What a wonderful day with Ivan! You’ve heard that many
times before, and will again, but he really provides us with great experiences. We visited
the Roman ruins under the Metropol Parasol, nicknamed the Mushrooms, or Setas in Spanish. Read
more about it here http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/museum-antiquarium.htm
The current display is Puertas de Sevilla, Ayer Y
Hoy, Doors of Sevilla, Yesterday and Today. They have meticulously drawn pictures, photographs and made models of the ancient walled City of Sevilla. There were
22 doors or gateways marked mostly in the direction they were headed i.e.
Cordoba; Malaga – well you get the idea. There was a 3-D video to watch
although none of us found the glasses worked all that well but did give one an
impression of how extensive the walls were and gates magnificent! Not much is
left of them today, they were all torn down around 60 years ago, (Ivan feel
free to correct me on this) to allow the city to grow into the suburbs for
buses and cars to fit. Ivan, a true Sevillian regrets this decision, destroying
history is abhorrent to him.
http://www.andalunet.com/sevilla/en/exposicion-puertas-de-sevilla-ayer-y-hoy-en-antiquarium-sevilla/
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| Wonderful tile work! Much older than what we saw in Triana. |
Walk around the Setas to see where the local market
had been that Ivan’s Mom used to shop at, it's a vacant lot now.
Then we did a true Spanish thing, bar and tapas hopping,
meaning have a drink and tapa, then move on to the next bar, for another! First
stop was at a restaurant where it’s standing room only, many are here – El
Rinconcillo with “best” food in the oldest bar in Sevilla established in 1670.
The food was extremely good! I do like to sit while eating, but standing is the
traditional way of tapas hopping.
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| Ivan's pic: Painting of the exterior of the bar, but notice the tile work again... tired of tiles yet? |
Very very crowded and always is according to Ivan.
They got a TripAdvisor rating a few years ago and since it has become nuts for
crowding, all day, must have been a good review, here’s the review.
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| Ivan's pic: Pot may have held beer but more likely wine or sherry I think. |
We went to a belen, nativity scene, there were line
ups for, the church is not open often and a woman saint is buried there, body
whole, covered in wax to preserve. Ivan had met her as a child, she was adorned
Sainthood after her death. Working convent with nuns in habits selling sweets as
they do in many churches this time of year. The sweets are made with lard, we
didn’t try them but there was a line up to purchase those too. The belen itself
was large, stretching up to the ceiling with a working waterfall and the entire
village, so detailed! Sorry picture didn't work out.
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| Ivan's pic: These banners are hung over balconies ALL over Sevilla, nice courtyard too |
On to another bar/cheese house/kiosk, don’t know how
to describe it for half and half dry and sweet sherry and a wonderful selection
of cheeses, Pepe, owner, is closing up but provides anyway due to Ivan knowing
him for a while.
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| Ivan's pic: Mural on the door outside owner Pepe's shop |
He closes and shows us his new bodega soon to open. Two bulls
heads adorn one wall, with plaques under them, famous bulls, and not my
preference for decoration but I would expect they’d be a source of pride for the
owner. Gleaming kitchen, small cozy space likely catering to locals, quite a
way off the tourist beat.
Another stop for coffee at the Alameda and Mariel
joins us. By this time we are both tired, I’d walked the route so walked my
little legs off, slowly but still more than I’ve done in a while. Good in all
ways because we saw so very much more of the neighbourhoods.
Feeling Naked here, no camera! While we were in the
Antiqvarivm de Sevilla the battery ran out on the camera. I carry a spare so
plugged it in with a bit of difficulty. Tried the camera and it isn’t working.
Figure out the spare was for our old camera – oops and darn it! Yanked the battery
out but have damaged the opening to the chamber. Attempts to fix failed so I’m
off to the camera store for another one. Darn it again! I like this camera, but
the store has a very similar model so hoping it will be as good. Now I can be
dressed again. So funny, dumb me! Took it to a camera store and all the clerk did was swap the battery around! Doh! Double Doh! Much head slapping after that! Extremely glad to have it working though. Photo credit to Ivan with Thanks!
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| Paradise Tree in the yard at a bodega we visited. Read about it next post. |
I ordered Salmonettas Frittos, not realy knowing
what, that meant but was on the daily menu and I do like salmon. What was
served was three small fish, fried in light batter, head and tail on. So
proceeded to eat and found them tasty, in fact they are Red Mullet, don’t know
that fish and the pickiness of removing bones was tedious, call me lazy.
Met up with two couples from the US who are
bloggers and hadn’t met each other, no real surprise there. Thought it was a
good opportunity to introduce some folks who have similar interests as ours,
mainly slow travelling. They were Ali and Andy from www.aliadventures.com and www.groundedtraveler.com and Ryan and Angela from www.jetsliketaxis.com It was a festive lunch, at Bar Antojo
Great food, great company! The restaurant filled up completely before we left. It is a "sit down" tapas place, quite modern, and the owners have other restaurants in the City
that I’m told are equally good.
Lexi's latest is chasing her tail, she rolls head over heels, not the usual chase round and round. I'll close off for now, have another post almost ready to go so you may hear from me sooner next time.
Cheers, Bx2 and rolling Lexi Cat
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