Dinner with visitors from OZ

I "MET" Jennifer McKay and her partner John through Frank Patterson on FB. We met IRL tonight as they are here in Sevilla for a few days. We dined at a place we originally found with Frank last November. Still great. Jenny and I shared the red snapper and John ordered the tuna. Both were terrific, as were the shared starters of prawn tacos, crabmeat canelón, and ceviche. A lovely evening in the al fresco in Plaza de la Pescaderia. The O Chan Godello showed well and was a good choice for our meal.

on the way over to meet Jenny and John, I passed the usual Friday night gatherings for a meal in the Plaza del Salvador. 

It is just a different lifestyle here than in the States.  An example from yesterday- I went to the convenience store (our version of 7/11) - literally steps away from our front door to buy some fresh tomatoes - less than a Euro for these four tasty guys. perfect for lunch today on a tomato and cheese sandwich. 

and when I exited the store - this was the house facing the store entrance....

Seriously, who wouldn't want to be here???

Palacio three (of four)

Friday, I visited the third palacio in Sevilla. This one has an incredible collection of antiquities housed in the least maintained home of the three that I have visited so far. Still very beautiful, as you can see from the photos, but a hazard for the old and infirm as the floors are badly buckling - a truly awful thing for the Roman era mosaics they contain. That said, it's possible they would have fared even worse in situ at Italica which we visited in 2023. The Palacio is less than ten minutes from Plaza del Salvador and does have many cases on display from the vast collection. 

A mosaic covered in vines in the "garden"

There are many little delightful items throughout the palace, in display cases and on the walls.

A collection of ironwork that reminded me very much of the Barnes in Philadelphia but without the panache he displayed in choosing his matches with various works of art.

This is the Condesa apparently given the shrine where the portrait hangs.

the entrance is right on a city center street - 

as you can see from this "outdoor" photo from across the street

So one more palacio/casa to visit in my rounds while Phil is away. More to come...

the Yogi Berra of bullfighting

 In the Palacio de las Dueñas, what seemed to be the oldest Feria/Semana Santa poster included advertising for bull fights by serval named toreros. 

In trying to locate a year for the poster, I came across this information which I found humorous. 

Rafael Guerra Bejarano ( Córdoba , March 6, 1862 - Córdoba, February 21, 1941), better known as Guerrita or el Guerra, was a famous Spanish bullfighter, also recognized as the second of the five Caliphs of Bullfighting.  He killed his first bull on October 18, 1878 in the Andújar bullring and on June 26, 1879, he appeared in Madrid under the nickname "Llavérito"....

He is considered one of the great bullfighters of Cordoba, but he is also remembered for his unique personality, which he emphasized with colloquial and popular phrases. Some of these well-known phrases attributed to him are: "ca uno es ca uno" (each one is each one), or "Hay gente pa tó" (there are people for everything). Or the response he gave to King Alfonso XIII when he told him that he looked like a bishop: "In my field I have been Pope" "What cannot be, cannot be, and is also impossible." He seemed like a Spanish version of Yogi Berra. 

After twelve successful seasons and without prior notice, he retired on October 15, 1899 at the bullring in Zaragoza, in the middle of the Feria del Pilar . It was his response to the harassment he was subjected to by the public, largely caused by his breakup with Lagartijo. At the time of his farewell he would comment: "I'm not leaving, they're throwing me out." Throughout his career he fought 892 bullfights and killed 2,339 bulls, without any of them being returned to the pens.

From then on, he devoted himself to his business, his family, and the Guerrita Club, a social club located on Gondomar Street that became very popular in Córdoba. (from Wikipedia)

Anyway, I could only find the artists signature and date in the lower corner of the poster. Based upon that shred of evidence it seems he was appearing in Sevilla in April 1895.

Here is an old photograph of his club - 

wonder what the bull was drinking? sangria?

So a little side journey down a rabbit hole - it happens...