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Category Archives: andalucia

life imitating art

14 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by azahar in andalucia, art, fiestas, flamenco, sevilla, spain

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

easter week, semana santa, sevilla, seville, spain

Every year there is a competition for the official posters for Semana Santa and the Fiestas de Primavera. This year’s winner for the latter is Nuria Barrera. Called La Alma de Sevilla (Soul of Sevilla) it is a still life full of Sevillano symbolism.

Hanging in the wardrobe are three nazareno tunics from the Macarena, Los Negritos and Amargura brotherhoods, alongside two flamenco dresses by local designer Lina. On the wardrobe shelf above there is a wide-brimmed straw hat trimmed with a Triana green ribbon, plus silk shawls and gypsy accessories. Below we can see a drum from the Maestro Tejera band and some clothes worn by costaleros. Hanging on the left-hand door is a 2013 Easter poster (by the same author) of the Immaculate Conception of Murillo, a picture of El Cachorro and a sticker from the 1992 Expo’92. On the right door of the wardrobe there is a mirror with the Giralda being reflected through an open balcony.

Other details include a pot of red carnations and rosemary, corresponding nazareno footwear under each tunic, the traditional striped cushion used at the bullring, polka-dot flamenco shoes and an enea (wicker) chair with a capirote and hood from the Macarena hermandad. Classic Sevillano floor tiling completes the scene. Seriously, this is The Very Best Poster I have ever seen for the fiestas and I seriously want one.

alma sevilla 2

Meanwhile, a friend came across this bit of wonderfulness. Just around the corner from the San Juan de la Palma church, in calle Viriato, a lovely gentleman has recreated this poster in his patio and has left the doors open so people can admire his handiwork. I found the house yesterday and the man was standing in the doorway with Semana Santa music coming from inside the house, and he was inviting people to go in and have a look. Here you can see them together…

alma sevilla

sue & monty

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by azahar in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours, wine

I have “known” travel and food writer Sue Style on Twitter for a few years now, and we’ve even collaborated on a couple of articles about Sevilla and Andalucía. So I was thrilled to find out we were finally going to have a chance to meet in person.

Sue and her husband Monty were travelling with friends in Jerez and said they would have a free day in Sevilla before their flight left on the evening of lunes santo (Holy Monday) at the start of Semana Santa. This turned out to be a bit trickier than I had considered, with traffic issues and whatnot, but in the end we managed to get together for a lovely afternoon tapeo.

After a plate of perfectly sliced jamón Ibérico and some fabulous Goya manzanilla pasada at Las Teresas we headed over to La Azotea Santa Cruz for our “main course”. One of our favourite dishes was the courgette and anchovy salad with frozen grated goat cheese. Sue loved it so much she was inspired to create her own version of it when she got home to Alsace.

As we have a mutual friend in San Sebastián – the lovely Gabriella Ranelli of Tenedor Tours (aka Shawn of the North 😉 ) – I’m thinking it would be fun to organize a San Sebastián meetup that would half-way for Sue and me.

Stay tuned…

azahar gourmet getaways

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by azahar in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, instagram, spain, tapas tours, travel, trips

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azahar, azahar gourmet getaways, food tours, getaways, instagram

Back in August 2013 I started my first Instagram account and called it @azahar, which as many of you know, has been my internet handle for a dozen years or more. Back then I didn’t actually think I’d end up using Instagram that much, which is why I opted for my “personal” name, rather than my “biz” name of Sevilla Tapas. Then last year I created a couple other Instagram accounts, @sevillatapas and @sevillatapastours, which were basically redirect accounts, because many people would refer to me on Instagram as @sevillatapas, since that original Instagram account had indeed become mostly about food & wine (and occasional cats pics).

Then in February 2016 I swapped names, taking @sevillatapas for my original Instagram account. But what to do with the @azahar name? One I personally identify with – in fact all of my blogs and webites have the word azahar in them somewhere. I didn’t want to stop using it, or worse, lose it. Well, as I was also starting on a new project – Azahar Gourmet Getaways – at the time, I decided to start using the newly renamed @azahar Instagram to promote that project, and so far it’s been working out nicely. I won’t start separate Twitter or Facebook pages for this project (yet) and, for the moment, it is simply being offered as a one of my Sevilla Tapas Tour options, even though it’s not specifically Sevilla-based. The focus is more on travel and cuisine throughout Andalucía.

Anyhow, hope to see you all on the @azahar Instagram too!  🙂

some sanlúcar memories

17 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by azahar in andalucia, getaways, travel, trips

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cadiz, getaways, manzanilla, sanlucar, sanlucar de barrameda, sherry

Bajo de Guiá – where the Guadalquivir meets the sea

Two days before leaving for Sanlúcar the weather forecast abruptly changed from lovely and sunny to RAIN for all three days of the getaway. And with thunderstorms on the last day. But aside from a bit of rain the first morning, we were spared. Okay, it wasn’t blue skies and sunny, but I was so happy it wasn’t raining, since we did a LOT of walking over those three days. Here are a few of my favourite pics.

lemon tree in the bodega garden

neighbourhood bar
looking out over Sanlúcar rooftops

fabulous catavinos bar table
donkeys being prepped for the San José pilgrimage
dusk view of the square from my hotel room

las bodegas de sanlúcar

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by azahar in andalucia, azahartravels, cadiz, getaways, sherry, spain, wine

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bodegas, manzanilla, sanlucar de barrameda, sanlucar getaway, sherry, tapas

So there I was – as usual – making last minute bodega visit plans via Twitter and WhatsApp the day before my trip… and mostly that worked out, except that two of the bodegas I wanted to visit weren’t available at such short notice. Really, it was probably enough seeing five bodegas in two and a half days, but I am always left wanting more. I think I might plan a longer stay in Jerez soon and make day trips to Sanlúcar and El Puerto while there, and keep it down to one bodega a day. Well, maybe two now and then…  😉

This time the bodegas were all very special in their own way, as bodegas tend to be, but there were also a couple of totally blow-me-away moments. I’ll write about this more over on my BRAND NEW Sherry Educator pages on Sevilla Tapas. But please be patient, because it may take awhile to get them set up properly. You can have a look now, but things are very much still “under construction”.

Meanwhile, a sneak peak of where I visited this time…

Bodegas José Piñedo

Bodegas Cota 45

Bodegas Alonso

Bodegas Yuste

Bodegas Las Cigarreras

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