Group Seville Jewish Quarter and Cathedral

Guide needed guidance

Tour guide lacked historical knowledge🧐. She should have know some factual history of the areas she was showing.

via Viator

Private tour of Santa Cruz ( the Jewish Quarter) and Cathedral

My wife and I visited Seville for part of our honeymoon in February 2018. We had two tour guides during our trip- Danny for the Jewish Quarter and Maria for the Cathedral. Before I get into the meat of the review I should note that while our tour began at 2:00 the cathedral was set to close at 4:00 on this day. We received a call the night prior to the tour confirming that our guide for the day would meet us at the hotel at two. We wish that the rep who called us had given us the option the night before to have us meet at the cathedral at 2:00 to do that first. Because we didn't know, our tour was cut short from 3 hours to 2. Our first guide was Danny, a young man from Italy who has been living in Spain for the last 8 years. He had a wonderful grasp on the history of Santa Cruz and offered excellent insight into Spanish culture (he is Italian so it was an interesting perspective). He took us into the labyrinthine neighborhood and helped us anchor enough landmarks that when we came back on our own later in the trip we didn't get lost! That is a miracle in and of itself. He translated signs for us, gave us multiple stories about the folklore of the area and had a real pathos for the stories he told. When we met up with Maria at 3:15 we found out the Cathedral was closing early. She did offer that we could come back another day, but unfortunately we booked several day-long excursions for our remaining time in Seville. We elected to rush through the Cathedral with her, and honestly it was a good choice. Maria told us she only works in the Alcazar and Cathedral. We expected a real expertise considering that these are her only territories. The cathedral was beautiful, and Maria gave us some interesting highlights in the limited time we had. But when we asked questions she had very little information to draw on. She pointed out several images of the two patron saints of the city, Justa and Rufina who are often featured together in paintings. When we asked which one was which she didn't know. The same with a giant candelabra that featured several figures. "Who are they?" We asked. She didn't know. My wife and I speak enough Spanish that we could determine from a sign that the candelabra features the apostles, minus Judas, with three Marys. Since she is in the cathedral every day, we expected her to know this kind of information. She tried to make things up to us by bringing us up the Giralda Tower, which she told us she doesn't normally do, but on our way up, we asked, "Oh what are they showing in these exhibition areas" on the way up the tower. "Stuff they found in the cathedral." On a private tour, even with limited time, we expected more than "Stuff." TL;DR Danny was Great, Maria was whatever. Use the audioguide for the cathedral.

Response from the operator: We really appreciate the feedback! Many thanks.

via Tripadvisor