So Steve made it to Sevilla! Or as the locals say, Esteve en Sevilla. Wednesday- he gets in around 1pm, I met him at the airport and we took the bus back into town together where we got him checked into his little apartment in the middle of el centro. Awesome location, awesome place. I would definitely recommend staying at Calle Fabiola Apartments if you're ever in Sevilla for an extended period of time. The woman who owns the place was very cool and I've got her number so we might hang out soon! I was pretty much starved and dad was pretty much delirious by the time we could finally eat lunch, so I dragged him through the winding city center streets to find the nearest lunch place that had more than just tapas on the menu. I'm not sure he even remembered the meal, he just had a dazed look the entire time. Maybe taking in the scenery, probably trying to keep his eyes open. I had to go to class at 5 so I led him back to take a nap (good call). That night when I got back to the apartment he had just woken up so we meandered out to find some dinner. Much more coherent at this meal. That's when he realized (and I don't know how I didn't put two and two together before) that he eats like a Spaniard anyway. I personally don't like eating little tapas for a meal, but that's what he does at home anyway. He'd rather have a big variety of lots of little things to just pick at and share with people. I'm normal and prefer one good, big, hearty meal all to myself. But he loved the tapas, so tapa-ing we went for most of our meals in Sevilla. Thursday morning I had class and a test but right after I took him to see el Alcazar, we walked to Plaza de Espana, by the river, through the city, through Maria Luisa Park, had lunch (of salmorejo so he could decide if the one he cooked at home compared...and he decided his was better) and ended up at Cristina's for a merienda at 5.
Cristina was so sweet and bought us cookies (that we've never had in the house before)
and an ice cream cake because I told her my dad loved chocolate and ice cream
It was awesome to show him around where I lived and let him get a taste of what the home-stay life is like. The translating was a bit hard; I kept going back and forth, saying English to Cristina and then Spanish to my dad. All in all, though, I think C was very happy to meet him, happy to show him her home, and she's always in the mood to tell a story or two. MC ate with us, too, which was awesome, first so that everyone could meet everyone, and second to have a second translator around.
We ended up staying and chatting for a long time at Cristina's (how could I have underestimated the time we'd spend talking??) but left in time to browse some shops in el centro, see Las Setas at night, and have another late dinner of tapas. This place we found looks like nothing out of the ordinary, but it has some of the best tapas I've ever tasted. They all have a twist on the same old theme (like instead of espinaca con garbanzo beans, espinaca con nueces y bacon...not chickpeas but nuts and bacon instead).
Seafood salad-stuffed avocado
Eggplant cake...the best Spanish thing I've tasted here thus far
Goat cheese spread with a caramelized onion sauce, I think?
After filling up, we headed back to the apartment to crash. In the morning we were heading off to Lisboa, Portugal [which will be a whole post in itself]. So Friday-Sunday we were in Portugal, but when we got back on Sunday night, we checked into a new hotel, took a stroll around the city at night, ate dinner at the hotel bar just downstairs, and I took him to see flamenco at la Carboneria which I knew he'd enjoy. I never bring my phone with me when I go places nowadays, so I should probably get a watch, but as of now I hardly ever know what time it is anymore. So I wanted to get to flamenco early enough to have drinks, get a good table, and sit and relax some, but when I asked a man on the street what time it was he said 9:00. So I'm thinking, we have at least 45 minutes until we need to leave, so we go back to the hotel and I open my computer, only to find that its 9:45. So it wasn't 9, it was like 9:40. This is a perfect example of how Spanish time works- it's all in the same general vicinity of an hour and that's all that matters. Moral of the story is A. I don't mesh well with this approximation-style time-telling [I might be too punctual, but their way of doing things is just a little ridiculous], and B. we were late to La Carboneria and couldn't get a seat. No matter, we stood by the bar drinking sangria and tinto de verano and watched the short flamenco show standing up. And I was right, he loved it.
Monday might have been my favorite day of all though. I had a meeting with my philosophy professor at 12:30 and a test at 5 (which turned out to be comically impossible), but other than that it was the most relaxing of days. After my early class I walked my dad to the market in Triana and we bought fresh strawberries, a mango, and an avocado. We then bought drinks at the grocery store and to-go sandwiches from Starbucks (practically the only place you can buy to-go food), and took the makings of a picnic to the park. It was a perfect day- warm, sunny, not windy, not hot-- it was a prime day for a picnic if I do say so myself. I patted myself on the back as I spread the avocado and olive oil on the Starbucks turkey/spinach sandwich to give it some pazazz and ate strawberries half the size of my fist on this fine day. I'd been wanting to pack a lunch for the park for a long time and this plan just came together in the most perfect way! I was so glad I could share it with my dad. I've been going and going and going for the past 3 weeks or so, and its all kind of culminated in the midterms of the past week while my dad's been here. It's looked like I've been extremely stressed to him, I think, which is so not the case at all. But this lunch was really what I needed to decompress a little. Plus the park is like a little island oasis- a great getaway for anyone at any time when they just need a moment to themselves.
I studied for my exam there, sitting by the water where the ducks were swimming, taking in some sun, and felt completely relaxed by the time I actually had to take the test. Unfortunately I had to meet with a study group to study for my next test which was Tuesday morning for a couple hours after I finished the Monday night one. But after I met back up with my dad, and he told me how he got lost a few times but managed to find his way back to the hotel by the time I did, we returned to our newly discovered gem of a tapas spot and had more eggplant cake. It wasn't a disappointment the second time, either. La Campana was our last stop to pick up a pastry and a muffin for a snack later and then it was back to the hotel for dad's last night in Sevilla. I fell asleep studying after a while, but was awoken by alarm at 4:05 am. A cab came at 4:20 to take him to the airport and me back home. Such a weird thing to be writing this now, now that my last test is finished and I'm done with all the studying, but just this morning I was riding in a cab with my dad and now he's back in America, almost back home! And NOW I'm about turn around and go to the airport myself for a 10 day trip to Florence to see my best friends Kelsey and Caroline, and then we're all going to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin together! Talk about a whirlwind of a month...
A definite highlight of dad's trip for me: A stash of goods from home...peanut butter, gum, Nature Valley bars, Trader Joe's oatmeal, Girl Scout cookies, Crystal Light, my Nike spandex and jean jacket
No comments:
Post a Comment