Tuesday morning we took the train from Madrid to Sevilla. We hailed a taxi very easily from the hotel and arrived at the train station with about a 1.5 hour wait. If you ever find yourself needing to take a train from Madrid to anywhere else (one friend commented: “just skip Madrid,” & I agree), give yourself about an hour or LESS. There wasn’t enough seating for everyone so we found ourselves sitting on the floor chatting with a Dutch girl on holiday before she headed to Barcelona. I had forgotten how touristy and big Madrid is, so I was glad to head somewhere calmer and more my style. But for this trip, I think David needed to see the larger city first and ease his way into the slower-paced Sevilla. He still hasn’t quite grasped the slow-down culture/mentality of Spain yet. I’m not quite sure he’ll ever get there, but if he wants to walk with his wife, he’s gotta take a moment to just enjoy the stroll. I kept reminding him: If you walk slow, it’s colder.
Something I have a hard time getting used to is the 100% humidity and 100 deg weather in Spain. But never fear because we found multiple Ale-Hop shops everywhere we went in Sevilla. Ale-Hop is a novelty store with everything you can imagine: clothes, bathing suits, handheld electric fans (yes, I bought one for my neck and another handheld one), purses and kids toys. A sort of tchotchke store. I couldn’t stop sweating but I also couldn’t figure out if that’s just because I’m about 10 years older from the last time I was here & don’t have young person hormones anymore or if I was just in a literal damp inferno. Our room at Hotel Kivir wasn’t ready when we checked in so the front desk gave us 2 drinks on the house in addition to the welcome glass of cava. OK Hotel Kivir, you’re doing something right.
Speaking of Hotel Kivir, mucho shoutouts to Maria Luisa who gave us some stellar recommendations for tapas at Restaurante Las Piletas which had amazing food (gazapacho, tortilla espanola, garlic prawns & hot baby broad beans) & her favorite flamenco show [more on that later]. I’m very proud of David because we (really me) learned a new way to ask for the check and not sound like a tourist. Typically we just say, “La cuenta porfa” but somehow Instagram is following my every move because all of these expat influencer accounts showed up in my feed and I learned that “Me cobras cuando puedas” is a less touristy way to ask for your bill. So he practiced and the waitress gave him compliments on his ask! Yay!! He’s learning Spanish so one day we can live in one of these countries and both be fluent in Spanish. I’m not quite translator-level yet, but it’s something I aspire for myself.
After dinner, we walked around a bit and stumbled upon Mercado del Barranco. In Spain, Mercados are food halls with wide variety of food in A/C and often have alcohol vendors. My hunt for marcona almonds (but very specifically, toasted and tossed with salt and herbs) was unsuccessful in Madrid and even though I bought regular marcona almonds from the grocery store, they were terrible. There’s something about the olive oil found here and the fact that toasted almonds are one of my favorite tastes. Pure heaven. If you make it to Sevilla, stop at Mercado del Barranco because I have tasted those almonds and I will keep talking about how amazing they are, long after I’ve left Sevilla and probably less times than I start saying vale for everything. In Spain, everyone says vale. I just googled it because I feel like this blog should be semi-educational.
In Old Spanish, it was used as a way of saying goodbye, similar to “take care” or “farewell.”
However, in Spain, it means everything from “OK,” “I understand,” “sounds good”, or how we in English just say “OK.” So vale!
On Wednesday, we had tickets to Real Alcazar (a must see in Sevilla) and for this visit, I upgraded us (there’s that word again!) to the admission that included the Cuarto Real Alto or Upper Royal Apartments. It’s the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family when they visit Seville. The tour included guided audio with a device resembling an old telephone handset, which told a story as we walked through the dining room, sitting rooms of people waiting for an audience with the King (or in my mind, the QUEEN) and princes bedrooms. No cameras or phones were allowed in so you’ll have to visit yourself & experience it firsthand. You, along with your closest tourmates, kind of a get a minute to yourself up there to explore the details of the paintings, the tapestry, the architecture and again, clocks from the crazy king. Definitely worth the splurge (and something we got to share together).
There was a Canadian couple in our group, and when David showed them the kind of Americans we are (he was wearing his Gulf of Mexico, est. 1526 t-shirt), they said they’d welcome us as Canada’s 13th province. I’m not entirely opposed to California being part of Canada or mirroring their healthcare structure–side note, I just left my job to establish my own LLC. To stay on my company’s COBRA, I have paid over $2000 dollars for 2 months of healthcare coverage. Something is very wrong with our healthcare system. And far too many things are wrong with our government. My flag. My country. Not my president.
After the tour, we wandered around the grounds, and for some reason, David has become somewhat of a peacock whisperer. I have video proof. I have a very important PSA for those who follow my blog. F*ck Tevas. I bought a pair from REI before I left and every time I have worn them, I have ended up with severe chaffing and wounds on my feet. So while I thought I was being comfortable with ugly old-lady sandals, I wish I would have brought cute YOUNG-lady sandals that didn’t cut me up. It got so bad I went to El Cortes Ingles (another one of my favorite stores in Spain) for wound care instead of cute clothes. Tevas sucks!
We returned to Hotel Kivir and surprise, surprise we napped. But not quite 4 hours. We had to get up for the tapas and flamenco show we booked at Maria’s recommendation: Tablao Flamenco El Arenal. The options for the show included Copa-only (1 glass, no way), Copa + tapas (ok, now we’re talking) and Copa+tapas+dinner (too much comida.) Tapas included salmon and avocado tartar, cod fritters, codfish with tomato sauce, and something that was slow cooked duck or pork (both not my favorite ‘meats’). And guess what???! I tried caviar. I don’t really like seafood but I thought I should try it since it was included in this seafood salad with shrimp, pineapple, mayo-based dressing, tuna (or atun) and iceberg lettuce. Too many seafood tapas for my taste buds (I grew up on fish sticks), but the show was amazing with a guitar player, 2 singers and 3 dancers. I don’t know how flamenco dancers do it…the amount of stomping caused my knees to seize up just watching. Jajaja.
Again, I’m not the young girl I’ve been in Spain but I’m the happiest and most confident version of myself. And that’s what counts. If you’re reading this, you’re invited to our Halloween party this year because I’ll be a flamenco dancer and David will either be the guitar player (he serenades me all the time) or the stomping dancer. I think his knees are like mine…old. Guess he better start practicing on the guitar!
As I write this post, we’re currently posted up in the Aerotel Hotel located INSIDE London Heathrow. I never knew such places existed, but it is a far better place to lay our head for <12 hours compared to the airport floor. Next stop is Edinburgh where we meet up with mom!
There She Goes... 