Plan a Gap Year Abroad in Spain

CIEE's Gap Year Abroad offers high school graduates an incredible opportunity to go abroad and immerse themselves in the Spanish language, culture, and environment.

It is said that Seville's finest art is its joy. Andalucía's capital and biggest city inspired the sultry Carmen, the legendary Don Juan and the ingenious Figaro. It is the home of flamenco and bullfighting. It gave the world the great Renaissance painters Velásquez and Murillo. The concept of tapas was invented here, and delicious food and drink are synonymous with its name. Passion and inspiration are words that define it.

Built on the banks of the river Guadalquivir, Seville's mild climate, offering about 3000 hours of sun per year, made Phoenicians and Carthaginians and later Romans settle here. It is one of the largest historical centers of Europe, and its heyday began with Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492. Laden with gold and treasures from the New World, the Spanish treasure fleet's destination was Seville's Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold), and the city was awarded an official monopoly on Spanish trade with the new-found continent, labeling it as the puerto y puerta de Indias (port and gateway of the Indies). Seville holds the most important archive of the Spanish administration in the Americas, the Archivo General de Indias.

Before Ferdinand and Isabel ruled Spain from the royal Alcazar Palace, Seville was one of the last footholds of the great Moorish empire that ruled the Iberian Peninsula for about 800 years, and it maintains remnants of the architecture of that period. Although the past is remembered and preserved, modern Seville is the commercial hub of Andalucía. It was the home of Expo 92 World's Fair, which marked the 500th anniversary of Columbus's great voyage. This event brought Seville eight new bridges, (among them the stunning Alamillo Bridge by Santiago Calatrava), the super fast AVE rail link to Madrid, a new opera house and millions of visitors. Seville's economy is now flourishing with a mix of tourism, technology, industry and commerce, all in evidence on its most famous shopping street, the narrow and stylish Calle Sierpes. Life is lived in the outdoor cafes, tapas bars and late-dining restaurants.

A city of superlatives, Seville is reputed to have the most festive and romantic annual Feria, a week-long festival of horses, colors, dance and feasting, as well as the most elaborate Semana Santa, or Holy Week, when hooded penitents march in nightly processions followed by enormous baroque floats containing statues of Christian icons adorned with flowers and candles, flanked by the mixed crowds of tourists and devotees. A moveable fiesta, that is Sevilla.

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