Category Archives: spain

back in the saddle

30 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by in sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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clients

So it’s been a fun month, getting back to my beloved Sevilla Tapas Tours – even had a Sevilla Sherry Tasting last week! – and it’s all been great. It’s still very poco á poco, with restrictions slowly being lifted and all that. Of course this also means the greedy Tour Whores are out in full force, trying to cram large groups into small spaces, many of whom copied my tours but forgot the most important part – to respect both your clients and the bars you take them to. They don’t give a shit that their big noisy groups and shrill guides totally disrupt the nice local buzz, or even that they are loathed by all, including the bar owners.

But in spite of them, I’ve been having such a wonderful time, getting back into this thing I love so much. Let’s see what happens moving forward.

identity theft

15 Thursday Jul 2021

Posted by in history, rants, sevilla, spain, tapas bars

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identity theftphoto courtesy of Gurmé Sevilla

You may recall when a few months ago I wrote about Bodega San José closing its doors after more than 80 years (the Bueno family took over the location around 1935). This was because the present owners of the building refused to renew the lease this year, presumably because they got a more lucrative offer. And here is the result.

Surely this is identity theft? Taking over a cherished family-run bar, doing a big reno, and then not only keeping the same name but putting “desde 1893” in your logo. This new bar (actually “desde 2021”) has nothing to do with the old one and is nothing like it. I’ve seen photos on their (new) FB page and it looks like your typical gastro bar inside. It’s irksome that they are staking claim to a history that was never theirs, obviously trying to profit from it. Not the first time I’ve seen this happen here, but perhaps the saddest one for me.

masks off!

25 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, sevilla, spain, welcome

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no masks

So first of all… that’s a misleading title, like many of the headlines I’ve been reading this week about Spain returning to “life without masks”. What IS true is that from Saturday June 26th people are no longer required to wear masks outdoors IF they can maintain a distance of 1.5 metres between people not from their household. Which, as you can see from that photo, is not actually possible in city streets. Heck, some streets in Sevilla are barely 3 metres wide. The other thing the media has been neglecting to point out is that we are still required to carry a mask with us at all times or risk a 100 euro fine if caught without one.

Meanwhile, in spite of the central government’s decision, the regional government in Andalucía is asking us to keep wearing masks everywhere due to our continued increase of infections (we have the highest Covid rate in the country and the EU Council has placed us in their “high risk” level). Given that the Delta/India variant is highly contagious, I am really hoping people will be sensible (fingers crossed). Because this pandemic is far from over.

heat’s back!

24 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by in seasons, sevilla, spain, summer, weather

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heats back

The heat is back, creeping back up to 40º, and so we are now always looking for shady streets when out and about. In fact, there’s a new app out there called Shadowmap that tells you when and where streets in Sevilla (or anywhere else in the world) are more likely to be shady. I usually tend to just look up the street, but I suppose it could be handy if you don’t know a place and you are planning a walking route. Honestly, there’s an app for everything these days.