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| Hotel Boutique Elvira Plaza rooftop, Seville. Photo: AP |
We flew to Seville from the UK after Air India postponed our flight from Heathrow to Sydney in June. We decided to change plans, spend another few days in Europe and fly out from Madrid instead. Very last-minute, but why not? And what a treat it was.
We chose to stay in the Santa Cruz district the old quarter near the cathedral, so we were prepared for many tourists. But the weather was warming up at the end of June, so tourists were less obvious and our little square with its orange trees was mostly deserted. We were a two-minute walk from the Giralda, the bell tower of Seville's massive cathedral, and the Real Alcazar, the oldest royal palace in Europe, featuring exotic architecture and gardens.
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| Giralda at dusk. Photo:AP |
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| Real Alcazar gardens. Photo:AP |
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| Real Alcazar. Photo: AP |
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| Real Alcazar. Photo: AP |
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| Real Alcazar. Photo: AP |
Tapas Bars
We were spoilt for choice for tapas bars in the district – we didn't bother with reviews, just wandered and chose bars we liked the look of. Cafe-Bar Las Teresas, founded in 1870, was a stroll through the labyrinthine passageways from our hotel. It's a favourite for its history and dishes such as Iberican acorn- fed ham, Iberian black pudding, Galician-style octopus. The stylish Cafe Santa Cruz was just around the coner from our hotel, and Bar Estrella an eight minute walk. Ken likes Estrella Damm beer, so the latter was a given.
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Las Teresas. Photo: AP
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| Las Teresas interior. Photo © Las Teresas |
Flamenco
Looking for an intimate flamenco show rather than a grand production, we booked seats for a performance in an atmospheric theatre space and were spellbound by the performance of a singer, guitarist, cajon box drummer and dancer. The cajon is a Peruvian box percussion instrument introduced to flamenco in the 1970s by guitarist Paco de Lucia. ( I thought the musician was just, well, sitting on a box until I realised he was playing it!)
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| El Aranol, flamenco performance space. Photo: AP |
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| El Aranol flamenco. Photo (from video): Ken Martin |
Afterwards we had simple tapas at a street bar – anchovies, Iberian ham, a glass of rose, and delicious goat cheese with honey and walnuts.
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| Tapas, Seville. Photo: AP |
Only day two of this year's visit to Spain and we were so happy to be there. Next stop? Aragon for Garnacha wine, and delightful surprises in Zaragoza.
Hotel Elvira Plaza
Cafe Bar Las Teresas
El Aranol flamenco
Estrella Damm
Note: The pedestrian-only cobbled laneways were a challenging walk to the Hotel Boutique Elvira Plaza with our bags (packed voluminously for the flight to Sydney). The delightful member of staff who helped us to the taxi on the way back made it clear that we need not have struggled, we should have contacted them beforehand for help as taxis can't access the pedestrian Plaza Donna Elvira locality.
