Seville and slow, sustainable travel with Aldara Arias Saavedra

When in Spain

Sit back and join us for some armchair travel to the capital of Andalucía. That's right we're of to the 2,200-year-old city of Seville or Sevilla if you're feeling Andaluz! Our guide for the journey is native Sevillana, Aldara Arias Saavedra. Aldara produces and hosts her own podcast about food and slow, sustainable travel in Seville called Slow Tasters Podcast. She also works as a tour guide in Seville and the wider Andalucía region of Spain and has a passion for promoting slow and sustainable tourism and finding ways to reduce our impact on the places we visit. During the episode Aldara walks us through the city's intoxicating mix of resplendent Mudéjar palaces, baroque churches and winding medieval lanes which are home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Real Alcázar A magnificent marriage of Christian and Mudéjar architecture, Seville’s royal palace complex is a breathtaking spectacle. The site, which was originally developed as a fort in 913, has been revamped many times over the 11 centuries of its existence. www.alcazarsevilla.org. Catedral & Giralda Seville’s showpiece church is awe-inspiring in its scale and majesty. The world’s largest Gothic cathedral, it was built between 1434 and 1517 over the remains of what had previously been the city’s main mosque. Highlights include the Giralda, the mighty bell tower, which incorporates the mosque’s original minaret and the monumental tomb of Christopher Columbus. The Archivo General de Indias The General Archive of the Indies, housed in the ancient merchants' exchange of Seville, Spain, the Casa Lonja de Mercaderes, is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines.. Aldara explains the city’s past as a showcase Moorish capital and later as a 16th-century metropolis rich on the back of New World trade. She also gives us an insight into the sevillano art of celebrating and the city’s great annual festivals, notably the Semana Santa and Feria de Abril. Later in the episode we talk about alternative parts of Seville to wander and get away from the touristy sites and soak up the neighbourhood atmosphere with the locals. Food and drink with a special recommendation. To round-up Aldara shares her philosophy of slow travel, sustainable tourism and why she thinks we need to reduce our impact on the places we visit and how we can go about doing it. PLACES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE Feria neighbourhood San Luis San Luis de los Franceses Alameda Square Basilica de la Macarena Plaza de España Catedral & Giralda Real Alcázar The Archivo General de Indias Triana FOOD Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo to eat a Montadito de pringá. Calle Teodosio, 53, Sevilla http://antiguaabaceriadesanlorenzo.com/ DAY TRIPS FROM SEVILLE Parque Natural Sierra de Hornachuelos Constantina Cazalla de la Sierra Find out more about Aldara here http://aldaraas.com/ and follow her on Instagram here @aldaraas