So here it is, the return to Sevilla the city that gave birth to all the adventures that I've been on. Where the holy trinity of Victor Truong, Gary Chan and myself began our quest to conquer Europe. It was really wierd to walk round the city and eat at the same Maccies I did three years ago and think of all the places I'd visited since then.
But, there was no time for reminiscing as we were in Sevilla for a purpose and that was to see our great friend Phil Crawley whom you may recall from the first two Eurotrips. He's smashed a year out here as part of his degree and it was finally time to bring him home. But before that, he had to show us what he'd learnt by playing tour guide and translator, even though we all speak a little bit of spanish which at best is sufficient to survive.
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| Plaza de España |
The 6 hour coach journey from Portimao was hardly glamorous and the sleeping quarters were even less so as 7 of us cramped into the living room to enjoy the wonderful air conditioning and so we didn't die of dehydration during our sleep. But this did not discourage us one bit, we ventured out to taste the wonderful tapas of the region and soon found ourselves on Spanish time as we didn't eat til midnight, how my stomach survived this I'll never know.
As in Alvor, we partied every night in Sevilla to see Phil out with a bang. No party is complete without the presence of Chris Loftus who joined us for a few days and helped reconstruct part of the old Eurotrip gang, minus Victor and Gary. Due to the Spanish times we didn't start out until 1 and so every night we stumbled in at 6 or 7 for the duration of our stay. Hangovers were felt slightly more considering there was no pool to cure it but the holiday vibes still played our part and we managed to visit some of the sights.
Unfortunately, Catedral de Sevilla was closed since we didn't venture out until siesta time but we wandered round to the Royal Alcazar of Sevilla and into the city. We experienced our first botellon, which is essentially drinking on the streets by the historic Torre del Oro, the nightlife in Sevilla has definitely got it right with outdoor clubs and standard measures which must certainly be close to triples. Plaza de Espana is a landmark of the 1929 World Expo that took place in the park it is situated and after a night out a little row around the river was perfect to cure a few headaches, see the vlog here:
Our last full day was spent in the Real Betis shop since the typical spanish work ethic led us to believe there was a tour of the stadium, which to our dismay wasn't the case. Not to worry, we all came out kitted like the true football professionals that we look like. Phil's last night was celebrated with a pub crawl which is extremely fitting since we had all become so accustomed to that ritual. However, despite a great night and building many new friendships, disaster loomed.... Having to make our 5pm flight we had to catch a 10am train to Malaga... we woke at midday having all switched our alarms off and after a manic 30 minutes of packing, spewing and just shitting ourselves, we rang taxis and bailed straight in for a 2.5 ride to the airport. But this wasn't the end, pit stops were made for more spewing and my taxi nearly died with every red light on the dashboard flashed incessantly.
Thankfully, we made it to the airport and made it on time just about and squeezed in a cheeky Pizza Hut. It was a crazy few hours to make the flight and it made it so much more ridiculous since Phil was using an emergency passport which had to be used that day. Despite our foolishness, we made it home and that's what counts. It's been a great week away with my best pals and I'd probably do it all over again, just about. Time to rest and recover my liver until the USA comes calling in a fortnight.
Keep watching.x
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