FARO - SEVILLA

Bus to Seville today
Day 43
Zahira Hostel

Packed up our gear and headed to the train station at 8am to catch the bus to Seville, Spain. Back in Spanish territory..and not really looking forward to it after being in beautiful friendly Portugal. Sad to say goodbye to a special place.

And..left knowing we wouldn´t get to the Azores! Sorry sissy, couldn´t fulfil your dream for you, by going there. We went to a tourist centre in Faro and asked about these islands and she said they were situated mid Atlantic, between Lisboa and the US! And she did say they were a beautiful group of nine islands that we could only go to from Lisbon. Next time...

The trip from Faro to Seville was full of orange groves! Saw birds nesting on power towers.

And we met a bigoted 71 year old yank! (I know they´re not all like this..but he was a true blue redneck!) Our first aquaintance was at the train station when he commented on my being English as i was buying ham and cheese rolls for our journey. Yes i was. No more conversation. (just got a feeling about this guy).

Then somehow he spotted us again as we got confused trying to work out which bus we should be catching to Sevilla. (no signs on buses and we were given wrong bus numbers). He mentioned he had been in Seville the week before for the first bullfight of the season.

SO. We got talking about the bullfights.

The he sat next to us. Closer to Greg. hehe (I was smart, sat next to the window!)

And he talked. And talked. And talked. About his beliefs...his alternate word for negros, for the chinese, how Miami was built by the Cubans, about all the US presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon to Clinton, to Bush.

And when he got off, halfway to Seville, he said he enjoyed our conversation! We commented on how, after he asked where we were from in Britain and we said we were Australian he got a blank face and just began his one sided talkage!

Anyway, after a 4 hour journey, and a fight with a lady and the bus driver for not stopping for a toot stop, we arrived not that keen about being back in Spain. I guess we left with ashtray in our faces!

We trudged along with our packs to find accomodation and found a place called Monte Carlo, 2 star, that had rooms for €100 a night. No too expensive. Although, Greg took the card just in case. Afterall, we´d heard, due to Holy week and the Abril Faire here, the place gets very booked out and prices double in April.

We trudged on. And just when i was complaining about how the pack was hurting my shoulders..and i was feeling very low (which later turned into a cold!) we stumbled upon the Zahira Hostel for €53 a night. Yes please. But the guy very emphatically said it was for ONE NIGHT ONLY. He was completo!

But his wife was gorgeous. She spoke English but also had a gentle nature. Lovely lady. I wish we could stay longer!

We dumped our stuff..organised a Flamenco night with the lovely lady, through their hostel, for that night 22.30pm and went searching for accomodation for the following 2 nights.

And we found people to be so friendly and warm. Madrid is obviously not indicative of the Spanish overall. They are beautiful warm people here. Faith restored!

The previous feelings of hostility was soon to be forgotten. Thank goodness. Not good to be left feeling like that. Now i´m looking forward to Barcelona, our last Spanish stop.

Seville is just beautiful. Old buildings. Ornate. Intoxicating almost. Bustling at all hours.

We went to the Cathedral and Giralda, built on a Moslem Mosque, built between 1401 - 1507,which was spectacular and one of the biggest in the world. I believe it! IT´s massive. We walked over Christopher Columbus and his brother´s tomb! Accidently! Oops. Well, not literally, but it was only later we realised that was what they were......

We also climed the tower....(mosque minaret) 35 ramps up! Sat in the orange grove in admiration.

Even though we are not as overawed by the incredible cathedrals now..we were still very impressed by this one. I´m beginning, honestly, to love these cathedrals..and if we don´t see one..it´s not complete!!!

Found accomodation too! (pensaos) For the two nights...(twin again) closeby so we don´t have to pack it too far..

Went to the Flamenco............BUT!!!! Because we were still on Portgal time, we missed it...god, story of our lives. They were very accomodating and said we could go to it on Saturday night insead, sill at the ungodly starting hour of 22.30pm tho!

PS Drats! Dockers got the crap belted out of them by the Eagles! Thanks for the news Elise!!! (Hugs to you my gorgeous!) Damn. Greg´s happy tho!

xxx