Category Archives: culture

museo bellver – casa fabiola

18 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in art, culture, sevilla

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The new Museo Bellver, housed in the spectacular Casa Fabiola, opened last week. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this place and, since it is free to residents, I shall be back to visit again and again. It’s such a delightful homage to Sevilla and Andalucia.

Mariano Bellver has donated his private collection, comprising 567 works of art made up of 299 paintings, 112 sculptures, 57 figures in ivory and bone, 44 pieces of furniture, 42 pieces of porcelain and ceramics and 13 clocks. And the building itself is a work of art – definitely worth a visit.

Our Lady of the Artichoke

Sculptures in the Patio

san lorenzo 2018

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in culture, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, weird, wine

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Every year Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host their San Lorenzo day celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar. The first time I attended this event was five years ago and I’ve gone every year since then.

The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”. And so, as always, different varieties of grilled flesh were on offer during the day at the Abacería, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponche alosnero. We also got to try cured pork tongue and tiny nécora crabs. Good times.

corpus christi 2018

01 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in culture, religion, sevilla, spain

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I almost missed the annual tradition of getting up (way too) early to walk the rosemary and flower pet strewn Corpus procession route before everything gets going (and everything gets trampled underfoot). But when I texted Peter to say I wasn’t going he said he was going anyhow and so, thus challenged, I was up, dressed and out the door in 20 minutes. I’ve only missed Corpus here four times in 25 years: once when I was in Granada, another time when I was in Lisbon, then London in 2015, and one other time when I was too sick on chemo to go out. So I knew I would regret not going. And it proved to be worth it.

We got almost completely around the route before deciding to stop for breakfast, so the procession was in full swing by the time we finished. We didn’t get to see a lot of that, which was fine by me. But I did stop by ALL THE ALTARS this year, which you can see below. I am always amazed at how much work and preparation (those arches take an entire month to build) is involved for a four-hour event. Crazy. But I love it.
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el rocío 2018

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by in culture, flamenco

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Years ago when I lived in Mateos Gago I seem to recall that when Sevilla left for El Rocío they started out later and the colourful oxen-pulled carts hung around outside the Cathedral for at least half an hour or so. But either things have changed or my memory is faulty (bets on the latter, actually). Because this year found us chasing the carts over to the bridge to get a good look (and take some photos). Next year I’ll remember to get out earlier. Maybe… 😉

noche de pescaíto

16 Monday Apr 2018

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The noche de pescaíto (night of the fried fish) is a time-honoured tradition, taking place on Monday evening before the lighting up (the alumbrao) of the April fair grounds  at midnight. Until now. When the powers that be decided last year that Feria should be extended to include two weekends – the more money to make, my dears – this meant that the alumbrao would now take place on Saturday night. Along with the pescaíto. Except at one special location in Sevilla that will not give up the traditional Monday evening custom.

The Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo is host to all manner of weird and wonderful special events that celebrate various Sevillano traditions. And nobody does seasonal window dressing quite like husband & wife owners Ramón and María Carmen. It’s always a bit chaotic there and always a lot of fun.

I actually learned a couple of things tonight. First that THE sherry drink of the Sevilla feria (manzanilla) is a relatively recent thing – 30 years ago it used to be fino. ALSO… this whole noche de pescaíto thing is also only about 30 years old, and nobody seems to know how it started. Other than the evening before the alumbrao there were obviously people still setting up their casetas and having a casual meal before it all got lit up. Why it ended up being a fried fish meal remains a mystery (since you can actually have fried fish all week long at Feria). But whatever. The pescaíto and manzanilla at the Abacería tonight were great!