(From top) A glimpse of a street in Seville; Mudejar architecture in one of the courtyards of the Alcazar; the bell tower of the Seville cathedral; an alleyway in Barrio de Santa Cruz

If you chance upon Seville on a bright spring day, you may be tempted to play the sybarite. That is, just soak up the laid back south of Spain atmosphere and luxuriate in the sunlit plazas, the fragrant air, the orange trees heavy with fruit, and the abundance of good food and wine. If you are the lazy sort, as I am, you may, in fact, be perfectly happy to linger indefinitely over your morning coffee and tostada (toast) sitting under a tree laden with impossibly radiant oranges at a humdrum roadside café.

But it would be a pity not to explore Seville a bit more fully. The capital of Andalusia in southern Spain, Seville (about two hours from Madrid on a fast train) is where the hot, passionate heart of the country beats. Home to flamenco and bullfights, soaring cathedrals and hectic fiestas (festivals), Seville, or “Seveeya” as the locals call it, seems to crystallise the quintessential Spanish experience.

I was staying in Barrio de Santa Cruz, an old part of the city, where most of its famous monuments are to be found. The area itself is worth exploring as it’s a maze of narrow, winding alleyways flanked by ochre coloured houses with wrought iron balconies overhung with flowering creepers. It’s easy to get lost here, but you’ll make plenty of serendipitous discoveries on the way — a plaza here, a church there, and atmospheric bodegas (bars) pretty much everywhere.

After I took a few wrong turns, I put away my map and simply followed a bunch of noisy tourists who seemed to be headed where I was — the Real Alcazar complex and the cathedral.

The cathedral, as indeed most major architectural sites in Seville, bears testimony to the city’s rich and varied cultural heritage. Though the Christian monarchs of Castile re-conquered Seville from the Moorish Almohads in 1248, remnants of Seville’s Islamic past — it was ruled by the Moors for almost five centuries — are evident even today. What’s particularly fascinating is the happy co-existence of Christian and Muslim influences in the city’s architecture. The 16th-century cathedral itself was built on the site of a mosque, and though its architectural style is Renaissance, its bell tower, or Giralda, is really the minaret of the original mosque.

The Seville cathedral takes your breath away with its sheer size and richness of ornamentation. You’ll find the tomb of Christopher Columbus here — a grand affair with four figures, representing the four Spanish kingdoms of the time, carrying the explorer’s casket. But, mind you, there’s some debate over whether Columbus is truly buried here or whether his mortal remains lie interred in the New World that he discovered.

The Seville Alacazar (the word comes from the Arabic al-qasr, which means ‘fortress’) is right next to the cathedral. Originally built by the Almohads, after the reconquista, it was enlarged and rebuilt by generations of Christian kings who used it as their royal residence. Though it looks a bit nondescript from the outside, once you’re inside, you’ll marvel at its many rooms and courtyards that are exquisite examples of “Mudejar” architecture, as manifest in the distinctly Islamic, intricately carved plasterwork, elegant arches, blue and white tiling, and so on.

The bull ring altar where matadors pray before a fight

If you feel peckish after a tour of the Alcazar, duck into one of the many eateries nearby. Most have a tempting menu del dia (menu of the day) on offer. I chose one that promised a gazpacho andaluz (cold tomato soup), tortilla with Roquefort sauce, an almond tart and a glass of red or white wine or house Sangria. The price was a modest 14 euros, and the food was surprisingly good. Or maybe, it just seemed that way because I ate it out on the sunny, orange tree-lined pavement, with the massive bulk of the cathedral before me and the Giralda rearing up into the startling blue sky.

I could have headed back to the hotel for a late afternoon siesta to allow the calories to settle nicely into my system. But this was my first day in Seville and I was yet to get into the local groove. So I went instead to check out the Casa de Pilatos, a 16th-century nobleman’s mansion, and another fine example of Mudejar architecture. Its central courtyard is festooned with delicate white columns and plasterwork friezes and like the Alcazar, some of the rooms have stunning gilded polychrome ceilings.

Over the next few days I saw a flamenco show, took a tour of the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, the grand old bull ring of Seville, and hung around the banks of the Guadalquivir River, with the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) watchtower looming over it. The flamenco, accompanied with plangent guitar strains and songs that slowly rise to a crescendo, was romantic and vigorous by turns and seemed a bit like Kathak with shoes on. And the bull ring tour — I gave the fight a miss as I had seen it elsewhere — offered insights into the way the tradition of bull fighting has evolved in Spain.

After you’ve done all the must-dos in Seville, however, it is time to relax and concentrate on the dolce vita. The tapas (snacks) here are outstanding and I made long, leisurely meals out of an endless variety of these delicious tidbits washed down with glasses of fino, (a dry, local sherry) or quantities of blanco (white wine). Most evenings I found myself in a boisterous bodega in Barrio de Santa Cruz where the gambas fritas (batter-fried shrimps) were the best I’d ever had and the small, fried anchovies so fresh and butter-soft that you ate them up bones and all. The friendly guy at the bar kept count of your drinks and tapas by writing down the items with a piece of chalk on the wooden bar counter. The list grew as the night wore on, but, heck, I was having too good a time to care.

I met an itinerant Englishman here, one who was on his sixth visit to Seville. He was seriously upset to learn that I had just missed the Feria de Abril — a six-day orgy of wining, dining and bullfighting that takes place in Seville two weeks after Easter. It’s a fantastic experience, he told me. I promised him that I’d be back. For the Feria. And for Seville.

Ready reckoner

Getting there: There are regular flights to Madrid via London and Brussels from India. Take the Alta Velocidad Española, Spain’s super fast train from Madrid.

Staying there: Accommodation ranges from budget hotels to five stars. Tariffs start from approx. Rs 3,000.

What to do: Tapas-hopping is one of Seville’s main cultural attractions. Also, you must catch a flamenco performance while you’re there.