No additional comment from SpecialFX on this topic??? FYI: SpecialFX is just now returning after a 6-year layoff from our message board. Wow! Welcome back!

There's really no comparing these two great cities because they're both totally distinctive unto themselves. Both have such wonderful things the other doesn't have.

I think if Martians came to earth tomorrow and visited both Seville and Barcelona they'd be equally impressed by each city.

Just remember, BARCELONA IS NOT SPAIN and SPAIN IS NOT BARCELONA. So if your hope it to visit "Real Spain" then Seville, in my opinion, should probably be your destination. If Barcelona was located in Idaho, USA or in China or in Australia or on the Fiji Islands it would be spectacular because it's an incredibly elegant, vibrant, architecturally eye-popping city. But I think a lot of people who come to Spain only visit Barcelona and think, "Wow! Spain is really incredible!" when the rest of Spain is NOTHING like Barcelona. That's not to say the rest of Spain is NOT incredible BECAUSE IT IS but it's totally distinctive to that which you find in Barcelona. Barcelona and Catalunya really could be a country or planet unto themselves, totally isolated and evolving within no-pass walls.

Seville, to me, more accurately represents "Real Spain" since Spain's moorish ancestors were from/lived-in/entered through Andalucía. Much of Spain's culture and history is linked to or based on Andalucía's culture.

Similar arguments can be made for the age-old rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona; "Which is better"? The answer is clear - at least to me. NEITHER is better and NEITHER is worse. They're totally, completely different and one cannot hold a candle to the other because they're like two planets in the same solar system.

My 2-euro cents on a Saturday morning.

Saludos, MadridMan

I was just looking around the New York Times web site when I noticed this slide show on Sevilla. It has a few nice photographs of the city and different attractions there. And, you can click here for an article entitled "36 Hours in Seville." It'd be a tough choice between Barcelona and Sevilla, but after seeing those photos I'm ready to go back to Sevilla!

Only 7 months later the New York Times has yet another article about Sevilla! I think this will be in the Sunday edition of the New York Times (30 March), but in the meantime you can read the online version of "Under Andalusian Skies" here in their Travel Spring 2008 magazine. There are some great black-and-white photos accompanying the article. They're fashion photos, but they show some nice views of the city.

I just thought I'd update you to let you know that the article is indeed in today's (30 March) New York Times. It's in the Style Magazine included with the newspaper. I picked one up this morning at the local Starbucks to read while drinking my coffee so I can pretend I am in sunny, warm Spain drinking a nice café con leche.