Tag Archives: spain

madrid getaway 2019

14 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in friends, gastronomy, getaways, madrid

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On my way to ENBHIGA 2019, starting off in Madrid. The official “cocktail party” meet up at the hotel was scheduled for 9 pm, but I came into town at midday to meet pal Andrew @undertheflor and have lunch at La Retasca, the latest venture by chef Juanjo López.

It’s always fun meeting up with Andrew, and this was a place he’d been wanting to go to as well. I left my bag at the station and walked to La Retasca, somehow missed my turn off and arrived late, which was unfortunate because Andrew was on a tight schedule. So it was short and sweet, with the company way better than the food.

Then it was back to the station to collect my bag and taxi over to the Hotel Nuevo Madrid, which was way the hell out somewhere I’d never been before. Checked in and went down to meet the group that was to be my travelling companions over the next few days. I’m so not good at group stuff, especially meet and greets. Lovely to see Jorge & Anna again of course, and also Twitter pal Rachel @R_McCormack from Scotland, but l snuck away while desserts were being served because it was going to be an early morning and long (5 hour!) bus ride to Ourense in the morning.

Rachel, Jorge, Anna, Pepe

the renoir boys

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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The boys were back in town for a brief stopover before heading to the Cádiz coast, so we met up for a tapeo. I’d first met Frank back in February when he was passing through and his friend Michael @renoirguides (who I’d known for ages on Twitter and first met in person last May in London) suggested we meet up. This time their friend Pankaj was with them and we spent a lovely evening bar hopping, eating, drinking, walking, talking… and finishing with penúltimas and desserts. Good times.  🙂

my 26th sevilla anniversary!

16 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in sevilla

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I’m never sure WHICH anniversary I should celebrate. When I first arrived in Spain (end of May 1992) or the day I arrived in Sevilla (today in 1993). Thing is, I can’t remember the exact day I arrived in Spain (that passport has gone missing), but I remember not just the date but the time (8 pm) I arrived in Sevilla. Possibly the longest day of my life, driving down from Salamanca with a friend, car packed full of boxes and two screaming cats (Lua and baby Sunny). And then having to wait in the car for three hours after arriving because the landlord was late, finally moving everything up three flights of stairs at 11 o’clock. Phew.

I had no real plans for the day (though a nice anniversary lunch and an evening concert are on tomorrow’s agenda) so I started off with a nice glass of manzanilla at Manolo Cateca and then simply wandered around Sevilla with my memories for a couple of hours. Then my friend Corinna met up with me at Casa Morales and we had a couple of penúltimas together before finishing with some early evening tapas. I was supposed to meet another friend for drinks later on, but after six bars (2 on my own, 4 with Corinna) I figured I’d had quite enough fun for one day. Good times.