Seville, with COVID: A touristic darling devoid of tourists

It cuts through the exhaust fumes that hiccup from a bus, from the poop left by a horse stalling at an empty carriage in the shade of an orange tree. The azahar is blooming, the de facto sign of springtime in Seville.

Mateos Gago and the Giralda in Seville

The midday bells are about the shrill from the Giralda. I duck into shady Plaza Santa Marta, where the overgrown trees send lines of light against whitewashed walls and the stone cross. It’s one of those places on the tourist drag that no one seems to know about, hidden deep in a maze of streets in the city’s old Jewish quarter.

Plaza Santa Marta Sevilla

The bells sound, clear and solitary – there are no clipping hooves or megaphones or even cars.

Mateos Gago has been paved over, a pedestrian paradise for whenever it is that the tourists will return. But half of the storefronts sit empty – there are no tourist shops, and only the mainstays of Peregil, Patio San Eloy and Cervecería Giralda, which recently made headlines because of the Arabic hammam found during recent restoration work, are open.

The sevillano Disneyland of Santa Cruz is a ghost town.

 

Barrio Santa Cruz Sevilla

¡Sevilla para los sevillanos! they always say. But then one realizes the extent of destruction that the castle in the sky that the city on the Guadalquivir built. A city built on tourism will fall when the tourists aren’t coming.

Helen and I sit under an awning on the breezy afternoon. It’s been more than a year since we’ve seen one another, so we chatter away in English as if we’d had a coffee together last week.

Empty bar on Mateos Gago Sevilla

“Hello my friends!” A sevillano, patillas and gominola and all, smokes a cigarette nearby as I move the stroller out of his way. “No, no, please! Please do the work!” The work is feeding a baby but we humor him as his wife, above us on the first floor, shouts down that his English is shit. “You like my city?”

I point out that he’s wearing a mask emblazoned by the flag of Extremadura with “extremeño” embroidered (of course it’s embroidered) on one side. Helen points out that we’re locals.

He looks as though he’s been sweating on the only cool afternoon we’ve seen in the city this month but starts in on his life story: an extremeño whose family sells pork products to many of the tourist-catering eateries on Mateos Gago. Judging by how empty those bars are, I can imagine he’s had a tough year.

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But he continues exuberantly, listing off his wares as if he were entertaining a moonstruck guiri over a cervecita in Plaza Salvador: “…sausage, ham with the black foot, white wine, the sweet and the dry, whateveryoulikeeh!…”

Seville has succumb in the last dozen years. Menus are in English (and French, and Italian, and German). Souvenir shops have elbowed out the neighborhood staples. A city that prides itself on lo castizo y lo popular is becoming a place where you can hear a puño of languages on any given street of Barrio Sant Cruz. In my early days, hearing English was a momento for rejoicing, not eye rolling.

Triana and a great number of its mainstays have weathered the pandemic that brought the world to a near standstill. El Centro has not.

El torero. La flamenca con la guitarra. Ese es el imagen que vendemos a los extranjeros. Es lo que les llama la atención. The guide at Casa Fabiola doesn’t realize that the last to join her 12:30 tour is extranjera as she takes us through the Fundación Bellver pieces painted by foreign artists. The bullfighter. The flamenco dancer with a guitar. That is the image we sell to foreigners. This is what gets their attention.

Calles Cruces Sevilla

Maybe it’s alegría, it’s joie de vivre that you should be selling us. Where are noontime libation is taken in a bar that once housed an Arabic bath. Where sobremesa is a way of life. Where a city sealed off to the world (and anyone outside of the province for the time being) is both a death sentence and a nirvana for locals.

I breathe in the azahar once more. Like the empty streets of Santa Cruz, I know it is fleeting.

Traveling to Madrid during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Practical advice for visiting the Spanish capital

The azahar is blooming ever so faintly, carrying its intoxicating scent right to my home office. It’s been exactly a year since the government in Spain locked us in our homes for seven weeks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the scent of spring – hope, new beginnings and the promise of brighter days.

As the world begins to open back up, we are all traveling dreaming. Moving to Lyon for half a year was a salve for me, balm to cure my travel bug temporarily. But for someone who always has half a dozen places in mind for my next trip, there is really only one destination I am yearning to go to: Madrid. Both on a professional level and a personal one, I am looking forward to jumping on the high-speed train, booking into a COVID-certified hotel in Madrid and walking the streets of Chamberí – mask on and with caution.

If you’re traveling to Madrid during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a few things to keep in mind so that you stay safe and healthy while respecting both national and local laws.

While the federal government is anchored in Madrid, many of the granular level decisions about activities, tourism and commerce during the pandemic are delegated to the 17 regional governments. For this reason, Madrid’s curfew is at 11pm whereas Andalucía’s is at 10pm. The city of Madrid is found within a region of the same name (la Comunidad de Madrid).

The most current information can be found on the Comunidad de Madrid’s COVID-19 information page (Spanish). Here are the highlights at the time of publication:

Vaccination and Vaccination Passports

Vaccination groups are determined by regional governments, though the Spanish government pays for and distributes the doses to them according to population. The federal government recently halted inoculations of AstraZeneca for an undetermined amount of time. April will be a month that determines the rhythm of vaccinations, and the Spanish government has announced that its goal is 70% or more of the population immune by September.

Currently, there is no need to present a vaccination passport.

Mobility Restrictions

At the moment, borders to the Comunidad de Madrid remain open, and the Comunidad will not close them despite encouraging citizens to limit movement unless necessary.

best churros in Seville

If you need to move in or out of a restricted ZBS, you will need a permission slip. Justified reasons include to attend a doctor’s appointment, for work or for educational purposes, or to care for another person who cannot take care of themselves.

Note: Madrid will be closed during the weekend of the Feast of Saint Joseph (Wednesday, March 17 through Sunday, March 21) and Holy Week (Friday, March 26 through Thursday, April 9).

Transportation

metro of Madrid

Madrid is a wonderful city for walking, and this is arguably the safest form of transportation. You can also rent a bike through BiciMadrid or a private outfitter, grab an Uber or local taxi on Cabify or use the Renfe commuter trains, Metro de Madrid or red city buses to get around. Contactless payment is preferred, masks are required and each mode of transport operates at a lower maximum occupancy with additional reinforcements at peak hours.

Dining and meeting with others

madrid-sunset-from-the-roof

Having visitors over to your home is still expressly forbidden, but social groups are allowed in small numbers: outdoors, you can be up to six people, whereas indoors are limited to four. Restaurant occupancy in Madrid is set to 50% indoors and 75% on terraces, restaurants are open for business until 11pm but cannot accept new diners after 10pm; takeaway options can continue to serve until midnight.

Shops

Shops and large shopping centers can be open during the day at up to 50% occupancy, so long as they are closed by 10 p.m. Exceptions to this would be any sort of business that is considered essential, such as pharmacies, vets or gas stations.

What to do in Madrid during the pandemic

Madrileños are having a field day enjoying their city in a springtime with fewer crowds. Theatres, movie theatres and cultural attractions can have up to 75% of their maximum occupancy filled, and large venues, 40%. Typical holiday celebrations have been postponed this year but Madrid boasts expansive parks, world-class museums and plenty of street life. Visit the official Madrid Tourism page to check what’s open and happening.

Madrid Plaza Mayor

You can also enjoy the province, so long as the ZBS is open.

As always, take normal precautions: wear a mask (it’s the law), socially distance, wash your hands frequently and don’t travel or go out of your home if you’re experiencing any symptoms compatible with COVID-19.

Traveling may be far from your mind, even with the long Holy Week celebrations around the corner. It’s really a double-edged sword: Spain’s tourism sector is reeling after an entire year (and more!) lost, yet it’s not wise to be free-wheeling . When it’s safe, I will be back in La Capi, gladly revisiting all of the places that made our years in Madrid special.

This post was written and published on March 17, 2021. At the time of publication, all information was current.

This post is in collaboration with Hotels.com, but all opinions are my own.

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