Dinner Out - Tapas, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

We went out to another tapas bar for dinner - there are hundreds to choose from. Like most places, it was hoppin'.



Yep, tapas at the bar - literally. Dinner was spinach and garbanzo beans, potatoes and onions, a sherry for Amy and a bottle of water for me - about $8 USD total. The interaction at some places is interesting - we want to practice our Spanish and they want to practice their English. Go figure.



If dinner doesn't work out too well, the herbs at top right should help out. I love translations.



Turning a corner randomly will often yield some towering dramatic structure. It almost seems like being on a movie set.



Another random corner with folks out doing their nightly paseo - and a different church towering over the view.



One of the many plazas in the city.



Later, as we walked home, most of the people were gone and only the plaintive songs of a street musician accordion player broke the silence. As expected, we are liking Seville!

Santiago School Group Visit, Barrio Santa Cruz, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Wandering around the Cathedral area, these happy young people in the bright red sweatshirts caught my eye. There seemed to be at least a hundred of them in groups of ten or so running around doing different tasks, seemingly in a race with each other. The sweatshirts says "Santiago," so I thought they were from Chile. They roared with laughter when I said so. With my Spanish mastery, I might have said, "you have dog banana head," or something similarly inappropriate.



For this task, a selfie seemed to be required that included the Cathedral in the frame. They couldn't quite get the right angle so I was enlisted to shoot it for them. Hey, you!



For this task, they tied or taped each other's legs together.



They were hooting and hollering and laughing with a joy and exuberance that made me feel young again just to be around them. Ah, youth.



Some of the groups figured out the teamwork challenge quicker than others.



Going down the steps tied together was a particularly difficult challenge.



With part of the Alcázar perimeter wall in the background, off they went around the corner and out of sight.

What a friendly group who didn't mind an old tourist (me) following and taking pictures. It is a delight to see young people exhibiting such joy. They were from the Santiago School here in Seville. I couldn't quite understand whether it was middle, high, private, religious or what - they talked so fast and my Spanish is a struggle even when people speak slowly. When I ask folks to speak more slowly here, they smile and do so.  They don't just speak louder like stereotypical Americans often do when dealing with a foreigner. I think there's a lesson there.

Barrio Santa Cruz and Cathedral Area, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Barrio Santa Cruz, (the Santa Cruz neighborhood) is a popular tourist area in Seville, Spain. It's the former Jewish quarter of the medieval city. This is one of the many plazas. The neighborhood is also home to the famous Cathedral.



In this scene, pedestrians, musicians, motorcycles, and cars all share the same street in a chaotic jumble.



For lunch we ducked into this tapas bar......



.. for some ratatouille, spinach with garbanzos, and salmorejo, a tomato based soup with garlic and onions - a cut above gazpacho.



It's amazing that so many bars and restaurants can survive; most were always crowded and lively with patrons. And prices are reasonable even in tourist locations.



There goes another red motor scooter. "I want to live in a place where it's practical to own one," I say in my whiniest voice.



Entrance into a private courtyard.......



....and peeking through the bars into the inner area.



Red scooters, they follow me everywhere, taunting me.



Fresh herbs and spices for sale on the street.



A peel-a-boo view of the Giralda bell tower over the Cathedral wall. I haven't been up to the top yet but, I will soon.



An orange tree in an inner courtyard peeks through this Moorish arch. The Moors controlled this part of Spain from the 700's through the 1400's.



This plaza, the Plaza de Virgen de los Reyes, is just outside the Cathedral at the edge of the Barrio Santa Cruz.



There were many horse drawn carriages lined up for the tourist trade but not very many takers.

What a great city is Seville so far! It is such a pleasure to be out and about every day.

The Paseo, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

This could become a habit, the evening paseo, we so enjoyed our first occasion. This one is also on a weekday evening.  I suspect the weekends will be jammed with folks by comparison.  The city life here is so vibrant - people walking and talking, motioning and laughing, all with a passion specific to the Seville culture. The French call it "joie de vivre," I'm not sure if the Spanish have a similar term but, they certainly have the attitude.



I feel dowdy in my faded black jeans among all these dapper and well dressed Sevillianos.



The shop windows are filled with dramatic and eye-catching clothes for both women and men. Although I'm not much of a shopper (and certainly no fashionista - my LL Bean fleece is definitely out of place here), the posted prices for most things seem generally reasonable.



Every corner brings a new vision - and people everywhere on another weekday evening. Note the clock shows 10pm local time - time to find some dinner.



This dapper dude at an outdoor cafe is enjoying coffee and a cigarette - a popular combo here.  No smoking permitted inside restaurants/bars but, it is permitted at the outdoor tables. It is cold enough for hats, coats, and scarves (50's F) but no one wears gloves.



This watering hole was jammed with hundreds of twenty-somethings drinking beers and chatting away, solving all the world's problems as only the idealism of youth can do.



Here's one of the few thirty-somethings (in the blue coat) also having a beer with the youngsters. Some of you will recognize her.



I enjoyed the ambiance of this corner area.  And an image catching two people walking perfectly in step can seldom be repeated -  they are so perfectly aligned it looks fake.



The entire range of humanity from babies and toddlers to the most senior are all out and about in the evenings. Kids seem to be in tow with their parents regardless the hour. Observing parenting I see clear differences from the American culture: parents here are attentive but more passive, seldom prone to yell at their kids in public, more inclined to give them free reign to learn about life, less fearful something "bad" will happen. I like it.



This dramatic wooden structure is the Metropol Parasol located in La Encarnación Plaza. It is one of the largest wooden structures in the world. Controversial for it's modern appearance in the old town section of Seville, the building is popularly known as Las Setas de la Encarnación (Incarnación's Mushrooms).



For dinner, we managed to score the table at the end of the bar which gave me a good vantage point of the whole restaurant. Yes, more tapas.



Later, walking home, I liked this photo over the bar in a closed restaurant showing bulls in a pasture - much better for my vegan sensibilities than seeing them in a bullring fighting for their lives.

Lunch in Triana, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Back in Triana, the neighborhood across the river from our Centro neighborhood in Seville, we popped into this old traditional neighborhood restaurant for lunch.  Of course, what else but tapas! Eggplant lightly breaded and covered with a pepper sauce, grilled veggies, and the ubiquitous spinach with garbanzo beans. Each about $3 USD.  We are finding that sharing three tapas makes a perfect sized meal for the two of us. Even with drinks, it's clearly an affordable way for us to live.  I see why many here eat out instead of cooking at home.

Same place different view. I like the sense of place this establishment creates. ( A bit of distortion in this panorama).



The waitstaff - very helpful and friendly - and completely kind and patient as I butcher their beautiful language.



A Spanish family next to us huddled over a smartphone - like kids and adults everywhere.



Wines, sherry, and ham - hard to go into a restaurant and not find all three. The two stations in the foreground each hold a pig's leg for slicing thin pieces to serve the world famous Spanish ham.



And after lunch, elsewhere, a few folks of a certain age are enjoying the warm sunshine.



A typical hole-in-the-wall neighborhood fruit store.



Here's the car we have leased for the trip. (I'll provide more info about the lease option in a future blog post). It only took three back-and-forths to get it out of the space in which I had parked it. There are never any space markers and people cram as tightly as they can. I read often before this trip that having a car in Seville was both unnecessary and troublesome and/or expensive to park - wow! they were right. The garages are about $20 USD a day and, being ever thrifty, we opted for finding free street parking like above, about a 15-20 minute walk from our accommodations. Not an easy task to find, to fit into, or to leave. A car was the right choice for our overall plan but, if I ever I come to Seville again, I'll take the train and rely on a robust local public transportation system within town.

Point and Shoot, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

When I leaned way out the window, held the camera in one hand, pointed it up the street, and squeezed the shutter release blindly, this is what I got. Literally, a point and shoot. Looks like a keeper to me.

The Paseo, Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Young or old, cold or warm, the tradition of the evening paseo is alive and well in Seville. A number of main streets are exclusively used by pedestrians so it is a perfect match. This occurs mostly around 8-10pm at night, even on weeknights.



The practice of being out and about, even on a chilly, mid-week evening, shopping and visiting, eating and drinking, seeing and being seen, seems hard-wired into the soul of the Seville culture.



The dictionary defines a paseo as, "a leisurely, usually evening stroll."

Now and forever, I will remember it as something more.

There are two musicians against the building in the distance. As hundreds strolled by, a violinist and double bassist (with some recorded accompaniment from a boombox for a more complete orchestral sound) played a strikingly beautiful rendition of Ennio Morriconi's, "The Mission."

I most always enjoy street musicians so I stopped and stood a few feet in front of them as they began to play. Immediately, I was overwhelmed, entranced, transported, and literally moved to tears. (I am not normally one so easily moved). Music is an amazing force. I will forever associate a paseo with that powerful moment. I could not bring myself to make a photograph and seemingly defile the moment. Who would have thought?

Just imagine walking down this ancient stone street as people have done so for centuries and hearing the notes fill the air around you. Here's a link to a video of the composer conducting a full orchestra and chorus performance of it if you'd like to see, hear, and imagine: The Mission.