Getting to Seville, trying out guitars, and eating fancy tapas.

Once again we got up fairly early. Checkout time was at the rather ludicrously early hour of 10; considering the schedule we’d been keeping, that was a tall order. Still, we mostly managed it – we were officially checked out on time, though we took a little more time to actually leave the room. Hey, what can I say, we had a lot of bags.

Fitting all the bags into the car was an act of supreme spatial-relationship management. Plus some tools: Eli and Mila had borrowed from friends a baby backpack that turned out to be too big for Yelena; it was the last thing fitting into the trunk, and it just would not go in, because it would not collapse further. So, I went to the front desk as asked to borrow a screwdriver and monkey wrench, which I used to adjust the backpack so that it would pack much flatter. Success! And so we left.

Driving to Seville took only a little longer than Granada did yesterday, and we arrived well in time to check into our respective hotels and then have lunch. Mila and Eli are staying in a small room in a cute hotel that’s well-located in the Santa Cruz neighborhood. Everything is clean and new. Eric and I are staying in a cheaper place; things are clean but not new, and a little tacky; the location is a bit off the beaten path, though still in Santa Cruz. What ours does have is a lovely open-air patio/hall leading into it, decorated with traditional Sevillian tiles and hung with ivy and other plants. So we are happy with it.

For lunch we chose a place out of the guidebook, called Café Altamira, on Plaza Santa Maria la Blanca. We sat outside (as we try to whenever we can). Eli, Eric, and I drank beer – apparently the European version of Heineken. (Like Fanta sodas, Heineken sells a much tastier version in Europe than it does stateside.) Mila had a big mixed salad called ensalada altamira that contained, among other things, lettuce, tuna, and white asparagus. Eli had the pollo altamira, which was an unspecial chicken-in-spicy-sauce dish. I had a baked goat cheese salad that was quite delicious, Eric had a roasted pepper-and-shrimp salad, and we shared berejenas altamira, which were a little like monte cristo sandwiches made with eggplant instead of bread: eggplant slices surrounding ham and cheese, egg- and breadcrumb-dipped, and fried. Those were pretty tasty. We also all shared a plate of patatas bravas. For dessert Eric and Mila both had the flan, which was good enough. Eli had a so-so chocolate tart, and I had a disappointing apple tart that turned out to be 90% custard.

After lunch we took a stroll around Santa Cruz, and happened upon a guitar shop. Eli was interested in possibly buying a flamenco guitar. He went in to try out various guitars; I came along to translate. Eric and Mila went back to the hotel. The guitars were beautifully made, by an artisan in Valencia. They were also enormously expensive. The guy had Eli try out the best guitar first – a €6,000 guitar, which Eli found to be so nice that it ruined him for all the other guitars. But €6,000 was never going to happen. What Eli was really hoping for was a small local artisan selling his own wares, maybe even getting a decent flamenco guitar for €500. Still, I thought it was fun to visit the shop.

For dinner we went to a place that had outdoor seating and served tapas, located around the corner from Mila and Eli’s hotel. It wasn’t in any guidebooks, but the menu looked appealing. Good call! It was an excellent meal.

It was called Bar-Restaurant Catalina. One of the items on their menu was a sort of toasted bread with topping. We ordered one topped with onion jam and brie, baked, with cole slaw on the side. It was so good we ordered a second one. We also had an eggplant gratin, some fried chickpeas with a coddled Cornish hen egg, a small chunk of Argentine beef, some jamón iberico, and a duck confit lasagna (with handmade noodles) with truffle sauce. Oh, it was all so very good.

We drank fino sherry – Tio Pepe to be exact. While we were drinking, a couple of young women in Tio Pepe uniforms came by to give us gifts from Tio Pepe as a reward for having ordred it: two pens. We also had some very good beer from Granada (which we’d first drunk at the Moroccan restaurant in Málaga) called Alhambra Reserva.

In the end this was one of our best meals, and also one of our cheapest. I don’t know how, but it just was not too expensive.

Labels: journal, personal, spain

posted by Tony at 11:33 PM