Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Sevilla Sun

When I was a child we lived, as a family, for a few years in Cyprus. One of our overriding memories of summers on the island was of our mother, in nothing but her underwear, whispering that it was too hot, and lying flat on the bed with the overhead fan whirring away. After the past couple of weeks here in Andalucia, with a prolonged period of high temperatures, I understand how my poor mother felt; she never was one for the heat.

So, on the cusp of one of the recent heatwaves, it was with a rather Mad-Dogs-and-Englishmen mentality that we went and stayed in Seville for a couple of days, where summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees.

Our fabulous friends, Sam, Daisy, Sarah and Tania, came to stay with us at Casa Higueras on their recent tour of Andalucia and southern Portugal. Sarah and Tania had only previously seen Casa Higueras as a pile of rubble and dust and Sam and Daisy had managed a quick visit in the winter before the Covid pandemic. We spent a couple nights here and then drove off to Seville. We would then return home and the Fab Four would venture into Portugal where temperatures were marginally lower than here.

Andrew, Ian, Tania, Sarah, Sam & Daisy at Playa Granada

For Andrew and I, this all presented a great excuse to revisit Seville. We couldn’t quite believe that we have not actually been to Seville since we started living in Spain; our last visit was in 2014!

We were going to be staying in a beautiful house called La Verdecita. The owner of the house, Nicky Morris Goodman, was the very generous donor of free breaks to healthcare workers through our MyTravelPledge campaign and it was as a result of this relationship that we discovered Nicky’s gorgeous Seville properties. At the moment, there are two properties: the larger La Verdecita and El Mateo, a beautiful and very central 3 bedroom apartment. Nicky’s website opens with the invitation to “Come and fall in love with Seville…” and we did!

From the car park, we had a short walk to the house that culminated in a stretch down the very narrow Calle Verde - narrow meant shade, and clambering plants knitted a protective mesh overhead as we arrived at the door of La Verdecita. From the outside, the house is solid and elegant, and when you open the front door the place spreads before you and the cool interior immediately calms any nerves frazzled by the midday heat. Nicky and her family, for this is a family affair, have done a beautiful job of restoring these city houses. Five bedrooms are arranged over two floors and around a typical central atrium. The design is exemplary, mixing the contemporary with the old, and there are antiques everywhere. Industrial-style lighting pinpoints old storage jars in the kitchen, and patinated benches are draped with soft blankets in muted colours. Andrew and I managed to nab a lovely bedroom with ensuite bathroom complete with enormous copper bathtub!

Once we had all settled in to the house, we trotted out for a spot of lunch and rather stumbled onto a lovely place. We didn’t follow any recommendations, just followed our noses. I think we might have referred to TripAdvisor for a few pointers, but we ended up in Plaza Cristo de Burgos and a bar called Los Coloniales. We had a fabulous lunch on the terrace outside, beneath the shade of the trees. There had been a bit of concern about returning Sam and Daisy’s hire car, but once we had a glass of very cold beer, all such troubles evaporated, and time seemed to stretch to such an extent that the return of a hire car fitted in with our loose schedule like a dream.

Los Coloniales (with very jovial waiters!)

On our first evening, we did a bit of a city stroll, via a few shops and a great little bar (El Paseillo) from Calle Verde to Las Setas (or Metropol Parasol), the entirely wooden structure-cum-sculpture that has become something of a symbol of Seville since its construction was completed in 2011. The giant, merged mushrooms provide both a large shaded plaza below and viewing areas above from where visitors can get panoramic views of the city. I need to spend more time in this plaza, and get on top of the structure to fully appreciate it, so that will be for our next visit. Our aim on this first evening was to get to El Rinconcillo. When Andrew and I came to Seville in 2014, this very traditional tapas bar was at the top of the list of recommendations and we had a great evening, huddled over an old wine barrel marvelling at the atmosphere, the quality of the tapas and the efficiency of our waitress. Now, whether time has enhanced the memory we cannot be sure, but this visit to El Rinconcillo was a disappointment and we wouldn’t rush back. It can be true that, once a place gets such an exalted reputation, a certain complacency can set in; we have seen this happen often. The bar, this time around, seemed very touristy, made worse by the arrival of a stag do (they were Spanish stags, but still…). The waiter we had seemed very disinterested. I am increasingly told that my ‘resting face’ makes me look like a miserable old git, and it appears that I have something in common with our waiter that night. We had a couple of tapas and made a hasty retreat. As we were still peckish, we hot-footed it to the nearest bar that had a free table, which was inside, and we ate as a means to and end rather than to enjoy the atmosphere of one of Seville’s many, many other fabulous food destinations.

The next morning, we gathered for breakfast in a little place not far from home and then visited one of the destinations suggested by Nicky in her very comprehensive list of things to do and places to see. The Casa de Pilatos is an Italian Renaissance Palace with Mudéjar influences and is considered to be the prototype of the typical Andalucian Palace: cloistered courtyards, water and gardens. If you are a lover of tiles, then this palace is an essential visit as the walls are decorated with 150 different azulejo (Spanish glazed tiles) designs dating from the 1530s - one of the largest azulejo collections in the world. One of the rooms in the palace had, as decoration, a very interesting painting of a bearded mother breast-feeding her baby!

Following our dose of culture, we repaired to another of Nicky’s recommendations, the Bodega Santa Cruz, or Las Columnas. This characterful bar, with very gregarious hosts, is pretty much opposite Nicky’s apartment, El Mateo, on Calle Mateos Gago. This is a gorgeous part of the city: quite touristy as it leads to the cathedral, but with much charm.

After a fortifying drink, we decided we’d separate and go and do our own things. My knees were playing up, so walking for miles was becoming increasingly unappealing. Andrew and I subscribed to Sevici, an app for hiring bikes and scooters. What a joy! If you’re in Seville and want to get around, this is the way to go. Before lunch, we managed to do a tour of the lovely Parque de María Luisa beneath the shade of the fabulous trees, stopping for a quick beer. We then nipped across the Guadalquivir River to Triana, the heart of Flamenco, and had a spot of lunch by the river watching kayakers drift by. A bike is great for my knees, as it takes a lot of pressure off the joints, and we could whizz around with absolute ease. Seville is also pretty flat, which makes cycling a breeze!

The heat of the afternoon determined that we all met at home for a siesta before setting out again in the evening. Sarah had had the foresight to book us into a restaurant that had been recommended, and what a result that was. Perro Viejo (Old Dog) is a small group of restaurants in Seville with a couple more in Málaga. We dined in the Perro Viejo near Las Setas, and the food was quite delicious. It reminded Andrew and I of one of our favourite restaurants in London, El Nivel, now no longer there. The atmosphere, service, food and drink were all excellent; I had decided that my drink of choice over this summer was Rebujito, which is a mix of sherry and lemonade in simple terms, but with lashings of ice and a sprig of mint it is summer in a glass. This is a very traditional Andalucian summer cocktail, much served during the feria season. Try it!

The next morning, without their hire car, Sam, Daisy, Sarah and Tania were catching a bus to Portugal, but Andrew and I decided to make the most of a few more hours in this lovely city.

We used bikes to nip around once again, and took the guided tour of another fine Seville property, the home of the Salinas family. In the 16th Century, Seville was the most important city in Europe, strategically placed for trade on the wide Guadalquivir river. The many palaces in the city are representative of the wealth that was generated and this rich and beautiful palace is still occupied by the very influential Salinas family to this day. During the tour (always small groups), you get a glimpse of parts of the house away from the family. During the summer, the family tend to live on the cooler ground floor and in winter in the warmer upper floors.

Before lunch, we repeated an experience from our last visit and one that might cause a bit of an eye roll. We took a turn in a horse-drawn carriage. In the main square beside the cathedral, there are lines of horse drawn carriages with their owners plying their trade. We would really recommend this trip as it is an elegant and informative way of seeing parts of the city that would take a while to cover on foot. The Parque de María Luisa and the Plaza de España, the Palacio de San Telmo, the palace of the President of Andalucia, and areas in between.

For lunch, we hunted out another of Nicky’s recommendations to find that we had been there on our previous visit; I have a photo of Andrew standing beside one of the huge wine vats. Casa Morales is as traditional a sherry bar as you are likely to find. Order a glass of very chilled manzanilla or fino (or a Rebujito!), and a tapa or two and just soak up the atmosphere as the Sevillanos nip in here for lunch.

As we left La Verdecita, we had already decided that it was a nonsense that we do not visit Seville more often. It is not that far from us, and it easy to find lovely accommodation centrally for a few days; and we can get the train direct from Granada. There are so many places to explore, so many bars and restaurants to visit and many more palaces to discover. Nicky and her family are working on the restoration of a new property in the city, and the initial photographs look amazing, so this will be another destination to add to the list. However you choose to visit, we challenge you not to fall in love with Seville. It has that effect, and we left feeling a tinge of summer sadness.