La Azotea with Claire P

We both did some desk work in the morning, then out for a coffee and toast, which ended up being a walk to Calle Feria for their Thursday flea market, aptly named ‘el jueves’. Shame we have no room in our bags!

After a bit more work, we walked out for a couple of very late afternoon tapas, sitting at the bar in Eslava on ‘our plaza’, Plaza San Lorenzo. The tapa with egg, bizcocho and mushroom was even more delicious than it looked and the small fried fish were simple, fresh and delicious. Claire P, who we met for dinner later, had suggested eating here, and blipper Veronica had also enjoyed it on her visit last year. However, bookings for tables are made well in advance and I decided that three of us perching on bar stools in a busy bar wasn’t conducive to our first catch up in years. Shame, cos the tapas we had were divine and we’ll definitely book a table for our next trip!

Dinner was with Claire in La Azotea, just 2 mins along from Eslava and I’d been able to book a table yesterday. The food was very good, all small tapas, but not as special as Eslava’s. Lovely to catch up though. The last time was pre-pandemia. We met through work many years ago, originally through her assessing courses in IH Barcelona over the summer months. She and a friend then booked our wee studio in Rio for the World Cup in 2014. We’ve since met up in Cairo when she assessed one of the courses there and I’ve also assessed courses in the centres where she works in Seville and Malaga.

Then onto the Alameda for cocktails! Because I’m back blipping, I can now say that I felt these cocktails the next morning!