New Year’s Eve Gala at Abades Triana in Seville (2025/2026)

22/10/202612/11/2026wareontheglobe Leave a comment

Plate of twelve lucky grapes and a glass of Champagne on a New Year's Eve gala table in Seville

*Last updated October 2026*

Dan and I spent New Year’s Eve 2025/2026 in Seville, Spain. We arrived on December 28, and stayed until January 1. You can see everything we did in our 4-night New Year’s Eve in Seville itinerary. Seville is an excellent destination to ring in the New Year. The entire city’s vibes are high, and there is a lot going on during this holiday period, which extends to January 6 in Spain. The city is decorated beautifully and, while it’s a holiday period with many on vacation, most tourist attractions and restaurants remain open (except on January 1 and 6).

Seville was not our first New Year’s Eve abroad. We also celebrated Hogmanay in Scotland; see our guide on how to celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh and our review of New Year’s dinner at Cannonball Restaurant.

Glass of tinto de verano on our Seville hotel rooftop on New Year's Eve, with La Giralda bell tower in the background

Seville on New Year’s Eve. This was at 6:00 p.m. on our hotel rooftop.

New Year’s Eve in Seville

The big tradition on New Year’s Eve in Seville (and Spain, generally) is “Las Doce Uvas de la Suerte”, which translates to the 12 grapes of luck. Practically, this tradition consists of attempting to eat one grape for each of the 12 clock chimes at midnight on New Year’s Eve, for a total of 12 grapes in a very short time period. It’s nearly impossible to do, LOL.

Aside from this tradition, many locals celebrate at home or in the city streets, which are full of people on New Year’s Eve. While sounding very fun, as we knew no one in Seville, we wanted to do something a bit more formal that included both dinner and drinks, so that we could guarantee a fun New Year’s Eve. We identified a few options, including a big celebration at Hotel Alfonso XIII, and ultimately opted for a “gala dinner” at restaurant Abades Triana.

Seville street lit with white Christmas light trees and hanging ornaments on New Year's Eve

Seville, Spain on New Year’s Eve.

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Pubologi Restaurant – Tasting Menu & Beer Pairing in Gamla Stan, Stockholm

21/07/201525/07/2015wareontheglobe 2 Comments

I LOVE tasting menus. I love the idea of multiple course dinners. I love to try dishes that I wouldn’t normally order. And I love when the restaurant pairs the menu with drinks! Not surprisingly, Stockholm has a lot of restaurants offering tasting menus, some costing as much as $1,000 US a person (!).

I decided to find one more reasonable for my trip (and have Dan take me there for my birthday dinner! ). Doing some research, I came across the winner – Pubologi! Pubologi is a hip gastropub right in Gamla Stan. Pubologi offers 5 or 7 course tasting menus of “modern nordic food” (plus complementary amuse bouche and tasting treats post dinner) and it pairs the food with either beer or wine. Sold! We made reservations online before we left (recommended). The cost of the 5 course tasting menu was 550 Swedish Crown and the beer pairing (beers from the Pang Pang Brewery) was an additional 355 Swedish Crown when we were there.

For our meals, we both went with the 5 course tasting menu. That was a good choice. The portions were LARGE for a tasting menu. There is no way that I could have finished the 7. For my drink pairing, I opted for the beer pairing! Dan went with the wine. Both were good and a substantial amount of alcohol.

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The Victoria Falls Hotel & Dining Room

23/06/201522/06/2026wareontheglobe 1 Comment

Dan and I stayed at the historic Victoria Falls Hotel when we visited Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The Victoria Falls Hotel is an old historic hotel located right in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The Grande Dame of Victoria Falls if you will. The nightly rates at this hotel are more than Dan and I usually spend on hotels, but I just could not come all the way to Victoria Falls and not stay here! So we bit the bullet. I thought it was quite luxurious and a worthy splurge!

The hotel is set in a dramatic location, with views of the spray from the Falls, the Victoria Falls Bridge and the Second Gorge from the main terrace. Truly stunning!!

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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe: Back And Ready For Visitors!

13/06/201522/06/2026wareontheglobe 6 Comments

Tourists have two options when visiting Victoria Falls, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Zimbabwe or Zambia. The Falls straddle the border between the two countries, and the famous border is marked but the photogenic Victoria Falls Bridge!

Zimbabwe has historically been the tourist favorite, offering the best views of the Falls and the closest accommodations. In recent years, however, political turmoil and crazy-inflated currency have lead many tourists to visit the Falls from Zambia, rather than Zimbabwe. Dan and I decided to visit both sides and started our tour in Zimbabwe, and I much preferred to Zambia!

Old and new Zimbabwe ads! I just love travel ads!

The good news is that Zimbabwe is steadily returning as a tourist destination. The politics largely avoided Victoria Falls in an effort to keep tourist dollars flowing into the country, and Dan and I really saw no sign of it on our trip. The people were very friendly and we felt totally safe. The only lingering effect of the past troubles is Zimbabwe’s lack of currency. As of April 2015, Zimbabwe uses the US dollar.

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The Layover: Jo-Burg Edition

01/05/201522/06/2026wareontheglobe 3 Comments

Dan and I had a brief, overnight layover in Johannesburg (“Jo’Burg”) when transferring between Victoria Falls and our safari near Kruger. We were hoping to go strait from the airport to Kruger, but the only flight from Livingstone, Zambia (one of the two airports near Vic Falls) got in too late to make the 5-hour drive, and we just made a night out of it!

Unfortunately we did not have enough time to see the city – and I really want to go back and explore more – but we did have enough time to enjoy the luxurious hotel 54 on Bath and have a delicious, delicious meal at Cube Tasting Kitchen.

Our afternoon started with 54 on Bath sending a luxury car to pick us up from JNB (private transfers are about $65 US…there is a cheaper train). Upon checking into the hotel, we were taken straight to our room, which was so lovely! The entire hotel is done in black and white theme and it is super nice! Our room was very large with a king bed, luxurious bathroom and included snacks and coffee! My favorites were the complementary sweet treats!

The hotel also has a Champagne bar with outdoor seating and some FABULOUS wall paper!

The wall paper. LOVE.

We spent the afternoon outside overlooking the pool and croquet course with a bottle of South African sparking wine and South African fried cheese. And I can’t forget, the flowers were beautiful!

After, we changed and went to a delightful 10-course tasting menu at Cube Tasting Kitchen, a BYOB restaurant about 10-minutes from our hotel that has freshly prepared meals by about 10 chefs. Its ranked very highly and you can make reservations online. We brought one bottle of wine for the two of us, but many tables brought two for two people given the large number of courses.

First course: light salad from the garden. Tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil, aubergine, mozzarella, mint, chili, vinaigrette film. This was simple, but so, so tasty!!!

Second course: antipasto interpretation. Artichoke, asparagus, cucumber, apple, elderflower. That arancini was awesome!

Third course: fish pie. Trout, white anchovy, spinach, pastry, lime. The anchovy (wrapped in the thing reminiscent of a birds nest) was surprisingly delicious!

Fourth course: dissolving textures. Pomegranate, sherbet, caviar. Woah. This was such a crazy combination. The chef suggested taking it like a tequila shot, with sugar on your hand, a shot of pomegranate and finished with the caviar sherbet. Mind blown.

Fifth course: pork. Smoked eisbein pie, slow cooked belly, crackling and onion, dehydrated bacon, leeks. How can you go wrong with pork?

Sixth course: beef. Braised flank, bone, herb moss, olives, mushroom, dried onion, fennel. Even with marrow, this was my least favorite course. Perhaps I was stuffed at this point.