Here you see the landmark Edificio La Adriática in Avenida de la Constitución, now reduced to housing cheap & cheesy souvenir shops. Below was once a traditional family-run shop in Calle Francos that is now a tacky “express market” catering to the tourists living in all the holiday apartments in the area. It’s bad enough that we’ve already lost Barrio Santa Cruz to this sort of crass tourist-focused commercialism, but now it’s spreading further afield. There is almost no more affordable decent housing in the Casco Antiguo. Likewise, independent shops have been closing in droves, only to be replaced with shit like this.

Yes, tourism is one of the most important industries in Sevilla. Heck, it is also (in part) how I make a living. But by destroying the centre of town like this, what will be left to attract people here? Before long what was once one of the most charming and beautiful cities in Spain will soon become a wasteland filled with tacky shops, awful bars and restaurants, and streets filled with huge tourist groups. Wait… soon become? It’s already happening. Shocking that the local government is just looking at the short term profits. You’d think the Spanish would have learned by now that if you over-fish an area then soon there is nothing left. I hope there is still time to turn this terrible greed-fueled trend around.