Day 3-relaxing before the Summit (and some photos, finally)

It was a nice Sunday yesterday. The weather was good and we decided to take it easy, walking around Seville (Sevilla) and having a leisurely day. After breakfast at the hotel, we walked over to Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla. In front of the Museum, there are many local artists displaying their wares. The exhibitions were largely Goya and other traditional Spanish painters of note. And also a more "modern" cubist exhibition. But the building is as much or more of an attraction than the art itself. t

From there we went in search of lunch. There are so many good Tapas bars. In fact, sometimes it seems like that's all there is to eat here. But the definitions change from place to place so a look at the menus is important.

We settled on a place that looked like it had a lot of locals, El Atun. And had a decent meal, highlighted by Langostinas (prawns) in the shell cooked with salt. This is very similar to the Hakka dish called salt baked prawns and the dish we had in Borneo called garlic prawns. Very interesting that different cuisines have almost exactly the same dish. With all of them, I prefer to eat them shell and all. Karen likes to take the shell off. No, I don't eat the heads. 

After walking some more, we returned to the hotel. Prior to dinner, we went to a local bar for a drink, then to El Burladero, located in our hotel, the Gran Melia. Burladero is a Michelin star restaurant where you have a choice of Tapas or the full menu. We wanted a sit down full on meal and were not disappointed. We had a nice bottle of Duero (we have found the Dueros heartier than the Riojas and prefer them), accompanying another prawn/shrimp appetizer (this one even fresher and better) and main courses. Highly recommend this restaurant. 

Below are some additional pictures from our trip.

Old Sevilla

The Bull fighting venue

Dave and Fabio Castaneda who showed us around

Seville Cathedral, one of the largest in the world

Seville Cathedral from a rooftop bar

Great view across rooftops

Dave and Karen in front of the Seville Cathedral. The tower was built by the Moors, with a top put on later by Christians. 

Day 2-Tapas experiences abound

On Friday night, we joined Andreas and ShuShu for a Tapas dinner. We walked about 15 minutes through the rain to get to their hotel, The Hotel Alfonso XIII. What a grand place! Te walk in the rain was great. As a boy raised in Seattle, I have no issues with rain. And the walk reminded me that oygen is one of the elements in rain. It was invigorating. 

We had a drink at the Americano bar in the Alfonso. Very grand. Andreas and ShuShu joined us and we headed to La Sal. La Sal is not a typical tapas restaurant. It was later described as Tapas Fusion. A little overlay of Japanese with a deep fried seaweed tapas and other delicacies. The food was delicious. And we had two Spanish wines that were gorgeous. I am tracking my wines these days on Vivino, a great app that permits me to post to Twitter and Facebook. Dinner did not start until after 9 and it was 1 before we got to bed. After the long trip, we slept very well.

Nice breakfast (the kind of buffet that you would expect at a top place) and then we headed out into the day. This is definitely a walking town. Many small streets, some of which accomodate cars and some too small. Old cobblestones on streets, great old architecture blending rennaissance and Moorish. Lots of people on the streets, some of which we would call allys. 

Tapas lunch today (Saturday) was at Las Teresas, a very old, legit Tapas place. Andrea was our guest along with Fabio Castaneda who is a local Google oriented Internet guy. Light lunch, trying local sherry, cheese, thinly sliced ham, fried small fish almost like mini calimari and another more like smelt. Tasty all around. 

Walked around after lunch and saw many sights, including the Seville Cathedral, one of the several largest in the world. Interesting architecture with a massive tower build by the Moors, topped with a renaissance treatment. Also saw the nearbye Bishop's Mansion and a number of other sights. Fabio showed us some great places for cocktails, all of which I checked in on Foursquare for sharing and future use. 

Tonight, looking for something different, we had some good pasta and a pizza at La Mafia se siente a la mesa. Good pasta, average pizza, good wine. 

Back at hotel now and looking for another great night's sleep. Getting to like Seville a lot. 

Day 1

As mentioned, we left home at zero dark hundred Thursday to make a 6:45 plane to JFK. Business class to JFK and from JFK to Madrid. Delta. They have new seats and they almost stretch out far enough but are a little narrow if you are a side sleeper. But good service and good food. 

Got to Madrid early morning but were slated for a noon train to Seville. Next time, we don't buy the tickets ahead of time. We could have made a 9 or 10 O'Clock train. The train was fast and smooth, with really nice seats and comp beverages and snacks, at least for the more expensive cars. Very nice scenery but at this point, I was lagging and slept part of the way. I think Karen got some pix we will try to post.

25 hours door to door. We could get to Asia easier!

I-COM sent a car to meet us at the Seville station, taking us to the Gran Melia Colon, a Leading Hotel of the World property. Very nice. But like A LOT of hotels, their wifi is not strong enough for iOS devices. Works fine on my laptop though.

Dinner tonight with Andreas Cohen and ShuShu. Looking forward to seeing them and seeing what restaurant they have up their sleeve.

Day 0-On our way!

Still dark outside at SFO. Today we travel from SFO-JFK where we change planes to Madrid. 

Some excitement getting out the door. Car broken into where like a fool I had left my iPod fully loaded for the trip. Minus one window and one big iPod. I have a back up. Karen misplaced her phone but we found it in the luggage.

Flying Delta Business Class to JFK which we have found to be pretty good of late...

Day -1 (almost ready)

Down to the final check list. Wheels up Thursday morning for Madrid via JFK. From Madrid we take the train down to Seville where we will be doing I-COM for a week, then traveling around southern Spain. 

We'll post travel notes and pix on this blog.

"Watch this space"

Karen and I are wheels up on Thursday for Spain. We'll be blogging and posting pictures of our trip here.