Seville, Spain: December 2017

Hey! Most of you know that we’ve spent the majority of our time in the great city of Seville, Spain, over the past few years. You might also notice that we rarely write about it.

Sure, we post pictures on Instagram and Facebook and all that. But we never write posts. Why? I guess because it’s our “home.” Therefore, it’s not as exciting or travel-blog-worthy as most of our other posts. Even though this blog is essentially a log of our lives, we always ignore posting about our home base – wherever that may be.

I’m going to change that! This post is essentially a photo log – a plog? – of our life during the month of December 2017. It might not be terribly exciting for you as we live here and aren’t doing touristy or adventurous things all the the time. Sometimes, we don’t do anything at all!

But, I still want to share these experiences with you, and for our own memories as well. Don’t worry, I’m not going to post photos of the grocery store or whatever on a regular basis. Alas, this is our December. We did a lot of other things during December, especially since we had family in town, but you can find all those non-home-base things in other posts.

Right then.

Due to that family being in town, we got out and about more than normal, going along with some of the touristy things that they did.

I’ve always liked this building at the north end of the Avenida de la Constitución.

It was quite a gray day, and Christmas lights were in the way. But, there ya go.

A couple of shots from the cathedral and giralda.

Wandering around the Santa Cruz neighborhood and old Jewish quarter in Seville is always a treat. There are a lot of little corners and details to see, so don’t ever rush it.

Even though this is quite a touristy part of town, it’s always worth stopping at the old and still very, very good Las Teresas bar for a drink and a tapas.

We also got treated to some music by these guys, who were actually, really good. They are a far cry from the annoying nonsense that a lot of other street musicians try to throw your way in this city.

We headed over to Plaza de España, which is an architectural dream as well as a major tourist destination, but also home to a lot of government offices. As we’re in the middle of a visa renewal, this is where we have to go. Managed to get a decent shot on a drab day.

As you probably know by now, we’re craft beer aficionados. Not fancy-pants, but we like the good stuff! I won’t bore you with too many photos of beer, but I’ll share some anyway.

Got this box in the mail from BrewDog, which I liked. :)

A few of the many gems in that box.

Also got my signed copy of the book, Craft Beer for the People, from BrewDog. If you like beer and the stories behind/around it, then I highly suggest you pick up a copy. You can get it right here.

The mailman also delivered a nice arrival from Australia for Hopsmash. Thanks to East Sydney Brewing Co. for these tasty bevs!

Aaaaand, some treats from the Sólo Lúpulo craft beer club in Spain, which sends goodie boxes once a month. If you’re in Spain and you want some action, you can sign up here.

That booklet is really cool. It has info, descriptions, and little stories about each beer that comes in the monthly pack. Very well done!

Speaking of beer, here’s a very, very bad picture of us with some of our informal Friday Night Social Club friends at Bier Kraft. We’re there every Friday, and anyone is welcome! Sometimes it’s all regulars, mostly it’s a mix of regs and new people. Sometimes we’re just 4-5, sometimes we’re 20. You never know! Swing on by if you want to join us for beer, food, and chitter-chatter.

Here we are with Chris from Wisconsin (who lives in Seville), Daniel from California (who’s a digital nomad), Adam the owner, and Pablo, a local.

And lastly on the beer front, I want to share this one with you. It was a pleasant surprise to walk into Bier Kraft one day and see Chicago’s own Marz Community Brewing on tap. A little home away from home at another home in another home. ;)

Beer pictures and rantings are done for this post. Swearsies. Again, if you’re a beer person like we are, check out our Hopsmash project.

Now, have a picture of Ang looking all crazy! She got this app called Snow and couldn’t stop playing with it for a while there. (Get it for iOS and Android.)

Whoa.

Good doggie.

Crazy doggie taking a break from being crazy.

O hai.

As it was the month of Christmas – ho, ho, ho – we got a lot of cards from the family. They were all good, but this was the obvious winner. Thanks to our niece, River!

Let’s have some food!

A couple gems from one of our favorite places, Nazca. It’s Japanese-Peruvian-Spanish fusion, and it’s delicious.

Or, if you prefer breakfast, how about a tasty one from the old Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo?

As is often the case, they laced us with some chupitos (shots) after breakfast. All bets are off in Seville once the clock hits 11am or so. Sometimes earlier.

Here’s a random shot from another one of our favorite places, Al Aljibe. Get the risotto with provolone and arugula. If you don’t like it, we can’t be friends.

Ang bakes maybe once a week. We usually, only keep a few in the house and give the rest away at Friday Night Social Club or to other people we know around town.

These peanut butter cookies filled with chocolate, though!

Peanut butter Ritz dunked in chocolate, and peanut butter-filled pretzels done the same.

Yup.

My sister, Heidi, and my brother-in-law, Ben, landed at the end of December and brought their (and our) friends, Kim and Jerry, along for the ride. One of our favorite things to do with company is to hit up a rooftop bar for some drinks and views.

Say ‘hi’ to Kim and Heidi.

The bar also brought us these pigs in a blanket, which we’ve actually never seen in Spain. Yes, they hit the spot after a gin & tonic!

And lastly, the year ends in December! This, we all know, so let’s see some photos from New Year’s Eve at The Merchant, which was company’s choice due to the NFL being on TV there.

Good times!

Happy New Year!

And those were the less-mundane parts of our December! Thanks so much to Heidi, Ben, Kim, and Jerry for coming to visit. We had a blast, and you’ll see more in some other, upcoming posts.

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What’d you do in December? Did you have a good holiday season and New Year’s Eve? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!