatness and called it Guadalquivir.
In the 17th century the port lost its importance. And the river sanded.
For the 1992 worldfair the river was restored in its old splendor.
Today you can make boattrips along the river, starting from the Torre del Oro.