the pied pipers of gelato

 We always say that whenever we show up at MITO the customers follow us there and the place gets busy. Tonight was no exception. We walked into a deserted shop and walked out leaving behind the crowd in the photo. 🤣🤣🤣

off to Madrid in the morning....

Time with friends

 Sunday rolls around again and we found ourselves out to lunch at a nearby "diner" style place called Guichot 7. We had a simple meal and the service was good. 

That evening we had dinner at Petit Comité. 

We had a lighter red blend for the dinner wine

After a complimentary glass of cava for each, they brought our the duck/foie bites for a complimentary app from the manager.

I had mushroom carpaccio and Phil had the albondigas

Mary had Salmorejo and Ron had the Ajoblanco 

Phil and Mary had the same thing - the pluma de iberico

Ron had the duck breast

and I chose the orzo salad (again-LOL) for my main

After dinner we went to MITO and had foure free ice creams and then walked home via Constitution past the cathedral and the bank and the Adriatico building

The evening weather was perfect for the walk home. Then on Monday Ron & Mary were off to the Palacio de las Duenas home of the Duke of Alba - which currently has a wonderful exhibit on the life of his mother La Cayetana - the Duchess of Alba. What a tour de force she was!

A collage I made from photos of my first visit there last fall:

In her honor, we went to La Cayetana on Monday night for dinner.  We ended the evening at MITO but dinner was an excellent selection of things from the menu at Cayetana. All marked on the menu except the tempura battered bacalao for some special holiday where you eat fish on this particular Monday. We don't know it but the fish was excellent!

Annually two weeks after Semana Santa is la "noche del pescaito" the opening night of the Feria De Sevilla. It’s a cocktail attire event. The Feria de Sevilla is the largest fair in the world and the oldest known fair in the world. The current version originated in 1862, but the previous version of it began in year 1152 by King Alfonso VII. (Thanks to a post from ex-pat Sevilla FB page, we now know why we had the delicious fish 🐟🐟🐟 !!!)

Our last night together in Sevilla with Ron & Mary this trip. They are off to Barcelona in the morning. Phil had class so Ron & Mary and I went to the restaurant Afuego in the back of El Pinton and tarried over drinks while Phil caught up with us a half hour later.  Food was good and we all enjoyed the evening. After a last stop at MITO we headed home and they headed off to bed in order to be up for a 7AM cab to the airport. 

Now we have almost a week to catch up on our day to day schedule before John & Stephanie arrive here in Sevilla. They leave ORD tomorrow and then arrive Madrid the following morning but are doing some time in Madrid and Cordoba before ending their trip here in Sevilla beginning next Wednesday! So we are heading into the home stretch - we leave Sevilla in four weeks. I am sad about leaving but also will be happy to see our friends in Chicago. And we have to get some of the household stuff done there while over the summer. More to follow. Including a dinner with Janet and Mike (Sevillano friends) and a comedy open mic at Uprooted theater... so we keep busy. 

we return home

 So Monday night we returned to Sevilla after our two week sojourn to Barcelona & A Coruña. 

I feel like Dorothy but "there's no place like home." Our flight was on time, and our checked bags; it was Ryan Air ;-(  were the third and fifth off the baggage claim belt. The cab stand had no line and there was no traffic into the city center. It was so nice to see the crowds had gone. Our friend and tonight's server, Javier, said the crowds were here through lunch and drank his bar out of Aperol #WOW  We came home to the final segment of pavement on Calle Zaragoza (our access street) having been finished - one year after the project was started. It looks fabulous! It used to be an old, uneven blacktop that had been patched in many places. Look at how gorgeous it is now. New sidewalks, new curb delineation, and underneath new water and sewer lines. It was a lovely walk home. We didn't go out for dinner until 9 pm. So - it being Monday night and after the Holy Week celebrations things were very quiet.  

We dined at Islamorada and had some favorites.  A later dinner on our return travel day from A Coruña in Galicia. We had a selection of our favorites (tortilla trufada, carpaccio de ternera, gambas blancas de Huelva, tacos Ibericos, tosta anchoa, and the carrillera de cerdo en salsa). We said our farewell for the summer to Javier after a meal that hit the spot with every dish. #loveSevilla

Tuesday we had Leslie and then Phil had class and I had to work on paperwork for our visa "renovation" so we dined at home. Wednesday we had a light meal at La Brunilda as Phil had not been feeling well. 

 

I had the queso costeño, and a tuna tartare (not shown) and Phil had the bulk of the risotto... we stopped at MITO on the way home to see Helena and to have gelato after two weeks without our standard evening treat, LOL

Tomorrow night is supposed to be warm, so we booked a dinner outside at Tradevo

Friday came around and we got all our paperwork lined up for our appointment on Monday. Then we went to coffee at Gavidia with Rocio and Natalia (Phil's teachers) and two of their students Janet and Mike who live here in Sevilla (and are dual Italian and American citizens.  We fell into easy conversation for about two hours and we went off to meet Helena for dinner at Casapuerta. 

 

After the meal we went to MITO for gelato- 

Tomorrow we need to begin the organization for returning to the States. There is a huge soccer match here on Saturday so big there are no hotel rooms in town apparently - so we are opting to eat dinner at home and skip the crowds as well as start with cleaning out the fridge. Oscar arrives Sunday afternoon.  And our last brunch with bagels from Costco - will be Sunday midday. The count turned out perfectly.