car hire Seville

The capital of Andalusia, Seville is the artistic, economic, and cultural centre of southern Spain. Seville spent its early history as a prominent port town, playing a key role in Seville's transactions with the Americas. Its port served as a funnel for all manner of New World goods, including gold and silver. Seville enjoyed a golden age during that time, and was solidly entrenched as Spain's largest city during the 16th and 17th centuries. But a long period of decline began with the Great Plague of Seville in 1649, and the gloom did not lift for three centuries. But Seville has bounced back energetically in recent years, due to a surge in tourism and much industrial growth.

Seville is home to a thriving nightlife scene, one starring fine wine, sherry, tapas, and flamenco music. La Carbonería is a hot spot to catch a flamenco performance, and El Rinconcillo is a classic place to grab a drink. This bar dates back to 1670, making it Seville's oldest. There are many charming, old-timey touches, such as tabs marked in chalk on an old wooden countertop. If you're looking for an artsy night on the town, check out Teatro de la Maestranza, an opera house that has rocketed to world-class status since opening in the 1990s.

Historical side trip enthusiasts will do well to take their car hire (which can be retrieved at San Pablo Airport) out to Itálica (just a 10-kilometre drive) or Carmona (30 kilometres away). The ancient city of Itálica offers a plethora of ruins that will please any Roman history buff. Founded in 206 BC, Itálica was the hometown of two key Roman emperors, Hadrian and Trajan. One of the prize relics here is the remains of an amphitheater that was one of the largest in the Roman Empire. Carmona, surrounded by fortified walls and featuring three Moorish fortresses, dates back to Neolithic times. You can visit a Roman necropolis at Calle Emmedio, where lie the remains of 1,000 families that lived here 2,000 years ago. You can complete a tour of Carmona in a day, but many travellers stay on for at least a night in one of the area's charming, romantic hotels.