10 Thursday Oct 2024
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It’s always lovely to get an invitation like this. And even better when the event is held on the rooftop of the brand new Hotel Mercer Plaza (just a short hobble from my house). You can see some pics and a short vid here.
09 Wednesday Oct 2024
Posted in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla
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When it comes to choosing an emblematic image for Sevilla it has to be the orange. The more than 40,000 orange trees lining the streets and squares throughout the city provide both shade and beauty, and for those few glorious weeks in early spring the air is filled with the delicate scent of azahar when the trees are in blossom.
The Sevilla Hotel Association’s 23rd Jornadas Gastronómicas will take place October 10th to November 10th with 29 establishments participating with a special dish or menu paying homage to the Sevilla Orange.
08 Tuesday Oct 2024
Posted in casa azahar, home, sevilla
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A few weeks ago the hot water pressure started acting up. Sometimes it was there, other times nothing, although the cold water was working fine. Landlord had someone come over from his insurance company and – of course! – just before he showed up the hot water kicked back in again. So this guy reported back that there was no problem, even though I had told him it was an intermittent thing, and he actually told me (but not the landlord) that the water heater was probably blocked, so nothing was done. Spent the next couple of weeks fiddling with the cold-hot water taps to get the hot water to kick in, which usually happened.
Until last Saturday when it didn’t. And that was it, we’ve had NO hot water since Saturday morning. Not wanting to bother the landlord over the weekend I sent a text message hoping they could do something first thing Monday morning, which they did. Nice guy who came over late last night told me the water heater definitely needs to be replaced, called the landlord, and apparently no problem. Except now I have no idea when we are going to get a replacement water heater. Might be today (doubtful), more likely tomorrow or even whenever.
Meanwhile, we’ve been taking COLD SHOWERS since Saturday and – can I tell you? – it’s really really unpleasant and even painful. I’m actually considering booking a hotel or asking a neighbour if I can come over and shower. I mean, I could call the Corte Inglés right now and pay for a new water heater to be delivered and installed within 24 hours, but I already did that when the washing machine died earlier this year, and I really don’t think it’s up to me to replace these basic appliances. This is very frustrating.
04 Friday Oct 2024
Posted in gastro guias, getaways, sevilla
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Today the Gastro Guías took a day trip out to the rice fields in Pinzón, about half an hour south of Sevilla. Was sorry to miss it but I couldn’t really be wandering around the countryside on crutches. This pic was taken by Lola. Not many people know that we grow rice here in the south of Spain. Hopefully I’ll be able to go to the next event.
03 Thursday Oct 2024
So this is happening. And I’m furious about it. Yet another move to make Sevilla more “tourist friendly” at the expense of its residents. The plan is to pedestrianise a main downtown strip that runs from the Plaza del Duque to The Setas (aka Metropol Parasol). No doubt the idea is to install more hotels, chain bars and restaurants and have their terraza tables spilling out into the street. BUT… this also means 5 major bus routes that now finish in Plaza del Duque are going to be rerouted to “turn around” either in the Alameda or in Plaza Ponce de León.
On the maps (above) Plaza del Duque is the white square on the left. From there you can see how far reaching these two bus routes are – the 27 and 32. They go WAY OUT THERE to the suburbs and those buses are always packed, every day, all day long. The 32 also connects the centre to the FUCKING TRAIN STATION. What are they thinking? Oh wait, tourists can take taxis.
For this rant I am gong to focus on the two routes being shifted to Plaza Ponce de León because those are the ones I use the most (but in spirit I am with the 13 & 14 heading north). And when I say they are packed all day a large number of the people on these buses are elderly, mobility challenged, etc… people coming into the centre to shop, have lunch, enjoy a day in town, you know, BE in their city. Not to mention workers coming in to the various shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. who have to be here.
Now if you look at the map below it maybe doesn’t seem like a big deal, moving the “turn around” point from the square on the left (Plaza del Duque) to the arrow on the right (Plaza Ponce de León). But that is in fact at least a fifteen minute walk. For a young fit healthy person, maybe it’s 11 or 12. For me right now with knee issues it would be half an hour. So right now I am identifying with and really feeling what this would mean for all the elderly people that I always see on this bus. For them it could mean that they would no longer be able to access the centre OF THEIR OWN CITY. In order to give more access to tourists.
A couple of years ago a similar thing happened with three main bus routes from the centre to Triana, and this has resulted in many people no longer being able to get into the centre of their own city. Why? Because a five star hotel was installed in the Plaza de Magdalena and it has been turned into their playground, no more nasty buses turning around in the square… now the buses stop further down towards the river, again too far for people with mobility issues to manage. We are losing our city and our culture day by day. Soon all that will be left are gormless tourists walking around thinking they are having an AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE because they are staying in our homes, going to our bars (where locals no longer go) and basically just enjoying the architecture. People just don’t get it… if there are no neighbours then it’s not a neighbourhood.
casa azahar 