Seville - home of the bullfight and flamenco

Day 7 (Sat, 15 June 2019)

We're off to Seville! Seville is in the south of Spain and Barcelona in the north, so we made the decision to take a domestic flight via Vueling, a Spanish airline. Fast trains are expensive in Spain, and taking a domestic flight is often cheaper. In addition, it's faster - the flight took just 1.5 hours vs a 6-hour train ride.

We'd booked ourselves into another Petit Palace, this time in Petit Palace Marques Santa Ana. We'd taken a cab from the airport to our hotel and were astonished when the taxi turned into this very narrow road to reach our hotel!

I'd mentioned that in Spain, the roads for vehicles and pavements for pedestrians often blend into one, but I think this has reached an art form in Seville. Cars squeeze into the most impossible alleyways and pedestrians scramble to get out of the way.

Our hotel opens up onto that narrow road itself, but it's absolutely fabulous. Right in the centre of the city and just around the corner (250 metres or so) from the cathedral.

The room is similar to the one we had in Madrid, even slightly larger. The bathroom is enormous! It even has a bidet.

Seville is a very small city compared to Madrid and Barcelona. Everything is within walking distance. I don't know if it's because we were here over the weekend, but the city centre was jam packed with tourists. They spilled out onto walkways, swarmed the tourist attractions, and packed almost every restaurant we walked by.

We decided to take a stroll around the coastal area of Seville. On the way, we passed by Plaza de Toros, which is the bullring. Seville is, of course, home to bull fighting.

Then we made our way down the riverfront. It was HOT. 32 degrees celcius and according to locals, it usually goes up to around 40 degrees this time of the year. When you're in the shade, it feels cool and the breeze is lovely, since humidity is low. But the minute you walk out into the sun, the heat sears into your skin and the light is blinding.

We visited Torre del Oro or the gold tower. This was Seville's watchtower constructed in the 13th century to defend the city.

Then we strolled along the esplanade to the very picturesque Triana Bridge, where you can get fantastic views of the riverbanks.

It was a leisurely afternoon and we returned back to the city centre for early dinner at La Azotea. Andre had done most of the food research for this trip and this was one in Seville with great reviews. La Azotea has a branch with a Michelin star, but we went to the one in Santa Cruz, near our hotel.

Salmon tartare and two glasses of tinto de verano

Salmorejo (a cold tomato soup with ham and quail's eggs)

Hake with vegetables

Pork cheeks and potatoes

The reviews were not wrong. The food was scrumptious. We'd never tried hake before, which is a white fish, and it was a delightful surprise. It was poached in paper with the vegetables and the result was a flaky, tender and glorious dish. The pork cheeks were melt-in-your mouth quality - my two pork-loving boys enjoyed this dish tremendously. We're loving Spanish cuisine so very much.

The portions were very generous and prices extremely reasonably. We're also hooked on tinto de verano, which we now order with our meal every dinner. We're going to be so fat when we return to Singapore.

Funny incident: At one point, we wanted to cross the plaza just outside the cathedral to the other side, but we found that it was blocked by hordes of people and paparazzi.We figured maybe there was some event being organised, and had to walk around the cathedral instead. Later, we heard church bells and we asked a waiter at La Azotea what they were for. Apparently, that day was the mega wedding of Sergio Ramos, the Spanish footballer and Real Madrid captain! He's such a big name that the centre of Seville was cordoned off for him.