gratitude

Finally some cooler weather. So on my way home from coffee I stopped for a few moments in Plaza Nueva. It's fall so the plane trees are going a bit yellow readying to drop their leaves. Our orange trees stay green during that time as do the palms scattered throughout this plaza perimeter. The oranges are just beginning - they will drop later after they are ORANGE 🍊🍊🍊 Then it will be time for the fabulous scent of orange blossoms to fill our city (March.) Today (despite a line of people fully encircling the Cathedral and  huge crowds - for unknown reasons) I am feeling particularly grateful that I get to live in this beautiful city.

Phil returns from his 2.5 weeks in Chicago tomorrow - so back to our regular routines. Stay tuned.

The surprising Casa Salinas

What I wrote on the way home from my home tour today at Casa de Salinas:

Here's the thing. Life can always bring you surprises. This was my fourth house visit in two weeks and I expected it would be the least impressive but I was so wrong. It was my favorite. It's a home that is lived in and the owners open it up certain days but still use all the rooms (I could smell garlic from the private space when I was in the dining room.) The audio guide is delightful with both history and personal observations about living in the house. I have a lot of photos to share but now I am sitting in a cafe having a really tasty cafe con leche and some water before heading home. Too many photos for the phone signal. But this was a surprise and absolute winner. A gem.

As I said in the intro to my visit earlier. I was not expecting to be wowed by this house. It is in the oldest and most densely built area of the city. It was the oldest and smallest of the four I was seeing, and it has no garden. 

However my expectations were totally out of whack. This was by far the most charming of the four. Not only was the house a small gem of architecture, the audio guide was narrated by a family member. It is still very much an inhabited home. The narration was a perfect mix of history of the ownership of the Casa as well as information about the part the casa played in social events here and various personal stories about the house. An example was a reminder to watch your step going into the study and a reminiscence of how frequently the narrator and his brothers tripped on it. 

Despite other houses having larger space or more beautiful gardens or an outstanding art and antiquities collection this one was a true standout for its warmth and charm. It ended up being my favorite visit of the four. 

Each of the four was worth the time to explore because each has something unique to offer those who visited. I am happy I made the effort to see these treasures of Sevilla.  

pay attention to the stained glass here - this was the only view of the windows along the upper floor that was backlit so you could see their beauty. Later I saw in the tienda that hey had used them for inspiration for the design of some lovely scarves.

here are items from the store - it wasn't really a gift shop - too well curated for that- but they had chosen some nice mementos of a visit to Casa de Salinas

the view as you exit the casa

so that wraps up my four visits - hope you enjoyed seeing these homes as much as I did.  More to follow, as usual.