Barrio de Santa Cruz

The Barrio de Santa Cruz is the picture-postcard Seville that most visitors imagine before they arrive: narrow lanes barely wide enough for two people, whitewashed and ochre houses with iron balconies and pot plants, tiled courtyards glimpsed through gateways and little squares shaded by orange trees. It sits immediately east of the Cathedral and north of the Alcázar, and wandering through it without a map is one of the most enjoyable things to do in the city.

The quarter has a long and layered history. After Ferdinand III took Seville in 1248, the Jewish community settled here and in neighbouring San Bartolomé, and several former mosques were given to it as synagogues. After the violent anti-Jewish riots of 1391 the community was broken up and the synagogues became churches, two of which survive as Santa María la Blanca and San Bartolomé. Much of what you see today, however, is the result of a deliberate renovation in the 1910s and 1920s, when the royal tourism commissioner, the Marqués de la Vega-Inclán, and the architect Juan Talavera y Heredia added tiled paving, fountains, gardens and Andalusian-style squares to give the area the romantic look it now has.

Highlights include the Plaza de Santa Cruz, where the painter Murillo was buried in a church that no longer exists, the Plaza de Doña Elvira with its benches and tiles, the gardens of Murillo along the Alcázar's outer wall, and the Hospital de los Venerables, a 17th-century baroque building that now houses the Centro Velázquez, with paintings by Velázquez, Murillo and Zurbarán. Calle Mateos Gago, leading up from the Giralda, is lined with bars and has one of the best street views of the tower.

Go early in the morning or in the evening to see the quarter at its quietest; by late morning the main lanes are busy with tour groups. The streets are a tangle, which is half the fun, but a phone map helps if you need to be somewhere at a set time. Many lanes are cobbled and some are uneven, so wear comfortable shoes. A self-guided wander takes an hour or two, and a guided walking tour adds the stories behind the streets.

From the quarter you can step straight into the Alcázar, the Cathedral or the Archivo de Indias, and the Jardines de Murillo lead south towards the Prado de San Sebastián and the Parque de María Luisa.