The Hotel Alfonso XIII is not only considered “the” place to stay in Seville, Spain, but it’s listed as a historical site for non-guest tourists as well. And there’s a good reason for this: architecturally, the building looks like a Moorish castle. Built for the King’s visit to the fair in 1929, the hotel’s decor is traditionally Sevillian with classic archways, marble columns, and beautiful mosaics in rich colors.
Indoors at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
I enjoyed the Alfonso very much. The staff went out of their way to help me, and I loved the hotel’s old world style. Its location is, quite simply, perfect. It’s such a landmark in the small city that it serves as an axis from which to explore other areas. Both taxis and horse-drawn carriages wait alongside the hotel, so you are never without fast and ready transportation.
A horse-drawn carriage waits outside of the Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville, Spain. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
In fact, there are horse-drawn carriages everywhere in Seville, or you can rent a bicycle or take one of the trams that whiz through the streets. That said, Seville is very much a walking city, so I only took taxis to and from the airport. I was able to easily walk from the Alfonso to every area or site I wanted to visit.
The courtyard at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
One of the most beautiful areas of the hotel is its courtyard, but since I was visiting in winter, it was a bit chilly to sit outside. Seville doesn’t get nearly as cold as other areas of Spain, however, so during the day, the temperatures rose to the low 60s Fahrenheit.
The view from my private balcony. Photo by Melanie Votaw.My balcony at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
I stayed in a small suite with a good sized balcony and a city view. I had a bedroom and a separate living area with a couch, desk, and chairs. As is typical in Spain, my bed was two singles placed together to make a larger bed. I especially liked the bathroom with its ceramic mosaic tiles that created an iridescent striped effect in white, copper, and dark blue.
My bathroom at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
All of the rooms contain antiques and are decorated in Baroque, Castilian, or Moorish styles. All rooms also contain an LCD television, CD player/radio, rainforest shower head with a bathtub, a telephone in the bathroom, a data port, alarm clock, wireless keyboard, safe, and minibar.
My room at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.My room at the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
The rooms include seven different types of suites of varying sizes, as well as deluxe rooms and the Royal Suite, which features a canopy bed and private butler service.
A staircase in the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
The Alfonso maintains an outdoor swimming pool, which is surrounded by palm trees. The fitness centre can be accessed 24 hours a day with your room key, and it includes treadmills, stair steppers, stationary bikes, and rowing machines – all with individual television screens and headphones.
An indoor area of the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
A beauty salon/barber shop is on premises, and there are luxury shops in the lobby. The hotel also has meeting rooms and offers special wedding packages. The concierge arranges for private transfers to and from the airport or train station, and the hotel will ship luggage for you.
Ceiling detail within the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
The Alfonso has in-house restaurants and bars. The Restaurante San Fernando is in the colonnaded inner courtyard. The Bar Americano is indoors and in art deco style. The Ena Sevilla is located on the outdoor terrace.
There are endless stunning architectural details in the Hotel Alfonso XIII. Photo by Melanie Votaw.
At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, the Hotel Alfonso XIII is more than a hotel – it’s an experience. And it’s a quintessential experience in Seville. Just walking through the beautiful building makes you feel in your bones that you are unquestionably in Andalucia.
“It is a new social and cultural reality in Spain” according to the Spanish Culture Ministry.
This Friday, Spain scrapped their “Annual Bullfighting Award,” prompting a backlash from national conservatives against the abolition of the centuries-old tradition that is seen as a national cultural art form.
In Spanish-style bullfighting, the animal is killed by a sword thrust.
An archival photo of famous Spanish toreador, Pedro Romero.
The matador, which in Spanish means “the killer,” uses a cape in a ritualistic manner to excite the bull and eventually tire the animal enough so that it slows down and becomes easier to kill. However, this is not a truly unequal encounter, as at the beginning of the ritual, the bull is fully capable and many times gores or even kills the matador.
Bullfighters have been considered the “All Stars” of traditional Spanish life for centuries, and the traditionalists have deified them in art, song, and performance.
A bullfight poster in Andalucia. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
The Cultural Ministry decided to abolish the annual award because younger members of Spanish society are more concerned about animal cruelty, and attendance at bullfight arenas has drastically declined throughout the last 25 years.
A bull sculpture in Ronda. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
For most younger Spaniards, bullfighting has no place in modern life. Let us award to the Cultural Ministry “both ears and the tail” for finally recognizing that blood on the sand, whether it’s the bull’s or the matador’s, isn’t welcome in the 21st Century.
Located in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, with coasts fronting both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, lies the second largest autonomous region in Spain: Andalucía. It is best known for gifting to the world Flamenco, Bullfighting, and its own adaptation of Moorish architecture and arts that were developed through nearly 800 years of occupation by North African Muslim tribes. Andalucía’s gastronomy is internationally renowned for its distinctive wines, olives and olive oil, Iberico ham and cured pork products.
In the center of the area between the capital city of Seville to the west, Malaga to the south, Córdoba to the north and Granada to the east, lays the very heart of Andalucía. Here are towns that cling to steep hillsides and take fierce pride in their history and traditions.
My love affair with Andalucía started in the late 1950s, when I heard, for the first time, Andrés Segovia play Enrique Granados’ Danzas Españolas on the guitar and then Arthur Rubinstein playing Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España, a symphonic piece for piano and orchestra.
Ever since, my dream has been to spend some time in Andalucía and visit the gardens referred to in the de Falla work: Palacio de Generalife in Alhambra; an unidentified distant garden in which there is an exotic dance; and Los Jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
Andalucía, the land of tapas and wine…
Unfortunately, the days of free tapas are almost completely over in Andalucia. Nowadays, the free bread-based tapas I remember from my earlier Spanish forays have been mostly replaced by charcuterie slices or small cooked plates; and the vast majority now costs money.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
Tapas may be cold (such as mixed olives, tortilla Española, cheese wedges and quince paste or jamón and sausage slices or canned fish) or hot (such as ‘albóndigas’ small meatballs in sauce or ‘gambas al ajillo’, prawns in sizzling olive oil with garlic and chili peppers). In most bars of the larger towns in Spain, tapas have evolved into a very sophisticated regional cuisine.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
…bullfighting and dancing horses…
Flamenco has become a beloved dance form world-wide. In the west we are familiar with flamenco as a dance that includes heel stomping, hand clapping, finger snapping and lots and lots of Attitude… with a capital A.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
…flamenco…
But what do we really know about Andalucía? September is the annual flamenco festival in the home of flamenco, and we were fortunate enough to be touring around the area courtesy of Spain’s Tourism Office and visiting small towns in the region.
For the flamenco aficionado, Seville is the heart of the action. We began with a visit to the Museum of Flamenco www.museoflamenco.com where we learned about the 7 principal styles. Alegria: happiness. Seguirilla: death, deep hurt. Soleá: loneliness. Tango: passion. Guajira: sensuality. Farruca: elegance. Buleria: seduction. We also saw films of famous dancers and some of the original outfits they performed in. At the theatre on the museum’s lower level we attended a live performance with singer, guitarist and dancers.
The author (right) raises a glass in Andalucia. Photo by Manos Angelakis.
Andalucia is a land of warm, welcoming, people.
Iberia is positioned like a juicy piece of fruit hanging off the continent of Europe, falling toward the land mass of North Africa. It was a perfect plum for major ethnic groups along the Mediterranean to take a bite out of and leave their imprint upon. Phoenicians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, all left their tooth-marks and their influence.
Under the Romans, the Iberian Peninsula flourished but after the fall of the Empire successive barbarian tribes invaded and devastated the area until, in 711 CE, the Moors attacked across the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa.
When the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula, as often happens between conquerors and conquered, the best of both worlds came together in a cultural mélange. The Moors named the conquered land the “Kingdom of Al-Andaluz” with Córdoba as its capital. Córdoba was the most opulent of cities known throughout the then known world for its culture and riches. At the time in Christian Europe when 99% of the population was illiterate, in Al-Andaluz the Moors had seventeen great universities. During this time the rest of Europe was going through the so-called Dark Ages; a time when ignorance, fear, superstition, and disease thrived under a system of despotic feudal rule. In fabled Al-Andaluz, where the Moors held sway for some 800 years, east melded with west. Around 822 A.D. one of the most famous Moorish singers, Ziryab (the blackbird) introduced the guitar and other string instruments to Iberia.
In fabled Andalucía, east melded with west in perfect synchronicity; here an exotic stew of Gypsy, Jewish, Moorish and Christian peoples became one integrated culture that existed in peaceful coalition for eight centuries and achieved extraordinary heights in the arts and sciences.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
…Alcázar, interior garden…
The Moors contributed stunning architectural monuments such as the Alcázar in Seville, originally constructed in the 10th century. Their ardor for interior courtyards filled with verdant gardens, fountains and colorful tiles with geometric designs lining the walls and floors is nowhere more breathtaking than in the Reales Alcázares i.e. the Royal Fortress.
Throughout Al-Andaluz palaces were sumptuous, while at the same time in Christian Europe the monarchs lived in big windowless, smoky structures of stone, with only a hole in the roof for a chimney to expel smoke. The creative heritage of Andalucía derives in good part from the 800 years under the control of the Moors but they were expelled by the Christian Kings after the “Reconquista” that is the Reconquest, along with the Jews in 1492. Gypsies were not expelled but were barely tolerated.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
…Cult of the Bulls…
Bull veneration has a long history dating back 15,000 years to Neolithic cave drawings with Mesopotamia, Samaria, Anatolia, Greece and Egypt all having traditions relating to bull worship and/or sacrifice. In Egypt the Apis Bull was associated with the moon and worshiped as a God. Slaying of the bull by stabbing it in the neck was an integral part of the sacrificial rite in many ancient civilizations.
Photo by Manos Angelakis
Bull dancing was developed into an art form by the Minoan civilization of Crete, with acrobats leaping over the bull’s horns and using them to propel them safely to the ground. Young men and women chosen for their grace and dexterity would flip over the fierce animals and perform other feats of gymnastics. Scenes depicting this dangerous sport are found on frescos at Knossos in Crete and the Heraklion Museum. The cult of the bull permeated the Mediterranean basin with each area developing its own traditions. Andalucía took bull sacrifice one step further with bull fighting; a form of death and rebirth where man fights and hopefully overcomes brute nature.
…Plaza de Toros, Ronda…
For information on one of the oldest and most picturesque bullrings, its museum and chapel — where prayers for victory were offered before and, hopefully, thanks for success were offered after — visit The Plaza de Toros in Ronda www.rmcr.org
Ronda is a small typical Andaluz town with a fascinating history; it is only a short distance from Seville and well worth the visit. While there, stop for lunch at Pedro Romero, a restaurant honoring the legendary bullfighter. Romero is credited with inventing the “classic style” turning bullfighting from a killing sport into an art form.www.rpedroromero.com
Photo by Manos Angelakis
…Dancing Horses…
Bulls represented a form of man’s mastery over animals; horses embody cooperation with another species.
The Royal Andalucían School of Equestrian Art Foundation or Real Escuela Andaluza Del Arte Ecuestre was founded in 1973 in honor of the equestrian heritage of Andalucía. The Andalucían pure bred has existed in the area for 20,000 to 30,000 years and cave paintings of the animals attest to their history in the peninsula. Here the horse and rider are as one. They train together and form a bond of trust that allows the horse to accomplish artistic moves that would not normally be possible.
The riders are adorned in 18th century costumes and the horses are dressed with classically braided mane and tail; together they perform a ballet to Spanish music in sync with other horses. Not all the horses are white, they range in color from grey to black although white is preferred as they deflect the bright Andalucían sun and tend to be cooler in the summer. The foundation is located in Jerez, a small town between Sevilla and Cádiz, and the horse show is a well-deserved very popular attraction requiring advance reservations.
Some of the experiences mentioned in this article are based on complimentary stays, meals, or goods.But as always, we are dedicated to giving you unbiased accounts of our experiences. See our Disclosures page for more information.
