05 Friday Aug 2022
So this totally made my day! My editor Julie at Decanter sent me this reader letter about my Cádiz travel article from last March. I mean, wow. It really made a difference to their trip and they ended up not just becoming Cádiz converts but sherry converts as well. Gotta admit it also helps with the ol’ impostor syndrome. 😉 Now I can’t wait to do another one.
24 Thursday Feb 2022
Posted in decanter magazine, spain, travel, wine
Yay! My copy of Decanter arrived today with my travel article about Cádiz. Many thanks to Michael @RenoirGuides for sending it – somehow it never feels real until I’m holding the magazine in my hot little hands. Thinking about where to go next. Any ideas? 🍷
UPDATE: it’s now online!
Discovering Cádiz
03 Friday Dec 2021
Posted in cadiz, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, wine
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Who knew that it would be more than two years before I’d get to visit – and taste – Cádiz again? Not me. And to be sure, there have been many changes there since lockdown March 2020. This was also my first time on a train since way back then, which was a bit nervous making especially because it meant postponing my booster shot until next week. Whatevs. I was on a train. I went to Cádiz. And hey, it was (mostly) just like it’s always been.
I was there to do research for my next Decanter travel article, which is why I chose this week. I’d have gone earlier but several of the places I wanted to visit were closed during November. My plan had been to visit a nearby bodega in El Puerto on November 30th, then a couple of regular spots in Cádiz that evening, and then the new places that had said they would reopen in December. EXCEPT I found out on the morning of December 1st that two of them weren’t actually going to reopen until the 2nd. WTF. Never mind. I had secured a reservation for the place that had most interested me… brand new Ciclo restaurant, run by chef Luis Callealta. And it did not disappoint. In fact it was pretty fucking amazing. So that made the other disappointments easier to take.
I wasn’t only disappointed by the ones that didn’t actually reopen on December 1st, but also by a couple of places I revisited (and used to like) that left me feeling like I wouldn’t be going back to them again. A bit sad, but overall it was a lovely overnight trip and it really did feel great to be travelling again. I have missed Cádiz so much. It’s one of my favourite places.
01 Wednesday Dec 2021
Posted in cadiz, decanter magazine, wine
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This week I visited three bodegas in the province of Cádiz, as part of the research I am doing for my next Decanter travel article. And well, they were all great, and couldn’t have been more different from each other, but I gotta admit that – this trip at least – my heart belongs to Bodega de Forlong.
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29 Monday Nov 2021
Posted in coronavirus, covid, sevilla, travel
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Well fuck. Though I guess nobody should really be surprised by this latest even more contagious Covid variant since we keep on not sending vaccines to less developed nations, preferring to make anti-vaxxing a political football at home. I mean seriously, just send the damn vaccines to the people who really want them. And so the latest variant omicron has left its “birthplace” of South Africa and is now rapidly travelling around the world, just as Delta (India) and Alpha (UK) did before it. Of course by the time we are notified of it even existing, by the time we are told it is a “variant of concern”, it is already spreading everywhere. And so now what?
For the most part this wouldn’t affect me in the sense that my life wouldn’t change that much. EXCEPT that this week I had made plans to take a couple of research trips (for another Decanter article) to Cádiz province, first to Arcos de la Frontera and then to Cádiz city and El Puerto de Santa María. Now I just want to stay at home. I mean, if these trips had been last week I wouldn’t have been as worried as I am now, even though the reality of the situation probably wasn’t much different last week, we just didn’t know about it yet.
And so… fuck it, I am going. Today to Arcos on a day trip with my friend Tania in her car. We’ll be visiting two bodegas and then coming home in the afternoon. And tomorrow I’ll be going to Cádiz by train with Peter, stopping off first in El Puerto to visit another bodega, then overnighting in Cádiz city, and coming back on Wednesday. I had originally planned on staying two nights in Cádiz but have decided to just stay for one and cut back on exposure risks.
Last Friday my health centre told me I could have my booster shot today (!!!) but as I won’t be here I have to go back and rebook it after I return. In any case, the booster wouldn’t have “taken effect” in time to make any difference for this trip. But guys… THIS IS MY FIRST TIME OUT OF SEVILLA SINCE MARCH 2020. I’m a bit terrified.
casa azahar 