Seville day 2

Parque Maria Luisa was first on the agenda for the day, another large garden with water features, some Aussie mountain ash trees and again very symetrical. The cafe in the park also makes great coffee. On the 20 something sunny day I could easily have relaxed on the grass for quite a few hours but that would have been too easy. My ear worm in the garden was “Empty Garden” by Elton John; it is on “The Fox” album which I think is underrated. Incidentally I have a personally autographed (by Elton Hercules John not me) copy of it on vinyl. Some more rambling aimlessly but purposely around the old city was next which required a wander around the back of the park and through some of the newer sections of the city. On the way someone asked me for directions to Calle Felipe II in Spanish and I knew where it was and how to get there and I answered them in Spanish, how good am I.

In the old city I found a fellow Alberto Pantoja Martin who is a “Contructor De Artesania de Guirarra, Bandurrias y Laudes,” he makes guitars, Mandolins and Lutes (http://www.guitarraspantoja.es/tradicion.htm). He allowed me into his studio to take some photographs and he showed me some of his more elaborate craft work. It takes him about 6 weeks to make a guitar and they cost about 3000 euros each so they are not cheap, but if you do the maths he isn't getting rich out of it either.

I finally got to the river after zig zagging my way around the old city and found an international food area, it is strange seeing an Australian stall at an international festival but I suppose that is what it is over here. There was a glaring factual error on the stall however; apart from advertising Canguro which is clearly Australian, they offered “Solomillo de avestruz” (sirloin of Ostrich), this was compunded by having in brackets immediately under the menu item “El Correcaminos (The Roadrunner). It was illustrated by having a picture of an ostrich with a burger for a torso and behind the counter they had a large white egg as a prop. The list of faults is as follows:

1. The Ostrich is an African bird, larger than the emu, but not native to Australia. Its presence in Australia is restricted to zoos although I don't rule out the possibility that it may also be a farm animal. It's hobbies are eating and running away from lions.
2. The roadrunner is a small ground dwelling bird that lives in dry regions of southern USA, without any research I cannot say whether or not its habitat stretches to Central or South America but I don't rule out the possibility. It is not present in Australia as a native or introduced species and although I never seen one in a zoo, I don't rule out that possibility. Its hobbies are eating sidewinder snakes and annoying Wiley D. Coyote. The sidewinder snake is also an interesting creature so feel free to do quick google search and read up them.
3. The ostrich and the roadrunner are two entirely different species that inhabit different continents (none of which are Australia).
4. An emu egg is blue and smaller than the specimen they were using as a prop. It is more likely they had an ostrich egg on display.

I settled on some magnificent dolmades from the Greek stall and a Greek beer which I had never tried before.

Next stop was a Scottish pub to scratch an itch by drinking some tenants lager. Unfortunately the Scottish pub did not have any and appeared not to have any Scottish beers at all, oh well, perhaps they would have some in Ireland. It was getting late now and time to get some dinner and plan for the evening. Dinner was simple, the salad I had purchased the previous day, plans for the evening were another matter. I had a tip off about La Carboneria, a flamenco bar in the old city. It was not on any of the advertising brochures as a flamenco venue so I asked the staff in the Hostel. I was told that the place could be described as different, good enough for me. I was also told to try a drink called a Rebujito, no worries.

I got to La Carboneria at 9.30 and watched the magnificent flamenco with a large crowd, mainly locals by the looks of them and a few tourists. The jug of Rebujito was very nice, but it was a bit of a shock when someone helped himself to it, he thought is was on the house and there for anyone to use but I explained that wasn't that bothered, I really did not want to drink it all myself anyway but he felt a bit guilty so he bought another. His name was Juan and his partner's name was Virginia, both locals and both in the finance profession. We were joined by another Juan (get it) Javier, Antonio and Maria Rosa. When the Flamenco finished they took me to another bar nearby where we stayed until about 4.00 am when the bar closed. Another late night, another chance meeting with some friendly locals and another early morning.