 "Seville,"
wrote Byron, "is a pleasant city, famous for oranges and women." And for
its heat, he might perhaps have added, since SEVILLA 's summers are
intense and start early, in May. But the spirit, for all its nineteenth-century
chauvinism, is about right. Sevilla has three important monuments and an
illustrious history, but what it's essentially famous for is its own
living self - the greatest city of the Spanish south, of Carmen, Don
Juan and Figaro, and the archetype of Andalucian promise. This
reputation for gaiety and brilliance, for theatricality and intensity of
life, does seem deserved. It's expressed on a phenomenally grand scale
at the city's two great festivals - Semana Santa (in the week before
Easter) and the Feria de Abril (which starts two weeks after Easter
Sunday and lasts a week). Either is worth considerable effort to get to.
Sevilla is also Spain's second most important centre for bullfighting ,
after Madrid.
Despite its elegance and charm, and its wealth, based on food processing,
shipbuilding, construction and a thriving tourist industry, Sevilla lies
at the centre of a depressed agricultural area and has an unemployment
rate of nearly forty percent - one of the highest in Spain. The total
refurbishment of the infrastructure boosted by the 1992 Expo - including
impressive new roads, seven bridges, a high-speed rail link and a
revamped airport - was intended to regenerate the city's (and the
region's) economic fortunes but has hardly turned out to be the catalyst
for growth and prosperity promised at the time. Indeed, some of the
colossal debts are still unpaid a decade later.
Meantime, petty crime is a big problem, and the motive for stealing is
usually cash to feed drug addiction. Bag-snatching is common (often
Italian-style, from passing motos ), as is breaking into cars. There's
even a special breed called semaforazos who break the windows of cars
stopped at traffic lights and grab what they can. Be careful, but don't
be put off. Despite a worrying rise in the number of muggings in recent
years, when compared with cities of similar size in northern Europe,
violent crime is still relatively rare.
Sevilla's most famous present-day native son is the former prime
minister, Felipe González , who led the Socialist administration that
governed Spain for fourteen years until his defeat in 1996. Another,
more bizarre Sevillano is one Gregorio XVII , who calls himself the true
pope; in defiance of his excommunication by the Vatican, "Pope Greg" is
leader of a large ultra-reactionary order which has made the dead Franco
a saint and has built an extensive new "Vatican" in the countryside to
the south of the city.
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