Butterfield & Robinson / ‘Sojourns’ Travel Book Excerpt

In Seville, it can happen anywhere. First, the sound of hands clapping in time. It is perhaps a young señorita, her eyes set like jewels, who enters the circle of clapping Sevillanos and begins the dance. Spinning in circles, the skirt flowing, she clicks the beat to graced perfection with her heels. Soon she is no longer alone. Perhaps a grandmother, a child, her daughter’s daughter, enter the circle and each mirrors the other, completely at one with the flow. “What is this dance?” you ask, now mesmerized. And your guide smiles, “That is the Sevillana.”

Times passes differently here in Andalucía. Each day that you spend in and around Seville will fly like a month of ordinary time. And staying at the intimate Casa de la Judería, your week may seem more like a year. Mornings begin with salutations to the sun or the milky espresso of a cortado. One day you might feel like visiting the ramparts of the Moorish Alcazar with our local guide and friend. Or perhaps taste the blood of the Spanish grape in the Barrio Santa Cruz. Siestas are inevitable as the evenings will see you drawn into la marcha of local nightlife. Once you experience the cultural touchstone that is Seville (its people, dance and its music), life may never be the same.