03.16.10
In Praise of RyanAir
Not words I would normally ascribe to the airline that everyone loves to hate!
HouseinJerez took it to the road this weekend, I’m currently in Morocco leading a private trip for 9 days, starting in my old stomping grounds and second home, Fès, and ending in Marrakech. But starting from the beginning…
SEVILLA
I chose to fly to Fès this time as I had never done it before, usually relying on public transport (bus to Algeciras, ferry to Tangier, train to Fès) or car (drive to Algeciras, ferry to Ceuta where one crosses the border from Spanish territory to Morocco, and then a beautiful drive through the Rif to Fès).
The only inconvenience of this method is that fact that there is no public transport from Jerez to Seville at that hour to get you to the airport in time, forcing me to spend a night in Seville.
Well, there are worse circumstances in the world, so I made the best of it, checking into my hotel in the Macarena neighborhood and taking a stroll to the Alameda de Hércules, the wide plaza lined with bars and restaurants, effectively the bohemian neighborhood of Seville.
I chose Restaurante Al Aljibe (Alameda de Hércules 76, Tel. 954 900 951) a chic looking place with a lovely upstairs dining area and some very creative tapas accompanied by a well thought-out wine list. I wasn’ too hungry and found my two choices very satisfying, salmorejo de remolacha con crocantes de lagostinos y aceite de tinte de calamar (a gazpacho like soup made from beetroot with a crispy langoustine in squid ink oil) and the sushi de ensaladilla con vieras y aceite de wasabi, a delightful take on the tired old “ensaladilla rusa” tapas standard, with additions such as nori, scallops and wasabi oil. Washed it down with a glass of Codice vinto tinto (2007, Castilla y Leon). Excellent, attentive staff, and friendly owner. Anyone in Seville around the 18-27 of March should check out Al Aljibe as they will be serving special menus that have been designed to be paired with wines from Jerez- these are my kind of people!
Strolling around some of the streets near the Alameda on my way home, I chanced upon Bar Ambigú (calle Feria 47, tel. 954 38 10 15 ) my real find for the evening.
I enjoy finer places such as Al Aljibe, but what I really like discovering are the unassuming, neighborhood bars where the locals go to meet friends and where the food is excellent and at the right price, the answer you get when you ask the question, “do you know a really good place to go?” Ambigú ticks all the boxes and more. The place was packed wall to wall with a mixed crowd of younger people, hippies, elders, punks and the suit and tie crowd, equally smoking, drinking manzanilla or beer, and sampling some excellent tapas…the outside belies the variety available within. Mixed in with the locals were a number of cargadores, resting from a practice run of marching their Holy Week processional float through the streets of Seville, a common sight in fact throughout Andalucia in the weeks leading up to Palm Sunday. The sweaty guys, each with their neck wrapped with a cushion to soften the weight of the float (weighing up to 2,000 kgs distributed among some 20-25 men who proceed through the streets at a slow pace for hours) thirstily downed their beers before heading back into the cool evening to continue their practice run. Holy Week in 2010 runs from March 28-April 4 this year.
After being served a free tapa of remolacha aliñada (marinated beetroot salad) with my glass of house rioja, I opted for a tapa of bacalao a la plancha (grilled salt-cod) and a small casserole of garbanzos con espinacas (chickpea and spinach stew, excellently flavoured and a good pairing with the cod)…the only potential drawback I could see with the place is all the cigarette smoke, which is pretty much a problem almost anywhere you go in Spain. But if you are looking for that kind of local atmosphere with excellent food that won’t break the bank, Ambigú firmly belongs on the list. It was 11 at night on a Saturday and I was the only foreigner in the place.
It was an early night for me as I had to be up at the crack of dawn to be at the airport for the flight, so I made my way back to the hotel and crashed until 6 a.m., making my way to the airport by bus from Santa Justa.
FES
Everyone seems to have a nasty RyanAir story to tell, but surprisingly, I could find no fault with any aspect of the trip. Pre-printed boarding pass in hand, I was checked through quickly, went through border check, seated and took off at the scheduled time without any fuss. And the ride was beautiful. We maintained a slightly lower cruising altitude, following the N-4 past Jerez, with lovely views of the Sierra de Cadiz, and soon, looming up on the left, the rock of Gibraltar and the Straits, with the Moroccan Rif fast approaching. I marvelled at how this trip by car would take the better part of the day (some 8-9 hours). In almost no time at all, we made our descent among the lush hills of Fès (blessed, or cursed as some would say, by the unusual amount of rain that has fallen in the region in the last 3 months) to the airport, where passports were processed and bags collected in the space of about 20 minutes. Not too bad for 25 euros! Anyone making this trip in the direction Seville-Fes would be well advised to sit on the left side of the plane, as this is where the best views are.
My group is currently staying at Dar Roumana, my former place of business, a beautifully restored maison d’hôtes that I co-ran for nearly 5 years. Lovely rooms, lovely views, and wonderful food. More on Fès in my next post!
What’s a guy to do then but amble over to my favorite tapas bar in this part of Jerez and get a drink? I took some consolation that I could wait things out by taking refuge at the Asador de Burgos, just off the N-IV highway in front of the Leroy Merlin. Things started looking a little better with a glass of Ribera del Duero, Páramo de Guzmán (2006 Roble) a lovely red with good bouquet and smooth in the mouth thanks to oak-ageing. Bingo!
