Strolling Seville
Seville is, simply put, a great walking town. It’s a good thing, too, because like most old European cities it’s a miserable driving town. Short of having a root canal, I can’t imagine a worse way to spend an afternoon than searching for a place to park in San Bartolem.
But on foot it’s another world. From palaces to plazas, convents to cathedrals, inner Seville’s complex patchwork of narrow streets — with their curious names of half-forgotten origin, their bustling shopping rows, and their peaceful shady parks — invite the pedestrian to discover the town at a pace slow enough to absorb and appreciate it. Seville’s oldest neighborhoods and many of its best-known attractions are for the most part conveniently clustered into a triangular central area bounded by two broad avenues — Menendez Y Pelayo and Passeo Cristobal Coln — and split by a third, the Avenue Constitution. Within this framework lies the maze of old Seville, through which you can easily spend a week or more discovering new and delightful paths.
The 15th-century Cathedral of Seville is the world’s 3rd largest – only those of Saints Peter and Paul (in Rome and in London, respectively) are bigger. Together with its imposing companion, the Giralda Tower, it sits on the Avenue Constitution at nearly the perfect center of the triangle. This location serves well as starting-point, mid-point, or goal for a variety of different walks. There are many guidebooks and maps available that suggest particular routes; here, I’ll just touch on some of the highlights of Seville that lie within strolling distance of this central point. How you set out to find them I’ll leave to you, your feet, and your wanderer’s spirit.
