The historical district of Triana is located on an almost-island between two branches of the River Guadalquiver.
Trianeros have a local identity that is proudly distinctive from the rest of Seville. However the neighbourhood is famous for ceramics and Flamenco, both of which have played an important part in the development of Sevilliano culture.
Please see my next post for places to eat in Triana. You’ll find my map of the barrio here and my Google map of the city here.
Work puts us up at the Hotel Ribera de Triana www.hotelriberadetriana.com in Plaza Chapino which is next to the Puente Cachorro (the bridge in the first two pictures).
Over the road from the hotel is the Torre Sevilla which is the tallest building in Andalusia. Before I got to know the city well, it was a very useful landmark for guiding me homewards in the evenings. There are so many bridges that it can sometimes be difficult to know where you are along the river, especially at night.
The Ribera de Triana is one of my favourite work hotels, not just because it has a sumptuous breakfast, helpful staff and big modern rooms but also because it has a great terrace bar on the top floor with fantastic views up and down the river with the Giralda in the background. It’s a great place to start a night out on the town.
There are many good places to eat within walking distance, the best of which I mention in my post on Favourite Places to Eat in Triana. My personal favourite in Triana, and indeed the whole of Seville, is Puratasca which is about ten minutes walk (reservations recommended).
If you turn right out of the hotel and right again, you can cross over to Seville on the Puente Cachorro. At the end of the bridge on the left is the Plaza de Armas bus staton www.autobusesplazadearmas.es which is the main bus station for Seville. From here you could head east to barrio Regina in the the Centro (post here) where some of the oldest tapas bars are located. Or you could head north to San Vicente (post here), San Lorenzo (post here) or a little further still to San Gil (post here) and Feria (post here), all of which have good places to go.
There’s some great street art under and around the Puente Cachorro if you like that kind of thing.
One evening at dusk, when I was walking back to the hotel through Plaza de las Armas, I saw the air was full of tiny creatures. Not knowing what they were (perhaps a swarm of large insects?) I asked a passing local and got the response that they were “batmans” which tickled me. It was very surprising to see so many bats at such a busy road junction but I presume they live in the trees around the square.
If you turn left out of the hotel, left again down Calle Castilla and Calle San Jorge and keep going straight, you will come to the Puente de Isabel II. By the side of the bridge is the Castillo de San Jorge. The castle is now just a relatively modern turret but its ceramic tiled roof is very photogenic. There’s a small museum inside which looks at the castle’s role as a court in the Spanish Inquisition. The ruins of the original castle are now under the Mercado de Triana at the end of Calle Castilla. The market is definitely worth a visit. It’s relatively small, just seventy five vendors, but the stalls are all top quality (see my Food Shopping in Seville post).
There are many places to eat at the end of Calle Castilla (and indeed most of my colleagues make it no further than here) but if you cross over the bridge you come to the district of Arenal which has many great tapas bars (post here). From here you could venture a little further east to Alfalfa, the neighbourhood I would stay in if I was a tourist (post here) or south to historical Santa Cruz (post here).
And that should keep you busy for a while! Triana has a life of its own but don’t forget to head over the bridge to see what’s happening…