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The Selfish Years

~ Over 200 cities, 42 countries, 6 continents and counting.

The Selfish Years

Category Archives: Europe

Loving the Green Wine in Lisbon

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Portugal

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Grapes & Bites, Green Wine, Lisbon, Portugal, Sacramento restaurant, Sinale restaurant

Although Mr. Selfish and I are not wine experts, we have drank enough wine so that we can tell what is a good versus bad bottle of wine. During our six weeks in Paris, we drank many cheap bottles for around five euros each. Once we dipped below that price point, the wine was not palatable.

When we heard that Lisbon had vinho verde or green wine, Mr. Selfish and I knew that we had to try it. Green wine does not refer to the color of the grape but is actually wine made from young grapes. It is meant to be consumed within one year. The wine is a little sweet but mostly tart. We tried it and loved it. So we drank green wine at every opportunity we had.

Our favorite place was a little wine bar called Grapes & Bites. The wine was well-priced, and the food was yummy. Their cheese platter paired perfectly with our wine. Mr. Selfish and I actually went to Grapes & Bites twice although we were only in Lisbon for three days.

Grapes and BitesLisbon 195Lisbon 424Lisbon 427

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Eating Egg Custards in Belém

20 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Portugal

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Belém, Egg Custards, Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon, Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Pastéis de Belém, Portugal, Torre de Belém

By the time we arrived in Marrakech, it was starting to get dark. Because the streets twist and turn in so many directions, Mr. Selfish and I had some trepidation about how we were going to get dinner that evening. While we were waiting for a map from the hotel staff, Mr. Selfish heard a family speaking American English. I hadn’t heard American English in ages, so it was a sweet comfort to my ears. I immediately started speaking to them and asking them about where they were going to dinner. Fortunately, they invited us to follow them to dinner.

The other fortunate coincidence was that part of the family was currently living in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. Selfish and I accordingly asked them for recommendations since we were going to Lisbon right after Marrakech. Their best recommendation was the egg custards at Pastéis de Belém. Although I haven’t eaten many egg custards, I found these to be utterly delicious and creamy. They were really fresh since the place does a great deal of business. 

Belem 01Belem 02Belem 03

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The Views in Lisbon

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Portugal

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Castelo de São Jorge, Lisbon, Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara, Portugal, Praça do Comércio

Mr. Selfish and I stayed in Lisbon, Portugal for four days. In that short period of time, we learned that the Portuguese sure do enjoy their views. On our first day, we went to the Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara, which is a park and lookout point.

Views 01Views 02Views 04Views 06

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Tapas, Tapas, and More Tapas

10 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Spain

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Barcelona, Cordoba, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Spain, Tapas

Tapas originated in Andalusia, which is a region in southern Spain. Supposedly, the original tapas were slices of bread or meat used by sherry drinkers to cover their glasses between sips. The tapas were meant to stop flies from hovering over the sweet sherry.

Although Mr. Selfish and I didn’t drink any sherry, we did enjoy lots of tapas during our trip in Spain. The first place we had good tapas was from La Flauta in Barcelona. The stand-outs were the deep fried eggplant chips, large shrimps, and bocadillos.

Barcelona 01Barcelona 03Barcelona 04 Barcelona 05 Barcelona 08Shrimp

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Day Trip from Madrid to El Escorial

09 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Madrid, Spain

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El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

Mr. Selfish and I thoroughly enjoyed Madrid so we didn’t really want to leave the city. However, when we received a recommendation from some locals for a day trip to El Escorial, we couldn’t resist.

El Escorial is about 30 miles northwest of Madrid and takes about an hour to get there by bus. It was the royal residence for Spanish royalty and also has also functioned as a monastery, museum, and school.

The outside of El Escorial is pretty epic. It was nice just to walk around and admire the majesty of the building.

Madrid 01 Madrid 02 Madrid 05EscorialMadrid 06

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Madrid was a Paradise of Ham!

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Madrid, Spain

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Madrid, Paradise of Ham, Paraiso del Jamon, Sobrino de Botín, Spain, Taquería Mi Ciudad

Mr. Selfish and I rented an apartment for a week in Madrid. Although we enjoyed cooking and eating our meals in, we couldn’t resist a few meals out since Madrid had so much to offer.

We discovered our favorite restaurant in Madrid by happen chance. We didn’t discover it through researching at Trip Advisor, Yelp, Chowhound, or any other website. We had walked by it a couple of times and decided to try it out. It was cheap and delicious. It was indeed the Paraiso del Jamon (Paradise of Ham).

Madrid Food 01Madrid Food 09Paradise Madrid Food 12

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The Parque del Retiro and Museums in Madrid

07 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Madrid, Spain

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Madrid, Museo del Prado, Palacio de Comunicaciones, Parque del Retiro, Puerta de Alcalá, Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Center, Spain

On our way to the Parque del Retiro, Mr. Selfish and I walked past the Palacio de Comunicaciones, which is the old post office, and the iconic Puerta de Alcalá, which is a monumental gate to the city.

Biggie Seville and Madrid 112 Biggie Seville and Madrid 115

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Historic Walking Tour of Madrid

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Madrid, Spain

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Gran Via, Madrid, Palacio Real, Plaza de Espana, Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Santa María la Real de La Almudena, Spain, Templo de Debod, Walking Tour

Mr. Selfish and I took a self-guided walking tour of historic Madrid. Luckily for us, it was a lovely but brisk day.

We started at the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, which was full of photo ops. Men dressed in children’s mascots were all waiting around for you to take a photo with them. I opted for the matador.

Plaza Historic Madrid 03

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One Evening in Cordoba

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Spain

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Cordoba, Cordova, Mezquita, Plaza del Cristo de los Faroles, Spain

Mr. Selfish and I only had one evening in Cordoba. We just walked around and admired the sights. It is a lovely city, and we wished that we had more time there.

In fact, the streets were quite nice. And by that, I mean free of dog feces. Mr. Selfish and I got quite used to watching every step we took because, well, the Europeans are not known for picking up after their dogs. But in Cordoba, there was apparently an effort to do so. It was a relief!

The StreetsSeville and Madrid 034

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Searching for the Best Hot Chocolate and Churros in Spain

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Searching for the Best . . ., Spain

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Cacao Sampaka, Casa Aranda, Churros, Hot Chocolate, Madrid, Malaga, San Gines, Seville, Spain

When I found out that hot chocolate and churros were a specialty in Spain, I knew that I would be sampling quite a few. Although the hot chocolate in Spain is not as good as the hot chocolate in Paris, the pairing with churros is quite nice.

The first place I tried it was Casa Sampaka in Barcelona. The hot chocolate was very good and dark, but the churros were a bit on the dry side.

Barcelona 314 Barcelona 315 Barcelona 317

Verdict: Although the hot chocolate was on point, the churros left much to be desired.

Score: 6.

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Seeing the Sights in Seville

03 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Spain

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Cathedral of Seville, Iglesia del Salvador, Sevilla, Seville, Spain

Mr. Selfish and I spent two nights in Seville. The Cathedral of Seville was previously judged to be the third largest church in the world – after St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. However, based on new measurements for volume, it is now arguably the largest church in the world. Since Mr. Selfish and I have been to Rome and London but neither of those churches, I felt determined to go to the Cathedral of Seville.

Interestingly, the cathedral is gothic but has a Moorish minaret tower.

Andalusia Spain 513 Cathedral

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34,000 Miles to Home!

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Europe

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Happy New Year! Mrs. Selfish and I finally arrived in Singapore’s Changmi International Airport after a grueling 36+ hours of traveling, including a relatively uneventful New Year’s in the air.

Since my work is largely starting to slow down, culminating with the release of Little Inferno, I promised Mrs. Selfish I would start contributing regularly to our little corner of the web. So what better way than to highlight our recent experiences buying our tickets for the second leg of our trip?

American Airline’s One World Explorer Ticket

2013 One World Flights

Our long-haul international flight for 2013 – 16 Segments in Business Class!

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A Short Detour in Ronda

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Spain

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Ronda, Spain

Mr. Selfish is in charge of updating the location widgets on this blog. He finds the photos for our “Current Location” and “Next Location” and posts them at the appropriate time. I did not recognize the landmark in the photo he chose for southern Spain. When I asked him about it, he said it looked cool but didn’t know where it was.

Eventually, we figured out that the landmark was from Ronda, which we had not planned on visiting. When I mapped it, I realized that Ronda was in between Málaga and Seville. For the sake of accuracy of our blog, we took a short detour in Ronda.

It was worth the stop because Ronda is beautiful.

Ronda 01One Ronda 04

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Relaxing in Málaga

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Spain

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Alcazaba, Cathedral of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

Mr. Selfish and I stayed in Málaga for two nights. There wasn’t too much to do, and we were glad for it because the quick traveling was starting to tire us out. We basically walked around, shopped, and ate. It was quite nice and relaxing.

Our hotel was in the perfect location in downtown Málaga. We had a nice view from our window of the cathedral, the Alcazaba, and the water.

Malaga 03Malaga 01 Malaga 02

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Flamenco in Spain

30 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, Food & Drinks, Spain

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Flamenco, La Carbonería, Madrid, Restaurante El Cortijo, Seville, Spain

I didn’t know much about flamenco prior to arriving to Spain. To be honest, I still don’t know that much about it. But we did see it two times while in Spain (once in Seville and once in Madrid), and both were quite enjoyable experiences.

The first time that we saw it was in Seville at La Carbonería. The performances were free, and the food and drinks were cheap and plentiful. We got there early and stayed for two of the performances. On hindsight, we wished we had stayed for more.

Andalusia Spain 537 Andalusia Spain 539 Andalusia Spain 540

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Who’s Selfish?

Mr. and Mrs. Selfish are an obsessively organized couple who sold all their junk to travel abroad for a year. Now settled in San Francisco, they have since visited over 200 cities in 44 countries over 6 continents. This site chronicles their travels.

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