September Greetings

Well that’s goodbye to July and August ... hello September! 

We’ve been home now for more than two months from our Spanish adventure and I haven’t finished sharing my photos and posts! 

I’m promising myself to do these this fall. 

Today I say cheers to the long weekend! 

Torredembarra Orientation

Lazy, hazy days of Summer and it’s only June 22nd ... that’s the feeling that has overtaken me since we arrived in Torredembarra. 

The sun shines brightly with intense heat everyday! Temperatures in the high 20s / low 30s.  

I was expecting cooler temperatures than what we experienced in Seville. 

Seville is stated to have the hottest temperatures in Europe and is known as “the frying pan of Andalusia”! 

There was a sea breeze lightly scented with sardines and sun tan lotion the first couple days which made the heat bearable. (maybe “fruits de mer” or “los mariscos” scent sounds better) ... 

The aroma/scent is not offensive! 

The palm trees outside our bedroom window and off our balcony swayed ... almost slapping my face. 

As a bonus we can always have a “Gelato” to cool us; there is no shortage of Gelateries.

The blue water of the Mediterranean Sea sparkles and twinkles like dancing diamonds!  

Early morning picture ... see the sea twinkling/ winking at you! 

The gelato shop just outside our building. 

When we venture out for our walks to explore we drip in our own perspiration / sweat (ladies perspire/ men sweat sounds nicer) from head to toe. 

We’ve spent our first couple of days settling into our apartment, neighbourhood and living life on the beach. 

Tuesday we wandered along the boardwalk to the Port/ harbour. 

The boat slip entrances are lined with beautiful hibiscuses. 

Later in the day Senor suggested we go to the rooftop terrace. I said sure, the elevator will take us there, right? 

Wrong, it only goes to the fifth floor and then it’s a heart-pumping, sweaty palms climb up two narrow sets of open tread stairs and open views from high above.

I’m sure if anyone heard Senor trying to convince me to go up ...they would have thought I was being tortured. 

I did finally make it and it was beautiful but my fear did not let me enjoy as I was thinking the whole time about how I would have go back down the stairs. 

The back view overlooking the town and mountains ...



We enjoyed a light summer supper of melon and ham and then had a leisurely stroll! 

Let’s Go To The Beach

We made it safely to Torredembarra from Seville travelling over 900 kilometres in our little red Mercedes ... it is a bit larger than what we normally drive when in Europe (the Europcar rep. upgraded us to a diesel vs. gasoline, more economical she said). I think she might be right we only used one tank of fuel and Señor calculated we are getting 49 miles per gallon. 

We had ordered a VW Polo because we are so familiar with the car’s features and the size typically is small enough to get in and out of tight spaces in European villages’ narrow streets and lanes. 

Our route took us through ever changing landscapes. The highway medians lined with “gigantic” oleanders in a kaleidoscope of colours in various shades of pinks, reds, whites and a shade of peach were absolutely stunning. 

There were fields of poppies with sunflowers winking at the sun, golden coloured rock faces and fields of freshly harvested grains, tunnels through the mountains, miles of windmills and of course glimpses of the azure blue Mediterranean Sea. 

My photos from the passenger seat through the car window didn’t do the subjects any justice (bounce back from the glass). 

We spent Sunday night on the road in a smaller village El Puig de Santa Maria just 15 kms north of Valencia giving us a shorter travel day on Monday. We stopped later than expected, found a hotel, then ventured out to stretch our joints. We ended up in a cute bar/café “ El Parquet” in the square filled with locals.  Tonight Señor Honey was craving a hamburger (and it was a true “Ham” burger made from pork) and fries. The fries were the traditional Spanish “patatas” like fried potato squares with a squirt of aioli and a little romancesco. Señor was delighted with this culinary experience all the while watching the World Cup game (Brazil vs. Switzerland). 

Look at this beautiful bottlebrush tree in the square.

 A good night’s sleep, a little “desayuno” breakfast and we were on the road to Torredembarra. We arrived earlier than expected, apartment checkin was normally after 4PM ... we were going to drop off our bags and explore, however we were lucky and our little place on the beach was ready. 

I think life will be good at the Beach! 

Last Days in Seville

Our time in Seville is just zipping by ... our three weeks here is ending on Sunday (June 17th) when we checkout of our San Vicente apartment, pickup the rental car and head to our next destination. 

We originally planned on stopping one or two days at various locations over the course of our last two weeks here in Spain and playing tourist doing up the sights as we travelled north for our return flight. 

After living out of a suitcase in Málaga for the 3 days (not too much fun) we’ve decided that village/city hopping (changing hotels every other day) is not for us this trip and we’re going to take a vacation from our vacation! 

We will take two days to drive to our final destination, spending our last couple of weeks at the beach on the Mediterranean coast. 

The temperatures have been rising here in Seville ... today expected to reach 36°C, and just continuing to rise reaching 37/38°C Saturday/Sunday and early next week. With the sun shining brightly under blue skies and no cloud cover we will need to look for some cool places. 

Sounds like it’s time for some sea breezes! 

We will be able to explore the surrounding area from our home base seaside apartment in Torredembarra, a small town in the Province of Tarragona, Catalonia on the Costa Dorada if we feel the need for more adventure. 

I’ll be back later with updates from our time here in Seville.

We’re heading out to explore a bit more of this beautiful city! 

This was the view from on top of the El Corte Inglés earlier this week ... we could use this cloud cover today! 

Ham and Wine To Go

We are in the land of “jamon” / ham and we’ve been “hamming” it up! 

You see it everywhere in the bars, cafés, restaurants, supermarkets and specialty shops. 

It’s probably the number one item on any cold tapas menu.

On one of our first visits to the neighbourhood “Supermercados Mas”, the butcher gave Senor a lesson about this delectable nibble.  The butcher has taken a liking to us ... we’ve been treated to samples of various products and he has made suggestions about what we should select i.e. which oranges are the best, which  anchovies, meats & olives are typical/ traditional for tapas.

He has made us feel very welcome. I guess when the employees see you almost everyday in the shop, they start to recognize you and realize you’re not just here for a weekend. That is the reason we like to stay in one place longer than a few days. 

The display at the “Mas” supermarket.  

Senor checking out what’s on offer inside a café on one of the main shopping streets in the City Centre.

 

On one of our outings we were ready for a little something ... we discovered this wonderful spot “Flores Gourmet” ... a combination of a cheese, delicatessen and wine shop plus café! 

My kind of shopping.

I was in heaven! 

Here they have an employee who is full time on the job slicing the ham (jamon) with a special knife, long and narrow ... called a “jamerone”! 

Here Senor struck up a conversation with the slicer and expanded his knowledge about these hams. 

Of course we had to try the best “jamon” !

It was delicious! 

 

The display at the grocery shop in the El Corte Ingles department store. 

Some of these are like gold! 

Can you see the price?  

386.10€ @42.90/kg for 9 kgs (or 19.45 lbs) 

It goes well with our golden melon 2.2kg for 4.83€!  

There isn’t anything better than the saltiness of the ham (jamon) with the juicy, sweetness of melon.

Ham and melon are the perfect pairing! 

We love prosciutto with melon during the summer months.

Might have to take some of this “jamon” home as a souvenir.

Souvenirs, we don’t buy the traditional fridge magnets, key chains ... 

 We’ve bought some tins of “Bonito” tuna so tasty! 

Plus some bath soap ... 

And not to disappoint my sister I’ve been looking at linens, tablecloths, which is typically my souvenir when travelling but haven’t purchased anything yet ... 

lots to choose from, made in Spain!

Testing the BlogTouch App

Test post ... 

My blogger app has not been working to the point of much frustration. 

I’ve rewritten 3 different posts to date in the last couple of weeks. 

Plazas ... the People Places

I’m going to try once again to write / share photos through a post on the blog! My fingers are crossed that it will work. 

Today, Saturday June 9th, 2018 we ventured out for a longer stroll in search of the Plaza de España.

Saturday’s are busy days in the city .., weddings, families out and about shopping, spending time together. 

We saw several couples in the throws of tying the knot or actually already with the knot tied! 

Plaza del Salvador 

It was a longer than anticipated stroll through many plazas. 

What is a Plaza? 

When in Canada I think of it as a strip mall/ shopping centre. Many, many years ago (if my memory is correct I think it was the late 1960s) my parents owned and operated a delicatessen in a small plaza on Hamilton Road, London, Ontario. 

Definition from vocabulary.com

A plaza is an urban park or square, or another public space where people can walk, sit, and congregate. You might, for example, tell your friend to meet you in the plaza downtown with the big horse statue.

The plazas here in Spain are mainly open spaces for pedestrians (they seem to be located in every neighbourhood) ... you most likely will find benches, sometimes fountains and statues. Most are have trees and green plants. Some are beautifully landscaped with flower gardens.

Our stroll lead us to new areas of discovery (more in-depth than our tour on the bus the other day).

We wandered in and around the SAN TELMO Palace, built in 1682 as the seminary for the University of Navigators. Named after the Patron Saint of Navigators San Telmo. It once was a royal palace since 1989 it has belonged to the Andalusian government. An amazing piece of architecture ... baroque facade with statues of historical figures lining the one side of the building.

The Plaza de España is the most elaborate of plazas I’ve seen. It’s a semicircular brick building with a tower on each end designed by the architect Anibal Gonzalez for the Ibero-American Exhibit in 1929 (Expo 29).

It is surrounded by a 500 meter canal with four bridges and here you can rent boats. 

It is located in the beautiful, lush and tropical Maria Luisa Park where you can stroll in the shade of the many different trees.

Can you see the oranges?

We’re finally here ...

Ceramic lamp posts and balustrades ... 

The Plaza is popular for the horse and buggy rides especially with the newlyweds and wedding guests ... this day was no exception! 

There is so much more to this day ... I’ll share pics and stories in another post soon! 

We ended our day in our local “Plaza” for an aperitif before heading back to the comforts of our apartment. 

Seville Orange Trees line the walkways in the María Luisa Park ...

Playing in Spain

Travelling back to a memory from our short time in Málaga (May 24-May 27, 2018) 

Due to technical issues with the internet and the blog program while we were travelling last year, many posts that I did write  disappeared, didn’t load properly and I became more than frustrated to say the least.

Blogging for me has to be fun, enjoyable and easy to do while we are travelling. 

So this post was in my drafts, originally dated June 8th, 2018.

Wow, can’t believe we have already been here in Spain for two weeks.  We spent the first 3 days in Málaga which was absolutely wonderful. A longer stay there next time is a definite must. 

During our time in Málaga, around every corner / square you ‘d find these pianos ... where you could sit and entertain the passerby.   

You want to play?