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So remember how I came up with the idea to start doing Market & Tapas Tours? This actually came about a couple of weeks ago after getting together with Lauren from Madrid who has just started doing food tours there. We spent an afternoon going out for tapas here in Sevilla and talking about our tours and various foodie projects, and that’s when I started thinking about doing something similar here, but as a combination of a market and tapas tour.
Last week Kathy came out with me to do some “market research” (heh) and it was after we finished and were out having tapas together that the Ronda weekend plan was hatched. Anyhow, even though I had figured out where I wanted to take people I still needed to do a “trial run” to work out timing and pricing. But of course I needed guineapigs volunteers who would be interested in doing a tour at cost price (just paying for what was consumed). But as almost everyone I know in Sevilla is away on holidays at the moment I reckoned I’d just do a trial run at the beginning of September, since so many market stalls are closed for summer holidays in August.
Then I got a request for a Market & Tapas Tour from someone who’d seen them mentioned on my website. Well, duh! I had forgotten to say they’d be starting in September. And I was about to write Lauren back and tell her it wouldn’t be possible and then I thought… hey! Maybe they’d like to take the very first Market & Tapas Tour at “cost price” with me and Peter? And it turned out they thought this was a great idea and so off we went this morning. Kathy was also able to meet us briefly for a snack and a chat before leaving us at our second market stop.
I think it went really well, though of course there are things I want to fine-tune, and going out with visitors rather than residents was also a real bonus. Lauren and Peter were great company and were also very interested in the food culture here, and so asked loads of questions. So I think it was a win-win thing for everyone concerned, and I also realised that this new tour is going to be a LOT of fun!
Are there no limits to my talents? 😉

BIG surprise when I got a text message from Jessica asking if I’d be free for lunch today! Turns out she’s been in town doing research and, with that out of the way, she was free to play for an afternoon. We met early because I had to go to the hospital to get my chemo port flushed out and Jessica offered to come with me – nice! So we taxied there and back and then got caught in a massive downpour, ducking inside a cosy doorway just in time. I have to say it’s not everyone you can actually enjoy being trapped by the rain with. Finally we made it to our lunch destination – a new place called La Brunilda. Very nice kinda gourmet tapas but without the gourmet prices. In fact, I’ll be taking my tapas tour group there this evening for our last stop to see how well it works as another “less traditional” option (Jessica’s suggestion).