Tag Archives: tapas tours

mary

04 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla

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mary

A few weeks ago I got an email from Mary, who was going to be doing a road trip through Spain and was interested in a tour with me, even though she saw that I have a two-person minimum (since now all my tours are private and so I can’t add others to existing groups). And THEN she wrote…

Special pleading as follows: I’m 78 and have been to Spain three times before. This will be my last. I’ve always wanted to see Flamenco in a Peña-type setting but have not felt comfortable on my own. I’ve seen more touristy ones but not great. I speak Spanish. I am very interested in food though I avoid the label “foodie.” I am a retired lawyer and in the process of retiring as the guiding teacher of a Zen Center. I hasten to add that I eat and drink most anything.

And well… how could I say no to such excellent pleading? So I said we could probably work something out and I checked out peñas for her. Meanwhile she wrote back saying that instead of a tour she would like to invite me out for lunch while she was here. Which happened today! Somehow we avoided the usual “how did you get from _______ to _______ ?” question, which both of us have answered more times than we can remember. Anyhow, we had a fabulous lunch and I have set Mary up with a list of places to go and, of course, great places to eat. We will try to meet up again before she leaves but as this weekend is actually quite a busy one for me (figures, all the other weekends this month are quiet) it may end up being just lots of WhatsApp chats. Still, what a lovely encounter.

a very sherry tuesday

22 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by in sevilla, sherry, tapas bars, tapas tours

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sherry tuesday

So this happened. Started the day with a private sherry tasting by Bodegas La Gitana at Las Teresas (the rep had seen a post of mine on Instagram and invited me) and, since I also had a last minute tapas tour booked the clients met me at Teresas when the tasting finished. Win-win. The clients were friends of my Twitter pal (and fellow sherry educator) Ruben @sherrynotes and both the tasting and tour were great fun (and delicious too).

sherry tuesday (1)Simón & Javier from Bodegas La Gitana

sherry tuesday (2)An & Erik from Belgium

just one more thing…

21 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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suze

The other day on Twitter I saw that two mutual friends, Tim and Rachel, had seen their friend Suze was coming to Sevilla and was looking for recommendations, and both of them recommended that Suze and her family take a tapas tour with me. That day Suze got in touch and in no time at all we had the tour booked. And THEN she sent me this when I asked if there was anything I should know about food preferences or allergies…

I eat meat and seafood but not fish.
My parents eat seafood and fish but no meat.
My aunt eats meat and fish but not seafood (prawns and mussels ok)

And then my head exploded. So I decided the only thing to do was Venn diagram this because I honestly couldn’t keep all this info in my head without visual help. Then I sent the diagram to Suze. Ha. She loved it.

It’s actually not going to be that difficult, only with things that people usually share (obvs). But that’s the great thing about tapas. You can either share or not, and there is always something for everyone. EXCEPT… when people have a serious allergy or are celiac. I’ve had this happen just before booking and I have to tell them I can’t take on that responsibility on a food tour. I mean, a bit gluten intolerant? No problem. But if you’re going to go into anaphylactic shock if you come into contact with a few breadcrumbs… nope. Also, vegan? Again, can’t do it. Simply because I am all about showing people Spanish culture through food and wine, and vegan is not at all Spanish. Anyhow, just saying that it’s good to know all this stuff before we get to the booking stage.

kath & tony

15 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by in instagram, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours, twitter

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kath tony

Kath (@kittyd66) and I have been following each other on Twitter/Instagram for a while now and when she and her husband Tony came back to Sevilla for a visit this week (their 7th!) she got in touch with me about an “off the beaten track” tour since they already knew the city and its bars quite well. And so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to suggest our new We Love Tapas Magical Mystery Tapas Tour with José, with a plan to meet up with them later on during their visit for a cervecita. Well, they loved the tour and did indeed go to places they didn’t know existed, then I met them today for a fabulous lunch at La Brunilda – another first for them. It was a fun afternoon and, as always, lovely to meet another “Twitter pal” in person at last. Pretty sure they’ll be back.

virtual tapas tour

15 Tuesday Jun 2021

Posted by in sevilla, spain, tapas bars, tapas tours

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virtual tour

Got an email around 6 o’clock from a guy called Blake asking if he and his wife could join a tapas tour this evening. And well, aside from the fact that I am not giving tours yet, it was very last minute, even too late for José to get into Sevilla on time (he lives just outside town). So I had to apologise and say no… twice, because he wrote back saying they were vaccinated, etc. But I explained it was too late to organise anything and once again had to say no. Then he wrote AGAIN saying that if I changed my mind to just let them know. And then inspiration struck! I remembered when, a few years ago, friends were visiting and I was hit with a random 24-hour bug. I suddenly had to take to my bed and wasn’t able to meet up with them. Instead we stayed in touch by phone and I told them where to go and what to order. And so I decided to suggest this to Blake (especially as he clearly wasn’t taking no for an answer! 😉 ).

Well, he loved the idea and I set it up like a bit of a mystery tour, sending them map locations of the bars by WhatsApp one at a time, with a list of tapas to order at each one. Meanwhile they sent me photos (and bad jokes courtesy of Blake) throughout the evening. Later he sent me this message.   🙂

One of the best travel experiences I have had, thank you so much again and I can’t wait to write my review tomorrow. Cheers.

I was joking that I could maybe do this full-time, doing 3-4 tours a night sending people to different bars while I stay home and netflix with the cats, but the truth is I can’t wait to get out and about again. This was fun though!