Sleepy squares fringed by orange trees, dramatic Moorish palaces, bars that throb to the gypsy rhythms of flamenco... this compelling Andalucian city has so much going for it, says Nikki Smith. And that's before you get round to all that wonderful tapas.
1. Real tapas
Eating tapas is not an elegant experience; it is rough and ready, and defines the whole going-out culture of Seville. For the real thing, wait till at least 10pm, then head to Calle Mateo Gago and the busy Bodega Santa Cruz for alb�ndigas (meatballs) or tortilla. Further down this street, the stylish Cervecería Giralda serves adventurous tapas, such as salt cod with squid ink. Two more bars to seek out are El Rinconcillo, the city's oldest, and Sol y Sombra, over the river Guadalquivir that bisects the city. Here, they specialise in raci�nes, larger portions that are a meal on their own. The speciality is solomillo al ajo (pork braised with cloves of roasted garlic) and they also do a mean migas, above left (fried bread with ham and chorizo).
2. Sherry
On a hot day, when you're hungry and footsore, it's hard to describe how well a chilled, dry manzanilla slips down with a sliver of jam�n or a fat green olive. The fortified wines of nearby Jerez, served icy cold, seem uniquely suited to the strong, spicy flavours that characterise Sevillano food. La Albariza, on the western bank of the river, has a fine selection of sherries.
3. Flamenco
There are two ways to enjoy flamenco. First, you can locate a venue such as Los Gallos, where they'll charge you an arm and a leg to get in but you'll be treated to two hours of impassioned, professional dancing. The other is to stay up late and head to a bar such as Anselma, above centre, which doesn't even open till midnight. If the chairs have been arranged in a circle, you're in luck. Soon, a guitarist will start to strum the rhythms of this Andalusian gypsy music, a baritone will begin to sing and elegantly coiffured Sevillana matrons will get up and dance. Then you'll realise what flamenco is all about: a ritual that expresses desire, flirtation and surrender in the twirling of hands, the twisting of hips and the fire in the eyes. Spellbinding.
4. Breakfast
Everything is done late in Seville. Break- fast isn't eaten till around 10am by which time you'll be more than ready for a bag of hot churros, above right. These fried, sugared strips of batter are traditionally dunked in thick hot chocolate, but this combo is so rich that most Sevillanos have them with coffee. At tiny Churreria la Esperanza on Calle Feria, aficionados opt for the largo churros, which are cooked in a huge coil and broken into pieces. Alternatively, buy a bagful at the little Calenteria on Calle Cano y Cueto, and eat them in the Restaurante el 3 de Oro next door. This busy eaterie is also a great place for a light breakfast of tostadas aceite - toasted bread sloshed with olive oil.
5. Jam�n & chacina
The arid air of this corner of southern Spain produces some of the finest dried ham in Europe. Gnarled haunches of Iberian pork hang from the ceilings of the city's bars (as at Sol y Sombra, left), where they are carved to order into silky, salty, marbled shreds by barmen with long knives. These hams receive a second seasoning from the plentiful cigarette smoke of the punters, so if you'd rather buy your own, descend into the cool basement of El Corte Inglés on Plaza del Duque de la Victoria. This is a fabulous supermarket, packed to the rafters with local and international foods, with a great deli counter. Aside from jam�n, the rest of the pig is used, too: look for stalls marked 'chacina' at Seville's markets for chorizo, pig's trotters, morcilla (black pudding), lard and countless other pork products.
6. Religion
Three smells define Seville: cigars (everyone seems to smoke), garlic and incense. This last pervades the many beautiful churches in the same way that a sense of ostentatious religiosity imbues the entire city. The symbols of Catholicism are everywhere: people cross themselves in the street for no apparent reason and images of Christ adorn everything from fishmonger's stalls to fridge magnets. At the city's heart is its cathedral, above left, the largest Gothic church in Europe. It's breathtaking: enormous, soaring, fabulously carved and housing not only the tomb of Crist�bal Col�n (or Columbus to you and me) but also the world's largest altarpiece, a vertiginous golden edifice.
7. Opera
Seville's gargantuan tobacco factory (now part of the university) was the workplace of Bizet's Carmen, and she embodies the spirit of this sultry, colourful, confident city. Mozart's Don Giovanni is set here, too, and then of course, there's Rossini's Barber. At the Teatro de la Maestranza - one of the few overtly modern buildings in Seville - you can soak up this culture with a programme of opera, as well as dance, and performances by the Real Orquesta Sinf�nica de Sevilla.
8. Tiles
Almost every wall, step, seat, and sill in Seville is glazed with azulejos. The designs on these colourful ceramic tiles are sometimes abstract, sometimes figurative, and essentially Sevillano. To buy your own, head to Calle Artillano Campos, where there are plenty of shops to choose from, but by far the biggest and best is Cerámica Santa Ana, with a huge range of everything from full mosaics down to the individual letter tiles that are used to mark all Seville's streets.
9. Coffee and cakes
Café cortado, above centre, a shot of espresso lengthened with hot milk, is the perfect strength and size for drinking any time and anywhere. The long bar at the dark, characterful Las Piletas, above right, is a great place to enjoy one, as is the little Casa Postas. The Sevillanos like their sweets as much as their savouries, and at La Campana, a venerable café in the shopping district, you can take your cortado with tiny custard tarts, torrijas (slabs of sponge soaked in syrup) or ice cream. The waiters here are possibly the surliest in Seville, and in a city where brusqueness is the norm, that's saying something.
10. Art
The Museo de Bellas Artes is one of the most beautiful, well-planned galleries you're ever likely to see, with a marked route that takes visitors through its chambers of paintings and sculpture, via beautiful shaded courtyards and stairways. At least half the exhibits are religious, making this a wonderful opportunity to study a huge body of Catholic art in all its physicality and pathos. The church at the Hospital de la Caridad offers another insight. Part of a refuge intended for Seville's elderly citizens, the church is an unapologetic poem to death and decay: the art bloody, the ceiling cracked and the altar dusty - gruesome and fascinating.
11. Convent cooking
'Ora et labora' reads the label on a box of cakes from the Real Monasterio de San Clemente. 'Prayer and work' are ways in which Seville's many nuns busy themselves, and the work in question is usually based in the kitchen, where they make sweetmeats to sell. San Clemente is an enclosed order, so visitors must buy their cakes from a veiled sister, behind a grille in a shadowy room. At the lovely convent of Santa Paula, above left, the nuns are more approachable. Their speciality is jams, made of everything from Seville's bitter oranges, to rose petals and quinces.
12. Bacalao
For centuries, salt cod has been a mainstay of Andalusian cuisine. Allegedly, the best bacalao is found at Bodega Mateo. At this simple, spotless bar, the owner prepares lovely tapas of salt cod in front of you. Try it straight up (crudo), when it's salty, chewy and intense; or have it frito, soaked to lessen the saltiness, coated in batter and fried. To buy your own, head to one of the city's markets, such as the mercado in the Triana district, which has at least 15 fishmongers, each with his own speciality.
13. Three-course dining
Eating in Seville isn't just about tapas. If you want a lavish meal, try Restaurant Salvador Rojo, which has a lovely terrace for summer dining. Formal but relaxed, with charming staff, it offers exquisite food including divine, garlicky gazpacho and some of the world's finest brownies. For simpler fare, try Modesto, which is famous for its fish.
14. The Moors
Seville's past is gloriously evident in its architecture. It was occupied between the 8th and the 13th centuries by the Moors, and their arches, courtyards and places of worship influence the city's look to this day. The cathedral itself is built upon the site of a Moorish mosque, of which the magnificent tower, La Giralda, still survives. Across the Plaza del Triunfo is the entrance to the Alcázar, above right, a huge Moorish-style palace that was, in fact, largely built by a Christian king using a Muslim workforce, and is a maze of exotic cloisters and quadrangles.
15. Barrio Santa Cruz
The old Jewish quarter is where everyone, local or visitor, wants to live. It's a tangle of cobbled alleys and cool, tiled courtyards filled with orange trees and fountains. For the most part, it's too narrow for cars, so it's quiet, too, and its bars are the best place to hang out in the heat of the day. Backing on to the stunning double act of the cathedral and the Alcázar, it really is the best place to stay.
The symbols of Christianity pervade the city, as do the colourful azulejo tiles that adorn Seville's buildings
Address book
La Albariza
Betis 6.
Tel 00 34 95 433 8960
Alcázar
Plaza del Triunfo.
Tel 00 34 95 422 7163
Bodega Santa Cruz
Calle Rodrigo Caro 1
Casa Anselma
Pagés del Corro 49.
Tel 00 34 95 433 4003
Calenteria
Calle Cano y Cueto 7.
Tel 00 34 95 441 2256
Confitería La Campana
Sierpes 1-3.
Tel 00 34 95 422 3570
Cathedral
Plaza Virgen de los Reyes.
Tel 00 34 95 456 3321
Casa Postas
Reyes Cat�licos 25.
Tel 00 34 95 456 3479
Cerámica Santa Ana
Calle Antillano Campo 12.
Cervecería Giralda
Mateos Gago 1.
Tel 00 34 95 422 7435
Churreria La Esperanza
Feria 108.
Convento de Santa Paula
Calle Santa Paula 11.
Tel 00 34 95 422 1307
El Corte Inglés
Plaza del Duque de la Victoria.
Tel 00 33 95 459 7000
Los Gallos
Plaza Santa Cruz 11.
Tel 00 34 95 421 6981
Hospital de la Caridad
Calle Temprado 3.
Tel 00 34 95 422 3232
Bodega Mateo
Calle Palacios Malaver 33.
Modesto
Calle Cano y Cueto 5.
Tel 00 95 441 6811
Museo de Bellas Artes
Plaza del Museo 9.
Tel 00 34 95 422 0790
Las Piletas
Marqués de Paradas 28.
Tel 00 34 95 422 0404
Real Monasterio de San Clemente
Calle Reposo 9.
Tel 00 34 954 378 040
El Rinconcillo
Calle Gerona 40.
Tel 00 34 954 223 183
Restaurante Salvador Rojo
San Fernando 23.
Tel 00 34 954 229 725
Sol y Sombra
Calle Castilla 151.
Tel 00 34 954 333 935
Teatro de la Maestranza
Paseo de Crist�bal Col�n 22.
Tel 00 34 954 223 344
Restaurante el 3 de Oro
Santa María la Blanca 34.
Tel 00 34 954 426 820
Universidad (for the Royal Tobacco Factory)
Calle San Fernando 4.
Tel 00 34 954 551 000