Our Last Day in Seville

Well today is our last day in Seville!  Our sight seeing today was to an area in Seville that contains a late 15th century nobleman's palace.  It is called "Pontius Pilot House" because it was patterned after a Roman Villa.  It contains some very fine first century Greek and Roman sculpture, 2 magnificent gardens, much decorative plaster work, incredible mosaic tiles, fine architectural details including capitaled pink marble pillars.The upper floor is still used by descendants of the family when they come to visit on occasion.  A remarkable work of art! 

Marble floored court yard, fountains and engraved pillars everywhere.

Beautiful Gardens 

Beautiful Pink Marble Pillars

The mosaic tile work was stunning!

Our Day Trip to Granada

We decided to take a day trip to Granada, a wonderful city east of Seville.  Granada is the city of the three religions; Islam, Jewish, and Christian.  The Alhambra (the city of the Moorish rulers and the Christian King) is the sparkling jewel in this incredible city.  We visited the Generalife Gardens, the dwelling area, the industrial and commercial area and the three surviving palaces in the Alhambra.  This was an incredible experience as the Alhambra dates back to the 8th century AD.  Much of what we saw is from the time after the Christians reconquered Granada.

  

Ken's Last Day at Work

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Today was my last day at work.  We held a team building exercise by going to an extended lunch in the Sevillian style that lasted all afternoon.  We went to a village 20 km out of town and had a 5 course meal in the Argentinian style: (1)appetizer - green peppers, garlic and olive oil (2) pastry - a meat pie (3) chorizo sausage (4) grilled steak and fried potatoes (5) dessert was pancakes like crepes filled with chocolate and cream.  They had beer and I had water.

They are great guys to work with and I will miss being here.  They have tole me they can hardly wait until I come back.  That is very nice to hear.

Ken and his colleagues, one is missing because of a family members wedding.

This was a picture hanging on the side of the building beside the entrance.

After Ken got home from his last day at work we decided to go back to the Old Historic part of Seville one more time to do a little more shopping, take some more photos, walk through the Jewish Quarter, have some dinner and walk the 4 km back to our hotel.  We left at 6:30 pm and arrived back after midnight.  We had a great time walking the streets, seeing the sights, listening to an awesome young lady who played the flute and serenaded up and down the streets to folks who were having dinner.

The beginning of the Jewish Quarter

 Note the narrow streets - one car can also go down these streets so when you see a car you have to move over and literally hug the wall.

 These side streets are filled with a large variety of shops.

These side streets are the narrowest ones that even cars can't go down.
People actually live in the apartments above the street.  You can see a small balcony on the wall to the left.
Flower boxes are also seen on the wall to the left.
We saw some very little children come out of one of the doors and were singing and running around.
The end of the streets usually end up in a large open courtyard with a few restaurants.
These restaurants usually open around 8 pm for drinks and dinner.

  

Jewish Quarter in Seville

Ken's Ninth Day at Work
May 24th, 2012

Email from work:

In answers to your questions, I asked a few folks here at work and this is what they report to me:


Questions:

1) Where can you purchase such a thing as a barbecue or similar for outdoor grilling?
Barbeques are not used in Seville as people live in apartments and any cooking on the balconies or patios (the smells of food and smoke from barbeques) are not permitted.
     
2) Why is milk at the store on the shelf and not refrigerated?
In Spain they have developed a better way than pasteurization of milk.  This process is healthier and the milk will keep for 2 months or so.  It is put in cartons so they an be stored on the shelf since refrigerators in Spain are very small.  Nothing like the large ones in Canada or the US.  There is nothing like ice makers in refrigerators either.
  
3) Why are eggs on the shelf not refrigerated and why all brown eggs and no white ones?
The same thing for eggs as for milk.  The special cleaning process and soaking the eggs in special fluid makes them keep fresher and do not need refrigeration.  The other thing is that eggs are used greatly in Spain and people shop often - sometimes daily - for their groceries.  Because apartments are small there is not lots of room to store food.  We do not have any white eggs because of the type of chickens we have.  They only lay brown eggs.


Our evening visit to the Jewish Quarter in the Old Historic part of Seville for Tapas with Ricardo, Ken's colleague at work.

Note the narrow passage way between the two buildings - no roads, only passage way for people to walk - sometimes enough room for a long row of small round tables with two chairs on one side of the street and you walk down the other side.  All streets are rough cobblestone.

The red building is the Archbishop's House.

Open shutters of the window looking in at the kitchen.
 Iberian cured ham hangs for several months at a time.

Tomorrow is Ken's last day of work here for this short trip.  At 2 pm his staff here are taking him out for a traditional Spanish lunch which consists of 5 courses.  This is generally the main meal of the day and it can take up to 3 hours to complete since everything is served separately, you eat slow and visit. 

1950's Diner in Seville!

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
Ken's Eighth Day at Work:

Email message from Ken:

I am here.  There was no problem with the bus and it looks like things are shaping up well for a good day - I have 115 messages to wade through in my in-box!  That is up from 85 yesterday! <smile>  Oh, well.  It means lots went on last night while I wasn't at the office in Calgary and they were.

I know when I get back home my work schedule will certainly change.  Since I am now in charge of the Spanish team here as well as the team in Calgary and there is an 8 hour time change it will be interesting.  I will need to devote 4 hours of my time to Seville and 4 hours of my time to Calgary.  Perhaps I will try to go to bed a little earlier and get  up at 4 am to work with folks in Seville.  Then we can have breakfast from 8 to 9 am.  Then from 9 am till 1 pm I can work with the people in Calgary.  We can have lunch from 1 pm till 2 pm and then I can have a much deserved nap!  We will have to see how things are going to work!

Our night out after Ken got off work!
OK - so I am sure you will enjoy these next few pictures.  The economy is very unstable here in Spain.  We found out that 50% of the younger folks here are out of work.  You will see all
sorts of  folks trying to make a few Euros by entertaining on the streets along all the shopping districts.

These three guys have a bucket in front of their table for people to toss coins into.
As soon as some coins drop they start bobbing their heads up and down,making funny faces and winking at the crowd.  They actually had a lot of money in their bucket! 
 I took a video - it was hilarious!

This one was awesome. Try and figure out how she does it!  
This lady just sits there all day.
I don't know if she takes potty breaks or not!

Then in contrast to the two photos above you can hear
 classical music as well by several entertainers!

 Walking up and down the streets trying to decide what we were going

 to try for supper we both glanced in the same direction and

 saw a sign for a 50's diner - yes in the heart of Old Seville!

This place was very cool!  

They had English and Spanish menus! 

A jukebox that played all the old Rock n' Roll 50s music 

in English and the waiters spoke English!

AND.......there wasn't any olive oil in our milkshakes!!!

Trip to the Grocery Store

From Ken via email:  I am here safely and soundly.  The ride took a bit longer - we took a different route.  Perhaps it was because of traffic, or maybe the driver just wanted a change of scenery.  Hard to tell.  They seem to do what they want.  If they get to the stop early and no one is there they just leave and you are out of luck!   Ricardo is trying to set up an appointment on Wednesday morning for us to see the apartment Telvent will rent for us when we come for a longer stay.

Well, this is day seven for Ken at work.  The time is going fast.  He is really enjoying working with the software developers here. They have expressed how thankful they are for his expertise and leadership and wish he didn't have to leave at the end of this week.

We are adapting to the culture and the way of doing things here.  Every evening when Ken gets off work we set out an another venture in the city!

Food and Drink

When it comes to gastronomic delights, the Sevillian people are fond, above all, of eating "tapas" and of the "chateo", doing the rounds of the bars.  This love for taking a bite to eat and a drink here and there is usually shared with friends, for it inevitably involves bumping into different groups of acquaintances in each establishment visited.  The variety of tapas available in Seville is enormous, ranging from exquisite olives to fried fish, not forgetting small fillets of beef, soldaditos de Pavia (small pieces of  cod fried in flour), croquettes and bull's tail.  The most popular dishes in Sevillian cuisine are gazpacho (a refreshing cold soup) and cocido andaluz (stew), a much denser, baroque affair.  The local  sweets and pastries include many products made at convents and monasteries, such as the renowned "yemas de San Leandro", "bolitos de Santa Ines" and the sweeter jams from the Convent of Santa Paula.

Rice & chicken Paella - it was good!

We liked this tapa - fried squid with balsamic glaze
- not the  fried goat cheese on the top though!

We didn't think we could go wrong with garlic shrimp - it was good but you just had to dig it out of the bowl of olive oil.

 Here are a few photos from the local food market.  They eat a lot of fish here so there

 is always long rows of fresh fish - not frozen!

The produce section is very much like at the grocery stores at home - my walker worked well as a grocery cart since we were walking everywhere.  We didn't have a kitchen so our purchases were limited but had to buy water, juice, lunch things for me (Ken had to eat at the office) and snacks.

 Large selections of only fresh meat - nothing is frozen. Choices - beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lots of lamb, bull tails, lamb testicles, organ meats, etc.  Chicken is very cheap.  Very large roasting chickens are around $3.00.  Not as much beef and it is more expensive.

Note - this is the egg section - they are not refrigerated and only brown eggs are available.

 Quail eggs - very tiny - used in some Spanish Recipes.

Milk section on the shelves - not refrigerated.
Expiry dates of two months!

This one is for you Janis - small packages of five little bottles of olive oil to send to school or the office with your salads.  Didn't see small bottles of vinegar tho' to go with the oil.  

Rows of more types of olive oil than I knew existed.

    

Monday, May 21st, 2012 "Pastry Shops Everywhere"

Email from Ken for the blog:

There was a bit of a hold-up with my badge this morning.  The security folks didn't connect Ken Rees with Kenneth William Rees.  It didn't take long to correct, but it just goes to show how different customs can change a situation.  To most of us my nickname (Ken) is a natural shortening of my real name but not so here in Spain!

Shops galore!  

After Ken got back from work we decided to hop the Tram and go down to the Old Historic Seville and try and finish the shopping for all the grandchildren and great grandchildren.  It is really easy to find things for the girls but the boys are much harder.

Shopping in the tiny, narrow streets that run everywhere in the old town is like going on a treasure hunt in a corn maze!  I told Ken we really had to stick together or I was sure one of us would get lost and I didn't want it to be me!

Little girls flamenco dresses - too cute!

Humour me honey because we have to shop till we drop!

Oh my gosh --- how can you decide which one you want!!!

Yes, all these pastries were displayed in one shoppe!
 Pastry Shops - no kidding - everywhere!  Self control - only sampled a FEW.....!

After going to the pastry shoppe a must is stopping at the Gelato (Ice Cream) places
 that are also on every street corner!

Wouldn't it be awesome to sample every flavour!

Ken and I decided to share a small Cheesecake Gelato!  Good choice both on size and flavour!
There's always tomorrow right!

Now for the 4 km walk back to our hotel - perhaps it will help burn off all the extra calories, eh!

Buenas Noches!!!