Back from Seville

Christmas 2023 in Seville: as wonderful as ever.

 What have we been doing in the two months since we got back from Seville? Oh, not much! Mostly just waiting for the winter to fade away… which it has, mostly. We’re seeing more of the sun, but we’ve still got some cold, overcast days. 

Soon, though, we’ll be away from here, and off to someplace where the weather is very different: Norway! (Oh, it’s going to look so warm here in contrast!)

But first: what about Seville?

We were happy to go, and very excited to arrive and experience the wonder and beauty of that magnificent city. Re-visiting the by-now familiar streets and squares, seeing our favorite buildings, and, of course, drinking that first caña, the cold bubbly tickling the throat as the liquid slides down… All wonderful!

Ah, nothing like that first sip of beer!

An old-school tavern where we enjoyed a pause during a long walk through Seville.

No matter how often we see La Giralda, the bell tower of the cathedral, it's always a joy to find it again.

A joyful Christmas along Av de la Constitución.

We were very pleased to see our old friends (and family!) again. Karen and Rich once more hosted their fabulous Christmas dinner. It was particularly satisfying to see all the “kids,” the daughters and sons of their adult friends, now graduated from high school into university and “real” jobs. 

The real treat, though, was spending time with our daughter, Nina, and her sevillano husband, Riki! (While they currently live in Los Angeles--the one in California--they come to Seville every year to visit Riki's family).

Nina and Riki.

And those fabulous Christmas lights, always a joy, were as good this year as ever. Here's a quick slide show with some Seville highlights:

 But Seville was packed. It’s clear the so-called “revenge travel”—tourists making up for travel lost to the COVID years—has not ended.

A very crowded Plaza de España. Still astonishing, even packed with people!

Yet, right nearby, the Parque de Maria Luisa was surprisingly empty.

A pond in the park, near C. de los Patos (yes, Duck Street!)

A cute building in Maria Luisa Park showing heavy Moorish influence.

But as the days went on and the streets remained packed we grew weary of the constant crush of people. New Years came and went; at first we relished the thought of joining the crowds at Plaza Nueva for the midnight countdown, gulping down the grapes at midnight with each strike of the clock. The plan was to accompany Riki’s brother and sister and their families, as we did pre-COVID. But… that didn’t happen. People were sick; other’s couldn’t make it. We contented ourselves with going up on the roof of our building and watching over the city at midnight. Oh and we ate our 12 grapes and made our wishes for 2024.

No, not the view from our rooftop; Christmas angels in front of Palacio de San Telmo, a regional government building.

 We did meet Riki’s family for a special treat, though: a night along the river for a special event, a “Sound and Light” show that took the concept to a new level.

Such shows are quite popular in France. The ones we've seen are quite impressive, consisting of high-quality video projected onto public buildings, accompanied by music and dialog.  But this show on the Guadalquivir River in Seville accelerated the concept:  this extravaganza used the river itself as a projection screen! Here’s a video of the show, which apparently presents a history of Seville.

Click here for the video

Ah, but Spain far behind us! We’re looking forward now to Norway.

Yes, Norway in March. Not exactly full-on winter, but certainly not summer, as it was the last time we were there. Why March? Because we’re going there to see the Northern Lights. And while the Aurora Borealis occurs all year, it can only be seen at night (Duh!). And March seems to be a good balance between the chill of a full-on winter night and the never-dark day of the midnight sun. To maximize our exposure to the night sky while minimizing discomfort we have chosen to travel by boat; specifically, a marine ferry cruise up the west coast of Norway and back.

Here you can read about our previous trip to Norway  in June of 2018 

 Much of our time since our return from Spain has been spent preparing for Norway. Clothes have been a concern. We found some good winter things at Human, our favorite thrift store in Seville. Local stores rounded out our cold-weather wardrobe. We don’t really know what we’ll need in Norway. But we want to be ready for whatever happens!

The cold weather gear, ready for the suitcase. Still to be added: all the regular clothes, like pants, shirts, socks, underwear...

We'll be arriving in Bergen, Norway, in mid-March. We'll have much more to say then!

Seville, 2022

                      11 December 2022

A distant view of the cathedral and La Giralda, with the 
Inglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador (Collegiate Church of the Divine Savior) off to the left.

Well. We finally arrived! We made our first foray into the city at night, checking out the Christmas lights, spotting the well-lit Giralda and Cathedral; and stopping, finally, for our first caña (small draft beer) in Seville. I feel like we are finally really here!

Christmas lights with La Giralda .

And, it’s warm! When we left the temperatures in Montpelier, in the sunny south of France, were in the low 40s; here in Seville it’s in the high 60s. Wonderful! We’re so pleased.

 On the other hand, it is raining. And raining. And raining. But it’s warm! Apparently it’s been raining a lot. As the plane landed we saw flooded fields surrounding the airport. Walking to our new-to-us apartment we crossed streets that were partially flooded. But it’s warm!

Every time we come to Seville—and I think this is our fifth time—we stay in the same place, a cozy little apartment located in the old Jewish area called Barrio Santa Cruz. But this time we chose to stay somewhere else, just for a change. Just for central heating! We want to get away from those individual room heaters. Now we’re in a modern 7-story brick building, surrounded by other modern brick buildings. Not visually inspiring but we’ve got a spacious apartment, lots of light, and a view of the sky. And central heating!

Two things we always seem to do while here in Seville is buy footwear (see this earlier blog about Spanish boots), and visit the dentist. Our first year here we had our teeth cleaned by a young woman from Peru just getting her dental practice started, and we’ve been going back ever since.

And, it just so happens that the new place where we’re staying is near the dentist. Like, a half-block near. With reservations made well in advance, we strolled over on the morning after our arrival and re-acquainted ourselves with Dr. Laura.

Our apartment building and.. a shoe repair shop!

After our cleanings Paula was musing about our other habit. Did she need new boots? Or maybe just get the old ones re-heeled… Then we turned the corner and there, right on the ground floor of our apartment building, was a shoe repair place! (And just in case I wasn't sure what reparacion de calzaos meant, there was a picture of a shoe--and a key, because also available was duplicados de llaves).

We stepped into the shop, crowded with other customers. There was a large fellow in a white smock standing in front of a complex looking machine with grinding wheels and buffers. Paula asked, using pantomime and her best pidgin Spanish, How much to get these heels fixed? Next thing we knew Paula was offered a chair and the cobbler was slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming. Ten minutes later her boots were good as new! 

The large fellow slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming.

As we were paying (€10! about $11USD) I noticed a woman—the cobbler‘s wife?—at an industrial sewing machine fixing a strap on a ladies purse. It was big smiles all around, and we really wished we had more broken things to get fixed.

Twenty-five steps later we were standing in front of our sixth floor apartment door, marveling at what had just happened. Fastest case of “you want it, you got it” I’ve ever seen!

Well, after that first week the rain stopped, and we’ve been enjoying the magnificent weather. Our new lodgings are a bit further from the center, but make it easier to get to some areas we’ve rarely visited (too far then, plenty close now, from our new location!)

 

                 Christmas Lights

Every year we rush to the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the major squares downtown, to see what’s installed. One year it was an ice skating rink, one year three giant angels in lights, one year huge crowns. And this year…

 

Animation!

Animated light displays! Colors and images flowing across the surface of these giant hemispheres.

 

Colors! Note the figures on top...

The girouette (weather vane) on top of La Giralda; copies are mounted on the light domes.

Plus all the usual lights strung across the boulevards. 

Crowns along Calle Sierpes

Lights and the exquisite buildings along Av. de la Constitución.

The ever-popular Plaza del Salvador.

Oh my, but how time flies! This was written just when we arrived, and now we’re all packed up and ready to go back to the States—tomorrow it’s up early and on the plane. Once we’re in California maybe we can catch up on what we’ve missed…

Annecy, and Christmas Markets

Annecy, seen from the castle on the hill.

Ah, it’s been a while since our last post. We’ve been settled in at home, enjoying the warm fall weather and preparing—mentally, at least—for our upcoming trip back to the States. Lately the temperatures have been dropping in Montpellier; we’ve been cranking up the heat even as we worry about the energy consumption. We figured we needed to get out of town, to someplace even colder: the delightful town of Annecy, at the foot of the Alps.

It’s north of us, almost to the Swiss border. Three of us went on this little jaunt, including our good friend and travel companion, Debra. Rather than flying or driving, we took the TGV (Très Grande Vitesse), France’s high-speed train, which was a fun experience all by itself.

 

Debra and Paula, at the new, huge, deserted Sud de France station.

The train left from the new station in Montpellier, a bit outside the city near the airport. It’s a huge station and mostly deserted, having been completed just in time for the pandemic lockdown. (While we would have preferred to leave from the station just a short walk from our apartment, the intercity trains tend leave from the new station; eventually only the locals will come into town.)

Paula aboard our first class car; those are our seats in the lower right.

The train itself was fantastic! First class tickets were only very slightly more expensive, and came with  wider seats and fewer people. The three of us sat together across a little table, and we had the bonus of a nearly-empty car. It was a quick and very pleasurable ride up to the city of Lyon, where we changed trains for a smaller and slower local. But again, it was nearly empty and we enjoyed winding our way through the foothills. And, the station in Annecy is in the middle of town. Along the short walk to our lodgings we marveled at the shops (Le Libraire Imaginaire, The Imaginary Bookstore… Really?), the setting (canals; a lake; mountains!), and the season (Christmas decorations!).

 

Classic view of a canal in the old city.

Canals running past the colorful old buildings were endlessly attractive.

Annecy’s location at the head of a long quiet lake at the foot of the Alps, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, gives it a strong mountain vibe. It’s too low (about 1000 feet elevation) to be a ski town, but it’s on the road to the mountains!

 

Our first day, on the bridge over the gray, placid lake.

The town is incredibly picturesque, with its canals and lake. In the evenings, though, what got our attention were the Christmas markets. Every city in France—heck, every city in Europe—has a Christmas market, including Montpellier, where we live. Somehow, though, the ones in Annecy seemed more lively than the one in Montpellier. More interesting. Brighter and fresher!

 

A Christmas market in Annecy.

Raclette, being served at the Christmas market.

Annecy has three or four small Christmas markets, all fit within a few blocks. It was quite a joy to discover each one and its distinct flavor. We took particular interest in the vin chaud (warm wine). Each of the markets had a vendor or two with huge copper kettles set over small burners, with red and white wine, cider (alcoholic), and spiced apple juice. And that became the start of our evening promenades, sampling the vin chaud.

This was our dinner one night: pasta served out of a bowl carved from a wheel of parmigiana!

 

This repurposed gondola car is a link to the ski trails. More importantly, it's a cute place to rest, or enjoy a vin chaud from the nearby market!

Our first night we went to a restaurant offering the local specialty, raclette. We’d heard of this very special dish and were anxious to try it out. 

Us, in the raclette restaurant. The cheese and the heater are to the right.

A half-wheel of cheese is placed in a special holder with an electric heating element. The surface of the cheese melts, and when it’s good and runny the surface is scraped, oozing melted cheese onto a plate. Normally it’s eaten over boiled potatoes, but other vegetables, or charcuterie (prepared meats like ham or sausage) can also be used. (And what kind of cheese is used? Why, it’s called Raclette d´Annecy. Hope that helps!) 

Scraping the melted cheese...

I can easily imagine people in times past pulling a cheese and potatoes from the cellar, in the middle of winter with the snows all around. It’s a real comfort, this kind of food! 

At that same meal we also tried a true fondue (from the past participle of the French verb fondre, to melt), stirring bits of hearty bread around in pots of melted cheese with long-handled forks. It was all very good—and completely satisfied our desires for cheese for the next few days!.

 

This door opened on a tunnel that lead to the elevator to our upstairs apartment. The owner told us the residence had been in his family for three generations.

The days may have been dark and overcast, but the nights were full of color!

THE classic photo of Annecy! This medieval castle sits in the middle of the canal, in the middle of town.

One of several boulangeries in the old town.

Every day we found new cutesy nooks.

We devoted one day to walking along the lake shoreline. We didn’t get very far, actually. All the travel photos show flowers, and grass, and sunny skies. This time of year, though, it was cold with a heavy overcast. We did enjoy our walk, though, and the views down the lake with the snowy mountains in the near distance. But it was chilly and we were glad to get back and settled into our favorite café for—yup, a warming glass of vin chaud.

 

There were a few flowers left this late in the year!

Debra and Paula admire the view down the lake on a Chilly December afternoon.

Our trip was short, but we were very pleased with our stay in this endlessly charming town. (Causing Paula to wonder, Is it possible to die of cuteness?)

 

Colorful during the day, even under the heavy overcast...

...but Christmas lights made nighttime in the city very special!

Debra and Paula have fun with fall(ing) leaves.

We had a bit of a glitch on the trip home: a train strike! No trains for the return trip, but fortunately there was a bus, direct to Montpellier. It took longer, and we saw far more of urban back streets than we cared to, but it was warm and comfortable. We’d payed a bit extra for front-row seats, so we sat right behind that giant picture window with a fine view of the road ahead. 

Shortly after dark we were back in the relative warmth of Montpellier, pleased with our trip and glad to be home.

 

Our panoramic view from the bus as we head south from Annecy.

 

In a few days we will be leaving the chill of Montpellier for our winter quarters in Seville, Spain, as we do every December. We’ll be connecting up there with friends, and our daughter, Nina, and her husband Riki. Stay tuned!

 

Looking down the length of the lake, snow-covered mountains and all.