?How many days should you allow your undercarriage area to recover before spending another day on a bicicleta? I can assure you, that the answer is not two! But too late, we’re cycling in Sevilla, over the rough cobbled streets …. well I’m sure you get the picture.

We hired our bikes from a bike shop in the old town. “AMEX” Ross asks hopefully? “Si” is the response – but of course, the AMEX does not work, and dejected, Ross hands over my Visa card.  He’d been full of false hope,  because a few days ago in Malaga, Ross finally found a place to accept his stoopid AMEX card!  He was sooo excited!!!!.  However, I predict that the AMEX bill from Spain will be very, very tiny….as so far he has only managed to buy a couple of train tickets, and a round of pintox.

Let’s be clear here, every AMEX disappointment for Ross, makes me giggle.  He was so adamant that AMEX would be accepted EVERYWHERE (and Ross is NEVER wrong, just ask him).  So every time I see his sad little face, full of rejection, I giggle like a school girl.  One day this will stop being funny, but that day has not yet come.

So on our bikes, sitting as lightly as possible on the seats (for the above mentioned reason) we head out of the old centre, across the bridge over the Guadalquivir River, to Triana, a bustling little area with more locals, less tourists.   We visit the Mercado de Triana – a huge fresh food market, but also with bars and tapas.  Each stall has a speciality, be it birds (chickens, pigeons, quails), pigs, cheeses, meats, or vegetables.  It is here I buy half a kilo of padrón peppers (which they present like a wrapped bouquet of flowers), olive oil and some black salt!  I’ll be making pimientos de padrón tonight!

Seville has a flat topography, with lots of parks and riverside promenades, so cycling is very easy.  All the major streets have clearly marked bike paths, and apart from remembering to keep right, and looking in the correct direction when crossing roads, it’s dead easy – ‘dead’, in that I nearly got hit by a car (again) today.  I didn’t even see it (too busy checking for traffic from the other direction) – but Ross, travelling behind me, retells the story with much drama.

We eat lunch in a pedestrianised street near the markets, listening to buskers. Ross goes over to them and tosses some coins into the sombrero. Next thing I know, there’s three musicians coming over to have drinks with us.  One of them is English (been living in Spain for 21 years) and the other two are Spanish.  One the the Spanish guys used to work as a chef.  He questions me seriously about how I intend to cook the padrón peppers, so I tell him, and he’s happy that I’m doing it right. Phew!  Anyway, after an animated conversation in English and Spanglish, off they go to their next gig across the river.  We will no doubt see them around during the next week.

Lunch is stuffed mushrooms (smothered in a garlic sauce), and the most delicious pork stew.

We buy many food items from the markets, because tomorrow is a public holiday for the Three Kings (Three Wise men).  If you really want to upset a Spanish stallholder, touch their fruit and vegetables!!! There is absolutely no picking or bagging your own fruit and vegetables from the stands in Spain.  Instead, you must ask, and they do it for you (even if that means the stall owner walks around to the front of the stand to collect your fruit, then walks back behind the stall to ask for the money).   There are signs everywhere that say “no toques” (don’t touch).  There’s even one sign that says ‘don’t touch and don’t smell’.  hahaha – it makes me want to sniff things even more. 

Every purchase takes a little time to negotiate (between our Spanglish, Google translate and the vast array of goods).  Then there’s the money and the change and the counting. But we emerge grinning like cheshire cats and victorious!  Our arms are full of bags containing olives, chorizo, sherry vinegar, goats cheese, tomatoes and bread.  Pretty sure we won’t starve, and I’m really looking forward to doing some cooking.  And don’t forget the padrón peppers!!!!

I love Spain.