Traversing seville

Soy-marinated tuna belly with black olive tapenade is served at La Azotea. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Backroom flamenco

Walk in any direction and you're bound to stumble on a touristy flamenco show, but for something with a bit more grit, head across the Guadalquivir River to the old Gypsy district of Triana, which was a major hub for the development of the musical style.

Join the line of locals outside Casa Anselma, the salon of a celebrated local dancer who works the door herself when it opens at midnight. Those who make it past her are then packed in for a wonderfully raucous unplugged back-room show of good old-fashioned, foot-stomping, booze-fueled flamenco. Entrance is free, but buy a drink or risk the wrath of Anselma.

Convent cookies

As rosary sales have fallen off, many of Seville's lovely monasteries have found alternative sources of income in recent years by selling baked goods, often made from recipes handed down for centuries.

The Convento de San Leandro is famous for its yemas de San Leandro, sugary pastry balls made with egg yolk and a hint of lemon, a recipe that is said to date back to the 15th century.

Try the rich dulces de chocolate or pestinos, a traditional Holy Week pastry of dough fried in olive oil and glazed in honey, at the 17th-century Convento de Santa Ana, which is also known for its 1627 wooden altarpiece depicting Mary and St. Anne made by Juan Martinez Montanes, an important Sevillian sculptor known as the "God of Wood." Finally, stop into the Convento de Santa Paula to admire its 13th-century Gothic tower and take home a jar of delectable quince or fig preserves.

At any of these places, you won't pay more than 6 euros for a treat.

Time travel

Headquartered in the Metropol Parasol, Past View takes a high-tech spin on the historical walking tour. After being outfitted with iPhone-rigged video glasses, you'll be guided by a somewhat overqualified history scholar through the old center of Seville, where hologram projections and site-specific video re-enactments offer you an "augmented reality" experience, imbuing the ancient squares with the long-dead protagonists and world-historical events of their past.

You'll visit the Plaza de San Francisco in 1597 as the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes is thrown in prison for embezzlement (an inexplicably Irish-accented Spaniard offers a play-by-play of the action) and view Alcazar palace in 1198, when the city was part of the medieval Islamic state of Al-Andalus. A two-hour city tour costs 15 euros.

The New York Times