"Seville," wrote Byron,
"is a pleasant city, famous for
oranges and women." And for its
heat, he might perhaps have added,
since
SEVILLA 's summers are
intense and start early, in May. But
the spirit, for all its
nineteenth-century chauvinism, is
about right. Sevilla has three
important monuments and an
illustrious history, but what it's
essentially famous for is its own
living self - the greatest city of
the Spanish south, of Carmen, Don
Juan and Figaro, and the archetype
of Andalucian promise. This
reputation for gaiety and
brilliance, for theatricality and
intensity of life, does seem
deserved. It's expressed on a
phenomenally grand scale at the
city's two great festivals -
Semana
Santa (in the week before
Easter) and the
Feria de Abril
(which starts two weeks after Easter
Sunday and lasts a week). Either is
worth considerable effort to get to.
Sevilla is also Spain's second most
important centre for
bullfighting, after Madrid.
Despite its elegance and charm,
and its wealth, based on food
processing, shipbuilding,
construction and a thriving tourist
industry, Sevilla lies at the centre
of a depressed agricultural area and
has an unemployment rate of nearly
forty percent - one of the highest
in Spain. The total refurbishment of
the infrastructure boosted by the
1992 Expo - including impressive new
roads, seven bridges, a high-speed
rail link and a revamped airport -
was intended to regenerate the
city's (and the region's) economic
fortunes but has hardly turned out
to be the catalyst for growth and
prosperity promised at the time.
Indeed, some of the colossal debts
are still unpaid a decade later.
Meantime, petty crime is a
big problem, and the motive for
stealing is usually cash to feed
drug addiction. Bag-snatching is
common (often Italian-style, from
passing motos ), as is
breaking into cars. There's even a
special breed called semaforazos
who break the windows of cars
stopped at traffic lights and grab
what they can. Be careful, but don't
be put off. Despite a worrying rise
in the number of muggings in recent
years, when compared with cities of
similar size in northern Europe,
violent crime is still relatively
rare.
Sevilla's most famous present-day
native son is the former prime
minister, Felipe González ,
who led the Socialist administration
that governed Spain for fourteen
years until his defeat in 1996.
Another, more bizarre Sevillano is
one Gregorio XVII , who calls
himself the true pope; in defiance
of his excommunication by the
Vatican, "Pope Greg" is
leader of a large ultra-reactionary
order which has made the dead Franco
a saint and has built an extensive
new "Vatican" in the
countryside to the south of the
city.
