Category Archives: spain

guilt trip

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, spain, travel, trips

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guilt
So I am packing and otherwise organising myself for a three-night, four-day trip and I think these guys know something is up. And yes, I feel so guilty leaving them! Or is it more that I don’t want to be without them? Whatever. I know they will be fine. Peter is coming overnight to Antequera, but will go back the following night, so really the cats will only be on their own two days (one night)… and yeah, they’ll have lots of food and water and a fresh litter box. So why do I feel so guilty?? *sigh*

coming soon…

14 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in blogging, sevilla, social media, spain, websites, work

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azahar spain
I have been very busy! The first step of getting my Trip Planning biz up and running meant having rethink my “brand” and, while I am still going to continue with azahar-sevilla.com and Sevilla Tapas, I felt some restructuring was needed so the new venture would not be city specific. Thus azahar-spain.com was born. The new domains have already been purchased and now I just (just!) have to get the new website and accompanying blogs set up. Most of the initial content is ready to upload but I want to talk to my SEO guru first to make sure I structure it correctly.

The easiest step was creating new social media accounts for the blogs, so please go ahead and follow/Like them. Thanks!  🙂

Twitter: @AzaharTapas | @AzaharTravels

Facebook: AzaharTapas | AzaharTravels

giving peace a chance

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in sevilla, spain

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path to peaceEl Rincón de la Memoria y La Libertad, Plaza Encarnación Sevilla.

I’m often surprised by the things you don’t see when you don’t pay attention. Like the other day while on one of my usual ways home I noticed this small olive tree for the first time, growing in one of the planters next to the “lone mushroom” in Plaza Encarnación. And then I saw the plaque, quoting Mahatma Gandhi – “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way”. Then I noticed the date on the plaque: March 11 2014, the 10th anniversary of the Madrid train bombings.

Apparently this lovely memorium was sponsored by City Hall and the Alberto Jiménez-Becerril Foundation, the latter founded to help victims of violence. City councillor Jiménez-Becerril and his wife Ascension Garcia Ortiz were murdered by ETA terrorists while walking home on January 30, 1998, just around the corner from where I lived. The week before I’d met the wife and their three children at the English language school where I was working at the time, so that is a very strong memory for me. And so now I will always notice this olive tree on my way home and hope that it grows well and strong.

more twitter magic

29 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in friends, spain, tapas, twitter

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gabriella
I’ve known Gabriella (@tenedor on Twitter) for years and we’ve often talked about me going up to visit her in San Sebastian (which may actually happen this summer). But then she was suddenly in Sevilla and so of course we had to meet up and go out on a “tapeo extremo”. It was a fabulous afternoon – also the first long outing I’ve done without crutches in six weeks! – and we really hit it off. I was introducing Gabriella to the various bar owners as the “Shawn of San Sebastian” except she is actually on a whole other level as you can see by her website: Tenedor Tours.

Of course at the end of this fabulous tapeo I got to come home and put my feet up for the rest of the evening while Gabriella had to get back to work with the clients she had brought to town. Really hoping to get a chance to do pinxtos with her soon and, who knows, maybe drop in on the Arzaks. But mostly it would just be fun to hang out with her again. The list of fabulous people I’ve met via Twitter continues to grow…