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Published: November 1st 2023
Well rested, but sore from my fight with the wall and sight walk, our last day would also be our only full day of experiencing Seville. Before I begin, I failed to mention when we came back from dinner last night the hotel had left us a bottle of sparkling wine, I have no idea why, but it was a very nice touch, even if it was Italian and no Spanish.
The alarm went off at six, thirty minutes of snooze time, and I was in the shower, I can barely lift my left arm above my neck, so the shower was an experience. My knee is quite purple, and my ring finger also managed to sustain an injury and is a bit swollen, Jerry is stuck with me now, since the wedding ring is not coming off anytime soon.
We went down to breakfast, bit more crowded when your there at 8:30 as opposed to 10:00. I am now addicted to olive bread, when toasted with real butter, next to a croissant in Paris, there isn’t much better. If I eat much more pork I will turn into a pig.
After breakfast it was off to the
Alcazar, next to the cathedral the main attraction in Seville. The neighborhoods themselves are an attraction, and very easy to get lost in. The winding alleyway’s and passages are reminiscent of Venice, just no canal at every turn.
The Alcázar The Alcázar, although the name implies that it is, is not Moorish, in fact it was built over the top of the actual Alcazar of the Moors by Pedro I 100 years after the reconquest of Seville by the Christian Monarch. They are very big on referring to the conquering Monarch as “the catholic monarchs.” I am not sure why, because of course they were catholic, you think they were baptist back then? Throughout the years each successive monarch added their own touch to the palace. Today, it is not owned by the monarchy but the City of Seville, yet when the King and Queen are in Seville, they do have private apartments there. We, in fact, took the tour of the private chambers. We were not allowed to take pictures or touch anything so I can’t show you what they looked like, you will just have to come visit for yourself.
This brings me to a
very important travel tip. Buy all of your tickets in advance, the time you save is worth it, even if you happen to not go, as we have with a few places. The line to buy a general admission ticket was around the plaza, then you stand in a longer line to get in. If you want to see the royal quarters, you are not going to get those tickets same day. We skipped the entire line and walked right in the moment it opened. Aren’t we special? No, we just plan ahead.
The royal quarters were interesting, the rest of the palace while quite breath taking, somehow was not what we remember from our last visit. I think we might actually be mixing it up with a similar palace in Cordoba.
We spent less time that we thought we would, mainly because the extensive gardens appeared to be closed. This did give us time to do some things from yesterday that we didn’t do because we were sleeping. But first, yes, my glasses were at the bull ring and safely on my face as I type this blog. From there we walked to Triana Market. This is
actually in what is known as the Flamenco Neighborhood, it is very quaint and residential and worth much more time exploring. The market was nice but as far as the type of market for shopping, not quite La Rochelle or other markets we have been to over the years. There were numerous restaurants and even a cooking class in the market. They were doing Paella today. We did manage to find a nice spice market and bought some gifts and some items for ourselves.
After the market we took a taxi back to the hotel to drop of our purchases and relax a bit before lunch. Lunch was a short walk from the hotel and deep down a small street. This is not a tourist spot, yes, they did have an English menu, but we were the only tourists in the place, everyone else was a local.
We arrived a bit early, they opened sharply at 1:30 and were still setting up when we arrived at 1:24. By 2:30 the place was packed. I had a well-deserved Sangria while we perused the menu. The menu was full of Spanish comfort food not hi-brow Iron Chef fusion. We started
with Ensaladilla de Gambas. Not what you think, it is in fact potato salad with diced shrimp, talk about comfort food. Next was Croquetas with a cabrales sauce. Cabrales, is a Spanish blue, somewhere between French Blue and Roquefort.
The main for Jerry was Carne Tomate (like he will ever turn down something in a red sauce). It was a nicely braised pork in tomato sauce with potato noodles, not gnocchi actual noodles. It was really good, I would of course add garlic and paprika, its Spain, where is the paprika. I had white beans and chorizo, in a really nice broth. I know it sounds like pork and beans, but it was so much more. No dessert but did have a café con leche, another new addiction for me.
After lunch it was back to the hotel. I paid bills (yes even on vacation you have to pay the rent) and Jerry went searching for some items we were running out of, most importantly hair gel, my hair needs a healthy dose twice a day, otherwise, I might have to resort to the dreaded manbun. Hell will freeze over first.
When Jerry got back from his
adventure, we went to pick up our laundry. These guys were great, the best laundry service we have ever had on a trip. When your gone for three weeks, you simply can’t pack enough clothes to make it through the entire trip, so laundry is a must and who wants to spend the day in a laundromat, just find the local fluff and fold service and have it done for you. They are so good we have to trip advisor them, so everyone knows where to go in Seville.
Last thing is dinner. I am obviously blogging while Jerry sorts the fresh laundry. Oh, by the way it is Halloween, and yes, they do observe, much more than 16 years ago when we were in Toledo on our way to dinner and the niños tricked or treated on the streets (yes, I know what that sounds like, but they were not prostituting themselves.) Tomorrow is a bank holiday here as it is All Souls (Saints) Day, and this is an extremely Catholic Country.
Becerrita Dinner was amazing. At first glance, the restaurant appears way to bright and the chairs very uncomfortable, but then you are escorted to
the dining rooms. There are at least 12 different rooms, we actually were seated in a private dining room and the chairs were very comfortable, well for the first hour. In the middle of the table was a round stand, on that there were three buttons, you could actually press a button and the waiter would appear, very Downton Abbey. We did not press the button.
In addition to the main menu, full of traditional Spanish fare, there were three plans, or prefix menus. They arranged from a selection of small plates only, or some small palates and a main. One included wine. We opted for the selection of small plates. There were about 20 items you could choose 8 from, this took a while to decide on, but we came up with our menu. The easiest way to go though this is just a list with a brief description, there will be a picture of each, you might have to look at the bottom of the blog post. Everything is my English translation.
• Gazpacho (you know what it is, but here you must lisp on the z to pronounce it correctly.) Good but not the best
of the trip.
• Organic Tomato Salad (tomato, artichoke and swordfish belly)
• Red Tuna Tartar (very good)
• Scallops & Shimp meatballs
• Stuffed egg and potato fritter (there was no stuffed egg, so that is a very lost in translation, I was thinking something like a Spanish Scotch egg.) It was still good.
• Fried Cod Fish (yes skin on)
• Grilled Iberian Pork & frites (tender and a nice sauce)
• Veal Sirloin & Frites (cooked perfect, but could not finish as was stuffed)
There were a trio of desserts at the end, flan (not my favorite ever) chocolate and something marshmallow like, I really don’t know how to describe it. The chocolate was the best. We also had a very nice bottle of Rioja.
We took our time walking back to the hotel, working off our multi courses of tapa. The streets were full, as known actually goes in the bar, they all stand outside talking, drinking and smoking. There were a handful of people with costumes, on spiderman riding his bike down the street, I guess his web was working.
When we got back to the hotel, we just went to bed, not because we had a
particularly early day but because we were tired.
Off to Galicia.
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Sharon Hughson
non-member comment
Glad your last day went smoothly.
Your hair is nowhere near long enough for a man bun. Although now I want to put it in one while you’re sleeping. “Very Downton Abbey” I might have pushed the button just to see if it really worked. How very working class of me ;P