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Seville Spain
Tapas and Tile Heaven May 2005 By Linda Thalman
A long weekend break in Seville (Sevilla in Spanish) Spain is without a doubt a perfect place to go.
We flew from Paris' Orly West terminal at 19:00 - departure on time - and arrived on the warm evening
of Thursday, 5 May on time. Thank you Air Iberia - except for the dismal on board food which you pay for.
My partner, Pierre, had put Spanish GPS maps in the IPAQ and while he fiddled with the gadgets I
drove towards our hotel.
I knew it was going to be complicated to find and it was and wasn't.
We got within 500 meters of the hotel and following the computer I turned right.
That took us up an ever narrowing alley from which I had to reverse out of as it turned out
to be a dead end.
We spent about 3 minutes in the room and headed out for tapas and tapas and tapas and wine at
Casa Plácido in the Santa Cruz quarter, just around the corner from our hotel.
What a wonderful invention: tapas. These are small servings of the most wonderful treats, washed down
with Spanish fino, Manzanilla or red wine. Heaven.
Friday was our day to visit as much of the town as possible. First goal: visit the Real Alcazar and its
wonderful gardens.
The Palace of Peter the Cruel is full of wonderful tiles and the surrounding patios
are delightful. The immense and immaculate gardens were so peaceful.
In fact, we were struck by the quietness of Sevilla when wandering the narrow streets. Why? No or very
little traffic - there's no room for them to drive.
Before lunch we went to Casa Pilatas which is indeed tile heaven. Hundreds of different types of tiles
- called azulejos - with the oldest dating to the 16th century.
Hot and a bit tired we had lunch in the historic center of Seville at the Baca restaurant.
The service food and wine were fine, but just lacking a bit of ambiance.
Before the concert we wandered over to the Plaza de España in the
Maria Luisa Park. Again, lovely tiles, but it lacked ambiance at four in the afternoon.
Our flamenco evening was not a 'show' - but a real concert with only 80 people in a lovely patio setting.
We were in the front row of only 3 rows and the artists were less than a meter away.
Guitar, singing and dancing. Absolutely astonishingly beautiful.
Following the concert we had - what else? - tapas at Las Teresas in the Santa Cruz quarter
also just around the corner from our hotel. Perfect.
Saturday morning we slipped out of town to go on the wine and ham route... and what a lovely outting it was.
Corta Atalaya nearby is a gigantic open pit mine. The mines were run by the British in a not so glorious
past with a history of exploiting men, women and children.
Arriving just before noon, in Aracena we got tickets to visit the grotto of Las Maravillas for
an guided walking tour. There were stunning rock formations and it was a pleasant excursion done in
Spanish and English.
Lunch was at Las Casas, sitting on the patio enjoying the sun and warm but not too hot afternoon.
There we purchased ham and cured meats in the ham capital of Spain. Prices were half those one
pays in Paris. Clearly worth the visit to stock up on Bellota ham which is the best.
Fortunately we got lost on our way after visiting the 10th-century mosque in Almonaster La Real
and finally saw the famous black-footed (pata negra) pigs raised on acorns.
I thought pigs went oink, oink - but no, these Spanish pigs belted out a rock and roll bleat
that is hard to describe.
There were only a couple of them at the gate where we stopped but within
two minutes 30 had gathered in front of our eyes.
We took a second trip through Valverde del Camino which is famous for its handmade shoes and boots.
But it was too late at 18:00 and it had been too early at 9:30 in the morning.
We didn't manage to find one shoe shop open on a Saturday. Next time.
Then it was back to the hotel, but stopping for a quick look around Niebla with it's marvelously preserved 12th-century
city walls on the way.
This time we found the hotel easily using the map rather than the computer. But, no rest for the weary...
off to tapas heaven again.
The Alfifa was great - small, quaint, quick and friendly service. Followed by a less inspired
dish of calamares at a to remain unnamed place in the old town. You can't win them all.
Sunday was another day out by car. Heading south our first stop was Jerez de la Frontera.
Well, I can assure you, Tio Pepe was open and we had an excellent visit of one and a half hours including
the wine tasting and tapas for 13.50 euros for two.
The tour was informative, very well done in English and I would recommend this tour.
The gift shop (tienda) was lovely and we bought a lot of wine. We were a bit annoyed to see that
the Tio Pepe we had bought cost one euro MORE than a bottle purchased in a tiny superette in Seville!
Shopping Tip: Get your Spanish wines in a superette or supermarket.
Time for lunch, so we sped off to Cadiz. Thinking we'd find dozens of restaurants along the beach or bay of
Cadiz we were in for a major disappointment.
Cadiz is missing a major source of tourist revenue - where are the seaside restaurants? None, almost nada.
And, I must say, Cadiz struck me as boring and ugly.
But we did find - with much difficulty - a local restaurant along the seaside, below the seawall with
very good food: clams, mussles and grilled green peppers with nice cold beer.
Back to the autopiste (a toll road, but quite cheap compared to France) paying 5.15 euros to get back to
Seville. The autovias in Spain are not toll roads, but just about as good as the motorways/freeways
and they are free and very well maintained, too.
Time for a bit of sunning on the roof top of our hotel. The small elevated pool was not open - sigh. It
was hot enough to swim in my opinion as it was 30C in the shade! So we read our books and
enjoyed the late afternoon sun.
Then, guess what? Back on the tapas trail. At the suggestion of two Canadians we'd talked with in the Tio Pepe
gift shop, we went to the Bodega tapas bar in the historic quarter of Seville. Delightful, though their
speciality of tapas on bread were not my most favorite, they were still great.
The service in the Bodega and all the other tapas bars in Seville is excellent. The waiter or waitress is usually
there in seconds when you put your hand up for another order or a refill on the wine. Better, much better than
any fast food outlet I've ever been too. Que viva España and tapas bars!
We were so enchanted with Seville we even considered changing our flight to the next day so we could
explore further.
In the end, it was a piece of cake. Seville is a small city compared to Paris and at 7:00 there was not
any kind of rush hour - which you certainly have in Paris.
Our flight left on time and we nearly missed it while looking for a final bottle of white wine and
then having to line up for the security check.
Five minutes before we went to gate 8 there had been absolutely
no queue of people. Suddenly there were about 150 folks lined up. Bizarre.
The line moved exceptionally fast and we ran to the gate while 'last call' was flashing on the
screen. We were almost last onto the plane.
It's almost a shame we didn't miss the plane.
It just means we'll go back to tapas and tile heaven in Seville again one day.
Fernando III Sercotel Hotel
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Our pre-booked Avis rent a car was ready and in less than 5 minutes we picked up our car
and headed for Seville - in the dark.
But, hey, we were close and arriving at the Fernando III Hotel our bags were whipped out of the
trunk, the car parked, our room key delivered and we were in Seville.
A Spanish siesta was on the cards. But it was needed as we had tickets for
a Flamenco concert that evening at 21:00.
Our first stop was in Minas de Riotinto and the charming Mining Museum. Mining goes back to Roman times in
this region and the museum shows the history very well.
We continued along the country roads in the National Park of the Sierre de Aracena and the Picos de Aroche
to Jabugo.
Begging for attention? Food? A guitar to accompany
their concert?
The guide books were not in agreement. Some said there no visits of the bodegas on Sunday and
others listed a few places that were open.
That is harsh I know, but having seen Seville, Cordoba,
Granada, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, and other cities in Spain, you could give Cadiz a miss.
Monday morning the alarm wasn't set, but somehow I woke up at 6:30. Our flight was for 9:00 and it left
on time. We had to fill up with gas before returning our rental car and figure out how to get to the
airport.
General Information
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Linda Thalman
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Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Web Address – http://www.parisinsites.com/
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