Spain Day 6 – Seville

Before we got to Seville, I bought The ultimate local’s guide to Seville by José M. Bejarano Cabrera, which was a great way to understand the city.   We ended up hiring José through Airbnb to guide us through the Royal Alcázar of Seville. The Alcazar is an official royal palace of the King of Spain and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It’s an incredible place that is similar to the Alhambra.  It’s nearly 800 years old, and where the Alhambra used running water as a central part for decoration, the Alcázar uses plants.   The gardens are immense, and some of the courtyards have sunken tree beds so the royals could pick fruit parallel with their arms rather than being above them.

The palace was always an official residence of the monarchy, so it never fell into disrepair and was continuously remodeled over the centuries.    This means that new things are still being found in the palace.   Also, the Alcázar was a filming location for Game of Thrones, so if you want to walk in the court of Dorne, head to Seville.

For lunch, we ate at a place in our neighborhood called Islamorada.   Samer picked it out, and it was fantastic.   I’d had a couple of versions of Spanish tortilla so far, but this once had truffle in it, and it was SO good.   I often think truffle is a gimmick, but this really was a great bite.   I felt like ordering a second (I didn’t). I loved it so much.  I don’t remember much else about that meal, but that was fantastic.

We knew a flamenco show would be touristy, but we both wanted to see one.   We bought tickets for the La Casa del Flamenco, a Flamenco theater in a neighborhood we hadn’t explored yet.  I had very low expectations because I knew I was walking into a tourist trap.  My suspicions were completely wrong; the show was fantastic.   There were 5 performers.  2 singers, a guitarist, and 2 dancers and they performed for an hour.    The real stand out of the show was the female singer, she was extraordinary.    The power of her voice was operatic, and without it, the dance may simply not be as beautiful.   It was a great idea to go to this, and I was so happy that we did.  It was not a huge theater, probably no more than 60 people sitting on 3 sides of the stage.  It was intimate, and it felt like we enjoying the art of the performance and not a huge spectacle.

For dinner, we found a hip and cute tapas bar called Sal Gorda.  We really liked it.  The dishes were genuinely innovative. We had a vermicelli and squid ink dish that was scrumptious, and their wine selection was fantastic.   We officially shook off our bad culinary mojo and were back on track.

Next: Spain Day 7 – Cadiz