Sisters in Seville (again)

Right after leaving the airport
During Holy Week here in the south of Spain my sister Chrissie came to visit us since both Jose and I had off work (the perks of living in a Catholic country). She has been here twice before (read about the first time here and our wedding here). We drove and picked her up on Monday and spent that day organizing her trip and allowing her to recover from her jet lag. 

On Tuesday we headed to Seville to see some of the Holy Week processions that are so famous here. I will spare you the details of what this all involves since I have discussed it before and I sense that this post is going to be long since we crammed so much into such a short amount of time. If you are interested you can check out my Semana Santa post here. In any case, we headed into the city center and while enjoying the beautiful weather and some beers we got to see a few of the pasos come by before heading home again. 

Holy Week
The following day we headed to Gibraltar since my sister has already seen a lot of Seville. We drove there in the morning, crossed the border (with Cooper even) and spent the day walking around. Jose and Chrissie rode the cable car to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar and we had a typical English lunch. Gibraltar is a curious place since you basically enter into the UK without really leaving Spain. People speak a very interesting mixture of English and Spanish, it´s how I imagine our kids might sound one day in that they switch back and forth between the languages with ease, mixing them up in the same sentence. We arrived on a day when there were a lot of cruises in the port and we met a really nice American couple who waited in line with us for the cable car and who experienced the monkey stealing another woman´s bag of magnets before flinging them about.

Phone booth
 The next day we headed to a small village in the Cadiz province called Vejer where we stayed two nights in a rural house so we could take advantage of its proximity to the beach. We wanted to go to the beach during the two days we were there but the second day didn´t cooperate too well. We did, however, sneak Cooper onto the beach when we went and he loved it. He traveled with us everywhere we went during this trip, lucky dog.

On our way back from the village we stopped in another touristic town, Arcos de la Frontera which is quite beautiful. It sits on top of a hill and has beautiful views. As you might imagine, it has a castle (like almost everywhere here in the south of Spain). We walked around this town, had lunch and Chrissie bought souveniers to take home.

Digging the beach
The next day we decided to take my sister to the Italica Roman ruins that are located just outside of Seville. I have been before but was again surprised at how big a complex there is and how much of this ancient city still remains buried. If you are ever in Seville it is worth it to drive the 15 minutes out of the city center to check out these ruins. We also visited a very nice, restored monastery which was close by.

As you might imagine with all this running around we were quite tired so the rest of my sister´s visit was spent relaxing though we did have time to see one of the processions in the suburb where we live. We had a great time hosting her and hope she enjoyed her trip. As you can see, we are good hosts (hint hint for people thinking of visiting in the future). I even made her some towel animals to welcome her. Cooper really misses her after she left since he got to sleep in the bed with someone almost every night. So spoiled. I leave you with a few more pictures of sisters in Seville.

Chrissie holding birds of prey in Arcos
Mosaic floor in Italica
View of Arcos de la Frontera
Pottery in Arcos
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La mesa camilla

Image
The mesa camilla is a very Spanish invention (in fact I believe it to be a very southernly Spanish invention). It consists of a table, a heater and a heavy, long tablecloth-like fabric that drapes over the sides. The idea is that you put the heater under the table and when you sit down you put the fabric over you like a blanket. The truth is that it does keep you quite warm. The downside is that once you get up and move, you lose the heat. Since the houses and apartments here in the south of Spain are not created for the cold (no central heating) a mesa camilla can be found almost every where.  We didn't have one last year and survived with blankets, space heaters and flannel pajamas throughout the winter. This year Jose decided we needed to get a mesa camilla. I fought the good fight (since often times they look very similar to the option in the picture above) but we ended up ordering one not too long ago.  Typically the mesa camilla is made of wood and can be stored throu
Read more

Simple Spanish recipe: Chipirones a la plancha

Image
Ok so I know this picture is a bit blurry and I apologize but it is the final result of my having cooked chipirones a la plancha for the first time. Let me explain, chipirones are small squid and a la plancha means grilled. They are served in an olive oil, parsley and garlic sauce. At first I wasn't sold on the idea of this recipe but believe me, it is pretty awesome and super healthy. It is a really typical tapa that you can order at almost any bar here in the south of Spain. Chipirones a la plancha is usually served on a bed of lettuce or with a small side salad. Yum! Here's the how: First you need the chipirones (small squid that come with the heads and tentacles attached). I can buy them at my local grocery store in the fresh seafood section. I bought a package of 400 grams though the good thing about this recipe is that you can make as much or as little as you like. Allow me to also explain that here in Spain people tend to eat a lot more fish and seafood than
Read more

Spanish names

Image
Maaaaaaaria, I just met a girl named Maria Hopefully you just read that and sang the song from West Side Story in your head. Let's just say that from what I have experienced here in Spain, people really, really like this name. In fact, there are times when it seems like EVERY woman or girl is named Maria (or Maria de/l something) and though they might go by the second part of their name, their given one is still Maria. People definitely opt for traditional names here, unlike the US where names go through trends.  Recently a friend on Facebook posted a link which contained a GIF  (originally from The Atlantic)  showing the different female names that had been popular in the US since 1960. It is interesting to see how a name like Jennifer would be popular in one region and then would sweep the nation. Such a map would not be as cool here in Spain since not a whole lot would change. Maria. Maria del Carmen. Miriam. Marian. Mirian. Variations on a theme. Religious names I
Read more