Like Venice, Seville was once a stop on the 19th-century travelers’ grand tour of Europe. This city in southwest Spain still holds on to its elegant past. You can tour its cathedral, the third-largest church in Europe, and visit the Alcazar, a lavish palace built by Moorish workmen. But it’s more fun to see a sight that will get your toes tapping, even in your seat. Make sure to make time for flamenco in Seville.
| Spain’s economic Golden Age of the 1500s blossomed into the renaissance of Spanish painting in the 1600s. Some of Spain’s top artists, including Murillo and Zurbaran, lived in Seville. The city’s passion for religious art is preserved and displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts. Study the work of Francisco de Zurbaran, who painted saints with brightly lit, highly detailed realism. Bartolome Murillo’s many renditions of Madonnas were painted with a softer, easy-to-appreciate style. Rather than exhausting, the museum is pleasantly enjoyable. |
Flamenco, a heady mix of music and dance, has its roots in the Gypsy and Moorish cultures. Like jazz, flamenco thrives on improvisation. Also like jazz, good flamenco is more than just technical proficiency. A singer or dancer with “soul” is said to have duende, a kind of flamenco magic. Flamenco is a happening, with bystanders clapping along and egging on the dancers with whoops and shouts. Even at packaged “flamenco evenings” in venues such as Los Gallos (at Plaza de Santa Cruz 11) and El Arenal (at Calle Rodo 7) the sparks fly.
The men do most of the flamboyant machine-gun footwork. The women concentrate on graceful turns and a smooth, shuffling step. Flamenco guitarists, with their lightning-fast finger-roll strums, are among the best in the world. The intricate rhythms are set by castanets. In the raspy-voiced wails of the singers you’ll hear echoes of the Muslim call to prayer.
Seville’s passion comes out in more than just music. At Seville’s Basilica de la Macarena you can get a feel for Seville’s Holy Week celebrations, Spain’s grandest. In the next few weeks leading up to Easter, crowds will throng the city as they come to see many parades of religious floats.
At Basilica de la Macarena, the statue of Mary, named La Esperanza (meaning “hope”), comes complete with crystal teardrops. She’s like a 17th-century doll with human hair and articulated arms. She’s even dressed with underclothes. Her beautiful expression is halfway between smiling and crying.
Upstairs is a case of matador outfits, given to the church over the years by bullfighters in thanks for the protection they feel they received from La Macarena. Considered the protector of bullfighters, she’s big in bullring chapels. In 1912 the bullfighter Jose Ortega, hoping for protection, gave her the five emerald brooches she wears. It worked for eight years … until he was gored to death in the ring.
Some of Spain’s best bullfights take place in Seville’s 14,000-seat Plaza de Toros. When fights aren’t scheduled, you can follow a guided tour through the Plaza de Toros’ strangely quiet and empty arena. In this bloodless bullfighting spectacle, you’ll also tour its museum, the first-aid room where injured fighters are rushed, and the chapel where the matador prays before the fight. In the museum, you’ll see great classic scenes and the heads of a few bulls, awarded as the bovine equivalent of an Oscar for a particularly good fight.
Whether you’re viewing paintings from the city’s greatest era, paying tribute with the locals to La Macarena, or buying posters of your favorite matadors (considered heartthrobs in the “suit of lights”), you’ll have a grand time in your days spent in Seville. A city with flair, it wears its heart on its elaborately decorated sleeve.
Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 27 European travel guidebooks including “Europe Through the Back Door” (published by Avalon) and the host of the public television series “Rick Steves’ Europe.” This week’s schedule on KCTS:
Monday, 5 p.m.: Florence
Tuesday, 5 p.m.: Siena and Assisi
Wednesday, 5 p.m.: Italy’s Hidden Riviera
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.: Belgium
Thursday, 5 p.m.: Dutch side-trips
Friday, 5 p.m.: Prague and the Czech Republic
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