Lisbon, Portugal 17-19 January 2016

So after Seville, we were a little sick of Spain. I think the final straw was Drew ordering fish and chips and ending up with fish and boiled potato fried into a mash with egg and onion and served as a yellow mound on a plate.

We decided to hightail it out of Spain and booked an overnight bus from Seville to Lisbon, Portugal. Big mistake. HUGE mistake. Horrible 5 hour journey which began at midnight and ended at 5am in the pitch black zero degree Lisbon. Only 4 passengers hopped off that bus in Seville. Not sure where everyone else was headed, but they took off pretty fast once we were dumped on the sidewalk. Daylight is around 8.30am and siesta is still part of the culture of Lisbon (meaning shops open about 10am) so we had a while ahead of us before we could see or the shops began to open. We were completely broken now. Seville...then this.

Our original plan was to look around the city all day to find nice accommodation in a good area, but 3 hours into the hideous bus journey I had changed my mind and booked some luxury accommodation overlooking the water. It was 5am, so we relented on our public transport only policy and caught a taxi to the hotel. Check in wasn't until 2pm but I figured if we showed up at 5am and looked forlorn, then they'd let us pay for an extra night's accommodation and we'd have somewhere to sleep for a few hours until dawn. The bus journey had been particularly gruelling on me. I'd left my favourite scarf in the bus as well. 

Luck wasn't on our side. No rooms available at 5am, so we asked if we could leave our bags in the hotel and we headed out (were shown out) into the 5.30am Lisbon night. It was freezing. First thing we did was search google maps for a McDonalds. 10 minutes of trudging up and down slippery hills later we were in one of the main plazas. It was Sunday (and this was siesta-ing Lisbon, and not a shop was open - including McDonalds. Just a few groups of unattractive teenagers making their way home from their night in the club.

We sat in the freezing pitch black plaza huddled against a statue in an effort to reduce wind chill factor. After about an hour Drew suggested we seek cover in a nearby underground train station to get warm. That's when I got the great idea to head to the airport. Airports are warm and have coffee shops, newspapers and toilets. I desperately needed to open my bowels and Lisbon, like the rest of Europe, just doesn't seem to believe that the general public produces waste. 

We ended up staying at the airport until about 2pm. I never realised how nice airports are. Toilets aplenty. It's an entirely different space when you can just sit and relax and not worry about missing a flight. We read english newspapers, did some shopping, bought a book about Lisbon and had a bit of a read. It was so warm and cosy compared to where we'd been that we found it difficult to leave.

We checked into the Memmo Alfama Design Hotel later that afternoon, 26 hours since we'd last showered. It was magnificent compared to the hotels we have been used to. We were probably the only two people in the hotel not on our honeymoon, but that didn't matter.

Lisbon is very pretty. Hilly and pretty. Small winding streets. It was the best city we've been in for buying nice things to take home. Bought myself a lovely angora jacket. China and tiles and interesting nick-knacks. Great photo opportunities. Cute trams. Worth a 2 or 3 day look.

Seville 11-16 January 2016

It took 2.5hrs on a fast train to travel from Madrid to Seville. Lovely experience. I had time to apply for a job. Beautiful countryside. We stayed in our first hostel with a shared toilet and bathroom in the Centro area of Seville. Urban Sevilla. The room was perfectly ok, nice and clean, but the share bathroom wasn't a nice experience. During heavy traffic hours 8-10am and 6-11pm there is always someone in the bathroom/toilet. The shower was very tiny and the curtain didn't cover the door completely so anyone cleaning their teeth or washing their hands could also cop a  look at you showering. Shitting was also a problem. I need complete privacy. At €20 / night though we weren't in a position to argue. It was also the first place we have been in that didn't require endless handing in and collecting of keys and buzzing in and out of doors to come and go. 

We had planned 3 nights in Seville but found a nice area on the 3rd day near the Seville Cathedral and the Royal Palace, so decided to stay an extra 2...which was a bit of a mistake. This was a good lesson to us to actually use those tourist buses on day 1 to get an idea of the general layout of a city.  You just can't cover enough area tromping around on foot. I have laminitis in both feet from the walking we've been doing. Turns out we'd actually seen everything on the day we discovered the area, so the next 2 days were just spent wandering around looking at the same things again.  

We bought 3 lovely watercolours (paintings of tile patterns) at the exit to Alcazar - a palace and garden combo that was home to many generations of kings and Muslim leaders. The watercolour purchase was one of the Seville highlights. Drew satisfied her need to visit Alcazar which was home to scenes from Game of Thrones city of Dawn. She spent a bit of time googling scenes from Game of Thrones and then showing me exactly where that scene was shot.

Seville is hell bent on tradition. Flamenco dancing, bull fighting, orange trees, horse drawn buggies, and Semana Santa. Semana Santa is a week long traditional Spanish build up to Good Friday, and a time when Christian Catholics dress up like spooks in long pointy hoods which cover their face with holes cut out to see through (google 'Semana Santa' or 'Ku Klux Klan' to get a better idea of what I'm talking about).  A tradition since the 16th Century, which has surprisingly survived and thrived into the 21st. The hoods are meant to hide the wearers identity so he can can demonstrate his penitence. I say 'he' because the parade is for the Catholic "brotherhood", although these days anyone can take part. Like most religious traditions, it's all very weird and creepy.

A shop child dummy showing the lovely hoods women can make at home for the kiddlywinks

Mumma and Pappa can get in on the fun too

Most of the population around the Centro area of town were elderly locals with very bad haircuts. The women use lots of hairspray and like the shops, their haircuts were stuck in the 1970's. The population got a bit younger around the palace area of town - home to the University of Seville. More tourists and cafes and, thank christ, a post office.  We've struggled to find a post office in every city we've been, and so far only two have met first world standards. 

The horses in Seville were beautiful. Arab horses were often used for the buggies and for the police on horseback. The Andalusians focus on pretty horses was appreciated by me and Drew. We stood and watched the horses pass and stood in the street staring on many occasions, never quite gutsy enough to ask if we could pat or smell them. There's nothing quite like the smell of a horse's neck, or the feel of their nose and lips. We didn't get to see any Andalusian horse shows while we were in the area which was unfortunate.

The orange trees are pretty and while we were there they were overflowing with ripe fruit. They were planted on every single street about 5 meters apart. Apparently they are lovely in spring when the blossoms are out. We did a bit of research before we tried to eat one, just in case they were poisonous. Apparently the variety they plant in the streets is sour to eat, but edible. One account we read on the history of Seville and their love of oranges stated that the women of Seville are too busy these days to turn those oranges into jams and spreads, so most of them go wasted (?). Someone picks them up daily though as there aren't too many lying rotting on the ground. 

I'm pretty sure one can gauge how progressive a society is by the number of fabric, sewing and ribbon shops scattered about the main shopping precincts (and maybe their obsession with Christianity and their need to dress up for Holy Week). There seemed to be at least one fabric shop in every block of shops in Seville, each one full of women buying things. Fabric shops were equal in number to religious shops where you could buy your own statues, paintings or religious robes.  Don't even get me started on the tradition of bull fighting. 

Sum up. Seville is pretty enough, but Andalusians are obsessed with tradition. I was a little disappointed. Most of the people in the Centro area of town seemed to be locals over the age of 60. We were treated rather abruptly. I ordered a coffee and a Vanilla milkshake for Drew one morning and the man behind the counter gave the 2 male customers who arrived after me their coffees first.  I thought I must have been waiting on Drew's milkshake, but no, it was just another local who didn't seem to like tourists. Here's what Drew got for her vanilla milkshake. Liquid custard. Undrinkable. 

Some more photos of Seville, Spain. I have more photos, but I'll have to add them when I find some speedy internet. Hard to find over here when staying in cheap accommodation.

View from the walk up to the bell tower of the Saville Cathedral.

Inside the Saville Cathedral

Roasting chestnuts

View out of the hostel window at dusk

Strange this mut has been left outside. Dogs seem to come into department stores with their owners over here

Me trying to work out how to rent the cycles. Seville cycles require a yearly membership about  on top of the hourly rate which I think is pretty stupid. Didn't hire one of course.

Graffiti on the river walk. Completely run down walk beside a beautiful river

Finally found a nice place to have a glass of wine

We found this lonely budgie at the Royal Palace of Seville. It was very tame and we felt horrible leaving it there because it didn't seem to be able to fly. 

Royal Palace of Seville

 You can see the love Billie Budgie has for me in the way he looks at me

Graffiti at Royal Palace of Seville

Alcazar gardens in the palace of Seville. A short distance from the Palace of Seville but a different place. I can't work it out. This place was filled with the gardens used in Game of Thrones

Two characters from Game of Thrones stood and chatted on this balcony