Tours of Sevilla Neighbourhoods

We finally found Eslava the restaurant everyone here says the food is very good. Being a Sunday it was especially crowded so we ducked out and went to our regular spot. We had asked for the bill, received it, and the waiter “who almost knows our name” gave us a beer and a wine on the house. Really, what more could you ask?

A group of ten older folk came and sat next to us, with moving of tables and moving of people in seats it seemed to take ten minutes for them to get settled. The women’s hair were all dyed and they and their gentlemen were all dressed nicely. They ordered platters and shared.

Sunday seems to be when everyone dresses up, probably for church, as a child I had to. About four years of age I insisted I was ready to dress myself, Mom let me. We go to church for her to notice I’d not put on my knickers! Back home, don the underwear and back to church.

Along with dressing up; little girls wear bows in their hair and dresses, little boys have their hair carefully combed and sometimes wear short pants with a blazer. This does not stop them from playing soccer or chasing pigeons in the square. I remember if I was dressed in my “Sunday best” I wasn’t allowed to romp about in case I’d ruin my clothes. Wasn’t too much fun to be dressed up frankly. In my career I had to wear suits to work and look appropriate for an office environment. Perhaps that’s why I don’t dress up so much now, I don’t have to and I like it this way!

Walked around different neighbourhoods again, found more churches, found the shopping district with the chain stores, boring… However there were a few owner operated stores mixed in and that was interesting. One store sold pens from all over the world and priced from low to hundreds of euros. Great to see the selection and where they all came from. Many more flamenco oriented shops with the accessories like combs, mantillas and fans, so colourful!

With Ivan’s help I am starting to figure out a menu better. Also when I see something on someone else’s plate that looks good I will point to it and order. Then I’ll point to my now empty plate and point it out on the menu to the waiter to see if I’m correct. It is a bit unorthodox  but works for me and just another way to learn the language. As I have said, a person cannot be shy about asking for things in a country where you don’t speak the language.

A cool day but good for Bruce walking and we walked our feet off, all the way to Alcazar Palace Lion gate but not inside, yet. 

A mime pretending to play tennis, he holds position for a long time before doing another.

Firstly though we stopped in at our neighbourhood fruit and veggie stall and bought more lovely oranges. They had fresh picked strawberries! So I smelled them, yum, then the proprietor gave me one, even more yum, of course we bought some. Got them back to the flat and they are enormous and super delicious! Yum about ten times over!

Bruce got his glasses fixed or adjusted to allow him to see properly, and we just walked, taking streets we hadn’t been on before. We did identify where we had stayed on our previous trip to Sevilla and Bruce felt good about that, gave him another reference point. So many plazas, you don’t walk too far without running into another one. After a couple of stops for lunch and a drink we started home. Got a bit lost, not completely turned around, just unfamiliar streets, headed in the right direction, but not the most efficient way to get there. I always think, well we’ve just learned another way to go and have seen more of the city. Did get chilled though so were glad to return to the flat.

Ivan's description of our proposed day.

CALLE FERIA: OLD FLEA MARKET AND FOOD MARKET

11.30: DEPARTURE

VISIT TO FLEA MARKET: It’s one of the oldest traditions from the city, still done in the old way. It’s a small flea market where you can find, books, pieces or art, collection pieces, clothing, and whatever may come to your mind.

13.30 (around): visit to the oldest food market (still working) in Seville. It has a place to eat inside, where you visually pick the fish you want to eat. Very unique and authentic vibe.

15.30-16.00h: 

Today a tour of Sevilla neighbourhoods with Ivan our guide. We started off at the flea market. Absolutely everything available there except maybe toilet paper and food, more on that in a bit. Lined along the closed off street. Ivan said some of the stuff being sold might be “hot” but in general not.

On to a palace Palacio Marqueses de la Algaba where a religious sales exhibition was being held with all manner of things for the Holy Week called Semana Santa in April around Easter. 

Ignore me here, look at the palace, it's beautiful! Ivan's picture

Much of it was hand made and gold plated. Ivan said some rosary beads are made with rose petals and smell for years. There were white elaborate flower arrangements carved in wax, too many things to mention but all beautiful. It had a lovely courtyard and museum of ancient artifacts from excavations under the city streets.

Palace courtyard garden, booths encircled the outskirts of it.

 Next the tour turned into a foodie one, yum! Tour of a large food market that has been there for centuries but, like many shops had been closed and refurbished in the 90’s. 

Ivan's picture of the food market

The entire neighbourhood had become dangerous in the ‘80’s with many muggings, prostitutes and generally not a good place to be. It has been cleaned up and often seen cops make sure it stays that way. I was told by our neighbour to leave my purse at home so lined my pockets with necessities but didn’t need to. It’s a safe place now, still a large city so, as always I am careful, and we enjoyed our walk around it immensely.

Further walk around the neighbourhood with a stop at Gonzalo Molina, yes I took a napkin so I would get the name right. It is a neighbourhood bar that tourists like us would normally not be in or have the chance to experience, shame, but also appropriate. It’s interior was crowded with pictures, books, antiques of all sorts which maybe weren’t antique when they were installed. 

Cruzcampo is the most popular beer here, the fellow below is a famous bull fighter

The ceiling was nearly ready to fall but had been shored up because if they had to re-build it wouldn’t have the same vibe. We had the specialty of the house fried grouse. Most heavenly! Took many napkins and tasted absolutely wonderful. One grouse per person, they are small birds after all, positively yum!

Waiting for it to cool some, Bruce couldn't

 More walking through the streets and Ivan points out buildings, history of both the neighbourhood and Sevilla. 

Outside the food market, typical streetscape

Next stop is at another non-tourist place that specialized in cod or bacalao in Spanish called Bodega Mateo. (yes, Ivan, I wrote the name on a napkin) The owners are deaf but that certainly doesn’t affect their cooking! We had tapas, all seafood and each was so very well done. Also had a dry sherry that tasted great and really complemented the seafood. Ivan said it made you feel “even” when drinking it with that food, right he was. Batter on the cod was much like tempura which apparently started in Spain or Portugal and went to Japan. The decorative fans from Spain also went to Japan to be used by Geisha.

The proper way to eat garbanzo beans here: you bite off the end and slide the middle into your mouth, discard the skin. I’ve seen it done and wondered why, because the skins are quite tough, but I could eat them either way, they are put in a brine, are fat free and a lovely alternative to olives.

Walked to Alameda da Hercules to have a coffee, it’s a very large paved park with water coming out from the pavement, which would be cooling in the summer heat. Read about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Alameda,_Seville  A storm blew in and blew us inside to wait it out for a few minutes. Ten minute walk to the flat and Ivan came in to meet Lexi, and talk about two more tours with him.

As you can probably tell, we feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to have Ivan as our guide! Thank you Pepe for your recommendation. Ivan understood immediately how we like to travel and accommodates to our wishes while providing valuable information and giving us a look into the real Sevilla. He does not, however, have good luck with restaurants he’s planned to take us to, another closed today, it has become a joke with us. The backup always works though and we enjoy the  look on his face when we get there and it’s closed. He says: “OH No! Hitting of forehead, “well, I’ll take you to this other favourite of mine… “  Again, if you ever come to Sevilla you will want him as a guide to get off the tourist routes to see and really experience the culture here. Ivan's contact information is on the previous post.

We're off to Cadiz on Sunday so will post from there. Cheers, Bx2 & Lexi Cat