Category Archives: friends

new look for seville concierge

11 Saturday Jun 2016

Posted by in blogging, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours

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new SCA few years ago I helped my friend & flatmate Peter set up a website offering various types of walking tours, and we called it Seville Concierge. Because Peter does in fact advise people as well as give tours. Then the other day I was looking at his site and realised it just looked like a boring old blog that he barely updates (and nobody reads  😉 ), when the whole point of the site is to promote his tours. So this morning I started looking around for some fresh ideas that might help him get more work, which meant totally revamping his website.

Unfortunately a whole two hours were wasted on what looked like a cool theme, but it didn’t actually WORK in terms of what it promised. I think there must have been some sort of bug involved, because I couldn’t even get the page menu to show up. AND SO… I ended up finding this theme, which I think is pretty nice.

I’d love some feedback on it, if you don’t mind. In terms of how easy it is to navigate, and all that. By chance I discovered that each page could have its own featured image as a massive header image, so I think that makes it more interesting (present images subject to change – they were the best I could come up with so quickly). Peter is still working on some missing text, so really just want to know what you think of the design. Also, how does it work for you on a phone or tablet?

Thanks! xx

Seville Concierge

 

 

thane & bob

09 Thursday Jun 2016

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

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with jamonAnother reason to keep on loving Twitter. After at least a couple of years, maybe more, of mutually following the fabulous Thane Prince @ThanePrince on Twitter we finally got to meet up. Which only seemed right after I actually stayed at Thane & Bob’s fabulous Málaga flat last December. Which obviously also came about via Twitter, and because we have so many Twitter and RL friends in common.

Anyhow, since Thane & Bob are in Málaga this week they decided to do a short getaway to Sevilla, spend the night, and basically eat loads of tapas with me. And drink sherry. And then eat and drink some more. Which we did.

So much fun. I felt immediately at home with them… two very distinct personalities, but somehow perfectly matched. And both funny as hell. I especially felt like I’d scored big points every time I made Bob laugh. So it was a wonderful day of lunchtime tapas, followed by a siesta, and meeting up again later that same night for more tapas and wine, finishing off with midnight drinks on the rooftop of Gourmet Experience. And then a farewell jamón snack the next afternoon (because you can never have too much jamón).

Now I can’t wait to repeat this in Málaga with our mutual friend Victor @welovemalaga. We also might meet up in London this summer! More on that later…

fiona & kate

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in andalucia, friends, getaways, sevilla, sherry, tapas, twitter, twitter friends

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fiona kateAKA beer-drinking blondes from Bristol basking in the sun

I was happy to finally meet UK food & wine writer Fiona Beckett @food_writer at Vinoble the other day. She just happened to be standing behind me waiting for a tasting to start (I was buying an It’s Sherry Time button…) and I recognised her from her Twitter pic. So I said hola and introduced myself, mentioning that we had some friends in common from my Bristol days, one of them being Kate Hawkings @katehawkings, who I last saw back in October 2013 when she came to Sevilla for a visit. Which was actually the first time we’d seen each other since we worked together at the infamous Rocinantes tapas bar back in 1992.

Anyhow, the next day I ran into Fiona again as she was leaving the Vinoble site with a tiny blonde woman who looked remarkably like Kate. Turned out because it WAS Kate! What a lovely surprise. So we all went off for a beer break in the sun because sometimes you can actually have too much of a good thing (sherry). Later that evening we went for a cosy tapas dinner and had a fab time. I was even thinking of staying another day in Jerez so I could see a bit more of Kate (Fiona had to leave early the next day) but the visiting UK group had such a jam-packed itinerary that getting together again wouldn’t have been possible. So it was back home to cats and my own bed. But how wonderful to meet up with an old friend and also meet a new one. Plans are afoot for another meet up either in Sevilla or Málaga… #TapeoExtremo. Or maybe even in Bristol. You never know.

mary & sunday

16 Monday May 2016

Posted by in animals & pets, blogging, food & drink, friends, sevilla, websites

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mary and sundayToday I FINALLY got to meet fellow-blogger Mary Biles and her lovely pup Sunday. We met for lunch at a bar neither of us had been to before (and probably won’t visit again) but mediocre food was saved by good company and LOTS of chat. Mary has been writing I Know A Little Place In Sevilla – one of the best blogs about the city – for about three years. As the title suggests, it focuses on hidden corners and lesser-know spots, many of which I’ve never heard of. Very happy to have met another kindred spirit and – I hope – another Tapas Research cohort.

a virtual tapas tour

14 Saturday May 2016

Posted by in friends, internet, tapas tours

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kiwiSaturday morning dawned bright and sunny after two long weeks of solid rain, and I woke up feeling great. But after my morning coffee I felt a bit odd, and at lunchtime I didn’t have much appetite. Then I started feeling all weak and woozy, so around 4 o’clock I thought I’d better lie down for a bit, because in the evening I had a special tapas tour lined up with Twitter pals @EricBurgess and @LauraWBurgess (and their new mascot Kev the Kiwi), something we’d planned months ago. Well, when I woke up again at 6 o’clock I was shivering and nauseous and knew there was no way I was going to make it. So I did my first ever Sevilla Tapas Tour from my bed!

First of all, Peter met up with Eric & Laura a half hour before his own private tour started, brought them to their first stop and got them set up with starter tapas and sherries. After that I took over and, staying in touch by Twitter DMs, I helped them find Bodeguita Romero after previously getting in touch with Alejandro. Luckily I’d just had a sherry-filled afternoon the week before with José & Peter, so Alejandro knew what to do and he took very good care of them. It was kind of fun, doing a virtual tour, and better than not being with them at all. But I do look forward to finally meeting them in person when they come back in September.