More than 100 operas are set in Seville, by composers such as Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Beethoven and Bizet. With its beautiful houses and squares, romantic balconies and impressive monuments like the Maestranza bullring and old tobacco factory, it is easy to imagine the equally comic and tragic action of operas taking place around its streets.
Located next to Andalucia's first skyscraper, the 180m-Torre Sevilla (known locally as Torre Pelli), CaixaForum Sevilla covers 8,100m2, consisting of two exhibition halls, an auditorium, two multi-use rooms, a Kids Zone room for children's activities, a shop, and a café-restaurant with outdoor terrace.
This large square is located close to the "Mushrooms", or Metropol Parasol, heading towards Plaza Ponce de Leon. It stretches from Plaza San Pedro and Calle Almirante Apodaca, south to calle Descalzos in the Alfalfa district.
Located in the former US Pavilion from the Expo 29, next to Maria Luisa Park, this cultural foundation offers a wide range of exhibitions, activities and courses, from photographic shows featuring the cream of Andalucian and international talent, to film production courses for children.
La Casa de la Ciencia (the House of Science) in Seville is both a museum and a centre for scientific study and research. The Peruvian Pavilion for the 1929 Expo now houses the Andalucian regional headquarters of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, or Spanish National Research Council), the third-largest public research institution in Europe.
Many of these casa palacios, or mansions, look quite ordinary from the outside - perhaps as impressive entrance arch, but nothing else to make them out. Inside, you find beautiful arcaded patios with grand stone columns and potted plants.
When visitors see the magnificent baroque entrance to this vast stone building, most assume they're looking at yet another of Seville's palaces or grand residences. In fact, its origins are more prosaic: a tobacco factory, albeit one of Spain's largest buildings.
Located in Barrio Santa Cruz, in a pretty square with orange trees, the 17th-century baroque hospital was built to care for elderly, impoverished and infirm priests. From 2027, it will be used as a gallery for religious art, and offers a peaceful haven in this area which is often thronged with visitors.
There are several hotels located almost within touching distance of the famous Seville Alcazar Palace (Reales Alcázares de Sevilla). A lot of them feature spectacular roof terraces offering unrivalled views over the cathedral that dominates this area.
Casa Rosa is a pretty, candy-pink French-style villa with magnificent gardens at the far end of Parque Maria Luisa. The house was part of the vast estate of Palacio San Telmo, which was occupied in the second half of the 19th century by the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier.
This tree-lined square is the heart of Seville - located at the top of Avenida de la Constitucion, it sits centrally between the shopping area, Arenal and the river, Alfalfa, and the monumental zone and is home to the Ayuntamiento, the Town Hall.
With UNESCO classing a complex of three buildings in Seville as a World Heritage Site - namely the Cathedral, Alcazar Palace, and Archive of the Indies - it's no wonder that international and Spanish tourists alike flock to the city to see the magnificent monuments left behind by the cultures which have inhabited the city.
As a city where most people live in small apartments, and which enjoys mild to hot temperatures all year round, people spend plenty of time out and about in the street at night. In the summer, temperatures don't start to fall until the early hours, so life is lived outdoors even more.
There is no shortage of fun to be had in this exciting city, from theme and water parks offering a great family day out, to an evening of local food and flamenco shows. With its beautiful surroundings, Andalucia attracts thousands every year keen to tee off from the green of one of the many golf courses this region offers.
Despite not being located on the coastline, Seville does have a working port for industrial and commercial cruise liners which is the only river port in Spain. This unique opportunity to experience more inland Spain either before, after or during your blue water cruise can offer a pleasant break from the more common coastal destinations.
The Alcázar of Seville was used as a location for the hugely successful HBO TV series, Game of Thrones. The palace stood in for the Water Gardens of Dorne in various scenes in four episodes of Season Five and one of Season Six. The private estate is owned by Prince Dorian Martell, the wheelchair-bound head of House Martell and ruler of Dorne.
