Seville Day One: Are there any more tiles?

Settle down, this post is a long-un. Our first, and only, full day in Seville and boy, did we pack it in!

We got up early and strolled down from our apartment into through the town to the Alcázar, a royal palace that was originally a Moorish fort. It's the oldest Palace still in use in Europe – so that's petty cool.

But that's not the only thing, the grandeur scale and beauty of the building is what impressed me most. Well, that and the tiles..I loved the tiles and made it my mission to take a picture of each different design I discovered.

Which is your favourite?

Walking through the palace, seeing the intricate carvings whilst wondering in and out of the beautiful courtyards was, sort of magical and it was definitely one my favourite places that we visited on the trip.

We then headed out to the gardens, beautifully sculptured collection of spaces with different themes and flowers and, of course, the occasional Peacock couple.

Lastly we visited the underground water chamber, an unexpectedly chilly area with beautiful arches reflected into the water in the dim light.

After warming ourselves in the sunshine, we realised it was lunchtime and headed of in search of some food. We went to a small 'Pesacdería' where you can choose from an array of fried fish, chip shop style, then they weigh it and wrap it a paper cone ready to take outside to enjoy in the sunshine with a caña or two. We also got the tomato salad that I saw some other people enjoying which was delicious. A simple salad of tomatoes marinated in just salt, olive and herbs that paired perfectly with the crunchy fish.

To walk of lunch with strolled through the park down to Plaza de España.

A pretty beautiful building for the town hall – eh? You don't see much like this in England, that's for sure. Running around the semi-circle is a collection of alcoves, one for each province of Spain. 

Of course I had to grab a photo of my adopted Province – Cáceres. We continued walking through the park down the river and then walked back up to the apartment before changing and heading out to dinner.

We headed to a fusion Tapas place nearby; Al Ajibe. We had some seared tuna skewers with wasabi mayonnaise.

Salmon sashimi with rocket.

And scrambled eggs with chorizo, potato and mushrooms.

Lastly we had a delicious chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream.

Not satisfied with just one pudding we headed to the highly recommend ice cream place – Freskura, where I went for dark chocolate and mint. I had no problems understanding why it was so highly recommended the ice cream was amazing, as soon as i'd finished I was trying to think of a time when I could go back before we left the next morning. Ice cream for breakfast anyone?

Well and truly full up we headed home ready for an early start the following day.  

Madruelo, Cáceres

Before Easter, Mummy came into town for a visit before we headed on to Seville and Granada. Excited for her arrival, I decided we'd try out a new restaurant hidden down behind the plaza. 

We were the first to arrive and last the last to leave but the waiting staff were seemingly unbothered and very friendly, helping to explain the menu and had lots of recommendations! Seeing as we were fairly early, by Spain's standards anyway (!), the chef even came out to chime in on what he thought was good. 

Firstly we were presented with a tomato-garlic concentrate which was lovely. Accompanied with some toasts; one topped with tapenade and the other with Patatera (a chorizo spread) and honey. It was all delicious and really whet our appetite for what was to come.

We ordered a pork salad dish which comprised of very thinly sliced just cooked pork topped with roasted garlic, olive oil and a salad garnish.

Next we had octopus with olive oil and paprika, bulked out slightly with some potatoes and the occasional green leaf. We both enjoyed this but decided we liked the pork dish better.

Next, the mains. I went for Venison with a red wine sauce and the came with some vegetables and mashed potato. This was really lovely and the sauce really made the dish.

Mummy went for the chef's recommendation, a loin of pork with a creamy wild mushroom sauce. I sneaked a bit with my fork and it was really lovely but nothing unusual. But the pork was cooked perfectly and it didn’t stop us mopping up the leftover sauce with the bread.

After a quick peruse of the dessert menu we decided to share the chocolate brownie accompanied with both custard and cream – how could we not! This was really yummy and I wished i'd ordered one just for myself.

I would highly recommend this restaurant for great service and lovely food.