On Friday we had the first really bad weather of the trip. In the morning I went out to do some errands and got rained on. In the early afternoon Patricia and I went out to do some errands and to visit a few of the places we had seen from only the outside. We got as far as San Miguel church. Shortly after we got inside this 16th century, late-Gothic church the skies opened up and some of the loudest winds we have ever heard arrived. We were the only people inside the somewhat dim church at the time and we could hear the wind creating loud moans in the corners and in the high roof. The doors at the ground level were slowly opening and closing as if spirits were wandering through.
The church is quite nice inside. There are only a few side chapels and the decorations (I need a better word) were not too elaborate. We were able to get a few good pictures. We stayed for a while hoping to wait out the wind and rain, but they did not let up.
It was only when we got outside that we realized just how bad the storm was. It was raining in sheets and the wind was so strong we could hardly walk against it. That was the end of our vague plans to do more sightseeing. Instead, we headed out on a truly vital errand: finding earrings for Patricia. Getting to the jewelry store was a challenge even though it was only a few blocks away. However, our mission was accomplished.
In weather like that it, no one was eating outside and our next big decision was finding a place to eat. We went back to the Trattoria de Roma in Plaza Arenal. They treated us very well and quickly served us coffee so we could start warming up. We had another good meal there. They make their own pasta and I had some fresh, tasty fettuccini. Patricia had a seafood lasagna. All the time we were there we chatted with our waiter—as you might imagine, there weren’t too many customers—who was proud to tell us about this relatively new place.
When we finished, we asked for the bill and it didn’t come. We asked again and it still didn’t come. We weren’t in a hurry, but we were ready to go. Instead of the bill, the waiter delivered a large calzone filled with Nutella (a kind of chocolate filling) and told us it was free. So we ate that. Then they brought us limoncello. We were quite full when we finally left—and we had waited out the rain.
The break in the weather lasted almost until we got back to the apartment.
Because we had two performances scheduled last night (only last night?!) we were concerned that the weather might prevent us from walking to our venues. In the week that we were there, we never had to take a taxi because everything was within walking distance—even when I took us on the “scenic” or “shortcut” routes.
But the weather mostly cooperated. We saw the singers Antonio Agujetas and Juan Lara. They were both terrific. And the both used the same palmeros. Now those guys were having some fun with palmas. I have to stand still and count when I am doing palmas, but they were almost dancing with their movements and they played well off of each other and with the guitarra and cantaores.
Then we walked over to Teatro Villamarta for our last show in Jerez. We saw David Coria’s production called “Encuentro.” It was another themed performance but I sure don’t know what the theme was. When they were dancing or singing it was great but there was a lot of mysterious moving around and rolling oranges on the floor and people standing on chairs that I just didn’t get. The music at the end was “All of Me” which seemed odd at a flamenco performance. Still, we enjoyed it.
Saturday morning we finished packing and Patricia did some cleanup of the apartment. We enjoyed our stay and David Galindo was a great host, but we were often cold in the apartment.
The storm returned with a vengeance this morning and we were glad that David offered to drive us to the station. Standing on the platform waiting for the train everyone tried to crowd under the small overhead protection. Not everyone was successful in staying dry. By the time we pulled in to the Santa Justa station in Seville the rain had mostly stopped.
We are staying at another nice Airbnb on Calle Corral del Rey. We were looking forward to being warm again as we stood in the light rain outside the apartment. But the first thing Lola showed us was how to use the two space heaters—with a third one promised for tomorrow. It is supposed to warm up dramatically in the next few days and then we’ll probably complain about the heat.
We are somewhat familiar with the area in which we are staying because we stayed nearby on our last two trips to Seville. So we went out and discovered a new restaurant—had to sit inside because of the latest rain shower. Then we found some pastries for an evening snack and some supplies for the week.
For the first time in a week we don’t have an evening performance or two scheduled so we will have a quiet evening inside and try to stay warm.
I have added a few more pictures to the Jerez pictures page.