Category Archives: culture

semana santa in sevilla

01 Sunday Apr 2007

Posted by in culture, holidays, religion, sevilla

≈ 3 Comments

el-cachorro.jpg

Here we go again . . .

Starting today it will be total madness here in Sevilla as semana santa (holy week) begins again. And since I live about a stone’s throw from the cathedral it’s rather hard to miss.

Not that I’d want to miss it. Even though Im not religious I quite like all the pomp and ceremony, the beautiful sculptures on the pasos, the very special ‘ambientation’ in the streets, and even some of the music.

But it is true that for an entire week I become a prisoner in my home, only able to get out to do shopping and other things in the mornings. After 3pm the neighbourhood turns into a heaving mass of humanity pushing and shoving in the streets in order to see this virgin or that christ … it can get a bit scary at times. Though apparently it’s only non-Sevillanos who don’t feel totally at home in this environment.

I’ll see if I can get a few good photos.

going to Lisbon!

28 Wednesday Mar 2007

Posted by in culture, holidays, trips

≈ 15 Comments

lisbon_travel_guide_mural.jpg

At least that’s the plan.

Nog and I had been planning to go to London for an h2g2 meet at the end of April, with the proceeds from our big translation project, but we just finished it last weekend and don’t know when we’ll be paid – there might still be a few revisions to do first. So we’ve decided to go to Lisbon instead (another of my dream cities).

We originally thought about going June 7-10 because the 7th is Corpus Cristi here and a local public holiday. So as we’d have that day off anyhow it made sense to go then and take a ‘puente’ (bridge) extra long weekend. But it turns out that there are no direct flights to Lisbon that Thursday, so we’re now thinking of going Wednesday afternoon and staying for four nights. What the heck.

So just wondering if anyone has ever been to Lisbon and can recommend places to see, good restaurants, day trips, etc.

andalucía day

28 Wednesday Feb 2007

Posted by in culture, food & drink, holidays, life stuff, photos, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 7 Comments

andalucia-day.jpg

A nice midweek public holiday today.

Well, except that Nog and I are busy working on that big translation job (the one that might end up paying for a lovely holiday somewhere, sometime soon). But then a couple of hours ago we decided it was too gorgeous a day to stay inside – bright & sunny and about 22º – so we went out to Casa Roman for lunch.

Here is where we were, the view from our table, what we had to eat (first 6 pics) …

~ Casa Roman ~