Seville: City overview

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Nestled on the banks of the mighty Guadalquivir river, Seville could claim to be the perfect city destination. Its perfumed streets, ornate churches, plazas and gardens refresh the soul, its colorful festivals are deep-dyed with religion and local tradition, and its white painted houses screech bright against the hot blue sky.

This Spanish peacock's history is rich with romance. Legend says the city was founded by Hercules, and its past is an exotic blend of Visigoth, Moorish and Spanish roots. It was the starting point for Magellan's attempt at circumnavigating the globe; the landing point for treasure-laden Spanish galleons returning from the Americas; and the final resting place for Columbus.

But though Seville is southern Spain's leading light, Andalucia as a whole is poor, and its capital also suffers. Unemployment is high, petty crime is rife and the city is still paying its debts for the 1992 Expo, which promised so much, but delivered little more than a revamped infrastructure.

This paucity only adds a gritty feel to Seville's devil-may-care attitude. The city's flamboyance is reflected in its people's showy, stylish dress, its bloody history as a center for the Spanish Inquisition paralleled by its veneration of the bullfight, its vibrancy reflected in its arts and culture. Seville has been the operatic setting for "Don Giovanni," "Fidelio" and the "Marriage of Figaro," boasts Velazquez and Murillo amongst its sons, and has inspired writers from Cervantes to Dan Brown.

Though a center for business, its people remain wedded to their afternoon siestas -- which free them up to party late into the night. Each evening, Sevillanos strut through the narrow, winding streets on their paseo, the air scented with bitter orange and lifted by the sound of laughter. Later on, fueled by sherry and tapas, its high-spirited Don Juans and Carmens parade from bar to bar, seeking a delicious morsel here, a glass of agua de Sevilla there, swept up in the ambience of a city steeped in blood, history and passion.

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