Category Archives: sevilla

stay classy sevilla

11 Tuesday Apr 2023

Posted by in sevilla, tourism

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stay classy

Honest to fuck I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was just about tolerable when they put a big I HEART Sevilla sign at the top of the stairs below the Setas a couple of years ago but today I spotted this massive LED flashing billboard stuck up there and I dunno. It’s like every day we are losing a little bit more of our city. Apparently this sort of crass display of, well, crassness has become a bit of a global trend. I mean, you expect to see tacky flash like this in Vegas, Times Square, Tokyo etc but now it’s everywhere. Heck, massive billboards like this are now (dis)gracing the façades of churches, museums and other historic buildings across Europe and, frankly, it’s sickening. And disheartening. Because I almost wanted to hope that the promise of “sustainable tourism” would have at least been given a chance. Instead it looks like the worst is yet to come.

team tostada

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in instagram, sevilla, social media, spain

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team tostada

It was THE Sevilla Crossover Event of the Year! You may recall that I first met Mar in a tapas bar (surprise, surprise) back in October and we have become good friends since then. Lately we both came across this guy called Charlie who had embarked on an Instagram project to highlight our best (really only) breakfast, the tostada. One tostada a day for 365 days. Not only that but it would be the same order at each bar: tostada con jamón y tomate con aceite (ham with tomato and olive oil). It’s seriously impressive – check it out! TOSTADA TOWN

And so of course it had to happen. That one day the three of us would meet up for breakfast. And that day was today! Here you can see us being all incognito at Casa Moreno, our first stop of the morning, with my only complaint being… why does breakfast have to happen in the MORNING?? Even Emilio at Casa Moreno said to me “what are you doing here so early?”. After that we searched for a second breakfast stop (since it was STILL MORNING) and ended up at the classic Bar Julio César that ONLY opens for breakfast (toast) and so it was an obvious choice. And really both were great, totally old school “de toda la vida” bars with all that fabulous sevillano charm. And the company was fabulous too. Of course I always love spending time with Mar but it was great to meet a new local friend and we all hit it off, so much so that we are already talking about another tostada date soon. Stay tuned!

new & improved river walk

04 Tuesday Apr 2023

Posted by in health, health & happiness, sevilla

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new river walk (1)

Several years ago I started doing (what were supposed to be daily) River Walks and Park Walks, usually starting off early in the morning (okay, 9-ish) and getting in something like 10,000 steps, long before Fitbit step counting became a thing. But then this and that got in the way, then cancer, then getting old, blah blah whatever… so while I have revived the River Walk in the past couple of years after Covid lockdown, it was still a patchy activity. Until now!

The main drawback with the River Walk was that, although it’s lovely to walk down along the river bank, there is virtually NO SHADE and so unless you get out there early (in my case not likely) it’s quite brutal other than in winter. And while there was also the option to walk next to the river at street level, the Paseo del Torneo had become frankly treacherous as the paving stones were all broken and buckled. Then last year the Paseo had a makeover and just this week it was finally reopened. Okay, there are still a few “bare patches” which I assume they are going to fill in with plants growing atop the various pergolas along the way. But most of it is as you see above. A lovely canopy of leafy greenness with dappled sunshine peeking through. Loving this. It inspires me to get out there.

new river walk (2)