Tapas y Tapas

23:11 Alyson 0 Comments

During my maternity leave, I was missing travel. It had been almost 6 months since my last real trip and the itch was setting in.  Some deals came through on BA, and we poured over the destinations before finally settling on Seville. At the time we were feeling like the confident parents of a child who was sleeping 6 hour stretches.  Come the time of our trip, we were excited to get 4 hours at a time. But nonetheless, we were determined and with one small suitcase for us and one giant suitcase for L, we arrived at the airport (after a small mix-up on which airport we were out of).

As soon as we arrived, I knew it would be wonderful. We were staying in the popular Santa Cruz barrio, filled with narrow and winding cobbled streets. The taxi dropped all our gear off as close as they could and we walked the streets just beginning at 9pm to fill with everyone on their way to dinner. When we finally arrived at the hotel and checked in, they told us about a free walking tour the next day, so we decided it was the perfect way to orient ourselves in Seville, figure out what sites were worth seeing before going back to explore.  We dragged ourselves out of bed at 9am ready to hit the ground walking.


Three hours later, and countless smiles for the baby from wandering locals and tourists, we had seen almost all of the city's top sights. We learned an important lesson in preparation as it started to rain on us and we fastened an umbrella (purchased at the 'it just started raining price' from a corner store) over L's stroller to keep her dry.


As we finished at Plaza Espana, we decided to continue the walk and meandered through the gardens and streets.  I was taken in by the vibrant tiles found everywhere from buildings and walls to park benches. If there was one memory I took away from Spain though, it was the oranges - every park was laden with orange trees and the time of year must have been right as you could smell their aroma as you walked through and stepped over all the ripened oranges that had found their home on the ground. All of it together with the sun seemed a bit like paradise to a woman who'd been landlocked for such a long time!


That evening we had arranged to visit a flamenco show. We were a bit worried about both the noise and the later hour for the littlest Tart, but she was fascinated with it. It was an intimate venue with one guitar player, singer and dancer - the setting meant you heard every pluck of string and stomp of the heel, and see the expressions on their faces showing the pain and joy of the music. The excitment must have been too much as L fell asleep in my arms; we had a few moments of smug thoughts as we decided to put her in the stroller and grab dinner while she slept. We wandered til we found a restaurant near the hotel with the famed Iberica ham hanging from the window, ordered our meals and wine, only for her to wake up as soon as our entrees had arrived! Karma.




After getting whatever sleep we could get that night, the next day was time to get more into the details of the sites, as so far all we had done was leisurely strolling,  taking lots of breaks for croquettes and sangria.  We first visited the Alcazar of Seville - a tour probably would have been a good idea as there wasn't a lot of direction on where to go or what to see, so without much decision making on our part, we first wandered through the buildings.




You can see the Moorish inspiration in so many places in all the little details of the tiles, ceilings, walls, floors - many of which I shared as my favourites in my last blog post), and the distinctly Arabic carvings - these were beautiful, detailed and sprawled across the facade of the building, around the courtyard, but also found their way into the details of the rooms with arches across doorways and windows.



The building brought us to the "backyard" of the Alcazar or as Game of Throne enthusiastics would know it as Dorn. It wouldn't be Sevilla without orange trees, flanked by stone pathways that always seemed to intersect with a fountain in the middle.



When the wind picked up, we decided to duck inside the nearby Catedral de Sevilla to escape.  The highlight of the visit is the Giralda bell tower. Our tour guide had stumped us with a question on how many steps the tower had - it was a trick question since the tower is actually filled with ramps! Originally the minaret of the mosque, before converted to a church, the ramps allowed a horse to ride up for the 5x a day call to prayers.  From the top, the views are beautiful and worth the walk up (even with a baby in tow!)



On our last day of our trip (after a quick day in Cordoba), we revisited the Plaza d'Espana - compared to the first dreary day, it was a completely new plaza. The sun was shining, people were selling hats, shirts, balloons and artists had set up to paint the view, or do quick sketches for tourists. I had wanted to look at more of the detail of the plaza, with each province of Spain represented by a tiled alcove depicting something unique to the province.



All that sun meant it was time for a tapas break before our last look at tiles and gardens at Casa des Pilatos. With tiles just as beautiful, but far fewer crowds, it was a perfect way to end L's first European vacation.













0 comments:

Bali Baby

21:16 Alyson 1 Comments

Hi - remember me? That girl who used to blog a lot, then occasionally, then never? I'll simply say I'm sorry again, but life as a working mom has me busy! Between baby, work and travel, I find myself spending an evening sleeping instead of blogging. Promise I'll at least try to work on it :)

Early in our days in the UK, we invested in a travel map - it's a beautiful map hanging above our fireplace dotted with red pins marking our travels. Europe was looking more and more red, and as we chatted about our travels to visitors a few months ago, we realised how sparse our Asia travels had been. Paul swirled his finger and bam - it was decided we'd take a trip to Indonesia and the planning began!

There was painstaking deliberation on which island would be the best (Bintan would be easiest, Lombok would be quietest, Sumatra might be nice), but even after deciding Bali, there was still decisions to be made. You could spend weeks in Bali, but we only had one, so hours on the internet finally brought us to what we felt was a hidden gem amongst Bali beaches.


Just 30 minutes drive from the airport, but south of all the craziness of Kuta, we found a perfect getaway. A short walk down the cliff steps brought us right onto Balangan Beach, full of energy from those soaking up the chance to be near the water and bathe in the sun. Restaurants doubling as surf shops and hostels lined the beach offering cheap food and views. Onlookers grabbed these prime spots on the deck to sip cold coconuts while watching the water full of bobbing boards and bodies waiting for the perfect moment to make their move.


The fine sand was different from anything I'd seen before - round little pebbles that are almost as fine as grains of rice that clung to every wet surface. It didn't bother us though and we happily played in the sand (until the waves came which were not so happily greeted by L).


We didn't brave the surf, but used the days to lounge by the pool and beach, battling jet lag and enjoying that start of vacation feel. Our little bungalow hidden amongst gardens was perfect to retreat from the sun and give L free reign to run around inspecting shells and taking in all the new creatures we showed her like geckos and creepy crawlies.



Once the haze wore off, we knew it was time to head north but wanted to get in one local site first. I'd heard of Ulu Watu and its famous sunset views, but our planning was a bit off (or non-existant if I'm being truthful....) so instead we found ourselves there at 11am. With the sun beating down on us, I can see the appeal of the evening, but the views were pretty spectacular any time of day. After years away from Texas, we aren't quite as heat resistant as we used to be, so Paul decided to grab a chance to retreat to the shade with L where she captured the attention of everyone going through - I left her smiling and running around on a table while other tourists looked on and encouraged her silly (and adorable) antics.



I wandered hoping to see more of the temple, but was disappointed to find that the temple itself isn't open to visitors. Instead, I wandered the grounds, heading further away from the temple for views, then back up taking in the monkeys that thrive on stealing everything from bananas to sunglasses from unsuspecting visitors. If you're looking for a cultural experience, I don't think this is it, but it certainly has some pretty beautiful vistas.


And so sweaty but happy, we piled into the taxi to head to our next Bali adventure in Ubud. Stay tuned for more scenary, food and of course Bali baby.

1 comments: