Category Archives: travel

triana day trip

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in home, sevilla, travel

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This week’s day trip to celebrate my 20th anniversary in Spain was to… Triana!

Which may not seem odd for those of you who don’t know Sevilla, but it was actually a day trip within the city, to one of its many colourful barrios. I had some research to do and so decided to make a day of it with Peter (who is scarily on his way to summer unemployment). Here’s a glimpse of some of the places we went to.  More later on the Sevilla blog.

Do you ever go day-tripping in your own city? I think it’s a great idea.

my granada apartment

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in culture, fiestas, food & drink, social media, spain, travel, trips, twitter, work

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So tomorrow I’m going to Granada and this is where I’ll be staying!

As with my recent day trip to Córdoba this trip to Granada will be part of my 20th anniversary celebrations but will include doing some research for my own websites and also for my friends at veoapartment.com. Markus very generously offered to split the cost with me by providing the accommodation, and well, just look at it! Small and perfect and in a dead-centre-of-town and easy-to-get-to-everywhere location. I couldn’t be happier.

At first the plan was to just stay overnight but it turns out that not only is it Feria in Granada this week, but also Corpus Christi, which is apparently a huge deal over there. Seriously, even more than here where they spend weeks erecting a couple of elaborate arches for a 3-hour procession…

Anyhow, I now have two nights in Granada! So I’ll be leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow (it’s a three-hour train ride) and will spend the day meeting old Twitter buddies John (aka @benzo8) and his wife Gale. I’ll also be meeting a new Twitter friend and travel writer Molly (aka @piccavey) and possibly also with fab photographer Fred Shively during my stay. Peter is also coming but will be taking a later train tomorrow because he has an English class in the morning. He’ll also be leaving earlier, on Wednesday evening, because Azar really can’t be left on his own for more than one night. Still, it will be a nice break for Peter, and he can also help me with some of the research stuff. Win-win!

If you want to feel reallly envious check out the veoapartment “apartment tour” video of my fabulous get-away place here…

Granada Plaza Nueva Studio Apartment

day trip to córdoba

03 Sunday Jun 2012

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

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I’d been trying to do a day trip to Cordóba all during May, as that’s the month when everything seems to be happening there, and although I missed the Cruz de Mayo and the Festival of the Patios, I finally made it on the last Friday of the month, in time for the Cordóba Feria, which was also my 20th anniversary of living in Spain, so that turned out to be a good choice. And the weather was perfect.

First stop was for late breakfast/elevenses, at a little café alongside the Plaza de Colón, with some rather yummy tostadas topped with olive oil, fresh tomato and tiny taquitos of jamón. Thus fortified, it was off past the Torre de la Malmuerta (tower of the bad death) to our first stop, and one of the main reasons for coming to Cordóba, the newly opened Palacio de Viana, the Palace of the Patios. As you can see from the photos below, this wonderful 500-year-old building has no fewer than eleven interconnecting patios, as well as a garden, each with its own individual design and character. Really worth a visit. Also nice that it’s a bit outside the main tourist area around the Mezquita, and wo walking back to the centre through the winding streets of the old town we saw a part of the city that we hadn’t seen before.

Palacio de Viana

Along the way we stopped off in the Plaza de la Corredera for a pre-lunch cold beer. This is a magnificent Castilian-style Plaza Mayor, apparently the only one of its kind in Andalucía, mostly built in the late 17th century, although the buildings on the south side of the square where the market (a former prison) is are even older. The name comes from the fact that it was once used for bullfighting, and it is also thought to be the site of the Roman amphitheatre. Then it was off to find some lunch…
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feria de córdoba

27 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in fiestas, spain, travel, trips, video

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[watch full screen if possible]

Some pics from my first visit to the Feria de Córdoba. Another fair, like the one in Jerez, that is totally different to the Feria de Sevilla and which, in my opinion, is much better. The casetas are larger (with air con) and are open to the public. Depending on what you fancy you can opt for traditional flamenco music (sevillanas), flamenco rock, salsa, disco… the casetas ranged from fairly rough & ready tents to solid structures decorated like country homes with servers dressed in maid’s outfits. You can get some great looking food, watch the crowds or join in, or stroll the streets and enjoy the parade of horses and carriages in the afternoon.

It really felt like being at a country fair – I even went on the ferris wheel! Too bad we were just there for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I found myself wishing that I could stay to see the fairground lit up at night but duty called and we had tickets booked on the 19.30 train (which we almost missed, arriving at the station with about two minutes to spare).

Note: at 2.44 is the horse of the day – a gorgeous beast, my photo doesn’t do him justice.