Seville 8 of 8

It was well past lunch time and we were both feeling a little hungry and tired so we headed up and around cobbled laneways and streets looking for a tapas bar so that we could try some real Spanish food. A tapa is an appetiser or a small portion snack of any Spanish cuisine. Several tapas can be combined to create a full meal with a variety of foods. Tapas are great for groups of people who each order one or two tapas and then they all share the selected dishes so that a greater variety of all kinds of small portions of different foods can be tried. It also means that if there's a particular dish portion you do not like then there are other things you can eat and the food you dislike will probably be eaten by someone else in your group.

We walked past several outdoor cafe areas with their umbrella-crowned tables filled with contented diners. It looked like most tourists like ourselves had only just stopped to eat at 2.30pm, too but we were not alarmed as we'd been told that there are over 4000 tapas bars in Seville which is roughly one for every 200 locals. 

Soon we came across a small table in a narrow cobbled street lined with tapas bars. We ordered: a plate of tomatoes slices, olives and tuna, spicy peppers, 2,ham and cheese croquettes, fried chips, humus with Spanish oil and sauces. Then we sat and watched the passing parade of tourists and locals. Our food was delicious and it was served with some local fruit juices which were really refreshing. We took ages to savour every bite of the Spanish sauces, ham, olives, humus with a pool of rich Spanish olive oil and crunchy chunks of freshly baked bread. We were totally satisfied and energised to continue our walk back to meet the coach for our return trip to the Sea Princess.

Seville had been a fascinating and intense experience as its history is so long, impacting and even confronting. But not as confronting as a bull fight would have been for us. 

As we wandered back to our coach the fishermen who we observed preparing for an afternoon of  catching ' the big one' for their evening meal, were doing what they did most afternoons when the sun's rays were less intense.