All I do is eat...

And talk to people...and try not to sunburn... It's a good life.
As previously stated: yesterday was a designated food day (sometimes, when you're going broke, you have to plan these things)
After the sandwitch incident at lunch, the lemonade, and the blogging in the sun, I bought a giant bottle of water and curled up in the shade on the sun-warmed steps of the church on plaza del Salvador, watching small children playing soccer in the square.
At 8, I made my way over to plaza alfalfa for the start of my tapas and wine tour: 3 tapas bars, 3 local wines, all the tapas.
The first bar greeted us with "cherry wine", a white wine aged in cherry wood barrels, plank-smoked cod in a roasted red pepper sauce, sardines with brie and a fig sauce, and, my personal favorite, vinegar ceveche'd bocadillo on a bed of tomato purée, brushed with garlic/herb olive oil and drizzled with a balsamic reduction...I'm drooling a little...
The second bar gave us a summer wine, local red wine with fresh sparkling lemonade. We started with grilled pork on a bed of fries, topped with a carbonara-like white sauce, then came a cheese-stuffed roasted artichoke heart in a balsamic/olive tapenade, then breaded cod topped with cheese in a sweet tomato purée, and finally, a green tomato/eggplant/goat cheese terrine drizzled in olive oil, then Spain beat Ireland in their eurocup match, the streets erupted in cheers, then on to the third bar and the least interesting tapas (sangria, olive oil marinated tomatoes, papas bravas--potatoes in hot sauce, spinach and queso blanco crepes, and fried eggplant with tomato purée.
I spent a lot of time explaining myself as a solo traveller to a middle-aged Texan couple...
Anyway, on my way out, I met 2 Swedish girls who decided that I looked like fun and needed to join them on their night out and POW! I found myself on another pub crawl. We toasted the decision in Swedish and, for the 6th time in the last 2 years, I was applauded for my Swedish pronunciation...apparently I have a bright future as a Swede.
1 Aussie chef, 1 laid-back Kiwi engineer, 1 break-dancing Fin, and 1 Argentinian Google employee later, it was bedtime and I meandered back to the hostel.
Upon waking up, I realized that I leave Sevilla tomorrow and should probably print my boarding pass...but then I realized that I never booked a flight...oops... After searching flights to anywhere at all and not finding anything under 90€, I decided to search trains, nothing under 100€, I then switched to busses and, glory glory, found a 30€ trip to Lisbon!!
DONE!
But not really, first the site crashed any time I looked at international lines, then when I found a way around that it wouldn't accept my credit card...struggle city...
I took to the internet in search of the bus company's office...it was in Madrid, and the ticket office listed in Sevilla had apparently closed 2 years ago...but after much message board trolling I found the address of the NEW ticket office! And it was still open! For another hour!
I ran there without even getting lost and, after confusing the women in the ticket window with my exasperated fast-talking english, eventually ordered my ticket in broken Spanglish for the right day, time, and place and was even able to get her to apply the young person discount. Win for me.
Far from my hostel and needing to update my famiglia on my next destination, I went to the ultimate free wifi point and unofficial US embassy, Starbucks.
In my hour there, I met 5 other Americans (4 students and 1 traveller) all there for free wifi, comfy chairs, and air conditioning on what was likely the hottest of my days in Sevilla. After a nice chat about life, travel, people, sunburn, and blogging, we exchanged names (greetings, new friends--if you make it here!!) and parted ways.
After this lovely distraction, I walked over to Naboo, but it was closed :-( I guess that will be tomorrow's story. And no, I'm not explaining myself until that point.
Did I mention it was hot today? It was hot today. That in mind, I was reminded of my dad's tale of his time in Sevilla and a glorious ice cream shop near his hotel that he couldn't remember the name of. My mouth wanted it. It was time to do this the only way I knew how: walk to the hotel he stayed in and explore every street, stopping in every ice cream shop and having a small scoop of a different flavor in every place until I had gone to every possible heladeria within comfortable walking distance of the Hotel Cairo.
5 shops later, I've got 2 front-runners (both winners in my eyes...and by eyes, I mean mouth)
The first, Rayas, has some 35 different flavors of the richest, creamiest, most decadent ice cream you've ever tasted. It's very industrial looking, even your change is dispensed automatically, but it was amazing. It's no wonder some nights there's a line out the door. My flavor of choice? A custard base with almond and dark chocolate fudge swirls.
The other frontrunner, La Fiorentina, is a little more charming, window banquettes, tile counter, marble floors, and their lemon mint sorbet was glorious and refreshing, perfect for a toasty Sevilla day. They had more like 20 flavors and at least half of them were fruity.
It seems that people in this neighborhood have allegiances to one or the other, you see people walking past one and then walking back with cups from the other.
I don't know how they choose... I think my allegiances lie firmly with quality frosty treats, regardless of origin :-)