ANDALUSIA | Half a day in Seville ft. Plaza de España and Las Setas or Metropol Parasol

Six days. Five overnight stays in five cities in Spain. Lunch in Paris. Stopover in Barcelona. Then Córdoba, Seville, Granada and Málaga. An Andalusia Whirlwind Tour where we visit the Mezquita and the Alhambra. We’re touring Andalusia in October 2023 to follow the trend of travelling to hot spots outside summer, as we did with Italy in 2022.

It’s the of this Andalusia Whirlwind Tour: travel in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon, dinner at night. Also in Seville or Sevilla, which is usually marketed as a multi-day city trip.

If there are three things you cannot miss in Seville, these are the Real Alcázar or Royal Castle, the Seville Cathedral and the Plaza de España or Spain Square.

Plaza de España

The Plaza de España was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of the Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival (Neo-Mudéjar) styles of Spanish architecture.

The Plaza de España is renowned for its striking and ornate design, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Seville.

The Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 was a world’s fair held in Seville to showcase Spain’s links with its former colonies in Latin America and to promote Spanish culture and industry. The Plaza de España was designed by the Spanish architect Aníbal González Álvarez-Ossorio, who created a complex that harmoniously blends architectural elements from various historical periods and regions of Spain.

Key features of the Plaza de España include:

Semicircular building. The centerpiece of the Plaza de España is a semicircular building that wraps around a central plaza. This building is adorned with a series of bridges, balustrades, and towers, all meticulously decorated with colorful tiles, intricate ceramic work, and ornamental details.
Canals. The building encircles a series of small canals, crossed by numerous bridges. Visitors can rent rowboats to paddle through the canals, adding to the romantic and picturesque ambiance of the plaza.
Ceramic tiles. One of the most striking aspects of the Plaza de España is the extensive use of ceramic tiles, which depict scenes and symbols representing different regions, cities and historical periods of Spain. These decorative tiles are arranged in a series of alcoves, each corresponding to a different province of Spain.
Decorative elements. The plaza is adorned with a wealth of decorative elements, including statues, busts of Spanish historical figures, and decorative ceramic benches.
Towering structure: At the centre of the semicircular building, there is a tall central tower that rises above the plaza. Visitors can climb the tower for panoramic views of the surrounding area.

The Plaza de España has been used as a filming location, including scenes for ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘ (1962), in which is subbed as the officer’s club in Caïro, Egypt. The epic film actually used several Moorish locations in Seville.

The building was used as a location in the Star Wars film series ‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones’ (2002) in which it featured in exterior shots of the City of Theed on the Planet Naboo. It also featured in the 2012 film ‘The Dictator‘. The 2023 Netflix series, ‘Kaos‘, will also feature scenes filmed at the plaza.

Tower of Gold

The Torre del Oro (بُرْجالذَّهَب, Burj aḏẖ-ḏẖahab) or Tower of Gold is a dodecagonal military watchtower erected by the Almohad Caliphate in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river.

Constructed in the first third of the 13th century the tower served as a prison during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the golden shine it projected on the river, due to its building materials (a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay).

We dod not climb it.

The Mushrooms

After half a day filled with a royal palace, a cathedral, a plaza and some swimming at the hotel, we had dinner in a restaurant under The Mushrooms.

The Setas de Sevilla (Mushrooms of Seville) or Las Setas (The Mushrooms), initially titled Metropol Parasol, is a large, predominantly wood structure located at Plaza de la Encarnación in the old quarter of Seville. It accommodates a traditional market, restaurants, a performance square, archaeological museum — and ‘rooftop’ terrace with a panoramic view of Seville’s old city.

Selected from 65 submissions in a city-sponsored competition, the structure was designed by German architect Jürgen Mayer, was completed in April 2011 and is roughly 150 by 70 metres (490 by 230 ft) with an approximate height of 26 metres (85 ft).

Initially beset with technical problems as well as budget and schedule overruns, the parasols are constructed of 3,500 cubic meters of micro-laminated Finnish pine and are marketed as the world’s largest wood structure.

Since their opening, the parasols have become Seville’s third-most visited urban landmark.

The structure consists of six parasols loosely resembling large mushrooms, inspired by the vaults of the Cathedral of Seville and the ficus trees in the nearby Plaza de Cristo de Burgos. The Setas are organized in four levels.

The underground level (Level 0) accommodates the Antiquarium, where Roman and Moorish remains discovered on site are displayed in a museum.
Level 1 (street level) is the Central Market. The roof of Level 1 is the surface of the open-air public plaza, shaded by the wooden parasols above and designed for public events.
Levels 2 and 3 are the two stages of the panoramic terraces (including a restaurant), offering a view of the city centre.

At night, there is a light show.