Food, Food and more Food

Like the title says, this post is mostly food.  After looking at this you might think the only thing we did on our last day in Sevilla was eat.  In reality, we did the main sightseeing on the previous day, so many pictures would be repeats.  What I am left with are pictures of some great eats and market touring.

We started off with breakfast at the hotel.

How cute is this little single serve chocolate hazelnut spread?

After that we took off in the opposite direction of where we had been walking.  We walked and walked and then came to the bridge which was the end of out boat tour the day before.

Then we walked all along the river and headed back to the main area with the cathedral.  We stopped into the main bus station, and if you ever plan to travel in Spain the bus system seems great.  From Sevilla to Cordoba, the time was 2 hr 45 min and cost 18 euro.  You could easily do a day in Cordoba by taking the bus at the earliest departure and heading back on the last bus to Sevilla from Cordoba.  They also had international buses here.  You could go from Sevilla to many places in Europe and North Africa for around 100 euro.  I know the train system is reasonable too, but this stop in the bus station (ok, ok the stop was so I could use the bathroom) was a great way to learn about all the travel options in and out of Sevilla.

After we walked back, we stopped where we got on the boat the day before, and then crossed the bridge at the river to head into the neighborhood known as Triana.  I think this is my place of choice for place to live.  Just before we crossed the bridge, we stopped for churros.  The thing to do is get a churro and dip it in hot chocolate.

After scoping out the churros, we went with the cream filled churro type goodies.

We got one of each.

We walked a lot in the morning, probably 4-5 miles, so that churro was well deserved.  Next we headed over the bridge to the other side of the river.

We thought this was really neat.  I do not know if there is a story behind this, but it seems people will sign their names on locks and then attach them to the bridge.

Here we are entering Triana.

Right away we spotted people with large bags of cherries and then we noticed they were coming from this market.  This is the Triana Market and if you are in Sevilla, this is a MUST.

I think some vendors thought I was nuts because I just kept taking pictures in the market.  The produce was so beautiful.

The figs were HUGE, like the size of a pear.  We bought a kilo for only 1.50 euro.  We also bought some cherries.  I think we got 1/2 kilo and these were 1.99 euro/kilo.

Here was one of the fish markets.

I am not sure, but I think this was a shark.  I was actually fascinated by this and I will admit it was rather disgusting but I could not stop looking.

The stores had beautiful tiles for store signs.

Look at the size of this melon.

Here is a butcher.

Then there was this stand with dried beans and fruits.

While we were making up our minds, I had to eat a fig.

Look at all these dried fruits.  These were a little pricey, but probably the same as the states.  These were sold by 100 grams, so the price listed is for 100 grams.  We bought some strawberries and some pineapple.

They also had dried chilies.

 

Here are the kiwis.  they looked good, but I did not get any.

These are the strawberries.

After the market it was time to head back over the bridge to grab some lunch.  For an appetizer, we ate the fruit walking back.

These tennis courts were right on the river.  I bet it is cool to play here.

We knew what we wanted for lunch, it was just a matter of locating it again.  The night before when we were on the carriage ride we spotted this place with nice looking fresh potato chips.  Good thing we were able to find it again.

 

I liked this idea of serving gazpacho in a glass.  It was very good here.

This is the small 1 euro bag of chips.

We also ordered olives.

Then my mom and I split fried shrimp.  Never expect to know what you are really ordering.  I have learned this on the island, but I think I forgot for the day.  Do you notice anything different about these fried shrimp.

Certainly not what I was thinking, but after contemplating this, we decided to chop the heads and tails, peel from the shell, devein and then eat these shrimp.  I am not sure how the Spanish really eat them, but I was not going to eat them whole.

On our way back to the hotel there was a market in the square by El Corte Ingles, so we looked around.

At this point I took a 2 hour nap and then relaxed until dinner time.

Dinner was a little more complicated because we just didn’t know what we wanted.  Well we knew, but the places either offered one or the other, not everything.  After looking all over at menus, sitting down, leaving and changing, multiple times, we went back to the place we visited first.  After a while we didn’t feel so bad because we watched so many other groups of people do the exact same thing.  I think there are so many options that it is easy to be overwhelmed and make a decision.  In the end, Dona Francisquita it was.  This is also a pizzeria.  I will say that I am 99% sure I tried to eat here (or whatever was in this location) 9 years ago and had no success because they never came to take my order.  The good news is that this was not the case on this night.  The server was very friendly and had a good sense of humor.

This was good and had a nice location.  I love that all these places have tables outside right on the street and you can always find people enjoying themselves.

The draw to this place was the paella menu.  We had not yet tried the paella, and there is nothing more Spanish than paella.  Ok, the tapas and sangria are just as classic Spanish, but we already tried those.

Olives again.

Bread, of course.

Sangria!

First up was a tomato and garlic salad.

We added some cheese to this.  I believe it is goat cheese which is why some jam was served with it.

Then came the paellas.  I shared this seafood paella with my mom.

Joe enjoyed this vegetable paella.

Both dishes were very good and we really enjoyed the meal.  Stuffed and exhausted we headed home because we had a 7 am train to catch the next morning.  Next stop: Granada and the Alhambra.  I hope everyone is enjoying the posts on our travels.  I am about 2 days behind on all posts, but I am doing much better than I expected and have so far been able to post every day.

QUESTIONS":  What is your favorite kind of paella?  Have you ever ordered something and expected it to look one way, but is was completely different when it arrived?  Do you like Sangria?