Category Archives: spain

caracolia

09 Friday Jun 2023

Posted by in seasons, sevilla, spain, tapas

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caracolia

The first Festival de los Caracoles – CARACOLIA – is taking place June 9 & 10 down by the river and, popping over on opening night, it was actually great fun. Caracoles (small snails) are a true Sevillano traditional tapa and they are also seasonal. Unlike their larger brothers, the Cabrillas, they are cooked in a spicy broth and each tapas bar has its own “secret sauce”. During this event 13 bars from Sevilla province participated. There was live music and the setting couldn’t have been better on a warm breezy summer night…

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pérez galdós revisited

10 Wednesday May 2023

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perez galdos

Calle Pérez Galdós could be – should be – such a pretty residential street. Instead it’s a war zone with late night (all night) bars, their patrons (mostly students, local and foreign, many underage) spilling out into the street, shouting and “singing” and screaming, at times also fighting.

I lived at the end of this street for five years and during that whole time I barely slept. At first I joined my neighbours in calling the police and at times I even stopped police in the street on my way home at night and pointed out all the illegal activity going on. Nothing. They did nothing even though they could see 15-year-olds falling down drunk, huge crowds shouting, never mind that it’s not permitted to DRINK IN THE STREET. They did nothing.

In the end I gave up and moved. Today I passed by and see that nothing has changed. Why is this street being “protected”, whose palms are being greased, so that this illegal activity goes on every night of the week? It is not normal that a barrio as lovely and vibrant as La Alfalfa should have been thrown under the bus like this. What’s going on?

toldos 2023

05 Friday May 2023

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toldos 2023 (2)

First time ever (in my thirty years here) that I’ve seen the street awnings up so early. First spotted mid-April and now the city is pretty much covered. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and think they should always go up this time of year but they usually start some time in June, and there was that one year it was put off until late July (way too late). The reason for being so efficient this year? I dunno… could it have anything to do with the elections at the end of May and an extremely ambitious mayor? Don’t you hate it when politicians treat you like you’re too stupid to see through their ruses? Would love to be proved wrong next mid-April…

toldos 2023 (1)

team tostada

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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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!