So I’m writing this on my phone, good luck to me. I was advised not to be too verbose, so here goes.

Also, I still haven’t posted the Loch Mullardoch Circuit because… Well, no excuse really. I’ll do that soon. Promise

Tuesday 28th June and Wednesday 29th June (they blurred into one)

Honestly, getting to Sevilla was low-key kinda stressful. I left St Andrews for the final time at 08:40, catching the bus to the train station. I arrived at my parent’s in Alnwick shortly before lunch. I tidied away my worldly belongings, had a hated haircut and then double-checked my packing for my continental journey. I left after dinner, catching the 20:40 train. The anthem of today was George Ezra (and as it turned out, the next day too).

My train arrived in London 35 minutes early at 00:30 and I then sat at the bus stop for half an hour, waiting for the N205 bus to take me to the bus station where I had my coach. This journey in the night bus was magical. London was Alive! At 01:00! Shops had flat LED light spilling onto the pavements and the bus threaded it’s way delicately between skyscrapers, careful to not knock them over. I bent my head to see the top of these obelisks of business, my reflection mimicking my movements. The occasional office light was on, meaning the buildings were a patch work of black and white.

But I’m being too verbose, already. The night bus arrived at Stratford coach station and I then waited for the coach and my friends, Billy and Ishbel. Once they arrived, we hopped on the coach at 03:35, taking us to Stansted.

We easily floated through the airport. Security didn’t even stop Ishbel for all of her drugs and needles. So we arrived at the gate in plenty of time. I hadn’t napped at all, so I think at this point, 06:30 in the morning, I was feeling a bit frazzled.

We boarded the plane. I was sat at the back. The lady beside me had downed two bottles of prosecco prior to boarding and she fell asleep as soon as we took off. I think I also nodded off, though it was difficult with some screaming children just in front of me.

We stepped off in Sevilla after a 2hr 45min flight. The heat of the place was so nice. I missed this dry heat. I think I’m used to it, having spent summers on the continent in the past, as well as growing up in Turkey for the first two years of my life…. Though I doubt that has anything to do with it! My friends however, found the heat unbearable already! We again passed through the airport easily. They didn’t even check the Covid passes!

We caught the crowded bus into town, getting off at Mq. de Paradas. Along the way we got a brief view of Sevilla. A dry, dusty but colourful and happy place. The roads were full of ancient and new cars, horse drawn carriages too. The buildings were close together, providing cooling shade on the alleyways between them. No building was dark coloured like back home, they were all bright, light, pastel colours. They were all haphazardly arranged, nothing particularly ordered.

Having got off of the bus, we went shopping. Bread and cheese for lunch and I also picked up suncream and Aloe Vera after sun (I actually bought that first, such was the anticipation to get burned). When 14:00 came around, we each went and checked into our hostels. I was in a separate one to Billy and Ishbel. It was nice! Clean, small and a beautiful view down a boulevard of orange trees. I threw open the balcony door and felt the warm air come flooding in.

I arranged my room, making myself feel at home before going over to where Billy and Ishbel were staying. We also met our friend Hannah there who had arrived in Sevilla the evening prior. We went for a wander around Sevilla. We passed the cathedral (third largest Gothic cathedral in the world, after the St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s in London apparently), continuing on to numerous plazas, gardens and parks. We strolled leisurely through the winding streets, content with the world. I even got some local baking! Bamba de Nata!

We then went to La Chunga’s for dinner. Tapas, of course! We even passed an old pirate ship along the way, although there was no Captain Jack Sparrow. I had tapas for the first time though and really enjoyed it!

We met Joel and Izzy before long and we were all finally united in Sevilla. We went with them to a second dinner, making our way through the narrow streets as the sun was setting. It wasn’t cold, but instead a heady, sweaty European night.

A unique thing of Sevilla is all the electric scooters for hire. They were rampant across the city and I loved it. As such, Billy got a subscription and we worked to recreate the Jack and Rose scene.

I fell into bed that evening, to sleep after 40hrs awake, happy.

Thursday 30th June

My nephew’s birthday! But also, Ishbel’s birthday! And as such, she requested that we have breakfast at La Cacherria, famed for it’s waffles apparently. And I must agree, my strawberry and mascarpone waffle was delicious! The fresh orange juice also helped.

We then headed off to Setas de Sevilla, a large structure in the middle of Sevilla. It was “constructed” from wood, although there was more resin, paint and bolts than there was wood. We climbed this structure and had a wonderful view over the entire city. The sun beat down, baking us as we saw church steeples rise amid the carpet of flat terrace roofs, stretching in all directions. Under this structure was also the perfect place for a Sk8er boi to show off, but no one took advantage of that, much to Billy’s disappointment.

The next attraction we went to see was the Real Alcazar de Sevilla (the Real Alcatraz). This was fascinating and I learnt so much! Did you know that this area of Spain used to be Islamic, before the Byzantines built over it and then finally Gothic Christian architecture took over. This layered history of differing religious designs created the unique structures that are in Sevilla to this day. The Alcazar was a perfect example of this.

The buildings were full of tiles (Islamic and Byzantine geometric patterns everywhere). The green lush gardens outside were intersected with dusty paths, our shoes kicking up puffs of red dirt. We all split up as we explored this amazing place. I really enjoyed looking around this magnificent place!

We eventually reconvened at El Librero, a tapas (surprise surprise) restaurant right outside the gates of the Alcazar. As such, it was a touch pricey. But it was a good meal nonetheless. The wooden and Spanish decour really helped it’s image and it was just a nice cubby hole to have lunch in.

There was no fixed plan for that afternoon though so we all split up to do our own separate thing. Hannah wanted to go to the fancy bookshop, so I went with her since I like bookshops. I was tempted to buy some nice books, but I’m tramping all around Europe with one bag, I couldn’t buy books now! I also think that books in Spain are actually slightly larger than the A5 sized books that we have in the UK… Might be wrong about that though. I headed back to my hostel, leaving Hannah behind. I think she bought some Spanish books.

We all left together to head to La Carboneria for this early evening. This was meant to be a Flamenco club and bar. However, we arrived and one of the waitresses whispered that the food wasn’t the best here and so we actually went to a separate place for dinner, La Bartola. Can you guess what we had? Spoilers, it begins with “T” and ends with “-apas”. That was a good meal though.

We eventually made our way back to La Carboneria. Jugs of sangria were bought and we enjoyed the flamenco being danced! It was just one dancer, but it was very passionate (or aggressive, viewpoint dependent). I actually specifically enjoyed the guitarist, reminded me of Jesse Cook’s music. But the dancers feet went super fast, it was amazing to witness! Alllll the feet.

We eventually left and found ourselves under the streetlights, racing electric scooters around the backstreets of Sevilla. Honestly, like, having electric scooters everywhere is revolutionary, I wish we had that in the UK! Although neither Izzy nor Hannah participated, so only the muppets really ran around on scooters!

Friday 1st July

We all agreed to meet up at 10:30 to head out for the day. So, I got up and had a nice relaxing breakfast, reading and eating a crêpe with Costco-esque chocolate sauce in Picatoste, the cheap café directly opposite my hostel. I even had a coffee!

Eventually, after slapping some sun cream on, we all gathered and made our way to Plaza de España. We passed a Mozart statue on the way and only at that point did I make the connection with the opera, Barber of Seville! Of course! I listened to that as soon as I was free again!

We made it to the plaza. Now, the temperature was something close to 40°C, if not hotter than that already, and so we were sweaty. Super sweaty. But the plaza did have some shade in places. We saw where that scene from Attack of the Clones was filmed. Surreal to think Anakin once stood where we were!

We also saw some Flamenco dancers. This was different to the night before since there were multiple dancers which were interacting with each other more (room for Jesus though, no touching!). I would describe this as definitely being passionate rather than the more “aggressive” style we saw last night. I really enjoyed listening and watching them though. The guitarist had a partially finished cigarette in the corner of his mouth and his legs were crossed as he hunched over his guitar. I love the sound of Flamenco.

We also decided to row boat around the plaza. I am hopeless at rowing. Sorry Flora. You’ve stolen my swimming and rowing abilities!

The sun now ferocious, we sought out the park and ate our lunch in the shade provided by some orange trees. Orange trees were everywhere in Sevilla! Not, like, orange trees but trees that produced oranges…

We then poked our head in the Science museum. We figured we would be experts seeing how we all just graduated. However, we graduated with a Physics degree, not a science museum degree so we did learn some stuff. For instance, Sevilla was the expansion capital of Spain, so this is where Magellan’s Round the World Expedition started from!

We then split up again for the afternoon so I made my way to La Campana and bought myself some more delicious pastries. I sat outside, eating my pastry, drinking coffee and reading my book.

Since we had enjoyed El Librero the day before, we wanted to go back for some paella and have a nice evening again. However! It was now July and they’d changed out their menus for the tourist season and now everything was slightly more expensive. Not friendly. Big sad. So a good meal once again, although overshadowed by a larger bill.

The city had come alive after dinner once again and so we found ourselves a quiet, pink bar to relax and chat in. I was feeling tired so I left just before midnight, but I believe the rest stayed until like 03:00!

Saturday 2nd July

Breakfast again at cheap Picatoste. Gotta save that money for later!

They had all booked to go paddle-boarding at 11:30 or some time like that, but I don’t particularly enjoy water sports (which is why my desire to learn to surf is strange hmm) so I instead went off to the train station to sort out my train ticket to Barcelona, the next leg on my journey.

I wanted to catch the 14:48 train on Monday, but they had sold out of tickets for that train, and so instead I got a ticket for the 08:58 train on Tuesday. This meant that I had to book an extra night of accommodation in Sevilla. Luckily, I found somewhere to stay the night for €9! So cheap! I love it so much. So now that my passage to Barcelona was sorted and accommodation was sorted in Sevilla and Barcelona too, I went to a café and had some nice coffee and read my book. I must confess, I have never liked coffee but this continental stuff was really growing on me, and fast. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up being addicted to coffee! Eek!

Continuing on the theme of being thrifty, I went to Aldi and bought some bread and spread which I had for lunch. The others were all needing to recover from a double hit of a late night and the paddle boarding. So I think they all embraced the Spanish spirit and all had siestas whilst I went to visit the cathedral.

This was most impressive! This is what I always imagine for a cathedral. This was the third largest Gothic cathedral in the world and it was cavernous on the inside. There were birds in the rafters! The organ was giant and there was glittering gold everywhere. Christopher Colombus’ tomb is also situated in the cathedral. That thing is chunky too.

Apparently the corpse in Chris’ tomb might not actually be the real Christopher but instead might be his brother. DNA tests are inconclusive. Intriguing.

I then settled under an umbrella outside the bakery La Campana, fending off venders as I read my book. We had agreed to (eventually) all meet here. We wanted to go to a convent where there were some nuns selling some buns and sweets. I think Izzy tapped out of this with a headache and Hannah was lost wandering in town somewhere, but the rest of us made our way East to the convent.

I enjoy playing a game of seeing how many heads Ishbel’s hair turned. I think I counted something like thirty heads turning in the ten minute walk! But we got to the convent and the nuns then all crowded out to see her hair as well.

We got some cupcakes from the nuns though and headed back. Dinner tonight was at Taberna Colonailes, another tapas place. I think the rowdy atmosphere wasn’t helping anyone’s headaches… Therefore, we didn’t head out tonight but instead went to the rooftop of our hostel and drank some wine and ice tea and chatted late into the night under the scattered stars.

Sunday 3rd July

Ishbel, Billy and Hannah took the opportunity to go to mass in the massive cathedral and so I had breakfast with Joel and Izzy at a fancy cafe called La Revolea. They disappeared off before long but I stayed and read for a while in the sunshine. I am really going to struggle not to turn this into an extended reading holiday! Having a Kindle makes it oh so easy!

Before long, Billy and Ishbel arrived and had something to eat before we decided to go off to Jardin Americano. This was all the way on the other side of the canal, and so I downloaded Voi and we jumped on the public electric scooters! My goodness they are honestly the best idea ever. It was like Fast and Furious, zipping around.

The electric scooters were genuinely more of a highlight than Jardin Americano. These gardens were made for the 1992 expo but they don’t look like they’ve been looked after since so it was a bit of a disappointing stroll through the gardens before we jumped onto the thrill ride of driving through the streets on the electric scooters.

We then brought the trip in a full circle – we went and had dinner at La Chungas, where we had dinner on the first day! Everyone was leaving early on Monday morning and I was behind them, leaving on Tuesday morning. Therefore, this was our last meal altogether.

They all gave me a flamenco dancer rubber duck that they had christened Juanca to take on my travels around Europe. And they also challenged me to write a bit from the viewpoint of a sentient rubber duck. It’s gonna be fun!

The tapas was as delicious as expected and we made our way back to the rooftop of our hostel. The stars were out and the light from the kitchen spilled onto the rooftop, lighting up everyone’s face. It was such a beautiful night with friends. Because, who knows when I will see them next?

Monday 4th July

Monday came around and everyone left to get their flights back to their lives. Joel and Izzy back to South England and family, Billy and Ishbel back to farm sit before jobs start and Hannah back to an internship on Orkney.

I was left though to be free to wander, I was relishing the chance! My first stop was a launderette to do some laundry. It was tucked away on a back street and I sat in front of the revolving drums, the fluorescent lights buzzing ever so slightly.

I then wandered over to some high-end, fancy bakeries and found some pastries to try there. Now my friends weren’t around, I was paying more attention to the people around me and noticing just how many tourists were around!

After lunch at a place Billy and Ishbel recommended, I made my way to my new hostel for the evening. I stayed in the hostel mainly, doing some logistics and admin, sorting stuff out for further down the road, and writing my blog etc. And reading, of course.

I was in a shared dorm of eight people for the evening and I was most anxious about not waking all of them tomorrow morning when I had to haul myself to the station early.

But my time in Sevilla was all but over. And I loved every moment of it. Such a wonderful city. The small winding streets, the architecture of different styles, all overlapping and twisting together made this place so friendly and wonderful. But now it was time to kick off and explore the world by myself. Let’s see how this goes! I’m excited.

Al’s Random Stats and Facts

  • Days spent in town: 6
  • Bakeries visited: 4
  • Pages read: 1050 ± 50
  • Jazz clubs visited: 0
  • Flamenco clubs visited: 2
  • Number of things that did not go according to plan: 1
  • Memorable meal: Breakfast waffles at La Cacherria.
  • Memorable moment: Listening to an old women play the accordion with her dog Bibi, whilst eating waffles, as a gang of electric scooters, bikes and roller blades blast past with loud EDM.
  • Music suggestion based off city: Jesse Cook, Mario takes a Walk
  • Things I wasn’t expecting to be so different:
    • No button to push to cross the road
    • Electric scooters everywhere!
    • No tea, only coffee
    • Can’t get tap water at restaurants
    • Every other person has a tattoo
    • Freshly squeezed orange juice everywhere
  • Average ginger seen a day: 2
  • Postcards sent: 0

Juanca’s Adventures – A duck’s view

Mallards and Ladies. I am but a lowly duck called Juanca. I was having a quacking time all by my shelf. But then, I was adopted by a traveller called Al.

And now, I am stuffed in a bag, off to see the world. Or at least, Europe. How do I feel? Uprooted. Sevilla was hot and dusty and inappropriate for a duck, but home nonetheless. I have sat and watched Al eat all sorts of food inappropriate for a duck and seen the human buildings from the back of his black bag. And when he shoves me inside of it, it gets hot and uncomfortable. I hope he treats me with more respect in the future, I can dance Flamenco after all.

We are off to Barcelona next. I hope that it’ll be more suitable for a duck than Sevilla.

Comments (2)

  1. Ishbel Wright

    Reply

    I laughed, I cried, I’m going to miss you so much!!! This blog was a great idea. Be safe and treat Juanca well!

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