Category Archives: tapas tours

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.

the magical mystery tapas tour

03 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours, we love tapas

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WLT MMT (2)

We Love Tapas has been up and running again since June, with my new WLT manager José Andrés. We’ve also been working on some new tour options, and this is one that I think is going to be quite fun.

Sevilla is a magical city and with our local expert José Andrés you will experience it all – culture, history, and local lifestyle, while tasting some of Sevilla’s best tapas and drinks. José is ready to make sure you will have an unforgettable time in Andalucía’s colourful capital city. But here’s the thing… if you sign up for our Magical Mystery Tapas Tour you never know where you’ll end up, but we guarantee it will be delicious. Perhaps you’ll take a stroll through the old town, or a trek around lesser known barrios; you may find yourself getting on a bus or the metro to discover further flung neighbourhoods and their unique tapas bars.

I’m thinking though… since until next spring (at least!) we are only offering private tours to vaccinated people travelling in their “bubbles”, maybe it should be a flat rate tour fee and then clients pay for the food and drink as they go. So then there’s no budget to stick to, no limits. What do you think?

you lose some, you win some

05 Monday Jul 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, gastronomy, instagram, patreon, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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lose some win some beautiful food and wonderful service at La Atrayana

I think most of you know about my labour of love Sevilla Tapas, that I started back in 2007, which then evolved into me doing food and wine tours after recovering from cancer. Which was going great until, well you know, 2020. But the main point of the website is to feature and help promote tapas bars and restaurants in Sevilla, and also to serve as a guide for food-loving people visiting the city.

During lockdown I did my best to support tapas bars here by keeping them in the public eye on my Twitter and Instagram accounts. As I have something like 30,000 food pics in my phone archives this wasn’t a problem. So I’d be sure to post something daily. Then once places started reopening I got back to doing what I do, which is visiting bars and updating their pages on my site. Very sadly some had closed for good during 2020, but others were born. And so keeping within my “safety parameters” of only going out twice a week and either sitting outside or near an open door/window, I got back to work.

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virtual tapas tour

15 Tuesday Jun 2021

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

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virtual tour

Got an email around 6 o’clock from a guy called Blake asking if he and his wife could join a tapas tour this evening. And well, aside from the fact that I am not giving tours yet, it was very last minute, even too late for José to get into Sevilla on time (he lives just outside town). So I had to apologise and say no… twice, because he wrote back saying they were vaccinated, etc. But I explained it was too late to organise anything and once again had to say no. Then he wrote AGAIN saying that if I changed my mind to just let them know. And then inspiration struck! I remembered when, a few years ago, friends were visiting and I was hit with a random 24-hour bug. I suddenly had to take to my bed and wasn’t able to meet up with them. Instead we stayed in touch by phone and I told them where to go and what to order. And so I decided to suggest this to Blake (especially as he clearly wasn’t taking no for an answer! 😉 ).

Well, he loved the idea and I set it up like a bit of a mystery tour, sending them map locations of the bars by WhatsApp one at a time, with a list of tapas to order at each one. Meanwhile they sent me photos (and bad jokes courtesy of Blake) throughout the evening. Later he sent me this message.   🙂

One of the best travel experiences I have had, thank you so much again and I can’t wait to write my review tomorrow. Cheers.

I was joking that I could maybe do this full-time, doing 3-4 tours a night sending people to different bars while I stay home and netflix with the cats, but the truth is I can’t wait to get out and about again. This was fun though!