Seville in its pure awesomeness

No doubt you have been surprised to have had no posts from me lately but I've been in the September mode. The beginning of autumn is such an exhaustingly fun time in Seville. You should jump on the first plane and come and see me. Literally. Come and get your batteries charged! First, it's beautiful here. But there's more, it's still nice and warm and not humid yet at all, which is fantastic. An autumn break to a sunny darling of Europe would do just right. September is a real treat for travellers in search of the less-discovered that the street vibes of Seville certainly are. Not to be missed if you are looking for seeing natural appeal of this place - Andalusians in their element, in the street. Of course, you could also go sightseeing, the postcard views of the metropolitan are stunning, but they only show you the surface. I assure you, you don't want to run around here and there to make sure everything's going as planned. The less plans, the better. Find a bar, grab a drink, sit down, shut up and let you bask in the pure awesomeness (in the true sense of the word) that is the street life in Seville. Take it all in. No neurotic tourism. Enjoy the scenic attractions bathing in the sunshine and relaxing.

Being that I just can't get enough of showing the world the goodies of my beloved city of Seville, here's another set of photos for you to enjoy.

Posted images, like the previous ones, taken from Facebook page Para vivir, yo sólo quiero Sevilla (To live I just want Seville). 

Encounter with Papaya

Papaya is native to the tropics of the Americas, and is limited to where it can grow, being frost-sensitive, but it seems to also be able to handle the slightly less favourable weather conditions of the subtropical regions of Spain, since I have noticed it growing in Seville just fine. Now this is a weird but true fact. 

Papaya tree with unripe fruit near my home

Papaya is a large tree-like plant, with a single stem up to 10 m tall, with spirally arranged large leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The leaves are of at least 50 cm in diameter, deeply palmately lobed into seven lobes. Papaya is one of the most productive plants regarding its size provided that it flowers and fruits at the same time.

Young Papaya plant in Seville. Image taken from a forum of InfoJardín

Papaya fruits are smooth skinned and have an oblong shape, they may be green, yellow, orange or pink, and weigh up to 9 kg. Export-destined fruit are harvested earlier, not weighing more than 600 g. It's ripe when if feels tender and soft to the touch and its skin has acquired an amber to orange shade. Ripe papaya fruit is usually eaten raw, without skin or seeds. The unripe green fruit can be eaten cooked, in curries, salads and stews, or it can be used to make jellies due to its pectine content.

Papaya with cream cheese. Image and recipe taken from ABCdesevilla

Here's a quick and easy papaya dessert recipe for you to try at home:

Papaya with cream cheese

Ingredients:

1-2 papayas (1 kg)

1 cup of sugar

ginger

cream cheese

2 cups of water

Preparation:

Peel the papaya and dice it small. Make a simple sypup with sugar and water, add ginger and papaya, and cook for a few minutes. Set aside and serve when cooled in glasses with a scoop of cream cheese. Instead of cream cheese, you can use finely grated parmesan or blue cheese cubes for an icying. Greek yogurt or sour cream would also be a good sub for cream cheese.

Hot days ahead

It's been a beautiful morning with some air and warmth, with a sunny and hot afternoon coming up. One can sense that. Hello, constant daily sunshine and long lazy siesta hours! No complaining here; if not best climate ever, then best hours possible! Sweaty, but nice. What does it feel like anyway, at these hours, I mean? Like an oven? Yes, it's exactly that, but only in the street. Sheltered at home, it's just with a hot breeze from the window, if you leave it open. And all this serenity... Unimaginable! It's not just silent, it's ultra silent and smooth. 

Seville sizzling at a temperature in the high forties. Photo by the FB group Para vivir, yo sólo quiero Sevilla 

See, Seville experienced 46 degrees Celsius yesterday, making it the hottest day of the season so far, though not the hottest one in the history. Believe it or not, there was an evidence of even higher temperatures recorded in Seville on the very same day, 4 July 2013. But this is already something outlandish, the reader must have been overheated under the direct sun exposure. Whether or not, there's no relief from heat, the weather in the metropolitan area is going to be very hot, with the sun baking down on Sevillians.

Hellish heat in Los Remedios neighbourhood (Seville) on 4 July 2013. Photo by Citycafe y copas

These rainy, rainy days

It's raining. Cats and dogs. Oh, I just met an extraordinary cat today before it started to pour. Find it in the picture! And, just for the record, the photo was only taken to register the graffiti on the wall (la furia - rage, anger, fury).

Anyway, to come back to the rain, it's a special thing down here. It's a special treat for the people who have hard time with summer heat. It's an event for the weather-beaten countrymen to have the thirsty soil watered. And it's definitely a very special delivery for the seed. All in all, a blessing. Sevillians don't ever try to shelter themselves from it, but rather accept the rain as they accept life. Some are well-prepared, sure. They have their 80 euro rubber boots and an umbrella and everything. Others just run in the rain. Neither get wet. Although all prefer not to go out (which is really something, I'm telling you) on these rainy days. They stay at home instead. They keep themselves nice and warm and listen to the rain. Loving the sound of it. They find it comforting.

Having lived here for a while now, I have learned not to whine about the wet. I'm just feeling the craziest relief if I have happened to choose to put random boots on rather than favourite leopard print stilettos before going out on the days that turn rainy. And later on, hanging my knee-deep wet jeans to dry, I have no hard feelings. All let to grow.

To sum up with, here's a song that makes the point more strongly. ToteKing, a 34-year-old Sevillian rap artist (rapero), nails it, plain and clear, saying: “Nothing grows without food”.

For those who might be interested: the link to the lyrics (in Spanish)

Weather

Now that we are in mid-February and winter looks like it might well be on its way (it's above 20 degrees Celsius), life has started to run into the streets again. Just wait a couple of months and it'll let go! Men in Seville - and more and more women too - so love to be in the street. Warmth-loving Sevillians surely hope summer has dig its heels in.

Photos taken on 14 February 2013

For many, the reason they come to Spain is because of the weather. Northern Europeans crowd the beaches of Spain with supposedly guaranteed sun all day, every day. But it isn't as simple as that. It's a common myth about Spain that the weather is always good. It is true that in the summer it will usually be sunny, especially in the south. Then again, the humidity makes the winters super bone-chilling cold here, in the households without proper heating nearly unbearable to deal with. However, it's worth noting that July and August can be too hot in so many cities.

Andalusia is a Mediterranean region. In broad terms, it's characterised above all by a pronounced summer drought, but within this classification marked differences exist. The climate of Andalusia may be classified thus: coastal oceanic, subtropical, sub-desert, semi-continental, continental and mountain climate.

So, Andalusia is where there the hottest and driest summers are in Spain, but contrary to what many people think, as a whole, the region enjoys above average yearly rainfall in the context of the whole country. As the matter of fact, many of its provinces receive more than 1000 mm of rain a year, double that of Madrid. And, much of Andalusia enjoys in excess of 300 days of sun a year.

Among the provincial capitals, Almeria and Seville, have the highest average temperatures in Spain with 18,6ºC and 18,7ºC, respectively. In Andalusia, Granada is the coolest at an average of 15,1ºC. The average annual temperature of Andalusia as a whole is said to be above 16ºC. The coldest month is January, while the hottest is August.

The highest temperature recorded in Spain is 47,4ºC in Seville. See?! There are a number of other figures around 47ºC, at Écija, also known as the „frying pan of Andalusia“, in the province of Seville. Weathermen suspect that temperatures of 50ºC have been reached at points in the Guadalquivir basin. The Spanish version of the Guinness Book of Records give the absolute record in Spain as the 51ºC recorded in Seville. This, however, is not accepted by experts as it was made in 1876 using suspect equipment.