Last week, I introduced you to the concept of being a flâneur while travelling, which you may find in more details in the book Antifragile by Nassim Taleb . I was not aware that, just a few days later, I was going to encounter the reverse experience.
As part of my job, I visit some people at home. Half of them are tourists that come to Seville to spend a few days visiting it. I love these encounters as I meet people all over the world and, once the reason for calling me out is sorted out, I start a small conversation to know more about their trip. It is interesting to know how people travel, duration of their trips and places visited.
Last week, I visited someone from the US. He was travelling through Spain and very interested on the Baroque style. This style is well represented in Seville. There are buildings (residential, civil, religious) and artistic representations such as sculptures and paintings.
He had a rough idea of what he wanted to see and had a guided tour booked. He mentioned to me the different churches that wanted to visit and how happy he was to be able to visit them. He talked about visiting the Salvador church, Magdalena parrish and Santa María la Blanca church.
At some point of our conversation, as I saw him so interested in this style, I asked him if he knew a small chapel known as San José. I could see a sudden bright in his eyes. He answered me that he had not heard from it.
This is a small chapel, well known by locals, with a clear influence from baroque. Perhaps, guided tours prefer major attractions to show the tourist, but this place, if you love the baroque, is worthy a visit.
It reminds me times as a child, attending to mass and visiting relatives afterwards, finishing with a light meal at a tapas bar.
I could show him some photos we found in internet. He was so happy when he saw the pictures that changed all his plans.
This is the magic of being a flâneur , change your plans and adapt them to new findings. In my case, very happy to show him a small jewell he could have missed it.