A cathedral built to look 'mad', a royal palace that became Dorne, and a plaza that stood in for Naboo — Seville is one of Europe's most cinematic cities. Facts, history and film locations from Andalusia's capital.
A cathedral built to look mad
When Seville's clergy planned their cathedral after the Reconquista, legend says they vowed to build 'a church so grand that those who see it will think us mad'. They succeeded: it is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and it holds a tomb claimed to be that of Christopher Columbus, carried by four heralds.
Its bell tower, the Giralda, was once the minaret of an Almohad mosque — you climb it not by stairs but by 35 gentle ramps, built wide enough to ride a horse to the top.
The Alcázar — a palace still in use
The Royal Alcázar is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe; the Spanish royal family keeps rooms here to this day. It's a dazzling layering of Moorish (Mudéjar) craftsmanship and Christian additions, with tiled courtyards and lush gardens.
Game of Thrones fans will know those gardens as the Water Gardens of Dorne, home of House Martell.
Plaza de España and the movies
Built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, the vast semicircular Plaza de España — with its canal, bridges and tiled alcoves for every Spanish province — is pure cinema. It played the city of Theed on the planet Naboo in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and it has also appeared in Lawrence of Arabia and The Dictator.
Where flamenco lives
Seville is a birthplace of flamenco. Cross the river to the Triana district — historically home to many of the art form's great singers and guitarists — and you can still catch raw, close-up performances in its intimate tablaos, a world away from the tourist floor shows.
Oranges, heat and Holy Week
The streets are lined with bitter Seville oranges — too sharp to eat, but prized in Britain for marmalade. Summers here are famously scorching, so come in spring: for the solemn, spectacular processions of Semana Santa (Holy Week), and then the colour and horses of the April Feria.
Getting there
Seville has its own airport (SVQ), and the AVE high-speed train links it to Madrid in about two and a half hours — easy to fold into a wider Andalusian trip.