Tag Archives: spain

trial run tapas & market tour

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in food & drink, tapas, tapas tours, work

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So remember how I came up with the idea to start doing Market & Tapas Tours? This actually came about a couple of weeks ago after getting together with Lauren from Madrid who has just started doing food tours there. We spent an afternoon going out for tapas here in Sevilla and talking about our tours and various foodie projects, and that’s when I started thinking about doing something similar here, but as a combination of a market and tapas tour.

Last week Kathy came out with me to do some “market research” (heh) and it was after we finished and were out having tapas together that the Ronda weekend plan was hatched. Anyhow, even though I had figured out where I wanted to take people I still needed to do a “trial run” to work out timing and pricing. But of course I needed guineapigs volunteers who would be interested in doing a tour at cost price (just paying for what was consumed). But as almost everyone I know in Sevilla is away on holidays at the moment I reckoned I’d just do a trial run at the beginning of September, since so many market stalls are closed for summer holidays in August.

Then I got a request for a Market & Tapas Tour from someone who’d seen them mentioned on my website. Well, duh!  I had forgotten to say they’d be starting in September. And I was about to write Lauren back and tell her it wouldn’t be possible and then I thought… hey! Maybe they’d like to take the very first Market & Tapas Tour at “cost price” with me and Peter? And it turned out they thought this was a great idea and so off we went this morning. Kathy was also able to meet us briefly for a snack and a chat before leaving us at our second market stop.

I think it went really well, though of course there are things I want to fine-tune, and going out with visitors rather than residents was also a real bonus. Lauren and Peter were great company and were also very interested in the food culture here, and so asked loads of questions. So I think it was a win-win thing for everyone concerned, and I also realised that this new tour is going to be a LOT of fun!

weekend in ronda

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary

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Here I go again… this time off to Ronda for the weekend, as part of my 20th anniversary in Spain celebrations. I almost can’t believe that the last time I was in Ronda was six years ago (!!) when buddy Craig was here visiting and we went on a Magical Mystery Tour. We stopped off there for lunch after a hair-raising drive up (and I mean UP) from the coast, on our way home. That was before Twitter and Sevilla Tapas existed, so you can imagine that this time I am going to arrive with plenty of suggestions for great places to eat and interesting places to visit.

The idea for this trip came up the other day while out having lunch with Kathy and her husband Walt, whom I’d met a few weeks ago while – you guessed it – out having tapas. We struck up a conversation in the bar and have been hanging out ever since. And so Kathy mentioned that they were going to visit a small privately managed olive grove near Ronda on Saturday and invited Peter and me to join them. This has turned into a weekend overnight stay, which is as long as I’m comfortable leaving Azar on his own, and I’m really looking forward to it. Found a (hopefully) nice B&B online, but we probably won’t be spending much time there anyhow. And I think for this trip I’ll leave the laptop at home and just take the iPad.

So okay, follow on @SevillaTapas and @azaharSevilla if you want to see what we’re up to, though there will no doubt be a full report here early next week. Off to meet Kathy and Walt!

market & tapas tours

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

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

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 Are there no limits to my talents?  😉

Take a look at my latest venture… Market & Tapas Tours! I was out doing research on this today with a friend and plan on a “trial run” soon with a few willing “guinea pig” friends. Really very excited about this as it’s something that can be done in the morning and won’t leave me wasted so I could still do an evening tapas tour. And it’s also something fun and different. Whaddaya think?

lunch in sanlúcar de barrameda

30 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, restaurants, tapas, travel, trips

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I’ve been wanting to go back to Sanlúcar de Barrameda since I last went with my Sister Sue back in December 2008. For some reason both Susan and I thought it would be a good idea to drive out to Sanlúcar for lunch just ten days after my third cancer op… and well, although it was MUCH better than sitting around the house – and we did have a fabulous lunch on the beach – it turned out that my massive incision and the surrounding innards were not at all happy about the extra moving and shaking. Memories of Susan trying in vain to avoid any sort of pothole or bump in the road (cos man it hurt!) and then me shuffling gingerly to the restaurant and back to the car without seeing much of the town at all. But in spite of all that, very fond memories. I mean, lunch on the beach in December… are you kidding???

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when my twitter friends and neighbours Anna & Jorge offered to take me out for a day trip to Sanlúcar to celebrate my 20th anniversary in Spain. Yes! Peter came too, and we headed out early on a Sunday morning. First stop was a walk along the beach and a tapita and beer starter at Casa Juan, the restaurant Susan and I had gone to 3 1/2 years earlier. Then we drove back into town to try the Very Best Tortillitas de Camarones In The World at Casa Balbino. After that a rather so-so tapa experience elsewhere, redeemed by a visit to the beautiful Hotel del Duques de Media Sedonia with an amazing view over the town, where we enjoyed a nice after-lunch drink in the shade of covered terrace. And then home again. More pics here…

Sanlúcar de Barrameda

seville concierge

25 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in blogging, internet, sevilla, spain, work

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So the other day I came across a site where you could “hire a local friend” while travelling in various cities, who would show you around and make your experience less touristy, blah blah… and then I thought this would be perfect for Peter. Happily he thought so too, and so for the past couple of days I’ve been working on getting a new blog and social media stuff set up for him. Peter’s been busy writing content (not published yet) and we’ve both been talking about the various ways he could take this new venture. I mean, there are lots of different specialised outings in Seville he could offer, as well as day trips by train or bus. This is very exciting! So go on and follow his blog, twitter and facebook accounts!


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