Spain. The most anticipated portion of our trip.

Being Americans with shitty vacation time, we had to prioritize where to spend our precious days. I’d been to Spain 3 times perviously and traveled to many parts of the country. I felt Andalusia was the best region to visit for many reasons – smaller cities, rich history, an amazing tapas culture and the Alhambra – being a few. 

Tuesday, March 29th:

Once we landed in Madrid from Paris (which was a fiasco of its own as we almost missed our flight which would have wreaked havoc on my schedule that required perfect timing – always a risky venture and not something I recommend doing frequently), we got a bus to the main train station where we took a high-speed train to Sevilla. The train was amazing. Comfortable, clean, quiet and FAST. The train can go almost 200 mph! 

With beautiful countryside zipping by and a glass of Rioja to sip on, this is definitely a fantastic way to travel.

Once to our hotel, a modern and centrally-located spot called Hotel Venecia, we got ready for our tapas walking tour which I had booked with a local company. It was 1/2 as much as most of the other companies and I liked that it was a small business. Monica from Sevilla Tapas Tours met us at our hotel with her colleague Gabriella and they were immediately warm and welcoming. 

They walked us around the area and pointed out squares, cathedrals, cafes, etc. that we might be interested in checking out. Our first stop was a very small tapas restaurant that specialized in the Sevillan specialty of spinach and garbanzos (pictured below). We sat outside and sampled that dish, a drilled cutlet of pork with a yummy red pepper sauce, slow-cooked pork cheek and potatoes, and an unpasteurized, soft cheese from a family dairy that was new but tasted like it had been aged. It was so unique and wonderful. 

Our second stop was another small place but we were able to get a seat at the bar. They were known here for their croquetas – bechamel with bits of ham made into balls and fried. They were soft and rich and delicious. Then we had a piece of cuttlefish that was so tender and had a sauce of olive oil, garlic and parsley which we learned was common in the region.

The third place was a local brewery! The beer in Europe is not like the craft beer scene here, so it was great to sample some interesting brews. They also served food that was more “modern” so we sampled a dish with blood pudding, and some red tuna in a rich and semi-sweet sauce (pictured below).

Afterwards, we went to a small bar our guides had recommended and the bartender there helped us choose wines to fit our preferred styles and they were amazing. And cheap. Like, $2-$3 per glass. We sat outside, listened to some jazz and knew our days in Spain were going to be magical. 

Wednesday, March 30th:

Our first activity of the day was a tapas cooking class I’d booked us with Not Just A Tourist and it had us meeting up at the local market. Our guides from the tapas walking tour had shown us how to get there so we went early and looked around, then had a cafe con leche at a local cafe. 

Sara was our guide for this activity and she presented us with a shopping list in Spanish and took us to all her favorite vendors in the market to get our ingredients. We were able to order items and she explained different types of cheese, ham, etc.

She then took us to a stall selling olives. So many olives. And all amazing. The store owner let us try as many as we liked and we left with the anchovy flavored ones and the spicy ones. Sean does not like olives but he ate quite a few so they must have been VERY good. 

On our walk to the kitchen site, small and colorful streets opened into squares with fountains and orange trees that were blooming and releasing their sweet fragrance into the air. Ahhhh.

Our cooking class was awesome. We snacked on olives and cheese we’d gotten at the market and we made salmorejo to start which is a cold tomato soup with vinegar, garlic, olive oil and bread pureed until super smooth and topped with bits of jamon and egg. So refreshing. We also made sangria to go with our meal and Sara played some traditional Spanish guitar music. 

Sara and Sean worked hard on our main dishes of pisto (which is like ratatouille) and spinach and garbanzos. That’s right – we learned how to make the dish we’d had the night before on our tapas tour. So cool.

After our class we headed over to Plaza de Espana, in the Maria Luisa Park, which was spectacular in its beauty. It was built in 1928 for the Iberio-American Exhibition.

The park was exquisite and looked more like a well-maintained botanical garden than a public park. Very impressive!

I LOVE Sevilla!!!!

Sara had recommended we pop into the cafe at The Hotel Alfonso to see its beautiful lobby. It did not disappoint. We were wowed by one thing after another on this day. And completely in love with this amazing city.

We then crossed the Guadalquivir River and saw La Giralda, the tower pictured below. The Triana neighborhood considers itself almost like a separate city from Sevilla and is quirky and artistic. Our guides from the tapas walking tour had told us about 2 tapas places here: one for Iberian ham and the other for incredible seafood. 

The problem was that 7pm was far too early for dinner! Places don’t open until 8pm or later. Such a difference! So we checked out some local ceramics shops and then stopped at a small bar across from the seafood tapas spot. 

We asked for Rioja and the bartender pulled out a bottle of 10-year-old Rioja Reserva. It was perfection. We both loved it and when I went in to get us a second glass, I asked the bartender how much it was. 2 and a half euros. Or about $2.80. Unbelievable. That would have easily cost $15 per glass in the US. So yeah, we were pretty happy. 🙂

The seafood place was still not open so we went around the corner to Las Golindrinas for the Iberian ham. It was soft, salty and practically melted in our mouths. The solomillo – grilled tenderloin – was also soft and tender and juicy. I could have eaten many more of those. We also had stuffed mushrooms, veal, and a pinchito – marinated meat on a stick. We stood at the bar which was very traditional and watched the place get busier and busier. We kept noticing our server pouring what looked like cava (Spanish sparkling wine) from a large barrel so we asked her if it was and she grinned and then poured us a glass. Not cava. Dry sherry, which the region is known for. It’s an acquired taste and one I don’t have yet but it was awesome to try. Our bill was about $20. Sean and I will remember this place forever. One of the best meals I have ever had.

At the seafood tapas restaurant, we ordered the two things that had been recommended to us – the fried shrimp cakes and the red millet. Sean ate most of these things. I tried both, but they were not all that pleasing to my pallet and I was honestly pretty full from the last place. Still, pretty darn cool.

And that was it for Sevilla. 

Or was it? What are these photos below? Who are these people? 

Well, Sean discovered the next day that he had lost the camera. He was completely sick over it, but I was less so because we had also taken so many photos on our phones. I worked backwards, talking through the last time we had used it. Turns out, we had not used it at the seafood tapas place, but we had at Las Golindrinas. And there had been a little shelf under the bar where we’d kept our stuff during dinner. 

Our hotel in Granada called our hotel in Sevilla as a first step and they didn’t have it. We asked Monica, our guide from the tapas walking tour, if she wouldn’t mind calling Las Golindrinas on our behalf to see if it had been left there.

Folks, I’m here to tell you two things: 1). Most people in the world are good. 2). Nobody wants to steal a tiny point-and-shoot camera.

They had it! Yay!!! We worked with Monica to have it shipped home and were able to pay the cost plus her time via Paypal. It arrived a few days after we got back home. When I switched the camera on, the lively staff at Las Golindrinas had left a few souvenirs for us – photos of them being silly around the restaurant. How cool is that??? 

A happy ending, indeed. 🙂