A day in photos.
You can also read about it below …
As promised, yesterday started off looking like rain, but as it wasn’t raining when I left for my yoga class I foolishly forgot to take an umbrella with me. Later on, when I was half-way through my session on The Bike the skies opened up and there was even a sideshow with plenty of thunder & lightning. Oops. I hoped that the rain would let up a bit by the time I finished and when I finally got off the bike and looked out the window, there was Nog (my hero!) standing out in the patio with two umbrellas [1]. Awww…
After my rescue we went over to a nearby Horno San Buenaventura and had some lovely hot toasted molletes and coffee [2] before going home. And then began the quest for heat. Last year the livingroom wall mounted heater broke and so I decided that, since I took the door off my bedroom last summer and there was no point in turning on the heat in my bedroom anymore, I moved that heater into the livingroom. After a couple of hours the room started to feel a bit warmish & even cosy, though I still had to wear three layers and a scarf. And you can see that Azar was also enjoying himself, basking in the glow of a second space heater [3].
Most of the afternoon was spent working on a couple of projects, catching up on email correspondence and I also updated some posts on Sevilla Tapas. After lunch Nog & I watched a film on TV and then he had to go out and teach. Weird coincidence … I had twittered that photo of Nog standing in the patio earlier on and got a response from WeeRascal saying that it reminded him of a scene from Pretty Woman. When I told Nog about this (he’s never seen PW) I also mentioned a film with Julia Roberts I had really liked called Erin Brockovitch … and THAT was the film that came on after lunch. Spooky.
Around 8 o’clock I was feeling kind of restless from having been indoors most of the day, so I arranged to meet Nog after his last class and go for a walk. While passing through the square in front of the cathedral I was surprised to find it almost completely deserted [4]. It’s usually quite full of people wandering around. It was also getting a bit misty, which made for a very calm and pretty setting. Walking through the Plaza Nueva [5] there were a few more people strolling about while others prepared their booths for the Christmas Market (which starts today!).
After meeting Nog we decided to go for a drink and a tapa on the way home and I suggested going to Puracepa as Nog had still not tried The Best Damn Ensaladilla In Town [6]. I had only discovered this myself when I was out with the 11870.com guys a couple of weeks ago. So we enjoyed some wine and had our snack and then, walking back home near the cathedral, I was surprised to see the top of the Giralda tower shrouded in fog [7]. As we turned the corner and walked into the square we saw that it was also completely covered in mist [8], which I thought made it look almost unbearably pretty. And looking up at the Giralda again we could barely see the top of it. [9] And I had one of those magical moments in which I am quite overwhelmed by just how beautiful Sevilla is.
Then it was back home to snibble a little black cat.
Life is good.
casa azahar 
I never feel that city life is for me, but an array of photos like that makes me think . . .
LikeLike
Lovely photos – and the Xmas lights in the trees look so pretty.
You wouldn’t believe the tackiness of some of the ones round here.
LikeLike
All those pics were taken with my iPhone. I’ve found it’s actually better for taking night photos and close-ups than my Casio point & shoot digital camera.
Sevilla feels more like a big village than a city, Johnny. And since I rarely leave the old centre, it has a definite cosy feel to it. But with enough “city stuff” to keep me diverted.
There were some quite tacky Christmas lights in Málaga that I loved, Teuchter. This year in Seville the lights seem quite minimalist. Which is also very pretty, but does tend to get a bit samey after awhile. Also, I don’t like the blue lights in the trees. They used to be white. Blue lights just aren’t Christmassy to me.
But the misty square and later the fog rolling in … took my breath away.
LikeLike
I have never understood the blue light thing myself. The more colors, the better in my book.
Sevilla is the most beautiful of cities, and the old town really does have a very villagey feel to it.
It must be lunchtime, I’m hungry. too bad no tapas bars here. . . Glad you had a good day and make sure and count your blessings for getting to live in such a beautiful place with such wonderful food.
LikeLike
wow, pictures 5 and 9 are my favourites, I think. Beautiful and really atmospheric. You could kind of imagine monks and medieval peasants walking by…
LikeLike
I remember thinking something similar when I visited the cathedral in Chester, woo.
LikeLike
Some of my neighbours (whose lights went up the day after Hallowe’en) go all out every year. This year is no exception. I have to take a photo of the one monstrosity in the co-op… The ONLY thing I like on his lawn are these neat Christmas trees make from blue LED light coils. Mind you… One or two would be fine but he has 5, I think.
Last year he had those hideous inflatable decorations which look bad enough when inflated. On a soggy Christmas morning when they have deflated and are lying in a puddle of muddy slush look even worse.
A house down the main road near here has so many lights, I think it is visible from space. Every year at least once, the local TV weather man does a report from his lawn.
Taffy Lane, in Orleans (a suburb or Ottawa) always has a huge display and thousands of cars drive bumper-to-bumper to see them. One resident simply put a large sheet over his garage door with “Bah Humbug” painted on it. My sentiments, exactly.
This year, now that I have a lovely new floor and the place doesn;t smell of cat pee, we are going to get the first real tree we have had in years and the first one at this house. With my mother getting older, I want to have a real tree. She loves them and I don’t know how many Christmases she has left. I don’t want to say “I meant to get a tree for her last year but didn’t…”. Besides, nothing makes it Christmassy without the smell of a REAL tree!
LikeLike
Just make sure you don’t end up with an unexpected ornament!
LikeLike
I meant to saw… I love foggy city streets….
LikeLike
Ahh…I love the photos, and the accompanying narrative. Sevilla is such a beautiful place, even in dreary weather, it seems.
I confess that I like the way those blue lights look in the photos. I agree they don’t look terribly Christmassy, though.
LikeLike
They used to always be white fairy lights until about five years ago. I blame the Corte Inglés. They’ve always put up blue lights at Christmas and I suspect this is a form of subliminal advertising on their part.
LikeLike