Rendezvous X 2!

En route to Sevilla, Spain! Only two more destinations left to blog about until the Euro journey is complete! Thanks to all who are still interested and reading...

We took a 4 hour bus ride from Faro, Portugal to Sevilla, Spain. After another full day of travel, we finally reached our hostel at about 9:00pm. Upon our check-in at the front desk, we were informed that there was an awesome Flamenco show happening at 9:30pm if we wanted to check it out, which was promoted by several hostels in the area and great chance to meet some other travelers. J-Sak and I, greasy as we were, decided to throw on a change of "nicer" clothes and enjoy the night. Our first night in Spain!

We headed to a small, intimate bar that served tapas, of course, and €3 sangria and waited for the Flamenco performance to begin. Flamenco music and dance originated in the Andalusia region of Spain in the 18th century and is very popular in Sevilla.

Just to give you guys an idea...

Our Flamenco experience

A quirky thing that occurred that evening at the Flamenco bar was that Jeni and I ran into two travellers, a girl and a guy, from the US who we had originally met in Munich. Both of them were on the same Dachau tour as us waaayyy back two months prior, our very first full day in Europe! The girl recognized Jeni and I first (and let's face it, we'd been wearing the same duds for two months so it may have been easy to remember us...my blue coat and Jeni's green one...haven't you noticed all the pics I've posted? Yeah. Same outfits, different backgrounds)! I distinctly remember this girl reading The Hunger Games on the Dachau tour and I struck up a conversation with her about how much I enjoyed reading the book. This was her second time around reading it and advised me to make sure to read the second and third books as well...I crack a smirk at this comment because I have been strongly encouraged to read the whole trilogy by someone else, too (Jill, I know my friend...I gotta get on this)! Anyways, Jeni and I chatted with the two of them for sometime and discovered that they had travelled a completely different route than us; they went from Germany to Greece to Turkey to Spain, whereas J-Sak and I travelled Western Europe. Isn't it interesting how our routes rendezvoused at a tiny bar in Sevilla? Funny.

Because we had spent a good part of our night out, the morning came quickly. We joined yet another free walking tour around Sevilla. J-Sak and I both agree that the two free tours we went on during our time there were not the best. So-so. Mediocre. They city of Sevilla is beautiful though, and, as I've said before, unlike any other city I've visited. There are orange trees everywhere and the sun is always shining. It is supposed to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, Spanish city. Apparently, it is not uncommon for summer temperatures to reach 40 Celsius. Sevilla is another city that has a lot of Moorish influence in their architecture.

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede...supposedly where Christopher Columbus is buried...but that's up for debate

A typical street: narrow with tall buildings, lined with orange trees

Plaza de Espana

 

A big thing in Spain, as I'm sure most people are aware of, is their tapas culture. Oh my gawd...the tapas were SO delicious! What an ingenious concept, really. Tapas are generally anywhere from €2 to €5 and are small appetizer-like dishes which are great for a snack or to share. I like this idea because a person can eat several small portions of a wide variety of foods and not have an empty wallet at the end. After our morning walking tour, Jeni and I found a nice outdoor table at a quaint tapa bar and ordered 4 tapas, some beer and sangria while enjoying the warm rays of the sun. What a great way to spend the afternoon!

That evening, we decided to join some other travellers we had met that day for a Tapas Tour, offered by our hostel. The tour was €14 and it included tapas and a bevy at 3 different bars. It was one of our best nights out on our Euro trip! We met some great people who liked to party and have a good time...and most of all, we laughed a lot! The tapas were excellent and non-stop, and I have to say the wine went down well, too! Later on in the night, a group of us wanted to check out an authentic Flamenco show and someone knew of a really great place. So, after getting lost around the streets of Sevilla, we finally made it to the bar and saw about half of the show...and enjoyed awesome mojitos!

Tapas!

The group enjoying the Tapas Tour

Authentic Flamenco bar

A fun group of peeps in Sevilla! Yes, I'm wearing flip-flops...

The next day was our departure day from Sevilla. I had been trying to contact my friend, Pippa, for several days because I wanted, so badly, to connect with her while we were in Sevilla. Pippa was a co-worker of mine at the Victoria Symphony and she resigned about a month before I did for the same reason; to travel in Europe, more specifically, Spain! Though I only new Pippa for about 5 months, she became someone I grew to admire very much and always knew she had a great energy and solid character about her. I feel we both have quite a bit in common in certain aspects of life and I always feel natural and like myself when around Pipster. During our last month together at the VS, we had discussed to meet up, if possible, in Sevilla. We had some communication issues in the days leading up to my arrival in Sevilla. Facebook messages and emails were not cooperating with either of us and it so happened that the day J-Sak and I were leaving, I finally connected with Pippa by using someone's local cell phone at our hostel. It was so funny talking to Pippa on the phone in Spain! I was so used to having conversations with her in her Victoria office, over some coffee and the mail, haha! Pippa scurried to our hostel as soon as we got off the phone and met up with Jeni and I. Wow. It was so kool! Upon receiving a huge, tight hug from Pippa, I have to say, I couldn't help the tears. Because I'm a cheese-ball that way. I felt a lot of things at once. For one thing, it was almost the end of our trip and seeing a familiar face gave me a huge sense of comfort. Also, physically seeing Pippa, in Spain, felt kind of surreal. We had so often talked about what it would be like to connect with each other in Spain, but it's so different when talk becomes reality.

Pippa, Jeni and I strolled around the streets of Sevilla for a while before deciding to have some sandwiches, cafe con letche (coffee with milk) and churros with chocolate dip at a cafe in the university area.

Churros: a fried, doughy pastry with chocolate dipping sauce...MmmmMMm!

 We spent the better part of the afternoon catching up, laughing, sharing travel experiences and future aspirations with each other. Seriously, that afternoon felt extremely refreshing for me and I am so thankful that I was able to see Pippa. Time always goes by so fast when you're really enjoying yourself, right? Unfortunately, Jeni and I had to catch a train to Barcelona that evening and were only able to spend a few short, but delightful hours with Pippa. Saying goodbye has always been a big struggle for me. I always find it quite a daunting hurdle when I am confronted with goodbyes (I always tear up at airports, even if it's complete strangers saying their goodbyes and not me!). Saying so-long-for-now to Pippa was no different. I almost felt like we were in an alternate universe; meeting up in a foreign country, talking about a whole bunch of new experiences, and then not knowing when the next opportunity will come when I will see Pippa again. And so, paths cross and then meander and maybe, one day, cross again. I hope so. Thanks, Pippa, for a great afternoon...it still puts a smile on my face!