Tag Archives: Andalucia

going for it…

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in andalucia, getaways, health & happiness, holidays, travel, trips

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So after the HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT of not getting my CT scan results yesterday (though I DID get to ride in a Jaguar XF!) I have decided – fuck it – I’m just going to go for it. I’ve been putting off making any summer travel plans. You know, JUST IN CASE. Because if I suddenly needed surgery or treatment, well, then I’d lose deposits and/or entire payments for hotels, flights, etc. Given that I’m not feeling too badly and that nobody seems to know what is going on… I have decided to book my summer holidays! Today.

First up… three days in Granada in mid-July. It’s been over three years since my last visit and I really want to catch up, and also hang out with Gayle @granadatapastour on her home turf. From there I will carry on to Málaga for a few more days. Not sure for how long yet, but that is flexible as I am staying at a friend’s place.

Then… a week in San Sebastián at the end of August! I have been planning to visit my friend Gabriella @tenedor (aka Shawn of The North 😉 ) for YEARS. And now it is finally going to happen. I will also spend a day or two in Bilbao, that bit is still up in the air. But I am going to book my flights and then the rest of it I can sort out later.

And so, excited and nervous. Apparently I have the next oncology appointment on July 5th, though I wasn’t given a time and was told I will have to sort that out myself. In the meantime, life goes on… I hope…

carnaval chiquito

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, tapas, tapas bars, trips

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To be honest, you couldn’t pay me to go to Cádiz during Carnaval, so when Peter and I made a last minute decision to ditch El Puerto for a Sunday afternoon in Cádiz I was relieved that the celebrations had finished the previous weekend. Or so I thought! When we got to Hostel Casa Caracol to drop off the suitcase (a great service, and just a short walk from the train station) the guy at reception informed us that we had arrived just in time for Carnaval Chiquito, a kind of “last hurrah” until next year. Oh boy…

Our plan had been to do a three-stop tapeo at some of our favourite bars, as well as take a walk along the beach, and then stop in at the splendid Cafe Royalty before catching the train home. And well, we did manage all that, but both the streets and the bars were absolutely heaving (though to be honest, the bars are probably that busy on a Sunday anyhow). We totally lucked out with the weather, with the predicted rain holding off until after we got home, and warm enough to walk around in shirtsleeves. So it turned out to be a great afternoon and made me realize that I really have to visit Cádiz more often.

one perfect lacy tortillita de camarones at El Faro

three-bar tapeo: chicharrones de Cádiz at Casa Manteca
chocos & prawns at El Faro
grilled presa and stewed abanico at Cumbres Mayores

fabulous picatostes at Café Royalty

La Caleta beach and the Cádiz Balneario

a day in jerez

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, getaways, sherry

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Sometimes the best plans are the ones that are barely planned at all. I had started thinking about last year’s Birthday Month, when I took a short getaway trip each week of January to celebrate my big 6-OH birthday on the 7th (one day is never enough 😉 ). Anyhow, it seemed a bit much to celebrate 61 in the same way – but wait until I turn 65! – and yet I still wanted to do something special. So I decided that taking a day trip each week this month would be a fun thing to do. Then I realized that I was already in the middle of the first week and still hadn’t planned the first day trip!

Then by chance I got a “follow” on Instagram from Bodegas Fernandez Gao, an up and coming winery in Jerez I’d been interested in learning more about and, although I knew they still weren’t offering tours, I asked if I could pop by for a visit – and they said yes! So that sealed it. I decided to go to Jerez for the day. And of course I immediately got in touch with my friend Tomoko to see if she wanted to meet up. It turned out that there was already a little party planned at one of my favourite bodegas and I ended up getting an invite. But after our visit to Fernandez Gao we decided to stop off at Las Bandarillas for a quick lunch before heading over to Urium.

I can’t remember the number of impromptu fiestas I’ve stumbled upon at Bodegas Urium. At this point that place really feels like my second home in Jerez. This time expat pals Paul & Anne had arranged a little “sherry and Christmas cake” thing at the bodega, that ended up growing… and eventually included me and Peter.

It was a fabulous bodega party, with everyone (I think maybe 25 of us?) all standing around a long food-laden wooden table with sherry glasses in hand, all talking, all catching up. Some people I met for the first time, but it was mostly meeting up with old friends. Afterwards Paul, Ann and Tomoko joined us in the center of town for a “penúlitima” before we had to catch our train home. A perfect day out.

willie & venetia

18 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in andalucia, day trips, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours, wine

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This story begins in April 2015 when Venetia @vblebus got in touch with me about my trip planning service as she was organizing a family trip to Andalucía. I recognized the surname and saw that I had been following her husband Willie @willielebus for quite some time, as a “person of interest” on the London wine scene. Anyhow, Venetia and I got to work on her trip and, after the first draft was completed, she said her (adult) kids had decided they preferred a beach holiday that year, so we put things on hold because V said that she and Willie would surely be coming to Andalucía on their own. And just over 2.5 years later… they came!

And it really was like meeting up with old friends. I knew they were interested in excellent food and wine – the “real deal” rather than wanky michelin star stuff – and so it was a delight to take them out on a couple of tapeos while they were in Sevilla, as well as recommend other great places for them in Córdoba and Granada. I also worked out itineraries for them and helped them choose their hotels and arrange transporation.

All of which made me realise that I should be pushing the trip planning thing a bit more. This project started taking shape around the same time I came up with We Love Tapas, and so it ended up on the back burner. But now that WLT is up and running I can turn my attention to developing this service, which is a great way to diversify and continue working in my fields of expertise.

Meanwhile, already making plans for Willie’s & Venetia’s return trip, which will definitely include visiting a few sherry bodegas.