Triana Night

Tonight was Triana, that considerably less touristy working class enclave on the far side of the river. We always make a point of having one meal over there in one of the restaurants along the water near the Puente Isabel II.

We left the apartment and took to long way around, heading down Avenida Constitucion, crossing the river on the Puente San Telmo before walking north on the Triana side. Essentially what did this morning but on the other side of the river. The sun was setting so the light was really nice - the Torre de Oro was richly bathed in orange and gold. That tower was built in the early part of the 13^th century by the Almohads as a watchtower and fortress protecting the Alcazar from invading Christians. Damaged in the famous 1755 Lisbon earthquake it was about to be demolished but the citizens of Seville rose up and prevented its destruction. Tonight, it just looked grand standing there by the water.

Straight across is the Rio Grande restaurant, a fancy eatery on the Triana side. Over lunch the other day, Ignacio was interested to see the photos we brought of our Rio Grande. He explained to me that his river, the Guadalquivir was named by the Arabs and that term means “Big River” as well. I did a little research on that term and sure enough, the original name of this river was “al-wadi al-kibir” which more or less translates into “the big wash” or “the big river in the valley” so sure enough, we left one “big river” to walk along another.
We found a place to eat and had a nice meal of croquettes, calamari and an interesting tapa of zucchini broiled in cheese and honey. Around 8 PM the lights on the bridge came on so we paid and crossed back over to our side of the water. Of course, we stopped again for churros, talking them this time in a brown paper sack with no chocolate this time.