A visit to Seville, someone said, is like walking around a museum. And it is. Except you can eat and drink practically anywhere, touch almost anything, and opening hours are protracted.
Apparently you shouldn't go in summer. "It's too hot!" exclaimed travel advisers. "Especially for the baby!" But we ignored them. Sevillian summers see feverish temperatures, true, but it was somehow manageable. Perhaps because wherever we looked, something quite exquisite stood in our eye line: chic esplanades, shady Moorish gardens, labyrinthine districts and elegant edifices.
The antiquity of Seville is palpable. Unsurprising, considering the number of illustrious figures and civilisations that passed through, leaving awe-inspiring marks in their wake. While myth maintains that Hercules founded the city, the Tartessians were most likely the original founders of a town christened Hispalis, around 207 BCE. Seville later played host to Julius Caesar and before Visigoths took the city for their own. For five centuries, Seville was a vital centre of Islamic Andalusia. The Moors weren't expelled until 1492 - the same year that Christopher Columbus embarked on his first voyage of discovery from Sevillian soil. Some say that his remains found their final resting place right here. But that's another story.
The Muslim reign in Seville - or Isbiliya as they called it - saw scores of caliphates and dynasties install themselves within the city limits. The notorious conqueror Musa Ibn Noussair directed the initial invasion from North Africa into Andalusia. From there, Seville played host to Umayyad and Almoravid caliphs. The Almohad dynasty from North Africa chose Seville as its capital, instead of the original Marrakech. Seville showcases, to this day, some of the most breathtaking architectural treasures offered to the world by Muslim civilisations.
We weren't quite in the mood to drag a pushchair (not to mention an energetic toddler refusing to go in it) around a historical edifice at midday, but how wrong we were. Nothing could be more pleasant than a visit to the Alcazar under the singeing heat of Seville's sun.
The Alcazar is arguably one of Iberia's best-preserved examples of Moorish architecture. This series of palaces stood as a centre of power throughout many centuries and civilisations, as its juxtaposed Islamic, Gothic and Renaissance styles attest. Original Mudejar designs reflect the Moorish influence that continued to inspire Spanish architecture long after the Moors' departure.
The facades of Patio de la Monteria bear Arabic script in worship of Allah, while the Patio de las Doncellas tells of traditional Arab ceremonies that took place in these shady courtyards - it was here that a sunken garden was recently discovered beneath 16th-century marble paving. Winding your way through the ancient citadel allows close inspection of ancient Islamic plasterwork, impeccably preserved.
The Alcazar is a garden-filled citadel. Passages weave among ornamental pergolas, arches, ponds and fountains - abundant greenery providing natural shade from the sun. The Gardens of Troy, with their 10th-century Moorish basin, are the oldest in the entire complex and showcase the Islamic inclination for the chiming sounds of water and the perfume of plants.
We left the Alcazar bewitched, but nonetheless in need of a drink and a sit-down. We were in the right area to do it - the Santa Cruz quarter of Seville. A mesh of narrow streets, too narrow to swing a car but a pushchair is fine, this ancient part of the city stretches north of the Alcazar into a celebration of elegant Sevillian buildings, pavement cafes and shops. This is the city for al fresco dining and you might get hungry - only because you can't decide where to stop. The choice is limitless, but we wanted to avoid the throngs of tourists and over-priced menus and so we walked. And walked, and walked. Then, we happened upon a fabulous place, called D Canas, serving real Spanish tapas to real Spaniards. The gazpacho here is the region's authentic version, salmorejo, made with bread and thus thicker although in no way stodgy. Totally delicious, in fact, as was the tortilla sizzling fresh from the pan as well as a dish of asparagus and peppers in a tomato sauce - not on the menu but recommended by an especially busy, smiling waitress. The Plaza Alfalfa offers a series of great places to nibble a croquette and slurp a coffee.
Three hours later, lunch is over and it's time to get back to the laborious task of admiring Seville. Don't worry - the next pit stop isn't far. Across from the Alcazar entrance is the Santa Maria Cathedral. Yet when you look up the 93-metre-high edifice, you may note something distinctly un-Catholic about the tower. You're right. It's a minaret, and a magnificent one at that. La Giralda, as the minaret is known, once stood atop a mosque built in 1198 by a certain Ahmed Ben Baso. He also constructed sister towers in Morocco - the famed Koutoubia of Marrakech and the Hassan Tower in Rabat. You can walk to the top of the 76-metre-high minaret via a series of 35 ramps. Originally designed to allow a horse to pass, they make the climb easy for both legs and pushchair. The summit awards climbers a sensational panoramic view of Seville. Below the tower stands the orangery, formerly the ablution area before the mosque was converted into the vast and breathtaking Gothic cathedral. So cherished was Ben Baso's minaret that Prince Don Alfonso threatened to kill anyone daring to remove a single brick from it when the edifice became a cathedral.
The pedestrianised district of El Arenal is a shopping area with everything from chain stores to local tapas bars. Beware of some substandard eateries on the main promenade and instead explore the side streets. We fell upon Casa La Viuda, featured in the Michelin guide, and enjoyed a whole range of traditional cuisine including local fish and seafood dishes, the sweetest of Spanish tomatoes and tasty omelettes.
Rising in the north-eastern Cazorla Mountains, the Guadalquivir River passes by Cordoba before snaking through Seville on its Atlantic-bound journey. The name originates from the Arabic Al Wadi Al Kabir - the Great River, which it certainly is at 657km in length. The Guadalquivir is bridged in several places. Right next to the splendid Torre del Oro (Golden Tower) is the Puento de San Telmo, which takes you across the waters and into the district of Triana. The area was once totally separated from Seville - geographically by the river and culturally by the population. Triana was allegedly peopled by Gitanos, Roman people and mothers of Flamenco. Originating from the Indian subcontinent, they brought Moorish influences gathered in North Africa en route to Spain.
So pedestrian-friendly is Seville it's not a bad idea to take a hotel a little out of the tourist-littered centre. The Macarena neighbourhood lies 15 minutes' walk to the west and proffers a more authentic sense of the city. Wander along the immaculate Alameda de Hercules esplanade beneath the welcome shade of trees and, for extra refreshment, walk through the vaporisers springing up from the ground. Our toddler gleefully danced in and out of the water sprays while his drained parents watched from one of the countless cafes, whose tables trickle out onto the plaza.
Tucked behind the Macarena Basilica, famous for its 17th-century sculpture, is the Alcoba del Rey hotel. The interior transported us instantly to North Africa. Moroccan zellij tiles brought from Fez and authentically made tadelakt decorate this magnificent riad. The central area is clad in original marble while guest rooms are adorned with authentic Moroccan sinks, intricate plaster ceilings and carved, hand-painted headboards. Moorish arches and stucco add to the luxurious Arab character.
Each room carries the name of an Arabic figure playing a key role in Andalusian history and the entire place reflects owner Rafael Carrion's passion for the Maghreb. Carrion, who once lived in Casablanca, explained: "The Alcoba del Rey has everything you find in a traditional Moroccan riad." He gazes over the city from the hotel's roof terrace, bedecked with Moroccan candleholders and mint plants, a rather un-Moroccan jacuzzi bubbling in the corner. Carrion is native to Seville and understands the city's gregarious spirit. "I'll tell you what Sevillians are like," he says. "They like to eat tapas, to pass from one cafe to the next, talking and getting to know people. They like to socialise. And the people here are devoted to Seville. They are proud ambassadors of their city."
Carrion is right. The idyllic climate and festive atmosphere easily spark "I could live here" ideas in tourists. For most locals it's a different story - unemployment in Seville is about 25 per cent and the economic crisis isn't over. Even those in work are not spared the anguish. Badr Eddine Ennakati came to Seville almost two decades ago from his native Casablanca. He sells a fabulous selection of Moroccan handicrafts, clothing and spices in his boutique, Marrakech, but times are hard.
"It's difficult here," he recounts. "The crisis has really affected us. I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have stayed in Casablanca."
Yet as a tourist you can indulge yourself by slowing down. Forget your traditional eating and sleeping times and instead follow the more flexible and relaxed local notion of routine. You don't need a car because the city isn't enormous and you can walk anywhere. If you should get tired, cafes are ubiquitous so you can grant yourself a well-earned break, say every half hour, and bask under the balmy Sevillian skies.
If you go
The flight
Return flights on Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dubai to Madrid cost from Dh4,055, including taxes.
The stay
Double rooms at Alcoba del Rey de Sevilla (www.alcobadelrey.com; 00 34 954 915 800) cost from €258 (Dh1,380), with breakfast and taxes.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry
4/5
Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
NATIONAL%20SELECTIONS
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