Strolling in Seville: The City With an Attitude

For a town that has inspired four of the most acclaimed and popular operas of all time, it’s an absolute pity that Seville has never had a world-class opera house to take its place beside those of Milan, Vienna, New York City and other citadels of musical drama and comedy. Where did one go that was worthy of the antics and intrigues of Figaro, Carmen, Don Giovanni and Cherubino?

All that has been solved to satisfaction with the opening next spring of the magnificent Teatro de la Maestranza, built during a five-year flurry of activity so that it would be open for the city’s Expo ’92 that kicks off next April and runs until October.

Maestranza is not the baroque and gilded palace one usually associates with opera, being a very contemporary yet stately house that makes marvelous use of clean lines and natural wood. But then Sevillanos have never been followers, choosing to set their own style and leisurely tempo in this most Spanish of all the country’s cities. They also have their own very pronounced form of hombria .

The English author and critic V.S. Pritchett once wrote: “The final Spanish trait which lasts is a form of hombria , the man-to-man look, which women have as well. It has no overtones of class or status--that is a foreign preoccupation--and conveys the singularity of the human being for his or her own sake.”

And why shouldn’t locals exercise their hombria in spades? The town has been a prosperous one since Caesar’s day, and in the 15th Century it was the first stop for shiploads of silver and other riches sent from the New World by conquistadors. It still is a deep-water port on the Guadalquivir River, accepting oceangoing ships 60 miles inland from the Atlantic’s Gulf of Cadiz.

Seville, like the other Andalusian cities of Cordoba and Granada, is a wonderland of fanciful Moorish architecture, the result of Spain’s 700-year occupation. It is a city for aimless walking, with most of the sights gratefully grouped down by the river and cathedral, the third-largest in Europe after St. Peter’s in Rome and London’s St. Paul’s.

Get lost in the delightful Barrio de Santa Cruz, a labyrinthine enclave of blinding white buildings festooned with window boxes of radiant geraniums at every turn of the alley. Then stroll along Paseo Cristobal Colon beside the river and cross a bridge into the Triana Gypsy quarter, center for Seville’s ceramics and pottery shops.

In many visits since the 1950s, we’ve yet to be ever really comfortable here during summer afternoons. So if you go then, either take the traditional two-or-three-hour siesta or at least sit at an awning-covered cafe terrace and have a few cold beers until the idiotic urge for more walking wears off.

Also be aware that much is going on in the spring-summer of 1992. In addition to Expo ’92 opening April 20, Seville’s Holy Week begins on April 13, and the April Fair on the 27th. The town’s Holy Week is the most elaborate in Spain, and the colorful and festive five-day fair draws visitors from around the world every year.

How long/how much? Give the town two days, plus another two or three for Expo. Lodging costs are now in the moderate range, but expect 25% to 75% jumps next summer. Dining in Spain was the bargain to end them all not too long ago, but now one must order very carefully to keep tabs at the moderate level.

Getting settled in: Hotel Simon is a real charmer, an 18th-Century Sevillana town house with small central patio and fountain. Locals love this sleeper just a few blocks from the cathedral, and the dining room is a bright and happy little place. Austere bedrooms may lack big hotel amenities, but they’re neat and comfortable. Location, price and a friendly staff are the Simon’s strong points, but don’t expect any luxuries.

Hotel Dona Maria is on the edge of Barrio Santa Cruz, and another study in traditional Spanish furnishings and art. The lobby rings a flowery patio and is almost a gallery of antique church santos , hand-carved wood and wrought-iron chandeliers, grillwork and other bits of statuary. Bedrooms are all furnished in traditional style, and there’s a rooftop pool with superb views of the city and landmark Giralda tower that highlighted the main city mosque during Moorish times.

The Expo people have 14 new hotels now opened or soon to open. They have also arranged for B&B; accommodations in private homes, and built free-standing villas with kitchens. These must be booked through a stateside travel agent.

Going first-class: Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville’s showplace since 1929, is a veritable Moorish potentate’s palace, with a grandiose lobby surrounding a central patio, regal staircases, lush gardens, pool and furnishings of burnished elegance looming everywhere. It’s next door to the tobacco factory (now a university) where Carmen once stood by the gate with a rose in her teeth.

Regional food and drink: By our standards, Spanish dining hours are sheer lunacy, with lunch starting anywhere between 2:30 and 4, dinner usually from 10 to after midnight. So don’t expect a full staff or menu much before these hours.

To ward off hunger pangs, head for a tapas bar about noon or in early evening. Here one finds a collection of tapas (hors d’oeuvres) lined up on the bar, sometimes as many as 30 or more.

Good local dining: Modesto (Cano y Cueto 5), just outside Barrio Santa Cruz near the Butchers’ Gate, is a typical seafood place with the emphasis on fried fish. Yet the house specialty is coquinas , small clams steamed in garlic and white wine that one wants to keep eating all day. Also try either the grilled swordfish ($11), garlic-fried prawns ($9) or mullet for the same price. The shellfish soup at $6.50 is delicious, and there’s a $13 menu of daily specials that includes bread, wine and dessert.

Like Modesto, Kioskos de las Flores (at the foot of the Isabel II Bridge in Barrio Triana) has most of its tables outside. The menu and prices are about the same as Modesto’s, with antic waiters zipping about balancing great trays of dishes loaded with seafood, most of it headed for a local crowd.

Corral del Agua (Callejon de Agua 6 in Barrio Santa Cruz) is spilling over with enough charm and good food to have folks waiting for tables at 11:30 in the evening. Dine under grape arbors with fat grapes hanging down, lanterns flickering in the trees. Try the shellfish soup with Pernot for $8.50, or perhaps ajo blanco (cold garlic soup) for $5.50. A generous paella goes for $14.

On your own: Start sightseeing early, before the sun takes on a bite and crowds arrive, making sure to visit the 15th-Century Gothic cathedral and its unbelievably opulent treasury. Columbus is said to be buried there, though Santo Domingo, Havana and Valladolid also once held his remains, so his final resting place is uncertain. Now walk over to the nearby 12th-Century Alcazar, a superb example of Moorish architecture with wonderful gardens.

Seville’s beautiful people often top off an evening at Abades (Calle Abades 13), an 18th-Century mansion with handsome tapestries on the walls, huge vases of flowers, marble statues, baroque music wafting softly in the air and deep wicker chairs with lovely cushions. Abades is really just a bar, but upscale locals use it as their late-evening living room. It’s very elegant in an off-beat way.

GUIDEBOOK: Seville

Getting there: Fly Iberia to Madrid and then on to Seville. You can take Pan Am, Delta, TWA and British Airways as far as Madrid. An advance-purchase, round-trip Iberia ticket to Seville is $824, a special fare until October.

A few fast facts: Spain’s peseta recently sold for 106 to the dollar, about .0094 each. Come any time between April and December, and leave any valuables in your hotel.

Where to stay: Hotel Simon (Garcia de Vinuesa 19; $55-$68 double); Murillo (Calle Lope de Rueda 7; $71-$85 double); Dona Maria (Don Remondo 19; $125-$176 double); Alfonso XIII (Calle San Fernando 2, $296-$450 double). For more information: Call the National Tourist Office of Spain at (213) 658-7188, or write (8383 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 960, Beverly Hills 90211) for a brochure on Seville, another on Andalusia, a map of Spain and any other questions you might have. For an Expo ’92 calendar of events, lodging with prices and other information, call (800) 783-9882.