Seville is the capital of Andalucia and is famed
as much for its fabulous architecture as for the exuberance of its two main
festivals, Semana Santa and the Feria
de Abril.
Its three great monuments are located in the heart of the old city; the
Cathedral, the Giralda tower and the Alcazar. The atmospheric Barrio Santa
Cruz, which was the Jewish quarter during medieval times is located in
this area too.
Perhaps the best known of Seville’s monuments is the magnificent
Gothic cathedral, which is in fact the third largest in the world after
St Peter’s in the Vatican, and St Paul’s in London.
The Giralda tower was built as a minaret for the mosque in the late 12th century, and was such an admired building, that when the Moslems surrendered the city, the Giralda went on to become the bell-tower of the Christian cathedral.
