It is well known that, a few thousand years ago, the strong Hercules went for a walk to the south of the Iberian Peninsula. And it is well known that he entertained himself by founding some cities here and there, such as Seville. Although some people prefer to say that this city was created by Melkart, a Phoenician character equivalent to Hercules, who went up the Guadalquivir, arrived in a place he really liked and sat there to think about where to start building a population.
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It is well known that, a few thousand years ago, the strong Hercules went for a walk to the south of the Iberian Peninsula. And it is well known that he entertained himself by founding some cities here and there, such as Seville. Although some people prefer to say that this city was created by Melkart, a Phoenician character equivalent to Hercules, who went up the Guadalquivir, arrived in a place he really liked and sat there to think about where to start building a population.
In any case, let it be clear that a God or a Demigod founded Seville.
But if we want to be more accurate and leave aside the divinities, we have to wait until 206 BC, when the Romans arrived, crossed swords with the Carthaginians that were around there and then founded the city of Itálica, a stone’s throw from Seville. What was to be Seville was later baptised as Híspalis, and it is even said that Julius Caesar himself was the one who decided the name. The fact is that two long thousand years ago there was already in this place a proper city, with its walls, its merchants and its nightlife. Nowadays you can find remains of those times in the Mármoles Street or in the nearby town of Carmona.
As was the custom in those days for any city worth its salt, Seville was not going to get away with the usual succession of invasions and parades of peoples and cultures through its territory: first the Visigoths, after, five centuries of Muslim domination with a couple of Viking looting in between and then the reconquest in 1248. After the discovery of America, the city raised becoming a focal point for trade with the New World.
The positive thing about all this is the nice mix that today you can appreciate walking through the old part of Seville. Although many of its houses are neoclassical, the labyrinthine pattern of the streets is typical of any Arab City. A good excuse to get lost, because as you know on a good trip you always need to get lost for a while; If not, it’s not so funny.
For centuries, Seville has been seen by many foreigners as a kind of bizarre scenario in which anything unusual could happen. That’s why there are more than a hundred operas set on its streets, from The Marriage of Figaro to The Barber of Seville.
And if you get inspired with so much opera, and you feel like singing, don’t be afraid! The locals are well used to it, and you might even end up accompanied by a group of guitars and singers. And that is why we recommend you not to leave Seville without going to a flamenco show.
