Mi barrio de Triana 🍊

For the past 8 months, I’ve lived on a little street in a neighborhood across the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla, Spain, called Triana—where the tradition of flamenco began, what the sevillana songs of the Feria spring festival are written about, and where there is a little row of orange trees that lead up to my apartment door.

In the winter, men came to pick those oranges. That evening, when the oranges were loaded in buckets and on trucks to be hauled away, the smell was so strong that I closed my eyes and imagined that I could bite into them and that they’d taste like summer; I imagined that those oranges were tangy and bright—not so bitter. But away they went to make bitter marmalade for Spanish gift shops and for UK tea times, leaving the trees on my street monochrome green.

Now that it’s spring, the orange blossoms have arrived in the entire city—white and sweet, and vibrant next to the purple-flowered jacaranda trees that blossom in tandem to them. We have an abundance of jacarandas outside our bay window, and as the birds shake their branches each morning, we watch the pretty petals fall silently over the street.

Every day after school, the children flood back home from the primary schools down the road, voices ringing in the courtyard. I often hear a little girl counting the steps up to her apartment, singing, “uno, dos, tres, cuatro!….” A few doors down, a little boy has recently gotten a drum kit, prompting me to frequently have to mute my afternoon business calls. And when I step outside, I’ll usually pass by a young and skittish German Shepherd chewing on an old milk carton.

On the main road, San Jacinto, which leads to the Puente de Isabel II—or the Triana Bridge—we have our favorite haunts: the confitería that sells seasonal pastries like torrijas, polvorones, and pestiños; the churro shop that we keep promising ourselves we’ll try (even though we inevitably wind up on the Sevilla side of the river at our favorite gelato place, Gioelia’s, instead); the perfumería, where we bought a little bottle of perfume (which turned out to be cologne); and, on my way to the library to do some work, my favorite café, where I’ll stop for a palmera or empanada, the owner smiling and asking if I’d like azúcar with my coffee.

At 14:00 on a week day, everyone pours out onto the streets, stopping for tapas and una caña (small glass of beer) at a local bodega before leisurely heading back to work at 16:30. In the winter, there’s often smoke that fills the air at night, coming from stands where chestnuts are roasting—the kind that charcoals your hands as you individually peel each one.

One time, we took a ceramic-making class in the marketplace at the end of San Jacinto, where a local trianera told us of the historic craftsmanship of the residents of the area and showed us how to break the glass and form a small mosaic ourselves. Those mosaics are now coasters that sit on our coffee table.

When my parents came to visit, we walked down to a little blue theater where we sat for an hour and watched a flamenco show; after which, we witnessed the performers nonchalantly strolled home—as if they didn’t just exude the most intense passion and emotion in the form of soleares and alegrías.

I was going to sit down and write my first post on Sevilla about all the must-see and must-do things in the city, like the Plaza de España and la catedral. But those are across the river; those are the big sites in the crowded centro.

And across the river… well, that’s not where my story begins. Triana, less frequented and a more residential-pace of living, is my Spanish neighborhood—mi barrio. It felt right to begin here.

Song of the Week

During the spring Feria, the sevillanas are the song and dance traditions that are specific to the festival. These songs often talk of this historic neighborhood of Triana. The Feria grounds are located on our Triana side of the river, as well. Prepping for the big week of celebrations, we learned the 4-part sevillana dances, and, now, I’m learning how to play them on guitar.

I’ll talk more about Feria in another upcoming post, where I’ll share some pictures and videos!