Tag Archives: spain

my accents

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in casa azahar, communication, sevilla

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Every now and then someone on one of my tapas tours, upon hearing that I have lived in Spain for more than 27 years, says to me “wow, and yet you still have your Canadian accent!”. And I am always puzzled by this. I mean, what am I supposed to sound like? If I were living in England or Australia/New Zealand then, yes, it is possible that I would pick up something of those ENGLISH accents… but in Spain? Is it expected that I speak with a Spanish accent now when talking in my native language?

Meanwhile, Spanish people are always, um, appalled when they find out I’ve lived here for 27 years and still speak like I do in Spanish. Apparently with a very strong Canadian accent. In fact, I’ve been told many times that my accent in Spanish is atrocious (!!!). Which of course makes me never even want to speak to anyone again. And I know, there’s really no excuse after all this time, etc etc. But there are a few reasons…

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loo brush backlash!

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in culture, humour, instagram, sevilla, spain, tourism, travel

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Soooooo… have been working on a blog post about tourism in Sevilla. Well, it applies pretty much everywhere I’m sure. Just putting some thoughts together about the effect of mass tourism on travel destinations, and also about how places are so often marketed in a misleading way. One of those horrid catchphrases that I’m sure you’ve all heard by now is LIVE LIKE A LOCAL.

To wit I’ve been capturing some photos of how I – a local – actually live in Sevilla. This was one of them. Funny, right? Well, apparently not. I got some serious verbal backlash when I posted this on Instagram a few days ago with #livinglikealocal and #livelikealocal hashtags. This was followed by a dozen or so “unfollows”. And I had been SO CLOSE to reaching 5000 followers  😉

I would have quoted the Divine Ms M – FUCK ‘EM IF THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE – but I’m sure that would have just got me into more trouble. Anyhoodle… will let you know when I finish.  🙂

galicia getaway 2019 | day 4 – santiago

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in getaways, hotels, spain, travel

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When I arrived at Hotel Rústico San Jaime at midnight the night before, a clearly exhausted chef Miguel González asked me when I wanted breakfast in the morning. I said… 9.00? He said… 10.00? And it was a good thing we decided on the later option because I didn’t actually wake up until almost 9.30… it had been a couple of very intense days. I had also asked Jorge to tell Miguel that I eat very little at breakfast, so just some coffee and toast would be fine. Well, check out what was waiting for me when I came downstairs to the dining room!!!

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galicia getaway 2019 | day 3 – ribeira sacra & ribeiro

15 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in getaways, restaurants, travel

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Thankfully our day started out not quite so early as the previous one, and the weather was overcast and slightly cooler, with the chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. The plan was drive through Ribeira Sacra, which was to be the focus of my article, visiting four bodegas in both that region and nearby Ribeiro.

First stop was family run Bodegas Cruzeiros, founded more than 20 years ago by Ramón Marcos. We were greeted by Ramón and Puri and shown the new installation – the winery has recently been moved to larger premises next door to the original. As with most producers in Galicia, their vineyards are various small plots of land scattered throughout the area, and they decided to show us Ramón’s favourite one, 400 metres up and on a 70º slope. You can see them standing at the bottom of the slope in the photo above. Then we were taken back to the winery for a tasting – I am in love with their Casa Noguedo blanco. They are still new to enotourism but have very generous hearts and are looking forward to welcoming visitors soon. This was the other of my two favourite visits.

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la raza t-raza

04 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by in events, restaurants, sevilla

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Grupo La Raza invited a group of us “usual suspects” to try out their Tastes of the World menu at brand new T-Raza (terraza) restaurant. The venue is impressive, with a cocktail bar at street level and a large terrace restaurant overlooking the river.

T-Raza will only be open during the summer months, but the space is available for private events throughout the year. You can see the menu below. I suspect I was the only one at our table who had actually tasted the original versions of these dishes (other than a poké bowl), and of course Caesar salad didn’t originate in Italy, but it was a fun evening a lovely time out.


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