A few people told us we were crazy heading to Seville in summer.
We were to be undeterred. Sure, the 43 degree days made it a tad challenging to wander the streets of the old town comfortably…in daylight! But that led to seeing a whole different side of the city we would have missed given our (unusual to the locals) tendency to eat dinner before 10pm & go to bed at a respectable hour…especially on “school nights”!

Seville is a great city…we had a ball. It proved to be a culinary delight that we had not expected. They take ‘tapas’ to a whole new level & we revelled in what they wanted to share with us. The people were incredibly friendly & often apologized to us that their English was, what they termed; ‘very bad’. Not true, as many locals we came across spoke English really well, they just lacked confidence to begin with. And, as we constantly reminded them, their English was far better than our bumbling Spanish!

Whilst definitely a warmer climate at this time of year than most of us are used to dealing with in our daily grind, travelling to a city like Seville in the height of summer does offer some benefits. Many of the locals clear out & go & clog-up another European city or beach. Leaving what is normally a frenetic city ..almost peaceful. At times through the day (probably around siesta when I think about it!), we found the streets eerily quiet for such a big city. Often we’d find it would be only us, and maybe a couple of other tourists (clearly with as much sense as we had!), wandering the beautiful back streets in the afternoon. Given Denis and I can’t stand crowds, despite the heat, we actually enjoyed almost having the city to ourselves and not having to queue for anything!!

The only thing we did have trouble getting used to was that they eat reeeeaaaalllly late. A quote from a local gave me some perspective.

Don’t expect to eat lunch before 2pm & dinner before 11pm here. Most restaurants don’t even open for business until 9pm

Our problem was that our body-clocks are just not used to eating that late. It was almost like we had some kind of meal jet-lag after a few days. We had to get into the swing…do as the locals do, as they say. We found it took us a while to get used to. Sitting down to eat dinner between 10 & 11pm meant that we couldn’t get to sleep before 2am.

And that was every night.

DP was not a happy camper & I felt like I was back in my clubbing days…having the midnight munchies after a big session on the dance floor!! What I’m most curious about though, is that we were travelling, so could invariably sleep in the next day, no worries. How on earth do the locals get up & go to work at respectable hours after eating this late every night?

I guess one thing I understand better now though is why the concept of ‘siesta’ was invented. Here, in this kind of afternoon heat, it makes sense. When the shops close their doors for a while as everyone retreats indoors & the streets are virtually empty, an eerie peacefulness overcomes the city giving it more of a country-town feel vs a large city metropolis. In contrast, walking back to the hotel after midnight, any night, & you’ll find cafes & the streets heaving. Difference here though, is that most will be sipping on coffee vs wine or beer at that hour.

As I said, here in Sevilla, siesta makes sense. It just makes me wonder however, about a few other European cities that also enjoy the languidity of ‘siesta’. They are not nearly as hot as Seville AND many have it in place ALL year round where they close their businesses for 3-5 hours through the day. Sure, I understand customs and all, but given the economic state of some of these nations, would have thought this practice a little harder to justify in modern times perhaps?!

:: m ::