Seniors in Spain 2018: 8/4/2018-Jerez-driving to Sevilla, Hotel Sevilla Center, pool, La Casa del Flamenco, dinner at Altimira

Breakfast at the Jerez hotel was good. A huge selection-fruits, meats, cheeses, pastries......... and I can get my eggs the way I want them! I'm a happy camper again. Richard has his usual breakfast sandwich made with ham and cheese but he also gets fruit. At the egg station you can get your eggs fried, hard boiled, scrambled the way you like them, omelets. Also bacon, pancakes. I go for my egg over medium, toast, fruit. And the lady who is at the egg station does crispy bacon for me which I was so excited about that I ate it before taking a picture! My first bacon since arriving in Spain because all the bacon at other places looked like it wasn't cooked enough. Richard then has bread with the tomato spread. He gets bacon but it's not crispy/well done. I go back for a pastry. Richard goes back for churros which I taste-not bad. This breakfast is better than the ones we had at our hotel in Torremolinos. Check out in not a problem. Richard gets the car, we load our luggage in, and we're off to Sevilla! We have a stamped hotel ticket to get out of the parking lot and we're on the road around 11:00 AM.

Breakfast room

Donuts

Croissants and pastries

Cheeses

Meats

Breads and rolls

Cereals

Fruit

Tea

Coffee machine

Dried fruit

Yogurt

Fruit

Other juices

Orange juice

Grilled sandwich and pancakes

Churros

Omelet ingredients

Richard-orange juice, sandwich of ham and cheese, fruit, coffee

My egg over medium, toast, fruit, grapefruit juice, coffee

Bread with tomato spread

Bacon but not crispy

Pastry and grapes

Churros with chocolate and strawberry sauces

Ready to leave and drive to Sevilla

Exiting the parking area of the hotel

On the way out of town we pass a sign for Jerez and some other town landmarks. We take the E-5, the AP-4. Past field after field of sunflowers but hard to get a good picture due to car's speed on the highway. Tolls. Scenery flat, dry. Same trouble locating our hotel. Richard had stopped to ask a guy for directions. The guy brought him to the curb and told him to look up. Right before us in large letters-the name of our hotel! It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive from Jerez to Sevilla.

Sevilla. Founded by Romans. Capital of the province Seville. Guadalquivir River. 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. Triana neighborhood is considered the birthplace of flamenco. Tapas. UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Sunflower field

Tolls

Our first glimpse of our hotel in Sevilla

Hotel Sevilla Center. Booked on 3/24/18 for 4 nights, 8/4-8/8/18. Cost $398.43 and that included parking but not breakfast. Parking is in an underground garage of the hotel. This hotel is supposed to be in a good location-not far from the sights in Old Town. Check in without a hitch. Room #801 is nice. We have 2 single beds, a desk, flat screen TV, mini fridge, chair, safe. Bathroom has tub/shower combo, toiletries, hair dryer. Just like most of the other hotels we've stayed at in Spain. The room is comfortable. We unpack. No balcony but the price is great. The hotel pool is on the rooftop and is small especially since so many people are taking advantage of it in this heat. Lots of loungers but lots of people. Nice views from the pool. We relax here for almost 3 hours!

Our hotel

Reception

Entrance foyer

Our room #801

Desk and TV

Mini fridge

Closet and safe

Door separates bedroom from bathroom

Tub/shower combo

View from our room

Pool

View of hotel from the pool

La Casa del Flamenco. Flamenco had its beginnings in Roma/gypsy and Moorish cultures. The costumes set the mood for each set. Our hotel has made reservations for us for the 8:30 PM show. Chose this place due to reviews in Trip Advisor and it's the place my daughter went to this summer when she was in Sevilla. She said it was very good. More serious than dazzle dazzle. No dinner or drinks with this show-just the show. Taxi and short walk. We check in, pay $41.80, and are told to have a seat in a waiting area. There's a schedule of performers on the wall for the month of August. Tonight we have dancers Maria Moreno and Juan Polvillo, singer "El Pulga", guitarist Eugenio Iglesias. We're told to get in line and we're placed at the front of the line. Led into the room. Seats on 3 sides. We have prime viewing seats in the first row. There are 2 rows on each side. Small, personal venue. No video or pictures allowed until the announcer says it's ok. Show lasts about 1 hour. First have performances where it's just the guitarist, the guitarist and singer, the guitarist and dancers, just the man dancing, just the woman dancing....It's all great. Hand clapping and castenets. I especially was moved by the jondo set of the guitarist, singer, and woman dancer. This is the flamenco that expresses loss, death, betrayal, tragedy. Maria's costume was black and the mood was tragic, sad and you could hear it in the music, the song, the dance with the expressions on Maria's face. She was magnificent. I shed a few tears. It was so emotional for me. Lots of duende/soul. At the very end for a few minutes we are given the ok to take pictures, video which I do. I only wish I could have videoed Maria's performance of that sad, tragic set when she was all in black. I really loved the show. It was as good as I hoped it would be. As we're exiting the singer El Pulga is in the hall and talking to Richard. I tell him I was moved to tears and he replied "bene". It was good to get emotional because the performers hope for that response when they are emotional themselves up on the small stage. Now it's time to find a place for dinner. We walk through the streets where there's lots of shops selling flamenco clothing, fans. I bought a postcard which I have been doing since Barcelona. I feel bad that I didn't buy one in Pamplona. 😞

List of performers for August and our date of 8/4 shows the names of tonight's show

Singer El Pulga

Dancers Juan Polvillo and Maria Moreno

Guitarist Eugenio Iglesias

Store selling fans

Flamenco clothing for sale

Dinner-Altimira Bar/Cafe. It was hard to find a place that had availability. This place is large with indoor and outside seating. We get a table inside right away. A light meal is what we think would be best this late. Drinks-sangria, beer. Complimentary dish of potatoes with carrots is different than the olives we're used to but is tasty. We order grilled vegetables with mushrooms, onions, red and green peppers, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini. Green salad was a disappointment. Just lettuce, shredded carrots, black olives, tomatoes, onion. Nothing special. Patatas bravas-different. French fries with a spicy sauce. Ok. Not a wow meal but it suited us fine. There was a bit of a mix up. The server (not the one who took our order) brought the items to the table next to us. The mistake was realized when the other table booked bewildered and the items were picked up from that table and brought to ours before any of it was touched or eaten. That upset my husband a little. Cost without tip $45.46. We walk back to where we can catch a taxi back to our hotel. Tomorrow we start our sightseeing. We will scale down our days due to this heat. Most likely will not get to see everything on my list.