Category Archives: food & drink

tíopepeville

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in andalucia, azahartravels, food & drink, tapas, trips, work

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jerez wednesday
Wednesday in Jerez started off with a bang… just enough time to get from the train station to the hotel to drop off bags before heading over to Bodegas Gonzalez Byass for one of their winery tours. It’s almost ridiculous that I have only got over to the G-B bodega now as I’ve known people there for so long, but there you go. Anyhow, it was quite a show and you are immediately impressed by the size and importance of the place. But it’s not just show as the wines are excellent and – I can’t help it – I adore the iconic Tío Pepe logo.

The hotel which shall not remain nameless – THE BELLAS ARTES HOTEL – was so disappointing I wanted to weep. The first room we were shown was so small, dark and cheerless (and this was after splashing out on their “executive” twin option) that I immediately asked for another room. Well, the next one was even worse, though it did have a window facing the square. Finally I was promised one of their best rooms, with floor-to-ceiling windows and blah blah blah, and it was okay. Barely. Anyhow, will go into this more when I write the official review, but let’s just say I wasn’t happy. And I would’ve changed hotels but the not-so-nice people at Belles Artes said they wouldn’t refund my second night as I’d booked a “special offer”. Fuck. Them.

Likewise our lunchtime tapeo was a bit of a bust. The two places we tried were okay, but nothing special. We did a bit better in the evening, finding a special “ruta” of tabancos and tuna, finishing off at La Cruz Blanca for a last snack. Basically we stayed out until bedtime so that we didn’t have to spend any more time in the hotel room as necessary. Ah well… with three more bodega tours booked for the next day we had that to look forward to.

kidnapped!

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours

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kidnapped
One of the best things at the end of the day is looking back and thinking “well I never expected THAT to happen!” (unless of course it’s sprained ankles). It started off as a fairly normal day, first meeting my friend Anna @annalibera for a quick tapita, catching her on the last day of a short visit to Sevilla. Then I went off with Saray @SarayPineda to meet a food writer from Texas and welcome her to town, which was basically a favour as Saray said she was a bit nervous about her English (which is very good). So I said I would go with her. Well, we got to the train station and met Ellise Pierce @cowgirlchef, a Texan living in Paris. Ellise had just got off the train from Madrid following a long overnight flight from the US and was pretty zonked. She was also confused to be suddenly greeted by us as she hadn’t been told anything and thought she’d have a couple of hours to find a WiFi connection and catch up on stuff before the official presentation by the people who organised her visit. But no. We sat down to have a chat about Sevilla and then one thing led to another and suddenly we were grabbing a taxi back to the centre of town for an impromptu tapas tour. There was just time for two quick stops, but they were both excellent. One very traditional – Las Teresas – and the other a more modern take on tapas – Vineria San Telmo. Then we bundled a slightly tipsy Ellise into another taxi and sent her back to her meeting. Phew!

Later Ellise sent me an email saying it was the perfect kick-off to her Spain trip – “spontaneous, girly, giggly, and with lots of ham”. And it turns out that she is going to be in Madrid on Saturday, my last day there, so we are planning to meet up. Saray and I have decided that we make a great team. We’re not sure yet how to use these special powers, but once we do world domination won’t be far off. Anyhow, what a great day it was. How was yours?