Parking in Seville

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parking in sevilleFinding safe well-located parking in Seville can not only be difficult but also expensive. We are happy to announce that we now have an arrangement with three centrally-located underground parking lots and are able to offer reduced rates for our apartment guests. Our discounted rates are:

  • 1 day:  10 €
  • 1 week:  60 €
  • 2 weeks: 90 €
  • 1 month: 120 €

Because the car parks are located on the ring road they are easy to find and convenient to reach, and if you need to take a taxi to reach your apartment, the money you’ve saved on parking will pay for it.

Visit our Parking Information Page to find out how to arrange for this special reduced-rate parking during your stay with us.

parking lotsP1 – Mercado del Arenal | P2 – Mercado de Triana | P3 – José Laguillo

Malaga | Welcome to Veoapartment in Málaga

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This week our new Málaga page goes live on our website, and it gives us great pleasure to be able to offer a selection of high quality holiday rental apartments in another of Andalucía’s beautiful and historic cities alongside Seville and Granada.

malaga view from gibralfaro

Málaga is the principal city of the Costa del Sol, one of the first parts of Spain to become popular with tourists from the north of Europe looking for sun, sea and sand, and though it still has all of these, and a buzzy cosmopolitan feel besides, there’s a lot more to the Málaga experience these days.

For those with a taste for history, there’s plenty in Málaga. The city was founded around 770 BC by the Phoenicians (a piece of their city wall can be seen in the basement of the Picasso Museum), passed to the Romans (the Roman theatre was rediscovered by accident in 1951), and later to the Moors, who were here from 711 to 1487, and have understandably left a considerable mark on the old city, notably the Alcazaba palace-fortress and the Gibralfaro castle on the hill above. To the Christian period belong the Cathedral, the Bullring, the harbour, and much of the general appearance of the old city, with an important period of civic development in the late 19th and early 20th century that included the main shopping street (Calle Larios), Parque Málaga, and parts of the harbour.

Although the western part of the city and a small area on the east side of the harbour have some high rise blocks developed during the first tourism boom of the sixties and seventies, Málaga is an amazingly pretty city, surrounded by mountains that come down to the sea, seafront promenades with avenues of palm trees, beautiful gardens, grand squares, and picturesque narrow streets.

malaga port

For a view of the whole city take a bus up to the Gibralfaro and have a drink on the terrace of the Parador Hotel. For culture, go to the Picasso Museum (Picasso was born in Málaga), the Carmen-Thyssen Museum and the Contemporary Arts Centre. For shopping go to Calle Larios, Atarazanas Food Market, or the new Muelle Uno development on the harbour. Take a walk along the seafront to the fishing village of Pedregalejo. Eat at some of our recommended restaurants and tapas bars.

And, of course, stay in one of our well equipped and perfectly located holiday apartments.

Granada Apartments with Parking

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Although cars are generally not much help in getting around the picturesque narrow streets in the old centres of Spain’s historic cities, many people nowadays are choosing to visit several destinations on their vacations, spending a few nights in each place, and find that a car is essential for these journeys.

san jose 1San Jose 1

This is not without its problems. Many hotels and apartments, particularly in those neighbourhoods close to the sights and monuments, don’t have garage parking, or if they do there are only limited spaces available, or they are offsite, sometimes several streets away.

Veoapartment has just acquired two fantastic holiday rental apartments in Granada with their own private parking that combine the best of both worlds. Located in the old Moorish quarter of the Albaicín in a building with many traditional architectural features including a plant-filled central courtyard and balconies, the apartments have light, modern, uncluttered interiors with everything you could need for a comfortable stay.

san jose terraceSan Jose Terrace

San Jose 1 is a one bedroom duplex apartment for up to four people, and San Jose Terrace a two bedroom apartment for up to six. Both have fabulous views over the city to the cathedral and beyond.

The Ayuntamiento, Seville’s historic town hall

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Considered to be one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Spain, Seville’s Ayuntamiento or Town Hall, can be found in the city centre between the Plaza San Francisco and the Plaza Nueva, about five minutes walk from the Cathedral along the Avenida de la Constitución.

ayuntamiento sevilla

Until the end of the Middle Ages, the Cabildo (City Council) met in buildings in the Corral de los Olmos, now the Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes behind the Cathedral, but as wealth flowed into the city following the discovery of America in 1492 the decision was taken to build a new town hall in the Plaza San Francisco, in front of the Franciscan monastery which then occupied the whole of what is now the Plaza Nueva and its adjacent streets and gave its name to the Plaza.

Work began in 1526 under the direction of the architect Diego de Riaño, and by 1556 the building was ready to hold the first meeting of the council in its new headquarters. This first stage of the building was limited to the southern end of what we see today, and is notable both for being built in stone (before this only the Cathedral had used stone, brick being the normal material), and its ornate plateresque decoration, including grotesques, symbols of justice, and representations of Hercules and Julius Caesar, regarded as the founders of the city. The arch at the end, with its Cervantes plaque, once gave access to the carriage yard of the monastery.

In 1840, already almost in ruins following occupation by the French during the Napoleonic wars, two fires, and the amortization of the monasteries, the Franciscan monastery was finally demolished, and the land passed into the ownership of the city. Three decades of planning, replanning, and lack-of-finance induced delays later, the Plaza Nueva came into being. As part of this development, the Town Hall was extended, and a new Neo-Classical facade added facing the new square. On the Plaza San Francisco side, the stonework of the extension was prepared for decorative carving in keeping with the older part of the building, but the work was never completed.

It’s now possible to see inside the building, including the Grand Staircase and the council chamber with its vaulted ceiling, with guided tours on Mondays to Thursdays starting at 4.30pm and 7.30pm and on Saturdays at 10.00am, price 4 euros (tours in Spanish only).

plaza nueva terrace

Just around the corner is our Plaza Nueva B apartment, a spacious one-bedroom flat with two terraces for up to four people.

Granada | Las Cruces de Mayo – May Crosses

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Also known as La Fiesta de las Cruces (the Festival of Crosses), the Cruz de Mayo is a spring flower festival widely celebrated in Spain, most especially in the south, in Andalucia, on May 3, and in some localities also on the days around. As you might expect of a flower festival, this is one of the most vibrantly colourful events of the year, even in a country noted for being colourful.

Although the celebrations have long had an official religious justification (May 3 is said to be the date when Saint Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, discovered the pieces of the True Cross), its origins are almost certainly Pagan, and probably evolved from the ancient Roman festival of Liberalia.

Although many places add their own local elements to the celebrations, the basic features are common everywhere. Groups of neighbours make big crosses out of flowers to decorate their patios, plazas and street corners, and this often takes the form of a competition, with prizes for the best displays. Red and white carnations predominate in the crosses, but other spring flowers, local ceramics, shawls (on the balconies), candles, and even copper pots may appear around them. Their may also be processions with floats and marching bands.

The Cruz de Mayo in Granada is one of the biggest and most popular, with the working class districts of the Albaicin and Realejo being the places to go to see the displays, and to join in with the singing and dancing. In the past it was traditional to set up temporary bars near the crosses, but for better or worse, in these more regimented times the custom has largely disappeared, though the tapas bars are still lively and full.

In Seville the festival of the crosses has enjoyed something of a revival in recent decades, having been eclipsed in the 20th century by Semana Santa and the April Fair, and the decline of the traditional patios de vecinos. It’s a joy to see the colour and vibrancy returned to the streets.

For some great places to stay in Seville and Granada visit the veoapartment webpage.