Figjam's Epic Adventure 'The Second Coming': Seville... Windsurfing, Walking and other things beginning with 'W'

4/6/11

1700 (local time)

Another update, another scene of events! So here I am, on a bus that’s taking me to Largos, Portugal from Seville, Spain. Not to sure how long the bus journey actually is, because apparently we are going through a time warp! Amazing stuff.

Anyway, so I might as well pick up where I left off! So I had just left Barcelona to get an bus to Vallencia. I was fortunate enough to have someone that was going to have me crash on their couch via couch surfing. Funnily enough, I was staying with a girl called Anna who is doing a exchange program through her university course. Anna lives in Frankston, Melbourne so straight away we had a lot in common, and I was often found ripping into her because she came from Frankston! Until this day, I am still not so sure why I went to Vallencia, apart from some pretty buildings and nice beaches of the Med, there wasn’t all that much there!

But none the less, I still had a ball, on my first night there, drinks were drunk and we made our way at 2.30am into the city to a night club called Pasha. This is a fancy nightclub that is known throughout the world. (there is a Pasha in Sharm El Sheik). It was a super nice club, but people weren’t arriving until 4pm and by this time I was absolutely knackered! I was so tired, that I fell asleep on the dance floor! Poor form, the next day was a bit of a write off, because we all got up at 4pm, but it was awesome because one of Anna’s mates was having a BBQ on top of his apartments roof. This was awesome, because there were a bunch of people from all over the world who were studying abroad.

Fantastic stuff, the next day was another late wake up, but myself an one of Anna’s housemates ‘Frenchy’ took the train into the old city, and got lost exploring the city! Quite a chilled day, but when we got home we were so tired from walking that we relaxed the rest of the day, because that night we were going for 1 euro for 3 beer night! And 1.50euro tapas! So bonus, beers and Tapas! We sunk a lot of beers, and ate a lot of tapas. We then found out there was a pub close by that was doing free paella I had to go check it out, so we wandered off to this other bar, had a couple of plates of paella and by this time I was knackered again (all these late nights were killing me), and tomorrow I was heading on an overnight bus to Seville.

The bus from Vallencia to Seville left at 9.30pm and got in at Seville by 7.30am, so it was an overnight bus. When I buy these tickets, I think they are a great idea, until I actually get on the bus and get no sleep, and end up getting off at my destination so tired I can barely function.

I was once again couch surfing in Seville. I met Alejandro at his house, before he had to rush off to work. I left me to sleep in his lovely apartment while he went to work. He came home at about 2pm, for his afternoon siesta, made me a lovely pasta salad we had a quick chat, and he told me to meet him at Cathedral in town by 9.15pm.

So I caught a bus from the apartment into town at about 7pm, and wandered around the city. It was fantastic because it wasn’t all that hot, and the crowds were dying down. I eventually met Alejandro and he introduced me to his friends and we all went off for Tapas and drinks!

It was awesome being taken around town by the locals, they knew the places to go and what to order, and I was just happy following them and listening to them speak Spanish. I tried some amazing Tapas and even ate some more snails! Which impressed everyone, which still brings me to the question of, if I find garden snails in Australia... would people judge me if I boiled them up and ate them?

It was almost 1am in the morning before we got home, I was tired and knew that I had a very busy day exploring the city tomorrow, so I went to bed straight away.

I woke up at 8.30am (probably the earliest I’ve woken up on purpose) had some quick breakfast and then got driven to a Spanish Guitar Lesson. Before you ask, no I wasn’t participating, but I was watching all these kids (18 – 26 Y.O) learning to become professional Spanish guitar players. I stayed for an hour, these guys were awesome! Probably some of the fastest fingers I have ever seen. After the lesson, I walked for about 30 minutes until I arrived at this beautiful park with hundreds of doves. I wandered through the park, that took me to a stunning place called Plaza Europa. This was potentially one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen. Ill put up some photos and you may recognise it from (I think) the first Star Wars. Awesome Stuff.

From there I then went back to the cathedral and payed my entrance fee and headed up to the top for some stunning views! Took my photos and then headed back down to check out the Alazares (castle) paid my entrance fee again, got lost... and then headed out! When I went in, I didn’t realise how MASSIVE it actually was. From here, then headed down to the river and checked out the Plaza De Torus, which is the main bull fighting ring in Seville!

I was fortunate enough to tag along to a tour group where they explained to me all the different things about bull fighting. It was amazing listening to how it all works. I was shocked to find out, for good seats people will pay up to 700 euros for a good ticket. Crazy! By the time the tour was finished I was absolutely wrecked! I’d been walking for 5-6 hours, so I caught a bus back to the apartment, and just passed out.

The next day... I was so excited about! I was heading to TARIFA!! Which is an awesome place for windsurfing! I caught the bus at 9.30am (another early start) and took the 2.5 hours bus ride from Sevilla to Tarifa! When I got off, I asked the closest surf shop where the windsurfing was. He told me I had to hitch hike about 15 minutes down the road! No Drama’s!

I wasn’t hitching for long, maybe 5 minutes till a dude offered me a lift. He got on the phone to some one, and realised that he wasn’t speaking Spanish instead Arabic. So I asked where he was from, to which he replied Morocco! I eventually found out that he was actually from Essaouira. I knew a famous Moroccan windsurfer called Boujmaa Guilloul who is known for trying triple forward loops! Anyway, so as soon as I mentioned his name, the guy that was giving me the lift was like... “dude thats my cousin” I flipped out, and I couldn’t believe it. He even went to his phone and tried to call him, but the signal wasn’t great and dropped out! It was fantastic! I could have talked for hours, but we were already down at the beach.

I wandered to a windsurfing place, that was hiring out Gaastra and Tabou (which is the kit I ride) paid my 28euros! And just went mental for 1.5 hours! At first I was a bit nervous because it was about 27 – 32 knots and I was maxed out on a 4.2, but when I gained some confidence I started going for big forward loops! I was loving life!!!

The time went really quickly, so I snapped some photos of the beach, and then hitch hiked back into town, to do some shopping. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed, because they were on their siesta, but I bought an awesome Tarifa T-shirt from one of the local surf shops and before I knew it, I was on the bus back to Seville.

When I eventually got back to Seville, I was starving. So I wandered around for some food for a while, until I found a little tapas place down an ally. The people that worked their spoke no English, and I spoke no Spanish, so I told them how much I wanted to spend which was 6 Euros. They went out back, and eventually came out with bread and chic peas... I was like “great I’ve jut spent 6 euros on this” but before I knew it, a massive plate full of Ribs, Salad and potatoes! It was an amazing meal, and I just sat back and watched the world go by! Thinking to myself this is what travelling is all about!

It was late by the time I got home, where I again passed out as tomorrow I was heading to Largos, Portugal!

Before I finish, I must say a VERY VERY big thank you to Alejandro for looking after me in Seville! He was a superstar, and my friend if you are even in Melbourne, please give me a call!

So that s pretty much it!

Enjoy the photos!

And we can all speak again soon!

Much love! Steve