Barrio de Santa Cruz

The Barrio de Santa Cruz is the Seville of postcards and daydreams: narrow lanes too tight for cars, whitewashed walls splashed with ochre and bougainvillea, wrought-iron balconies, glimpses through iron gates into tiled patios with fountains and ferns, and little squares where orange trees shade café tables. It wraps around the east side of the Alcázar and the Cathedral, and it is a ten-second walk from the main monuments into its maze. Its history is darker than its charm. In the Middle Ages this was the Judería, home to one of the most influential Sephardic communities on the Iberian Peninsula, until the pogrom of 1391 devastated it and the expulsion of 1492 ended it; churches now stand where synagogues once did, and street names like the Calle Judería and the Calle Vida recall the past. The Interpretation Center of the Jewish Quarter tells the story. What you see today was largely reshaped in the early twentieth century, when the neighbourhood was restored and prettified ahead of the 1929 exposition, but the medieval street plan remains, and getting lost in it is the point. Highlights include the Callejón del Agua, a lane running along the Alcázar's garden wall, named for the water channel that once ran inside it; the Plaza de Doña Elvira, with its tiled benches and orange trees; the Plaza de Santa Cruz, with its wrought-iron cross, where the painter Murillo was buried in a church destroyed during the French occupation; the Plaza de los Venerables, beside the Baroque Hospital de los Venerables; and the Jardines de Murillo, a park along the old walls. Legends cling to every corner, from the tragic Susona, who betrayed her father for love, to Don Juan Tenorio.

When to go: Santa Cruz is free and open at all hours, but its character changes completely through the day. In the middle of the day, tour groups and souvenir shops crowd the main lanes; early in the morning, before ten, it is nearly empty, the light is soft and you can hear birds in the patios. After dark, under the old street lamps, it is romantic and atmospheric, with bars spilling into the squares. The best plan is to walk it twice: once at dawn, and once in the evening for a drink. This is also a residential neighbourhood, and Seville's tourism board asks visitors to respect its residents — keep voices down at night, do not block doorways or peer too long into private patios, and give way in the narrowest lanes.

What to visit inside: the Hospital de los Venerables, a seventeenth-century home for retired priests with a beautiful courtyard and Baroque church, now houses an art centre with paintings by Velázquez and Murillo for an entry fee. The Interpretation Center of the Jewish Quarter is small but moving. Small churches open for services, and several patios belonging to hotels and restaurants can be glimpsed or entered for a drink. Shopping is mostly souvenirs, but there are good ceramics, fans and guitar shops among them.

Eating and drinking: Santa Cruz has many tourist-oriented restaurants, and quality varies, so choose with care; the bars around the edges of the neighbourhood and towards San Bartolomé and the Calle Mateos Gago are often better value than those in the most photographed squares. The classic tapas here include espinacas con garbanzos, spinach with chickpeas and cumin, a dish with Moorish roots, and montaditos, small toasted sandwiches. In the evening, find a terrace beneath the Giralda on Mateos Gago, order a cold manzanilla sherry, and watch the tower light up.