Una visita a Las Setas desde el punto de vista de una ‘turista’

¡Hola lector@! Me llamo Emma y soy estudiante de Erasmus en la UPO. He vivido en Sevilla hace 7 meses, y me encanta mucho. Espero que no le importe si escribo un poco en inglés de mis experiencias aquí en Andalucía.

 

Last week I went to visit Las Setas with my boyfriend whilst he was visiting me here in Seville. Because I am staying here for a year, I had to become an official resident of Spain. This means that instead of paying 15€ to go up Las Setas, I was able to go for free. This, however, did not stop me from feeling very much like tourist.

 

Las Setas is very impressive structure, boasting the title of the largest wooden structure in the world. At 150m long, 70m wide and 26m tall, it can be found in the very centre of the city, in the Plaza de la Encarnación. The structure was designed by an architect from Berlin called Jürgen Mayer. The construction cost 100 million euros, and it is estimated that, through taxes, it cost each citizen of Seville 143€. It seems that opinions on the structure are divided. It is certainly a great and lucrative tourist attraction, but some may think it does not quite fit with the other beautiful architecture that Seville has to offer.

While I cannot speculate more on what a true sevillano may think of Las Setas, I wanted to talk a bit about my own visit. I went in the evening, as the sun was setting. As we arrived, the Plaza was busy. A ‘paddle’ tournament was going on in the space underneath Las Setas. As you arrive into the square you cannot help but notice that the mushroom- like structure is a little incongruous with the rest of the city’s landscape. It is made of wood, instead of stone. Its edges are curved, whilst the rest of the buildings are constructed with straight lines. It is also turns purple at night.

 

When we reached the top, we were invited to watch a short film called ‘Feeling Sevilla’ (I have not translated the title, it is in English). The film shows all the things I might have related to Seville before coming here. There are flamenco dancers, matadors and great drone views of La Giralda. The scene has been set for us: the experience we are about to have will centre around Seville as a city and as a culture. We walk along the walkways to the ‘mirador’, a view point where you can see all of Seville. It is a really amazing view of the city. We stay up there and watched the sunset, surrounded by other (mostly non-Spanish) people doing the same thing.

After being up there for about 20 minutes appreciating the view, we decided to come back down. I think Las Setas is a brilliant way to see all of Seville. However, that seems to be its main function: a viewpoint. The rest of the sculpture, whilst being very impressive, is not quite as functional.

 

Overall, as a tourist, I very much enjoyed my visit to Las Setas. I got some great photos, and I watched the sun set over my favourite city. However, I can understand why people that live here permanently may have mixed feelings about the structure. It was paid for through the taxes of the people that live here, and they can go up for free. However, from what I saw, it was not citizens climbing Las Setas, but other tourists, here for perhaps only a week or two.

Fuentes:

https://sevilla.abc.es/sevilla/sevi-setas-encarnacion-costaran-ahora-cada-sevillano-euros-201001300300-1133418885207_noticia.html

https://www.visitasevilla.es/en/more-see/las-setas