17 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in welcome
Back in February I finally met Gayle from @GranadaTapasTours in person when she visited Sevilla with her family. So it was great to meet up again on her home turf last night and be taken out on a private tapas tour.
We stopped in at four fabulous bars that I’d never been to before, and each one was unique (and delicious). Of course Gayle personally knew the owners and told us the history of each bar and also some interesting anecdotes and info about Granada. Thanks for such a fun evening Gayle!
14 Saturday Jul 2018
Posted in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
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Most tapas bars open at 1 pm for lunch service, though some also open for breakfast, with a short break between tostadas and tapas. But Casa Morales is a bit different, opening each day at 12 o’clock. This is always my favourite time to go, usually for a quick beer and a tortilla, which I like to think of as “brunch”. 😉
It’s also an interesting time because there are a few groups of regulars that come in between 12-1.00 for a beer, a snack or two, and a chinwag. Meanwhile the bar staff are still setting up, the kitchen is doing final prep stuff, so it’s both active and quiet at the same time. These gentlemen are some of the 12-1.00 regulars and I love them. They can get quite boisterous at times, and I find myself wondering about their lives, what they are doing when they’re not here. The spell is broken a bit before 1 pm when the first round of tourists show up (still too early for Sevillanos to come out for lunch). By then it’s also time for me to move on and get on with my morning.
07 Saturday Jul 2018
Posted in andalucia, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours
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Heading home after my evening tapas tours I get to see stuff like this.
Love Sevilla. Love my life here.
02 Monday Jul 2018
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Really there is no such thing as a DAY OFF for me. Often people say to me… you need to DISCONNECT, you need to take some ME TIME, you need to RELAX. And while I appreciate – and can even understand – their concern, actually, I’m good. In fact, I’ve never been better. Because the very naïve comment I made back in my early twenties, when asked what I wanted to do with my life – “I’m not really sure WHAT it is, but I just want it to be what I would do anyhow when I get up in the morning” – has actually come to be true. This is my job. And it is also my life.
So on this particular day off – which for me means I don’t have any food tours booked – I went out about midday, after answering emails and finishing up some details for my accountant, and thought it would be nice to have some manzanilla at La Azotea… you know, so I could do #manzanillamonday on Instagram… and so we did that.
Then it was home again, to try out a new “smashed potato” recipe I’d found online, which turned out to be amazing. And my friend Peter @SVQConcierge came over to have lunch and also hang out and Netflix with me and the cats.
After that? Peter went home but I still had a bit more stuff I wanted to do. Some photo editing, a few more emails to answer. And then it was time for bed. So yeah, I guess there never is anything for me as a TOTAL DAY OFF. But I don’t even think I’d want one. My work, my life… it’s all the same thing.
29 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in hotels, restaurants, sevilla, sevilla staycation, spain, tapas, tapas bars
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alfararia 21, casa montalvan, hotel, sevilla, tapas, tapas bar, triana
A Friday afternoon stroll to Triana to look for a new food dish for Morcilla (don’t ask) turned into a delightful surprise visit to brand new tapas bar and restaurant Alfarería 21. This is part of a larger project by Paco Arcas, who owns the nearby Las Golondrinas bars, which will include a boutique hotel. The entire project comprises 3-4 buildings and I was first shown around the site a few years ago, before construction had begun. Then in March Paco took me on another tour of the site and the transformation was stunning.
Anyhow, it turned out that the Alfarería 21, housed in the old Casa Montalván ceramics factory, had just opened the previous day and so of course I couldn’t resist stopping for a couple of tapas and a chat with Paco. The menu is still provisional and so changes will be made, most likely to include separate menus for the bar area downstairs and the first floor restaurant. And the hotel is due to open soon. The rooms I saw in March were gorgeous – can’t wait to go on an overnight “staycation”. More photos below…
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