A perfect day for traveling due to a little bit wet and overcast day, we leave Madrid Spain for our next adventure in Sevilla. We began by catching public transportation at the bus stop in front of our hotel. Let us tell you, this transportation was not easy! Before we boarded, we both made sure to do our research and print out the “tourist” map of the city, which is shown below.
As you can see, this map is not tourist friendly…. So we MADE sure to ask the hotel to circle the stop we began at and the stop we would get off at. Yet, when we boarded the bus it was to our surprise that none of the stops were announced and it seemed like everyone just knew when it was time to get off! Luckily, we saw a student reading an English book whom we asked if he could direct us to our stop. Fortunately, he did just that and now we are now at the Atocha Train Station ready to board for our next adventure in Sevilla.
We boarded our train and it took two and a half hours to go approximately 250 miles rolling through hills of olive trees and watching the changing scenery out the window.
Three hours later were in sunny Seville, which was definitely a change of scenery from drowsy and overcast Madrid.
Since we had limited language and limited funds, we decided it would only be a ~30 ish minute walk to our next hotel. YET, this walk was the most miserable trek we had ever took and we decided we would never do it again! So lets put some context behind why this adventure was so miserable.
So we left the Renfe Train Station and headed out towards our hotel. The first difference was that the temperature and humidity was vastly different from Madrid. Additionally, unlike Madrid, which was relatively modern in aspect such as road and sidewalks, Sevilla did not have concrete sidewalks and roads were extremely curved that were short, long, and some not even roads. This made the walk extremely difficult to navigate especially with two suitcases each and a back pack. Yet, we made it and were happy to final arrive at the quaint but hidden hotel!
Before closing the night, we decided to explore Sevilla on our own! Being extremely hungry, we decided to stop at El Rinconcillo, the most traditional spot in Sevilla.
FOUR CENTURIES OF HISTORY
El Rinconcillo, founded in 1670, holds the title of the most ancient bar of Seville. In 1858, the De Rueda family (the current owners of this magical place) acquired the property located at n.40 of Gerona Street, which originally was an old tavern.
Years later, in 1897, the De Rueda family bought a new house at n.2 of Alhóndiga Street, linked to the other one. The current shape of El Rinconcillo arises from these two linked houses. The first house kept serving as a tavern and the second one is used as a corner shop. This arrangement remained unchanged until the 1960’s, when corner shops started disappearing, and both houses start serving as the tavern that we know nowadays.
The De Rueda family has preserved the original essence of El Rinconcillo over the generations, and this place has turned into the most popular corner of Seville without changing its original appearance.
TYPICAL ANDALUSIAN DECORATION
One of the biggest treasures of El Rinconcillo is its ancestral ornamentation that has been preserved for more than 300 years and still attracts visitors from all over the world.
On the ground floor, one can enjoy flavorful tapas and gratifying wines on its mahogany bar as well as at the typical Andalusian barrel-tables, or also eat on one of its marble-made tables while sitting on bulrush-made wooden chairs. In addition to this, its full of old bottles, carved shelves, its patio, its typical stone slabs combined with cement tiles, its typical Arabic brick walls, the patterns of the ceramic tiles of the walls from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries will take visitors to another epoch.
Besides its eye-catching decoration, the waiters follow the traditional practice of writing down the order of the customers with chalk on the mahogany bar, erasing it later when the customers pay. Just like as if it was a blackboard!
The restaurant is on the upper floor, and it completely follows the aesthetic of the whole place. There are stately spaces with exposed brick walls, Andalusian seating, wrought iron lamps and flamboyant picture windows that are common in old Sevillian houses.
Next, we headed to Mercado Lonja del Barranco, which is a gastronomic space pioneered in Sevilla that rests on three pillars: the gastronomic variety, leisure and culture. Space that ultimately seeks our visitors live an experience at all levels within our walls.
Market image is today a valuable iron structure coated with a careful design and inside which are sold with a selection of beautifully presented food stands. It is the present of a space steeped in history , the living memory of Sevilla still remembers as a very different place.
The fish market of El Barranco, it was a place full of life, business center and a miracle of logistics between a chaos of cars, fish boxes and people filling a small space. Throughout its history this unique building has been used for different activities, having been used as a tourist information center and Exhibition Center, and has also been years that has remained without any use.
For its beautiful silhouette and studied architectural design, these ships are now one of the most distinctive and valuable iron architecture preserved in the city of Seville examples. On November 25, 2014 was opened inside a new market gourmet under the name “Lonja del Barranco”, whose intention is to be a gastronomic landmark for locals and foreigners in Seville.
Traveling back home, we stopped at Puente de Isabell II, which is a metal arch bridge in Sevilla. This bridge connects the Triana neighborhood with the centre of the city. This bridge was built during the reign of Isabella II of Spain and completed in 1852 as the first solid bridge in Sevilla. This bridge replaced an earlier floating bridge consisting of boats.
Tales of Traveling Sole Sisters 