Things to do
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Fortress
Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla
The fortified west gate of the old town, rebuilt and strengthened over two thousand years, with the tourist office just inside the arch. Stairs lead up to the terraces and the Torre del Oro, which give the widest view over the rooftops, the church towers and the plain. Entry is ticketed and free on Mondays. Come early in summer, because the terraces have no shade.
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Landmark
Ayuntamiento de Carmona
The town hall fills a former Jesuit college on Calle El Salvador, and its inner courtyard holds a Roman floor mosaic found in the town, with a head of Medusa at the centre. Entry is free on weekday mornings and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The courtyard takes ten minutes and lies on the way between the Plaza de San Fernando and the market.
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Monastery
Convento de Santa Clara
A convent of Poor Clare nuns in the upper town, with a Mudéjar church, a cloister and paintings from the circle of Zurbarán. The nuns still live here and sell their own cakes and biscuits through a revolving hatch. Visits are ticketed, and the convent closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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Church
Iglesia de San Pedro
A church just outside the Puerta de Sevilla whose bell tower, known as the Giraldilla, copies the top of the Giralda in Seville and is the first landmark seen on the road in. Inside, the sacrament chapel is covered in gilded baroque plasterwork. It stands at the end of the Paseo del Estatuto, where the bus from Seville stops, so it makes an easy first or last visit.
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Museum
Museo de la Ciudad
Housed in the Palacio del Marqués de las Torres beside Santa María, the town museum follows the hill and its plain from prehistory to the present day. The strongest rooms hold Tartessian and Roman finds, including painted pottery and carved stone. Entry is ticketed and free on Tuesdays, and an hour is enough. The palace courtyard and its upper gallery are worth a look on the way out.
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Archaeological Site
Necrópolis Romana
A Roman cemetery cut into the soft rock on the western edge of town, with hundreds of family tombs and a small site museum. The Tomb of Servilia, laid out like a house around a courtyard, is the grandest. Entry is free for EU citizens, the site closes on Mondays, and it shuts at three on Sundays and every day from late June to late September. The amphitheatre opposite opens only on guided weekend visits.
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Hotel
Parador de Carmona
The state parador fills the ruins of the Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro, a Moorish fortress at the eastern tip of the ridge that a medieval king made his palace. Guests drive in through the walls and park inside. Ask for a room facing the Vega, the plain below, and book the terrace restaurant for the evening light. Visitors who are not staying can take a coffee on the terrace.
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Market
Plaza de Abastos
Stalls of fruit, fish, olives and local oil fill this arcaded market square in the morning, a few steps from the town hall. Small bars under the arches serve tapas from late morning, and the square stays quieter than the Plaza de San Fernando. Spinach with chickpeas, a Seville-province staple, turns up on the tapas boards.
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Landmark
Plaza de San Fernando
An irregular square at the heart of the old town, ringed by houses with painted and tiled fronts, the Renaissance former town hall and café terraces. Locals call it the Plaza de Arriba. Its café terraces fill for the evening walk and for tapas at lunch, and the lanes towards Santa María and Santa Clara climb away from its upper side.
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Church
Prioral de Santa María de la Asunción
The main church of the old town, a Gothic building raised over the mosque, whose ablutions courtyard survives as the Patio de los Naranjos, with horseshoe arches and orange trees. One of its columns carries a Visigothic church calendar cut into the stone. Inside, a tall gilded altarpiece fills the east end. Entry is ticketed, the church closes on Mondays, and it shuts for a long break in the middle of the day.
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Monument
Puerta de Córdoba
The east gate, built on Roman foundations and given a classical front around 1800, at the far end of the old town from the Puerta de Sevilla. The walk between the two gates crosses the whole historic centre in about twenty minutes. Outside the arch, a terrace looks straight down over the Vega, the farm plain that runs east towards Córdoba, and the road below follows the old Roman way.
