Did you know Seville is a real port city?

On the left side of the Guadalquivir is the district of El Arenal. El Arenal has been translated for sand and this district has been given its name by the sand plain that used to lie here. The district of El Arenal was especially important in the past because the port was located here. Seville was one of the most important ports in the world.

In the past, the Guadalquivir was very important for transport in the area. This certainly led to the development of Seville at the beginning. Nowadays, the city is much less dependent on the port. Though, Seville remains an in-land port city up to date and is unique in its kind on the Spanish mainland, as the Guadalquivir river is the only river in Spain that permits real transportation traffic by boat. This is a special fact knowing Seville lays around 80km as the bird flies from the Atlantic ocean´s shores.

In the canal where the port used to be, there is a ship to be seen, the Nao Victoria. This ship was the only ship to return to Seville after it had made its first voyage around the world in the 16th century. It took NAO Victoria 3 years to do this. During this trip, new countries were discovered, and coastlines mapped. We might state that without this journey, the world would have looked very different now. The replica of the NAO Victoria was built in Spain to respect the historic shipbuilding industry.

Is the NAO Victoria the ship on which Columbus has made its journey of discovery? No, Columbus first journey he started in Palos de la Frontera. From there, his voyage that led to the discovery of the Americas started with 3 ships: The Santa Maria, La Niña and La Pinzón. The replicas of these 3 ships can be seen in a place outside Palos de la Frontera, called Muelle de las Carabelas.

Did you know that Seville also had a real American harbor? Muelle de Nueva York is a beautiful pier located on the Sevilian edge of the Guadalquivir. This pier was built in 1905 so that the ships that left for the United States could do it from there. The place is still a popular location to visit for students to have drinks at the terraces called Manhattan and New York. A nice fact: When the Duke of Montpensier lived in the palace of San Telmo, there was a tunnel that connected the pier and the palace of San Telmo, so that the duke could easily embark towards Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where he had his summer palace.

Do you want to see the Nao Victoria and the place where the old port was in real life? Then look at our website, because with our Daily Tour we pass through here as well!</p>