Category Archives: spain

off to córdoba (again)

27 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, culture, spain, summer, work

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So you may recall that two weeks ago I was in a quandary about whether to go on this overnight trip to Córdoba, with Azar being so frail. And one of my problems about waiting to see how the old darling was doing was that I didn’t want to cancel the hotel at the last minute, since I was being invited to stay there. Then about a week ago I realised that I could always go on my own and leave Peter at home to look after Azar, which set my mind at ease. And then this morning came and we took a long look at Azar and thought – he’ll be okay overnight – so now Peter is coming with me. I hope I don’t end up regretting that decision, but the truth is that Azar has been eating well, doing his “business” regularly (though he sometimes misses the box), and drinking plenty of water. He mostly snoozes the days away, waking up to eat and get a cuddle, much as any cat his age would do. Poor thing is pretty much blind and that nasty tumour seems bigger and uglier every day, making it difficult for him to walk. But as he’ll be staying on his own in my bedroom, separated from the other two, he won’t have far to go to get everything he needs.

It’s still a tough decision but my gut tells me that Azar is strong enough right now to be fine on his own from 8 am tomorrow until 6 pm on Wednesday. Now if I can only keep myself from worrying the whole time!

We are going to be staying at the Palacio de Balío Hospes Hotel, which is stunning. They have also arranged for us to enjoy a flamenco guitar concert and dinner there, and we are also invited for breakfast. If it’s anything like the Hospes Hotel here, it should be amazing. But let’s not forget that this is primarily a work trip, which is the other reason Peter really should come along. During the day we’ll be revisiting places we’ve been before so that he can organise a couple of routes for his Seville Concierge day trips. And of course we’ll have to try out a couple of restaurants. When we were there for that day trip in June it was mostly to see the Feria and have a look at the new Patio Museum so I’m looking forward to seeing the Mesquita again, as well as a few other things I’ve never seen that Peter has lined up.

And so now all I have to do is NOT WORRY!

carmona

25 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends, spain, tapas, travel, trips

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[click on collage to enlarge]

A few pics from an impromptu day trip to Carmona with Peter (aka Seville Concierge) and Markus (my friend who runs veoapartment.com). We left Sevilla around 11.30 and got to Carmona about half an hour later. Part of the motive for this trip was so Peter could do some research for his new biz, and both Markus and I will also be able to use some of the images and info collected today. But mostly it was just a lovely day out. Well, except for the bit where Peter got us lost and the other bit when the second tapas bar on my list ended up being closed, but otherwise it was lots of fun. We visited the old fortress, stopped in at the market, tried tapas at two places, walked A LOT through charming streets of whitewashed houses and beautiful old churches and palaces, and then finished off having cake, coffee & cava at the splendid Parador Hotel, a restored 14th century Moorish citadel.

I’ll be doing more of a more detailed write up about Carmona on the azahar Sevilla blog.

What did you do today?

lupi

23 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in sevilla, spain, weird

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It’s not every morning you pass a guy in the street with a hooded raptor perched on his arm (to be honest, it had never happened before today). And so of course I had to stop and ask him what he was doing there with such a splendid bird. Turns out they were both working! They were just below the Metropol Parasol (aka The Mushrooms) and apparently José Manuel lets the beautiful Lupi loose on a regular basis to swoop around the Parasols and return to her perch, thereby keeping pigeons from roosting. Amazing! When you think about it, the Parasols would make a great pigeon hang-out and yet there are never any there. Thanks to Lupi and José Manuel.

It was only afterwards that I realised I had more questions. Are there several pigeon prevention teams that work on shifts, or are a few hours a day with a hawk shadow passing over the structure enough to keep pigeons away? Does Lupi also hunt and kill or just maintain a menacing presence? And who the hell thought this up? I think it’s brilliant.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen today?

el aljarafe

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, food & drink, sevilla, spain, summer, tapas, trips

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El Aljarafe is Arabic for “knoll”, and is the name for the cluster of villages dotting the hills just outside Sevilla. I rarely venture out there other than to go to IKEA (in Castilleja de la Cuesta), mostly because it’s a pain to get to by bus. It would actually be fun to do a day trip to some of the little villages out there some time if I can convince someone with a car to do this with me. But I digress…

I’ve only been to Salteras once, about 12 years ago, when I was invited to a special lunch at one of the “parrilla” restaurants there. About thirty years ago the first one – La Bodega – opened in Salteras and was such a great success that soon other places started copying its “formula” of offering a simple menu based on BBQ grilled meats served with “papas arrugás” and “mojo picón”. These are small potatoes boiled in a small amount of very salty water leaving the skins wrinkled and sparkling with salt, which are then dipped in a spicy Canarian sauce. Soon Salteras was full of these establishments and became THE place to go for fabulous meat & potato meals. Since then the menus have become more extensive while the number of restaurants has diminished. Now there are about five left and yesterday I decided to go out there and try one out.

After a bit of online research I chose La Resolana because I liked the look of their website and I especially liked that they had a “tapas corner”, which meant that Peter and I could try more dishes. So we trekked down to the bus station just in time to catch the 1pm to Salteras and when the bus driver pulled out of the station and put on some rock-a-billy music it started to feel like a proper Road Trip. We got held up for awhile in a village just outside of Camas when the main road became blocked by a funeral procession. I’d never seen this before and got one of those odd “I’m living in Spain” moments as I watched a crowd of at least fifty people walking slowly behind a hearse, with half a dozen pallbearers in the lead. It was a sad and beautiful sight.

If you go to Salteras from Sevilla by car it would take you about ten minutes. The bus takes about 25 minutes (or 35 with funeral) and we stopped in places I didn’t even know existed. Luckily we had been told which stop in Salteras to get off at, which ended up being just a few minutes walk to La Resolana. And well, we had a wonderful lunch. As it was a hot afternoon in August the place was pretty quiet, though I’m told it’s always packed out during the rest of the year. I can see why. The service was great, the food excellent, and at one point when a Twitter friend asked me exactly which part of the pig “pluma” comes from (yes, I tweeted the whole lunch) one of the chefs brought me out a book showing me the different pork cuts. After that we got some boozy sorbets on the house and I got to take photos of everyone for Sevilla Tapas. If you want to see all the great stuff we had to eat then have a look here:
La Resolana

It was only after I got home that I realised this had actually been another of my 20th anniversary day trip! And I’m now keen to explore El Aljarafe a bit more. If I can find someone to take me…

[also posted on the azahar sevilla blog]

holidays at home

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, holidays, home, sevilla, spain, travel, trips

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Yesterday evening I decided to mix a little business with pleasure and go out to do some research on rooftop bars. I’ve actually had a blog post written on this since June but needed photos. So I went out with Peter and managed to get to five places before sunset (black sky with a blurry Giralda tower in the distance – not interesting!), stopping at the last one for a drink, and then returning to one of the previous ones for another, before heading home for a late snack. And although some work was involved it did feel a bit like being on holiday.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, because of Azar’s health situation I’ve postponed all my 20th anniversary travel plans other than day trips (though I’m still struggling with that one overnight biz trip to Córdoba) and have decided to spend the rest of August “on holiday” in Sevilla. This isn’t to say I won’t be working, just that I’ll be treating myself (and Peter) to going out more, and spending a bit less time in front of the computer. I haven’t had many tapas tours this month, and at first I was stressing about that, but now I’m just going to relax and enjoy the rest of the summer. You know, “this may be my last one” is always in the back of my mind and, especially after Pat’s death and with the next PET scan coming up soon, things feel more precarious than ever. So what the heck. Holidays at home.