Category Archives: Alcázar Palace

Seville | Ice Cream

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So, it’s August, and officially high summer, and everywhere from Blackpool Promenade to Bondi Beach (yes, I know it’s winter in Sydney and in England you can’t tell the difference, but I like my alliterations) a young person’s fancy turns to – Ice Cream.

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Spain, and my own city of Seville, is no exception. Now ice cream may not be the first thing you associate with this part of the world (flamenco, bullfighting, paella and sangría probably top that list), but think about it. Today is set to top out at 37ºC, which is normal for this time of year, but in the city, and with the sun directly overhead, it’s going to feel hotter. You want to dance? Fight a bull? Eat lots of carbs? Drink sangría? (Well, okay, maybe that one). No. When venturing forth from the air-conditioned comfort of your apartment, you need an ice cream.

Now these days there are plenty of places in Seville where you can buy ice cream, and new ones open up every year, but more of that later. First, the burning questions of the day. Just how did people survive summer in places like Seville in the days before air-conditioning and refrigeration (and therefore ice-cream)?

For most people, of course, thick walls, shade and a long siesta were the only recourses available. In the cities, narrow streets and plenty of trees also helped to shield people from the worst of the sun. For the wealthy things were a little better. Exploring the tiled rooms and patios of the Alcázar Palace, for example, shows how clever building design, greenery and fountains, and no doubt a few fan-wielding servants, can take the edge off the summer heat. More surprisingly, perhaps, frozen “desserts”, usually a mixture of ice and fruit, have been known for at least two thousand years, and the Arabs had started adding milk to these delicacies, so a kind of proto ice cream has been known in Spain for a long time. It would have relied, however, on supplies of natural ice stored from winter or transported from high mountains, and would have been an expensive rarity in a city like Seville. It was only with the invention of refrigeration in the 19th century that ice cream developed its modern form, and took its first hesitant steps towards global domination.

In Seville ice cream is mostly sold by specialised shops, many of whom make their own onsite, and comes in a wide range of flavours from standard vanillas and chocolates to exotic fruit and nut combinations. It’s thick and creamy, like an Italian “gelato”, which is surprisingly lower in calories than the “soft-serve” ice cream standard in northern parts of Europe. Below are some of of our favourite places for ice cream in Seville.

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Heladería Rayas
Almirante Apodaca, 1
Tel: +34 954 221 746
website

Widely regarded as the best, and one of the most venerable, the first Rayas opened its doors at this location opposite the Plaza Cristo de Burgos in 1980, and still does a roaring trade. There is now a second shop near the Puerta de Triana.

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Freskura
Vulcano, 4
Tel: +34 645 859 198
website

Freskura is just off the Alameda de Hercules, and as well as a full selection of ice creams also has desserts and pastries.

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Heladeria La Fiorentina
Zaragoza, 16
Tel: +34 954 221 550
website

Another well-known and popular stopping place, La Fiorentina has both traditional and modern flavours, and also does excellent granizadas (half-frozen fruity drinks).

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Amorino
Granada, 2
Tel: +34 954 227 428
website

Amorino, part of an international chain, recently opened a Seville branch just off Plaza Nueva in the city centre, and there is also one in the Gourmet Experience in El Corte Ingles (Plaza del Duque). It has a nice ambiance, and some great ice-cream.

Seville | Top 4 Must See Sights

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Although different people have different priorities for the kind of holiday they want, and what they want to do (or not do) with their time, there are enough reasons for choosing Seville to suit most of them. First, there’s the weather. Spain has long been a popular destination for sun-seeking northerners, and although July and August are actually too sunny for some (including me, and I live here), the spring and autumn are as near perfect as you’re likely to find anywhere. Warm enough to be out and about (or lounging by the pool, if that’s what you’re after) in shorts and T-shirt without being uncomfortably hot or cold, and for eating al fresco. And Seville is the perfect place to come for both those things. Beautiful, colourful gardens and neighbourhoods of picturesque narrow streets and small squares to wander through, and lots of little tapas bars to stop in for a glass of wine and a snack.

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But although these are some of my favourite things to do, and in general beat the usual sightseeing type of activities, a city as venerably old and culturally important as Seville is going to have a few places that you have to go and see – both because they are actually well worth seeing, and because you don’t want to have to admit when you get home that you went to Seville and didn’t see them. So this is my list of the 4 things you have to see in Seville, in between the things that are actually important.

The Reales Alcazares (Royal Palace) is number one on the list, especially since being used for the filming of one of the locations in Game of Thrones. With origins dating back over a thousand years, and Europe’s longest serving official Royal residence, the 13th century palace of Peter I is regarded as one of the finest examples of Mudejar architecture in Spain, and the gardens are stunning too.

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The Mudejar Palace

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See is the world’s largest Gothic Cathedral, and was built during the 15th century on the site of the Grand Mosque, of which the Giralda Tower (former minaret and now bell tower) and the wall and outer gate of the Courtyard of the Orange Trees still remain. Inside the Cathedral are the world’s largest gold altarpiece, the tomb of Christopher Columbus and a crocodile. The highlight, though, is the view from the top of the tower, reached by a ramp, not stairs, and the highest point inside the historic centre.

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Courtyard of the Oranges

The Plaza de España in Maria Luisa Park was built as the Spanish pavilion for the 1929 Spanish American Pavilion, and is a magnificent colonnaded semi-circular building in a mix of styles from Mudejar to Regionalist surrounding an open space with a fountain and boating lake. It features wonderfully colourful tiles and bridges, and illustrations of scenes from the history of each of Spain’s forty provinces. An breathtaking backdrop that’s been the setting for a number of films, including Star Wars Episode II.

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Plaza España

The Metropol Parasol is the world’s largest wooden building and Seville’s contribution to modern architecture, completed just five years ago. Apart from being unique in itself it houses one of the city’s provisions markets, has Roman ruins in the basement, and a walkway on the top with views across the city.

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Metropol Parasol at night

Stay in one of our range of self-catering apartments to give yourself a base for all these activities. Happy holidays!

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Teodosio Terrace Apartment

Seville | The Real Game of Thrones

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You don’t really need any additional excuses to come to a city as beautiful as Seville for your holidays, or to visit its top tourist attraction, Los Reales Alcazares (the Royal Palace), but this amazing place is now being brought to a wider audience, courtesy of the block-busting TV series, A Game of Thrones.

In series 5 of the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s books, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Alcázar plays host to the exotic Water Gardens of Dorne, seat of House Martell and the southernmost of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Here are played out the intrigues and plots, murder and mayhem of the great houses (actually I’m just guessing as I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m betting they don’t just sit around knitting and playing whist).

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But the subtropical greenery, pools, fountains and lavishly tiled courtyards aren’t the only reason why the Alcázar is a fitting choice for the location of the high drama of A Game of Thrones. Still an official residence of the Spanish royal family, this is the longest serving palace in Europe, and has seen its fair share of drama and intrigue over the years.

In the year 913, by the order of the Arabic Caliphs who ruled Spain from their seat in Córdoba, the southernmost Roman-Visigothic suburb of the city was demolished, and a new palace for the governor of Seville was constructed in the area of the Plaster Courtyard and Patio de Banderas. In the 11th century, after the collapse of the Caliphate, the Almoravids, a Moorish clan from North Africa gained control of the city and extended and refortified the palace area. More buildings were added by the Almohad dynasty in the 12th century, including a covered way from the palace to the new Grand Mosque that allowed the rulers to avoid coming into contact with the common people.

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Apart from the impressive outer walls of the compound in the Plaza del Triunfo, little remains from this period – just a short section of wall between the Lion Gate and the Patio de la Montería, and the Justice Room and Plaster Courtyard to its left. The Gothic Palace was the first to be constructed by the new Christian rulers shortly after the reconquest of 1248. The palace was badly damaged in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and parts of the original ground floor were filled in and a new upper floor constructed. Some of the best views of the gardens, which you can see in Game of Thrones, are provided by the big windows in the upper galleries.

Also featured heavily is the tiled magnificence of the principal Royal residence, the Mudejar Palace, built for Pedro I (the Cruel) in the 14th century, mostly by those Moorish craftsmen who had stayed in Seville, and who are responsible for the “Arabian Nights” romantic appeal of its architecture and decoration, especially the long pool and sunken flower beds of the central Patio, the Patio of the Maidens

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Other favourite places which do (or should) appear, include the Baños de Doña Maria Padilla (actually rainwater tanks beneath the Gothic palace), the Pavilion of Charles V, and the Gallery of Grotesques (originally part of the city wall, but extensively remodelled in Italian renaissance style by Philip III), as well as the main gardens and garden courtyards in various styles.

For a place to stay while you’re here have a look at one of our wide selection of apartments in the neighbouring Santa Cruz, with its picture postcard streets and squares.