Seville: 8 places to Visit Nuns with Sweets
. . .and sometimes other stuff for sale.
Choices we recommend buying are marked with *
Hours are included with the photos after each, along with pictures of the facade and the purchases.
1. Santa Ines
Location: C. Doña María Coronel, 5 This is right around the corner from the Setas de Sevilla!
This convent sales room features a privacy turnstile (torno), so you won’t see the nun who is selling to you. After you have looked at the menu, press the doorbell on the left and tell the nun what you would like. She’ll put your items on the turnstile and you exchange payment for your items and turn it back to her. She will put change in and send it around if you are owed money.
*Tortas de Aceite: like a thin cracker–not sweet–and then glazed and with a slight anise flavor. These were pretty good; Dan liked them better than Sarah did. Six are individually wrapped in wax paper with the convent logo, which is pretty cute. Since they are already like crackers, they’d probably stay fresh for awhile, but would need a box to protect them from breaking in luggage.
*Tortas de Polvoron: We both liked these best so they get the top rating. This is a good shortbread cookie. They are individually wrapped so stand a greater chance of staying fresh until you get home.
Tortas de Chocolate: Since we liked the tortas de polvoron we had high hopes for a chocolate version, but it really just changes the color and not the flavor.
Empanadillas de Cidre: these are soft, in a good way, and stuffed with squash that has been candied. Unfortunately, it all just tastes sweet, not of anything in particular.
Pastas de Santa Ines: these are supposed to be lemon-flavored shortbread we think, but they were a little too crumbly, sweet, dry, with no lemon flavor.
Bollitos de Santa Ines: these small balls reminded us of stale hallah.
2. Convento Madre de Dios
Location: C. San Jose 4
*Naranjitos Sevillanos: fans of marzipan will like these small, round treats with a candied orange piece in the center and glazed with orange. They are moist and soft. Also, it is packaged in such a way that it would likely transport well and stay fresh, so could make a nice gift.
*Bocadito Arabe: A triangular cookie covered in powdered sugar, we gave it a star because if you like a dry Christmas cookie, you might like this one. It has a Christmas-y flavor from cloves and cinnamon. Also, it is packaged in such a way that it would likely transport well and stay fresh, so could make a nice gift.
Exterior of Madre de Dios
hours Madre de Dios
marzipan with orange (bottom) was great
menu
The nun who helped us; you can also see the items for sale behind her
another resident of the convent
Nuns chatting
3. Real Monasterio de San Clemente
Location: Calle Reposo, 9
Getting into this one was fun, the nuns know how to package their stuff, and they have wine, desserts, candles and a few other things. If you are there during posted business hours for the bakery, ring the bell on the left side of the main gate. When the nun answered, we asked “el torno esta abierto?” and she said (in Spanish) yes, and turn right and then right again. Then the gate opened! We went in through a small door at the left and the door to the torno is in the back right of the lovely courtyard.
*Corazon Santa Gertrudis: for sure this wins on presentation; it’s heart-shaped and about 5″ wide. It’s in a baking paper, and then wrapped in plastic so might keep a few days? You would need a box to protect it in luggage. It is moist, sweet but not too sweet, and almondy. If you like marzipan, you will probably like this.
Bizcocho Yogurt: this is a loaf cake, baked in a disposable foil and packaged in plastic with a colored tie. Flavor was good but it was a tad dry.
*Mermeladade Limon (Orange also available): Jam. Unfortunately, the flavor here is not a winner. The Limon tasted bitter while simultaneously having too much sugar. The ingredients are good, just sugar and lemon. Still, the label is cute and if you are going to bring back a souvenir or gift of orange jam, perhaps theirs is worth trying even though the limon was not good.
*Candles: you can get a candle personalized with someone’s name. The nun who helped us buy sweets said they were really busy with Santa Samana orders, so they needed about a day to personalize.
Wine: we didn’t try any, but they have three types, made there.
4. El Torno
Location: Avienda de la Constitucion 24, Plaza del Cabildo 2 From la Constitucion, turn down a small street into the Plaza–looks like you are entering a small mall from the outside, but inside it is a semicircular courtyard off of which there are a few stores, including El Torno.
This shop is near the big cathedral. Purchases benefit the cathedral; they buy sweets from several convents in the greater metropolitan area. We purchased items here from convents outside the city-center, since we could not get to them personally. If you do not have time to visit several convent bakeries in Seville, you can make one stop here and find a decent selection. They are also open during some festivals and hours when the convents are closed.
Borrachuelos from Monasterio de Monjas Minimas: very slight anis flavor, soft, sweet
5. Monasterio de Santa Paula
Location: Calle Sta. Paula, 11
Ring the bell if you have arrived during the posted open hours. You will be buzzed in. The church has hired an assistant to take care of sales and she will meet you, and show you through the courtyard to the bakery office. She will also ask if you want the tour for 5 Euros: a three-room museum and entry to the main church courtyard and chapel. They have a nice collection of religious art.
This is another convent that wins for several reasons: extensive offering of jams and jellies, some good cookies, packaged nicely enough to gift, plus the chance to see a bit more of the building, as described above. Here is there website.
*Alfajores Mozarabes: this are small cylinders, individually wrapped in silver foil and then in colorful cellophane, and boxed. They are moist with a clove and anise flavoring.
*Jams: we’ll let you know how they taste when we get home. There is an extensive offering of jams and jellies, and we picked two we can’t find stateside: chestnut cream and membrillo jam. They have a chart that translates all of the fruit names in to several languages, in case you are not adept at googletranslate with photo on your phone (which we recommend).
They also sell torrijas during semana santa, and were the only place we saw on our trip that had wine-flavored ones. We didn’t try them, because it’s just too much sugar for us, but if you want to try just one and you are here in March-April, you might try theirs.
6. Santa Maria de Jesus
Location: C. Águilas, 22
3 types of cookies, all with the same revue: Pastas de San Francisco, Tortas de Santa Clara, Pastas Sevillanas con Chocolate. These were all too dry for our liking without any strong flavors to make up for the dryness. The chocolate ones had sub-par chocolate as a coating.
7. Convento San Leandro
Location: Pl. San Ildefonso, 1
This convent gets a lot of visitors looking for sweets because it is the oldest. We looked at the menu and bought nothing because we had tried other versions of what they had and found them too sweet to eat. They also had a pretty limited menu.
8. Carmello de Santa Ana
Location: C/ Santa Ana, 34
They had only 2 things for sale and we did not try either. They use the tourno system.