09 Friday Oct 2026
Posted in bitesize sevilla, events, food & drink, sevilla, substack
Tags
New on Bitesize Sevilla 🍊! Sabores de La Provincia – flavours of the province. Please have a look and if you like it you can give it a “like”. And if you really like it please consider becoming a subscriber (free or paid). Thanks!
08 Thursday Oct 2026
Posted in sevilla, architecture
Tags
I have had accounts at two banks here during my 33 years in Sevilla, both in buildings designed by famed architect Anibal Gónzalez (who also designed the Plaza de España). I mean, what are the odds? Above is the rooftop turret of the old Banco Popular, which as of last week is Sevilla’s newest 5 Star GL hotel in the Avenida de la Constitución. I was there this week with my friend Fiona enjoying lunch at their new restaurant Fismuler.
Below is my present bank, in Calle Imagen, near my house. It has just reopened after more than a year of extensive renovations and, happily for me, is still my bank! Many moons ago I got a gig teaching English classes to bank employees there and after a while I ended up switching my account. A very good move because, as it turned out, having present or previous students as bank execs seriously helped me out on more than one occasion over the years. These days I only recognise a couple of the “old timers” when I go in, which is next to never any more since most banking is done online now. But I still like that I have the prettiest bank in the city.
07 Wednesday Oct 2026
Posted in architecture, sevilla, spain
Sevilla is full of these gorgeous long entrance ways that lead onto an equally gorgeous plant filled courtyard with a central fountain. This one is just up the street from me. 💙
06 Tuesday Oct 2026
It’s been over a year since we said adios to 4 “lifeline” bus routes in the centre of Sevilla. The 13 & 14 go to the barrios north of the Macarena, the 27 to Seville Este and the 32 to Nervión and beyond. Meaning their most central final stops would be about a 15 minute walk from where they used to be. Which may not seem like much to you if you are young and without any mobility issues, but these buses were constantly jam-packed with people from the outlying barrios, many of them pensioners. It was unclear back then what they were going to do to replace these much-needed routes, but they did something similar a few years ago to buses coming to the centre from Triana and Los Remedios so I wasn’t very hopeful. There had been talk of a “tranvibus” that would link the centre to, at least, the Santa Justa train station. Whatever.
For me it’s been a very long year of feeling cut off from my city AND I LIVE IN THE CENTRE. I can only imagine the impact it’s had on others. In my case, I used the routes to get out of the centre (and home again, obvs), mostly for medical appointments, but also to visit bars and markets I love. This has meant spending money on taxis for the appts and forgoing the rest because, well, I’m not made of money.
Turns out the Tranvibus now actually connects Sevilla Este to the Plaza del Duque (the original route of the 27 bus) and has been running for a while, but was turning around at the train station. As of September 28th it now comes straight through to the centre and the 27, while it continues to provide service to Sevilla Este, takes quite a different route. Fine. What about the 32? Which, to be honest, out of the 4 routes was the one I used most often. Well, it’s mostly dead to me now, but hey, I can still catch the Tranvibus and transfer somewhere along the line to a 32. Better than nuthin. Out of the two northern routes only one – the 13 – will make its way to Plaza del Duque. The 14 will continue to turn around at the Alameda (a 15 minute walk away). So out of the 4 we have 2 back. Kind of.
At least the Tranvibus is one of those articulated double buses so it can fit a lot of people, and you can enter via three doors to swipe your card. Peter and I tried it out on Saturday because I was keen to visit a recently renovated bar two bus stops (for me a half-hour walk at least) away. First mistake – doing this on a Saturday! I should have known better. And to further complicate things there was also I also a procession going on near Catalina so service was held up quite a while. But I’m happy to have this option back again, with a bus stop about five minutes from home. Makes all the difference.
01 Thursday Oct 2026
Posted in sevilla, health & happiness, health, knee saga
I had my follow-up appointment with The Endo this morning, after first seeing her at the end of May. First thing her assistant did was to pop me on the scale and they both went… oh, well done! And that was when they thought I had started the injections end of May, but of course first I had to get the blood work done and then see my GP for the prescription, so I ended up starting at the end of June. So they were even more impressed when we sorted that out.
Meanwhile, I’d been feeling like I’ve been letting myself down because I’ve kind of plateaued the past 2-3 weeks, so I told them I felt the weight loss was going a bit slow over three months, but the Endo said some people don’t lose any weight in that time and she thought I was doing great. BUT she said she wanted to up the dosage from the beginner one (2.5 mg) to what is considered the first actual official therapeutic dose (5.0 mg). And well, this is the main reason I’ve been avoiding that…
| 2.5 mg | 208€ |
| 5 mg | 272€ |
| 7.5 mg | 359€ |
| 10 mg | 359€ |
| 12.5 mg | 446€ |
| 15 mg | 446€ |
At 208€ for a 4-shot pen this has already been a prohibitively expensive venture for me. Upping that by another 70 euros every 4 weeks… ufff. But even before I could say anything the Endo said that she would give me an extended new prescription for 10 mg (!) and then the nurse was going to give me a demonstration on HOW TO MANIPULATE THE DOSAGE.
I was like… wut? I mean, I know the FAB GP I saw once over the summer told me about La Trampa, and another friend here also told me he was doing this, but I was unsure because everything I’d read about manipulating the dosage online talked about it being dangerous. The Endo rolled her eyes and said that of course the pharmaceutical companies put that out there, but that in fact it is very simple and easy to do.
So my next stop was to see the nurse who had everything prepared for an easy-to-follow demonstration. And the Endo was right, it’s a piece of cake. The nurse took it step by step and I was impressed, not only at this extra bit of important health care info, but also at how they were willing to stick it to Big Pharma. For now I am going to start with the upgrade to 10 mg, which will give me 8 doses of 5 mg. for 360€. So I’ll be getting more for less, though the per-dose price doesn’t change that much (45€ instead of 52€). But of course, better than suddenly paying 68€ per dose. If I decide to go up to 15 mg then I’ll be paying 37€ for each 5 mg dose.
I still have two jabs left in my 2.5 mg pen, so will be starting on 5.0 mg on October 19th. So far I have had next to no side effects or issues so fingers crossed it stays that way, and also that this upgrade will help with… I honestly don’t know. Doing more of what it’s supposed to be doing? It’s still very unclear to me what this medication does other than repress appetite (which has never been my issue). Anyhow, stay tuned…
