The lemon courtyard
The court Machado sang from childhood — poetry in situ.
Alonso de Mendoza — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gzzz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gzzz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gzzz — CC BY-SA 4.0
Las Dueñas is the house of Spain's most famous dukes and Seville's most alive palace: the fifteenth-century Mudéjar-Gothic residence where the legendary Duchess of Alba, Cayetana — Spain's richest and most press-beloved woman — lived until her death in 2015, opened since with its orchards and memories as she left them. Its charm is being a home, not a museum: lemon courtyards with bougainvillea devouring the arches, and collections where antiques mingle with family photos, bullfighting and flamenco mementoes — plus the memory of the poet Antonio Machado, born here when his father served the house, his lemon-courtyard verses on the walls. For lovers of gardens and living aristocratic houses it is the loveliest hour away from the crowds — ten minutes from the Setas in a quiet quarter showing local Seville.
The court Machado sang from childhood — poetry in situ.
Antiques, photos, flamenco and bullring — a duchess's whole life.
Calle Dueñas 5, 41003 Seville
Setas de Sevilla (Metropol Parasol)"The mushrooms" — as Sevillians named them on sight — form the world's largest t4 minutes walk4.3
Palace of the Countess of LebrijaThe Lebrija palace houses Seville's strangest passion: the antiquity-loving Coun6 minutes walk4.6
Casa de PilatosThe Casa de Pilatos is Seville's loveliest private palace — the little Alcázar w6 minutes walk4.3
Palacio de los Marqueses de la AlgabaA fifteenth-century palace in the Feria district north of the historic centre, t7 minutes walk4.5
Church of El SalvadorSeville's second largest church after the cathedral, standing on a square in the8 minutes walk4.7Pilatos is the greater art (the azulejos, the grand court); Dueñas the warmer life (orchards, personal memory). The unhurried join them with a ten-minute walk between — choosers decide by mood: art or life.