26 Friday Oct 2018
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I live in a city where even the constructions sites are beautiful! That is the spectacular landmark Edificio La Adriática front and centre. To the right is going to be a new hotel, the scaffolding covered with screens of paintings by Murillo. Gotta love it.
05 Friday Oct 2018
Posted in events, gastronomy, hotels, sevilla
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Yes… ANOTHER event. Was kind of a crazy week that way. This time it was the inauguration of the new Quimera bar-restaurant on the rooftop of the Hotel Melia Sevilla. Pretty innit.
As well as the new rooftop area, the Meliá has recently undergone a major renovation of all its facilities, and although this was my first visit I was impressed by what I saw. We started with a tour of the main reception area and downstairs bar, which are very cleverly designed with “open frame” partitions that preserve the feeling of spaciousness, while giving a sense of intimacy to the different areas, followed by the various conference rooms, this obviously being a major target market for the hotel.
We then went upstairs to see a couple of the new rooms, a very nice standard double, and a distinctly luxurious suite with separate bedroom and living room, with a distinct “I could live there” feel to it. As a bonus there are great views of the back of the Plaza España, and also of the rooftop bar (which is on the lower roof above the reception area, not on the top roof), complete with swimming pool).
Finally to the new restaurant-bar Quimera itself, where we got to spend a pleasant couple of hours by the pool, sampling the food (actually pretty good) and wine, and listening to the entertainment – my new favourite crooner – Juanlu! By this time I was getting sufficiently tipsy to think that I could actually sing along and sound good! 😉
A fun evening, and as usual we met up with other friends that we often see at these things. Good times.
Hotel Meliá Sevilla
Dr Pedro de Castro, 1
Tel: +34 912 764 747
29 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in hotels, restaurants, sevilla, sevilla staycation, spain, tapas, tapas bars
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alfararia 21, casa montalvan, hotel, sevilla, tapas, tapas bar, triana
A Friday afternoon stroll to Triana to look for a new food dish for Morcilla (don’t ask) turned into a delightful surprise visit to brand new tapas bar and restaurant Alfarería 21. This is part of a larger project by Paco Arcas, who owns the nearby Las Golondrinas bars, which will include a boutique hotel. The entire project comprises 3-4 buildings and I was first shown around the site a few years ago, before construction had begun. Then in March Paco took me on another tour of the site and the transformation was stunning.
Anyhow, it turned out that the Alfarería 21, housed in the old Casa Montalván ceramics factory, had just opened the previous day and so of course I couldn’t resist stopping for a couple of tapas and a chat with Paco. The menu is still provisional and so changes will be made, most likely to include separate menus for the bar area downstairs and the first floor restaurant. And the hotel is due to open soon. The rooms I saw in March were gorgeous – can’t wait to go on an overnight “staycation”. More photos below…
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26 Tuesday Jun 2018
I had sort of half-planned to go to Sanlúcar de Barrameda for Día de la Manzanilla (which was actually four days, Saturday to Tuesday) but didn’t actually decide until about 10.30 Monday morning. Then it all came together, booking sherry tastings, a hotel and train tickets, and by 12.00 I was packed and on my way.
I pretty much got the last room available at Hotel Barrameda (other than a rather expensive one with its own jacuzzi) and with the price they quoted I wasn’t expecting much, especially when they said it was an interior room. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to this loveliness. It was perfect. I’ve stayed here before and, really, don’t think I’d want to stay anywhere else in Sanlúcar. The location is perfect, right on beautiful Plaza del Cabildo and easy walking distance to pretty much everywhere you’d want to go. I already want to go back. 🙂
01 Friday Sep 2017
Posted in azahartravels, getaways, hotels, sevilla, sevilla staycation, travel
I lived in the house on the right for 18 years and remember when Hotel Casa 1800 @hotelcasa1800 was actually someone’s house. Now one of the finest hotels in Sevilla, I was thrilled to be invited to spend a night there this week. You can see my gorgeous room and a few other details below. Full review coming soon on Azahar Travels.
