Flares, Food & Flamenco // Seville, Spain
Flares!
When Dan and I set our scopes on visiting Sevilla, Spain it quickly became apparent that going to a Sevilla FC soccer game while we were there was his number one priority. Although a lifelong soccer player myself, I was a bit reluctant about paying nearly 100E pp to watch a team I was unfamiliar with on the day we landed with kickoff at 10PM, no less. Surely we’d fall asleep in the stands and wished we hadn’t pushed ourselves on our first night, right? I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, there we were standing and cheering “Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilllla…” with the rest of crowd for all 90 minutes. It was amazing and unlike any other sporting event I’ve ever attended. As a proud Virginia Tech alum, I know what it means for the crowd to play a role in the game (ahem, 13th hardest stadium to play in, booya!) but everything I knew about fans and pride was thrown out the window. These people are NUTS for their team and the lack of security (no bag check here!) only added to their fury. Just after kickoff we suddenly noticed smoke coming from the far end of the stadium – flares, lots and lots of flares! The crowd roared with singing louder and louder and eventually the flares were thrown ON the field. The game stopped and the flares were removed but the emotion and passion was grew in it’s intensity and just like that, within a few hours of landing we were suddenly diehard Sevilla fans, loving our players and city just as much as those around us. It was amazing.
Food!
Don’t try to diet in Europe, it’s not possible. In Seville we feasted like kings on paella (head-on shrimpies of course), chocolate torte and a tapas, tapas, and more tapas.
If this isn’t the face of sheer joy then I don’t know what is. After the game we stopped by La Restaurante de Mezquita for drinks, after learning that it was Dan’s birthday they gave him a free slice of chocolate torte (torta de chocolate). I love the Spanish!
Yummy, yummy, lime moijito on the rooftop near the Giralda tower. I love this place.
At Taberna Coloniales, a local dive, we had some of best tapas in Spain. My personal fav, fried eggplant with honey.
Flamenco!
As night settles, the city’s spirit kicks up a notch. The streets are noisy with music and conversation. In the bars, it’s flamenco that enthralls the locals and tourists alike. I love dancing, heck, I love watching Riverdance, so I knew I’d love Flamenco. I didn’t know just how much though. The bar we went to was intimate and the dancer was captivating. To dance for almost 45 minutes by yourself in the middle of room full people takes a special ability. Afterwards Dan and I couldn’t help but pitter patter our heels down the cobblestone back to the hotel.
