Traveling to Sevilla

 09 April, 2022

On the way to Sevilla, Spain for spring break! All this time I've been here and never yet been to the southern part of Spain, which is the part most stereotypical and best known to the outside world.

But first, to get started,how about a little philosophy in the bus station toilet...
"Is this the life that you want to live?"

"If it never hurts, it won't make you happy."

Phew... that was pretty heavy for a bathroom wall. But at least I have something to think about on the two hour bus trip from my town (Vigo, Spain) to the airport in Porto, Portugal.

In the airport, killing time wandering around the gift shops... this booze has my mom's name on it so I snapped a picture.

For the person who has everything, how about a ceramic bowl with an arrangement of ceramic sardines in it?

These are jars of local Portuguese honey. The ones on the left made of bark, and the ones on the right are in the shape of traditional ceramic dolls.

Yay, most of the flights going out are delayed indefinitely. Good thing there are gift shops to keep me occupied.

Time to head down to the gate area for my flight.... ack! I haven't seen this many people crowded together in over two years. I'll just wait up here on this empty maintenance staircase.

Got through the gate, only to stand in a mob for another half hour outside the building. At least we are outside in the air. So much for "priority boarding".

Finally in the air! I have always been fascinated when looking down at the earth and clouds from the sky.

As you can see, from this height Spain looks like every other country. Buildings, trees, farms. And it's beautiful.

After arriving at the airport in Sevilla, I took a bus from the airport to downtown and then a 20 minute walk to my hostal (a hostal is a traditional lodging house which falls somewhere between hostel and hotel, like a boarding house consisting of individual rooms with shared bathrooms). At first glance it is mysteriously at the end of a tiny narrow alley.

The inside is very prettily decorated. There is a central open space so this picture is from the upper level (which in Spain is called the 1st floor, the ground floor being 0).

This is the same lobby area as seen from the ground floor.

Here is my little room, just a single twin bed and a folding table attached to the wall.

Looking the other direction, a small wardrobe, a sink, and the door, which has an upper part that opens like in a stable. You can open it to help the air circulate as the building is completely enclosed by other buildings and hence has no windows except the two rooms over the entrance alley. The curtain is for privacy when you have it open. It did get really humid in there, which I didn't expect, so I was grateful to be able to open it.

After settling my things into my room, I went out to explore this new place, but as I was hungry, I didn't get too far. This is a bar/restaurant (the line between the two is very blurry here) just a block away, Taberna La Auténtica.

The dish is something I thought was unusual and interesting, it was described as a "cheeseburger" wrapped in pizza dough. However, it was not like a calzone, more like a burrito, and the "cheese" was more like pizza topping with tomato sauce and cheese. So the end result was a bit more like a meatball sandwich. Still very yummy!

In a gift shop... I would love to have this T-shirt but sadly they did not have it in my size.

More Seville photos to follow!