Seville is shaping up as one of the wonders of the modern world. The fourth largest city in Spain, it has been transformed in recent years by the preparation for the Universal Expo of 1992, with an entirely new urban infrastructure, the Cartuja, created to host the event. It is an architectural spectacle the like of which has not been seen in southern Europe for centuries. This exists alongside some of Arab and ecclesiatical buildings in the peninsula, which are described in this book. The city's heyday was the legendary Spanish Age of Gold, when the country, and Seville in particular, were enriched by untold wealth from across Columbus' ocean. Seville was also the first city of the Inquisition, an experience it may have thought it had forgotten until the fanatical General Queipo de Llano took up residence in the Andalusian capital in the opening days of the Civil War and inflicted a terror on the populace which may since have been forgiven but not forgotten. Then there is Carmen, bullfighting, the Feria, flamenco, sherry, cuisine and a political scene as exists in any progressive metropolis. Sarah Jane Evans casts a light on all these areas and more. The author also wrote A Traveller's Guide to the Spanish Menu