Things to do in Villanueva del Ariscal

The sheer size of the Catholic Seville Cathedral (Catedral de Sevilla) may leave you momentarily overwhelmed. The wealthy councilors who commissioned the building in the early 1400s intended it to be so grand that future visitors would question the sanity of the cathedral’s founders.

A royal residence still used by the country’s monarchs today, the Royal, or “Real” in Spanish, Alcázar is one of the most striking architectural achievements in Europe. It’s a group of buildings and gardens that blend styles dating back to the Moors of the 11th century, right up to the modern day.

See thrilling competitions between top sporting stars at Seville’s huge Olympic Stadium. The vast arena opened in 1999 for the World Athletics Championships with a capacity of up to 70,000 seated spectators. It was during this tournament that the American sprinter Michael Johnson broke the world record for the 400-meter race.

The Metropol Parasol is a marvel of modern architecture, a colossal wooden structure located in Seville's old quarter. It consists of six linked parasols and is known locally as Las Setas, or The Mushrooms, for its unusual form. The striking building holds shops, a market, an open-air space for concerts and a basement filled with Roman archeological ruins.

La Giralda was once the minaret of a mosque that stood on the spot where Seville Cathedral is now. Constructed between 1184 and 1196, La Giralda was one of the three major minarets built by the Almohades, a Moroccan Berber dynasty that took control of Spain in the 12th century. The other two minarets are in Rabat and Marrakech. After the Reconquista in 1248, the Christians claimed La Giralda for their own, and it’s been the bell tower to Seville Cathedral ever since.

Go for a walk, relax in a pavement café and see Roman temple ruins at one of the oldest public gardens in Europe, La Alameda. The vast, popular open space dates back to 1574 when a marshland area was drained and populated with trees and fountains.