Lora del Rio is a small town in Seville province. There’s nothing to see or do and I didn’t eat particularly well but the people are really lovely and friendly.
Originally I was supposed to stay at the Hotel El Alamo www.hotel-elalamo.com which on paper seems to be the best place in town. A bit of research on Google Earth however showed it to be a truckers’ motel way out in the outskirts. Further investigations couldn’t find any pavements along the road to town, making walking anywhere rather dangerous.
Thankfully I persuaded my employer to let me stay in a small pension in the town centre called Pension La Portuguesa hostalportuguesa.blogspot.com. It has no stars but it’s within walking distance of the train station and just three minutes’ walk from the school I was working at. The breakfast is just a tostada and coffee and the WiFi is very temperamental but at least I had places to go in the evenings.
You could also stay at Hostal Restaurante Vera Cruz www.facebook.com which is very handy for the station. It’s also a tapas bar which seemed okay when I popped in for a drink. The neo-Mudejar construction was the nicest building I saw during my stay.
Google map here.
In terms of places to eat…
Taberna Javi Garcia (Intermediate B+), 21 Calle Marcos Orbaneja
This is the best place in town by a mile and I would have eaten here every night if I’d known but I didn’t discover it until quite late. It has a pleasant terrace outside, next to a fountain, which separates it from the road.
The service was efficient and friendly and the tapas recommended to me were simple but good. I enjoyed the Jamon Iberico (A) and their chips are pretty decent (A).
This is ‘Presa Ibérica con Queso de Cabra y Cebolla Caramelizada’ or pork shoulder with goat cheese and caramelized onion (B+).
Here we have ‘Solomillo Wellington con Salsa de Queso’ or sirloin with cheese sauce (B+). Not sure what the Wellington connection is as there’s no pastry involved.
I tried a couple of kinds of Anis here and decided I prefer the dry to the sweet versions. It seems they vary in strength as well. This ‘El Clavel’ Anis Seco by Cazalla was 49% whereas the Dulce by the same distillery is only 35%.
Los Alemanes (Intermediate B), 1 Avenida de la Cruz
This was the first choice of the students and teachers at the school I was working at, not sure why. I bumped into them all drinking here and was quickly roped in for a couple of jars! The food is okay (the Presa Iberica was pretty good) but it’s probably popular because the owner is a nice guy. Plenty of space to sit outside too.
And a couple to avoid…
Taberna de Currito (Intermediate C), 11 Calle Fuenfría
This place was virtually empty but I came in because they were showing the Euoropean Championship on telly. There’s no other reason for coming here that I’m aware of. I wouldn’t come again as the service wasn’t very friendly, although Spain losing one-nil to Italy probably didn’t help. I had some Jamon Bellota which was fine (B).
Restaurante Medieval (Intermediate C), 2 Calle Sierra de Andújar, www.restaurante-medieval.com
I ate here a couple of times as it’s opposite the school I was working at. The food was fine but nothing special. The medieval concept is just a gimmick although it suits the cavernous interior of the restaurant.
La Bicicleta (Intermediate B), 21 Avenida Prim, NOW CLOSED!
This gastrobar had pretensions but obviously didn’t live up to them as it has closed since I ate there. They had some nice ideas, like these Capirotes de Langostinos, but they weren’t that amazing (B). Their Croquetas were too salty and had no structural integrity so I returned them (D).
I was supposed to stay in Lora for three nights but I sloped off to Puerto de Santa Maria for the weekend as it’s a much nicer place to be (see next post). It’s easy to get to as it’s on the same train line.