Spanish Cuisine

I will attempt a summarised version of how good Spanish food can be with short reviews of places I visited throughout my week in Spain. I can't remember each dish's name, but I can describe some which are try-worthy. Haha. I try to take photos of the front of each restaurant so it helps with locating it, unfortunately some only have interiors since gluttony took over, hehe.

In general, food in Valencia is much more expensive in Sevilla but their portions are also bigger - very filling. And I refuse to try any 3 course dishes typical to how cuisine is served in Italy, so it was all ala carte dishes.

Valencia

La Pepica (Las Arena Beach)
My first taste of Paella Valenciana - a traditional preparation of paella with chicken and rabbit. Some places also serve with snails. Side dishes of Galician Squid and Spanish Tortilla, heaven for my famished tummy. And down it with a cool jug of Sangria then end with cafe con leche (coffee with milk). That said, it's by the beach so it's more well-known for its seafood version of the paella. Another reason why it's famous is because it was touted to be writer Ernest Hemingway's favourite paella joint.

*Try the Galician Squid - grilled fresh squid with paprika, olive oil and boiled potatoes

Freiduria Boatella Tapas Cerveceria (Opposite Mercado Central, corner shop)
My first taste of tapas. Tapas servings in Valencia are larger and more expensive. We also had Agua de Sevilla which is a cocktail of Valencian orange juice with some alcohol. Since it's a Freiduria, it has a lot of fried dishes, but the menu was varied so there are other choices as well.

*Try the fried artichokes and fried calamari, not the healthiest but so yummy

Sant Miquel (Barrio el Carmen, near the el Carmen road)
Late lunch so it was almost closing. Limited menu though enough for a few tapas to fill us.

*Try their coffee, best I had in Spain! Ratatouile with chorizo is a good choice

Cafe in Plaza de La Reina
I can't remember the name and I didn't take a photo of the shop's exterior. But it is easily recognisable with bright yellow walls, it's counters full of ice cream, pastries and sandwiches. Anyway, try "horchata" here, which is basically a drink made from a type of nut known as tiger nuts, interesting taste, quite acquired.

*Try horchata

El Rall (right behind La Lonja de la Seda, go through the square)
Paella de Marisco, seafood paella. It was really good! This place was recommended by our receptionist, so it's as local as it gets? We didn't try much as we were filled from the tapas in the afternoon. But it was really nice as they serve a shot glass of chicken consomme as appetizer, haha. Asians.

*Try their Paella de Marisco, brimming full of seafood. 

Valor Cafe (Plaza de La Reina)
It's a chocolate specialty shop so they sell truffles and other chocolate-based products. Their churros is better than most that I've tried and delicious when dipped into thick chocolate

*Try their Churros con Chocolate

Navarro Restaurant (near Plaza Ayuntamiento, behind Burger King)
We ordered grilled seasonal vegetables and fideua which is basically Spanish noodles cooked paella style. The place is only opened for lunch except on Saturdays when it's opened in the evening. Their 3 course meal actually look quite good, so that might be a choice for those who are sick of paella by now. Haha

*Try Grilled Seasonal Vegetables and Fideua

Sevilla

Bodega Santa Cruz Las Columnas (Rodrigo Caro)
One of the most popular tapas bars, recommended by a couple of locals we asked. Quite full, so we stood at the counter. Ordered boiled prawns, potato tortilla and spinach w/ cheese. They had two types of draft beer, one alcoholic, and the other non alcoholic. I was not really fond of the food as the prawns were fishy while the other two were quite salty. But I do have a low tolerance to salt anyway.

*Try spinach & chick peas, seems to be the in thing there

Belmonte (Mateos Gago)
Just located down the road from Las Columnas. We were still hungry from the salty food, so this was lunch number 2, haha. Tapas-hopping is popular in Sevilla. Funnily, the lady from Las Columnas was there to have her lunch, such irony haha. Ordered Iberico Ham, Grilled Mushrooms, Pork in Wine Reduction and had an alcoholic Cruzcampo, their common draft beer. It's more pricey here by 1 - 2 euros per tapas since it is more well-furnished and there are more seating areas. We came back here again before the Flamenco show for a pre-dinner, ordered Patatas Bravas (potatoes with paprika sauce) and Gambas al Aijilo (prawns in garlic oil) which was more expensive since it was only available as a main meal. Also tried Valencia's special Naranja Vino or Orange wine

*Try Grilled Mushrooms, Gambas al Aijilo, Naranja Vino

Taberna La Papillon (Constitution Avenue)
Seriously packed to brim and more of a bar than restaurant though they have sitting places upstairs. Their menu concentrates a lot of ham and cheese as well as bar snacks like chips. They seem to be famous for their foccacias though. We came here twice. First time there we had Spinach with chickpeas, pork meatballs in tomato sauce, pork cheeks in wine sauce. Not really fond of the meatballs. Second time it was to try the ham so we got a platter of Jamon Iberico which was much better. Perhaps this place is best for its cold cuts. We also tried manzanilla, a type of dry sherry. But it was not as cold, thus not as nice. We tried it again prior to the flamenco show, and it was much better icy cold.

*Try Jamon Iberico, Pork cheeks in wine sauce

Las Morales (Almitanzgo, off Constitution Avenue)
A traditional bar mostly serving cold and cured stuff so choices can be a bit limited. Had tuna belly with salmonrejo, tuna with red peppers, sausages and stewed pork cheeks. I was ambivalent about cold, cured stuff since I don't really fancy them as a meal, more as an appetizer than anything. The tuna belly was really fishy eaten on its own but surprisingly lovely when eaten together with salmonrejo (Spanish tomato vinaigrette) and bread. Note that most seafood especially boiled/cured ones tend to be fishy in Sevilla.

*Try tuna belly with salmonrejo

Coloniales (off Plaza Encarnacion)
This shop has two branches, one near Plaza Encarnacion, the other somewhere in Constitution Avenue. We tried finding the latter but without success, lucky we came across this on our walking tour. Ordered iberico pork with quail egg and salmonrejo, pickled red peppers, solomillo pork and Manjar Blanco - their speciality of cordon bleu in almond sauce. Also had a jug of one of the most amazing sangria!

*Try iberico pork with quail egg & salmon rejo, manjar blanco and sangria.

Casa Manolo (San Jorje street, Triana)
This is supposedly the most popular bar/restaurant on this side of town. And since Triana is famous for their fried fish, we ordered some fried shark/adobo, a type of fried hake and oxtail stew. While the oxtail is quite nice, I'm not sure if I really like it due to its somewhat gamey taste.

*Try fried stuff especially the shark which has a nice sour sauce.

Casa Roman (Plaza Venerables)
As the gluttons we were, we headed for some supper after the Flamenco show and this place was near our hostel. Ordered some chorizo, ham and sheep's cheese. Also had some roasted courgettes and beetroot in vinagrette. Had a larger dish of iberico pork in wine sauce, but it was way more expensive. Then had two glasses of Tinto de Verano which is a cocktail of red wine and lemon soda, super refreshing.

*Try sheep's cheese, iberico pork in wine sauce, tinto de verano

Casablanca (off Constitution Avenue)
This place was constantly packed especially during lunch time. The waiters were also less friendly, guessing cause they were busy. Seats are reserved for those who are ordering bigger plates, tapas eaters have to stand at the bar. Ordered meatballs in squid ink and cod gratin. I cannot decide if I like the former because it can taste a bit fishy like how squid ink tastes like but it is unique.

*Try cod gratin & their olives (SUPER NICE)

Casa Carmelo (Gloria, near Hosteria de Dona Lina)
Our last stop for gluttony. Pretty nice sit down place. Ordered gazpacho (cold tomato soup), fried chicken skewer, marinated anchovies and potato tortilla. I personally love potatoes, so potato tortilla is always a safe favourite, except too salty ones. The anchovies are not too fishy, but they are rather sour as it is really pickled. We also had Agua de Sevilla sorbet which is a white wine with melon sorbet, super yummy!

*Try Agua de Sevilla, potato tortilla

That's the end of the glutton gastronomy tour. I really enjoy eating so it is always an important agenda on my travels. My buddy was going to burst as I drag her along my gastronomy tour, just as how I drank at least a glass of alcohol everyday in Spain thanks to her. Most I've ever done in 23 years of my life, but thank God, no withdrawal symptoms, mwahahaha.

In summary:

Tips:

- Authentic paella comes in a portion for at least two pax. While it means it's more expensive and makes you a glutton, those that come in one pax tend to be reheated or is microwaved. You decide. We didn't risk inauthentic paella so I won't know how it compares

- Down your food with some sort of alcohol, my choice is between draft beer and Tinto de Verano. One glass everyday won't kill. It's massive cheap to drink in Spain (1.5 euro to 3 euro per glass). Agnes will be proud to read this

- If you want to buy sweets, you can do so at the many confectioneries around town. A traditional way is to buy it from a convent from nuns who make these sweets. But I couldn't find the elusive convent way of buying where you look at the sweets you want and tell the nun through a window in the wall then put money on the turntable. The nun will then put the sweets on the turntable and change if required. This is because nuns were not allowed to be seen by outsiders back then. I saw this on Jamie Oliver's adventure in Spain, so I really wanted to try it, but well. We did buy pastries, but they were omaigawd so sweet! Yemas are interesting though, salted egg yolks pastry with sugar, haha.

- Most places have English menu (just say "menu ingles") and they will understand. Otherwise, point and use sign language, fun when you're not sure what food you get. Waiters are usually friendly especially in more modern places. Just smile and ask for recommendation. For this, I am glad Agnes was with me, since she's way friendlier. Haha.

- Get used to being stared at by locals. We went to traditional joints and it can get uncomfortable with the old men staring us down. Don't think they meant to be impolite, they probably are just fascinated with us different looking creatures, haha.

She was in Sevilla (Pt.2)

Day 3
Triana (Alfareria, Castil San Jorge, Santa Ana)
Plaza Espana
Sevilla LowCost - Flamenco Show

It's not smart to go holiday on a public holiday. Everything is not opened. A mistake I made because I knew it was a public holiday on the back of my mind but it just didn't occur to me the consequences. Thus, we didn't manage to go to the Triana market, where all the stalls were closed. So be smart people! The bridge to Triana is officially known as Puenta Isabell II or Isabel II's bridge but commonly known as Triana Bridge because it connects the Sevilla city centre with the town of Triana. The view of Guadalaquivir river/canal is gorgeous from the bridge especially in good weather. We wanted to go to the market, but as I've mentioned, it was not opened. Heck, the town had a lot of people walking around but shops were mostly closed save for the eateries. First we went to Alfareria street where it is famous for ceramic items. Note that Triana is part of Seville but they differentiate themselves, perhaps due to the differences in class last time where Triana is mostly made up of fishermen and dockmen plus gypsies thus coming from a lower economy class. Anyway, though most of the ceramic shops were closed, we did manage to buy some souvenirs.

 The riverside walk

 View of Guadalaquivir river from Triana Bridge

 A street in Triana

 Puenta Triana/ Isabell II

Then, it was on to visit the Castil San Jorge or St George's Castle, most famous as the residence of the Inquisition Committee. This committee was formed to ensure that reformed or converted Catholics remained discipline to their faith and not practice anything outside of it. Anyone found doing otherwise was tortured when found guilty by this committee. It was also the main reason for the disappearance of Jews from the Santa Cruz quarters. It was quite cool to visit the ruins of the old castle found beneath a market, and to read some stories of the Inquisition and their disrespect of human rights. Next, we headed to Santa Ana convent hoping to buy some sweets, but it was closed. As our guide had mentioned a day earlier, it was probably only opened on Easter week.

Part of the ruins

Took a riverside walk back to the Sevilla side towards Plaza de Espana. It's a really gorgeous square which was intended to be an open air university by its designer but is now mostly offices of various political ministries and famous for tourists and wedding photos, haha. Very beautiful place and you can climb to the first floor for a nice view.

 Maritime university on the way to Plaza de Espana

 Plaza de Espana from 1st floor

Front view of Plaza de Espana

At night, we took a package with Sevilla LowCost again for a flamenco show that includes a history of flamenco and a "manzanilla" tasting session, a drink resembling sherry. Altogether 20 euros, which is quite typical of most flamenco shows. We took it because we prefer to know about the history of flamenco, plus our guide was really sweet to stay with us during the show and explained important parts of the show. No, it's definitely not because of the inclusive drink, haha. Thoroughly enjoyed the show despite not understanding its lyrics. Basically we had 3 different "stories" that was expressed, one with just a singer and the guitarist and the next two includes a flamenco dancer. The spirit of the show was amazing, and the guitar tunes were awesome!

Flamenco show

Day 4
Casa de Pilatos
Museum of Fine Arts

On our last day, we had a whole day, again because our flight is late at night. So we started a very rainy morning by heading to Casa de Pilatos or Pilatos' castle. It belongs to one of the Spanish nobility family and is rarely used except for its private wing. There are different prices for visiting the ground floor and top floor with the latter being slightly higher (6 euros VS 8 euros) but you get a 20 minutes guided tour. And I would say it is quite worth it, especially when you finally get to see a place with furniture, haha.

Our last stop for the day was the Museum of Fine Arts which I absolutely love. Not so much the type of art since I'm not very good with appreciating art, more so Spanish artists which I'm unfamiliar with. But the building it was situated in was gorgeous, I could stay there! It was what I expected an art gallery to be with separate gallery rooms, large spaces, and proper garden patios inside. Especially the Murillo gallery, where it houses the paintings of Sevilla's most famous painter's works. The hall was huge and so peaceful! Probably my next favourite museum to the Borghese Gallery in Rome. Unfortunately we did not take photos because we were told that cameras are not allowed, so we left it at the locker. When we were at the entrance then we were told that taking photos are allowed, just without flash. pooh. We ended the day walking from the other end of the city to the city centre, long walk that one.

Main patio of Casa de Pilatos - no photos allowed on 1st floor

I love Spain. It's gorgeous with its architecture, and so alive with people! Plus the food is amazing, I haven't had a too bad meal, and I didn't get bored of the food despite a week of gluttony. Definitely recommended to visit!

Do try:

- Cathedral + Giralda; you have to climb up a tower that has ramps, it is just the coolest thing in the world

- Alcazar; best visited with a guide. I find the audio guide for most of Sevilla's monuments a bit long-winded so it loses my attention after a while. Anyhow, the palace is gorgeous, GO.

- Metropol Parosol; cheap lookout point, and still pretty. Plus its design is definitely worth a visit.

- Walking tours; with Sevilla LowCost. It's affordable and it gets you to the most important places with locals telling you its stories. Particularly the Legends tour because it's different from most other tours.

- Triana area; go in the morning or night, I think it's beautiful place to be. Slightly different from the city of Sevilla, and while we didn't go at night, I am guessing the riverside view would have been gorgeous

- Eat tapas. Lots of it. Again, Sevilla is big on siesta so the meals don't start till 1.30pm for lunch or 8.00pm for dinner. Eat a few times if you have too, and always wash it down with some good alcohol - Tinto de Verano, Orange Wine or draft beer, YUMS.

- Walk around, morning or night. There's much to shop in the morning with a mix of high street brands and independent shops. At night, it's just beautiful with all its lights - just be careful not to get lost in the alley ways, haha.

Streets at night; lined with tapas bars

Tips:

- Always match your time to the siesta hours. Perhaps you can even take a siesta yourself. The good thing about this is that most attractions open till 7 - 8pm so even if you didn't make it in the evening, you can make it at night

- Wear proper shoes. I wore heeled boots, and it killed my sole especially when walking at the cobbled areas, not smart.

- Beware of gypsies at tourist areas. Their MO is to give you a rosemary stalk for luck, then try to read your palm and then ask you to pay them, not in coins but in bills.

- It's really affordable to visit Sevilla. We didn't spend much on transportation (though our taxi from the airport cost a bomb!), but mostly on attractions which mostly cost less than 5 euros (with student card) and food was cheap, especially if you hog on tapas (average 2.5 euros - 5 euros per plate). The Sevilla card was quite expensive in my opinion but it does cover all transportation and includes unlimited tourist bus hop-on-hop-off and a river cruise. Those weren't in my itinerary so we didn't do it.

- Sevilla is huge, and there are plenty of places to explore so a good 3, 4 days may be needed depending on your pace. We would have gone to the Bullring museum if not for realising it at the last minute.

She was in Sevilla (Pt.1)

Okay, 4 days and 4 nights, this will probably be a pretty long post, haha. Reason being the plane tickets were cheaper on specific days thus the imbalance of number of days spent in both cities, though Sevilla definitely warrants a longer visit.

Sevilla. is. GORGEOUS.

The architecture is amazing given that it is influenced by everything, from Muslim to Christianity. As a matter of fact everything in this Andalusian region seems to mix everything; they all come together in peace. Wait till we talk about the food. Haha.

Transportation:
Feet. It's a huge place but other than getting to and fro the airport, we really just used our legs. Most common transportation is the trams in the city centre with buses being the most convenient. There's also a metro but I'm not too sure about the map. Or you could bust 50 euros per cart on the horse carriages. Crazy.

Base: La Hosteria de Dona Lina
Location: 3.5/5
Environment: 4/5
Room: 3.5/5

If there's one thing Sevilla can beat Venice in, is the massive alleyways for you to get lost in, especially in Santa Cruz which is the old Jewish quarters we stayed in. Had a stressful night trying to locate our hostel as we arrived close to 10pm and the taxi driver could not drop us at the door because the passages are mostly pedestrian only. Unless you use GPS, otherwise you could end up like us, calling the hostel reception to come get us. Although Sevilla is a more significant tourist attraction than Valencia, spoken English is still minimal so it's hard to understand people especially when they give directions. That said and done, most of them are more friendly and ready to help than not. The location though hard to find, can be easy to navigate once you get your bearings right, which is much easier in daylight. It's located in the old city centre, so it's really really pretty with cobbled roads and gorgeous tiled courtyards. There are also plenty of places to eat in the alleyways, let them surprise you. The room was spacious as it's meant for 3 people, the water pressure was much better here though using solar power so you might need to wait a while for hot water. Otherwise it's the usual tiled floors, and they even have air-conditioners! Haha.

 Entrance to hostel

 Dining area

Bedroom

Day 1
Alcazar
Giralda
Cathedral
Iglesia del Salvador
Plaza Encarnacion
Metropol Parasol
Centro

Started the day early and fresh, headed to the Cathedral but it was only open for mass thus decided to head to the Alcazar instead which was once a castle. It's still in used nowadays as a hotel for the King of Spain should he choose to stay there. The Alcazar is gorgeous, I LOVED IT. It's very different in terms of architecture from the castles I've seen, mostly utilizing Mudejar influences which is a marriage between Christian and Muslim influences - who would have thought? I rented an audio guide but the small notices in each main area provide good enough information. Took about two hours just to visit each room in the palace - would have took longer if we tried to finish the gardens and the readings. The gardens are gorgeous. You would notice that there are a lot of palm trees or large trees, simply because it was brought it from America. Another thing about the Spanish palaces is that they are usually just empty rooms without furniture, so it can be quite boring though the structure itself is worth a see - pay attention to ceilings and walls, pretty.

 The first main patio that greets you in the Alcazar. If you click and see clearly, the top half of the building is inspired by architecture from Sevilla, Cordoba and other Andalusian regions, thus they look different.

 Inner patio; Andalusian architecture preserves the Muslim influences of having patio, commonly with plants (as opposed to flowers) and usually having a water feature

Alcazar gardens, see them massive trees?

Then we headed back to the Cathedral and climb its tower, known as the Giralda. It was initially a tower with a flat roof, like a box but when the Catholic took over Spain, they added a bell tower. This was the best tower climb ever because it had no steps, just smooth slopes - to accommodate the person who has to go up the towers 5 times a day to announce the Muslim prayers - on a horse. View was amazing as usual, and Sevilla is huge. Came back down and explored the interior of the Cathedral, the largest of the Gothic cathedrals in the world and 3rd largest cathedral behind St.Peters in Rome and St.Paul's in London. I felt massively proud to have gone to the 3 largest cathedrals in the world, all three which are amazingly gorgeous, hehe. The altar in the Sevilla Cathedral was being refurnished thus we could not see it, but it is set to be the largest altar in the world depicting 42/46 sins from the bible. I can't remember the number so please correct me if I'm wrong. With Spanish cathedrals, particularly the ones in Sevilla, carvings and sculptures seem to dominate rather than mosaic, frescos or paintings as in other European cities. The intricate details of each carving was amazing, I particularly love the eerie paintings furnishing the massive organ

 One facade of the massive Cathedral

 Floor-to-ceiling organs

 View from the Giralda

Buying tickets to the Cathedral permits free entry into the Del Salvador church located about 15 minutes away from the Cathedral. This was equally gorgeous albeit smaller. Again, really gorgeous sculptures & carvings that are furnished in gold colours. After that we walked to Plaza Encarnacion, one of the newest squares being in the city centre. The main attraction here is the Metropol Parasol, otherwise known to everyone as the mushroom/waffle due to its shape. It's basically a look out point in the middle of Sevilla and was designed by a Berlin artist. I loved its design and thought it's really different from other lookout points, plus it's 1.35 euros to go and you don't even need to climb up as there's a lift. After that, it was more of walking around to the La Magdalena church at the borders of the Centro (city centre) as siesta is taken a lot more seriously here than in Valencia, haha.

Altar in Iglesia del Salvador

 What do you think? Mushroom or waffle?

 The walkway

 View from Metropol Parasol

You see crazy beautiful buildings like these all over Sevilla

Day 2
Sevilla LowCost Walking Tours - Monument Tours
Sevilla LowCost Walking Tours - Legend Tours

Our second day was a day of tours. Thanks to the genius-ness of my travel buddy, we found a tour that is founded by students of the Sevilla University thus you can pay as much as you think its worth for them to continue the project. We really enjoyed it especially the Legend Tours which was held during the evening to night and tells you the stories of Sevilla's Santa Cruz alleyways, more on that later. It was easy to book the tour, either through email or telephone; here's a link to their FB page.
With the Monument Tours, we walked all around the city as our guide tells us the history behind each monument. For example, the University of Sevilla is once a tobacco factory, and boy was it a gorgeous one. It is supposed to take about 2 hours, but I think we took close to 3 hours simply because we were asking lots of questions, and it's just two of us for the English tour - private tour at a cheap price ;)
We both loved the Legend tours even more because it is much more interesting plus we had a really really nice guide. Since the guides are students, it's much easier to communicate and you learn stuff about each other's country such as the political systems, haha. An example of the story we heard was also with the University of Seville which had a Roman Goddess of Gossip sculpture on its rooftop. Back then, there was this dude who came to the tobacco factory it was and stared at the Goddess. When the man returned everyday and did the same thing, curious factory workers asked why he did so. His reply was that apparently the sculpture will blow its trumpet, but that does not make sense because it is a lifeless sculpture. So according to legend, the only time it will blow its trumpet is when a virgin walks through the archway beneath this roof. And it has not sounded for years, so go figure, haha. It's stories like these throughout the tour particularly in the Santa Cruz where it was the old Jewish quarters so we got to go through alleyways and listen to stories at the particular street or house.
A funny thing that happened though was at one of the tour stops when we were listening to our tour guide telling us the story. And these bunch of people came next to us, and this dude took something out of our guide's backpack. My instant reaction was to reach my hand out to stop the person, who ended up looking really shocked because...it was the guide for the Spanish version of the tour who was just taking a leaflet out of the backpack's side pocket and mistaken by me to be a pickpocket. HAHAHA. I was massively embarassed but it's funny, no?

 University of Sevilla, see the Roman Goddes statue at the rooftop?

 Find the 3rd hand of St Peters for good luck forever ;)

 Part of the Legends Tour - story of the Devil's window

The beautiful cathedral at night

Again as with Valencia, there was a lot more walking around than visiting places of attraction. So while agenda like the tours didn't take whole day per se, in the middle we had long lunches, siestas and more food.

On to part 2!