1936 On the Continent

mannerism that you will have acquired by now. However, there is life and movement in Seville, so much so that the policeman directing the traffic sometimes forgets to light his cigarette. If you prepare a programme for seeing Seville you are past redemption and I will not worry about you. And if you engage a guide…!
The Rag Fair
    But so long as you are content to stroll I am with you. I will accompany you to the Rag Fair on the Calle de la Feria on a Thursday morning. We will meet very few foreign tourists there, probably none, and we can observe a phase of Sevillan life that is romantic even in its shabbiness. The heap of old
mantillas
on this or that stall, battered
sombreros
on a piece of sacking on the ground, the fat lady who offers her fried fish in a shrill voice, somehow fail to give the impression of poverty. And by the way, you will find that even here the young women are beautiful. Seville is a city of women. There are probably as many men as women, but you do not seem to notice the male portion of the population. Sevillan women are well made, mysteriously beautiful, calm, restful, the very opposite of what you expect to find in the south.
    And there is a charming lack of reticence in Seville. As you pass in the residential districts you can look in through the open doors and windows and you can see every phase of the life of a Sevillan family. During the summer months Seville is quiet between about 11 o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon, when it is too hot for anyone to work. In the evening everybody goes to the Plaza Nueva, Las Delicias or to the river,listening to music, talking and walking. You, a visitor, may choose to follow their example, or if you want to look deeper into the intimate life of Seville you can stroll through the streets during the evening hours. You will then find that most of the houses are deserted, but here and there you will see a young
caballero
standing in the street outside a barred window and talking to a lovely señorita standing behind the bars.
    You see, although the windows are open, there is an unspoken and unwritten law in Seville, as elsewhere in Andalusia, that might be interpreted in the form of the injunction you see at many exhibitions in England: “Please do not touch the exhibits.”
    But in some streets you will see the ladies lying on couches in front of the houses, “taking the air,” though to you it may seem that there is no air in Seville even when the stars are out.
Andalusian Dances
    If you want to see Sevillan women otherwise than in their usual somewhat statuesque calm, go to one of the cafés, say the Royal on the Calle de las Sierpes, and see them perform the famous Andalusian dances to the clapping of hands and the clatter of castanets. They are dances in which everything moves—the body, the arms, the fingers, the head—but the feet take almost no active part.
    I have already mentioned that the Spanish year is composed of holidays that are sometimes relieved by working days. That applies even more to Seville than to any other city in Spain, and Seville celebrates all her holidays with greater brilliance than the rest of the country. During Holy Week the ceremonies, processions and rites are even more gorgeous and impressive than those of Rome.
    The dance of
seises
(dance of the six) takes place several times a year in the cathedral. What is never mentioned in ordinary guide-books is the celebration of the anniversary of San Fernando, who liberated Seville from the Moors. This takes place on November 23rd, and is really a military affair. I can only describe it as tremendous.
    If you want to see the industrial side of Seville, visit the Fabrica de Tobacos, where thousands of Madonnas are busy with tobacco leaves.
    Naturally, Seville has a long history and a few sights, some of which you cannot possibly miss as soon as you enter the city. You are bound to see the Giralda wherever you are in Seville, and that will lead you to the cathedral. The Casa Lonja, south of the cathedral, contains the Archivo de Indias, which comprises all the reports concerning the discovery of America. Here, if you are interested, you can see autographs of Amerigo Vespucci, Magellan, Pizarro, Balboa, Cortez, etc.
    Another worth-while sight is the Alcazar, a Moorish palace, some parts of which will make you gasp.
    The old Jewish quarter is also interesting. It is overgrown with weeds and ramblers, but it has a definite “atmosphere.”
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