## Notes from my trip in May, 2024 Overview: bloody hot, good cheap food, a tasty local beer, Spaniards not too friendly, a beautiful city. ### Food and drink Food was really solid. I didn't think too much about food before arriving. But it impressed me. And the food was cheap. I went to a few places that felt more like standard European city prices. But for the most part each time the bill came out I was very pleasantly suprised by the low number. All the tapas bars I went to were great value. [Example bill for two](https://elliotclowes.com/cold/2024/seville-bill.pdf). The waiters weren't rude, but the were on the whole pretty gruff. I didn't get the vibes this was due to us being non Spanish speaking tourists and was just the way they were. But maybe I'm wrong. I did some graffiti that said "TOURISTS GO HOME". The local beer is Cruzcampo. It's a solid choice. Though good luck getting a pint of it. They mostly serve the beer in wide IKEA-like glasses. And not to the top of the glass either. It arrives looking half-drunk. The eating times were *late*. Many restaurants didn't *open* until 20:00. I got into the swing of things after a day or two. But it was always just too close to my bedtime. I can see why [[lunch]] is the biggest meal of the day in Seville and dinner is often smaller. ### The heat It was hot. Highs of 34-38 celsius. Despite that I didn't find it unbearable. I was expecting to be crippled by it. Unable to walk. Seeking air conditioned places wherever I went. But it wasn't like that. I'd say that 36c in Seville felt like 30c in the UK when it comes to comfort. The narrower streets of the city were often shaded thanks to these white sheets. I haven't seen anything like it before. It was cool (no pun intended). ![[seville-sheets-min.jpg|400]] The canopies outside restaurants had lots of pipes attached that released a cold mist of water. Again, I've not seen anything like that Considering it's the hottest city in Europe I was expecting a much more indoor/outdoor divide. With windows and doors always been shut to not let out the air conditioned air. But it wasn't like that. Doors and windows are often left open. The insides of restaurants and shops are kept cool, but not AC cool. In some eateries I couldn't actively see any AC, despite it being cool. And to be honest I quite liked this. It was never that hot inside and it meant you didn't get used to the coldness of AC and then get shocked with the hot outside air when leaving ### Other The trend of having the straps of your backpack as long as possible so it sits as low as possible is alive and well amongst of school children of Seville. I didn't see many people walking along with headphones/buds compared to other European cities. The Spaniards were friendly enough once you engaged with them. But they weren't too friendly at the street level. No smiling at strangers. No saying thanks when a car lets you go or when you move to one side to let them out of a shop. There's not *tons* of attractions. I was there for 4 nights. And by the fifth day I was running out of things to do. ### Notes from my first day Packing for this trip had been surprisingly simple and easy. Usually it’s stressful. But this time I just followed my todo list and got it done with ease. It was weird going away whilst not manically packing a suitcase. Arriving at Luton Airport the next day I realised I had forgotten about the car park fire earlier in the year. So it was a bit of walk from the drop off point to the airport. But once inside all was well. Airports are pretty fast these days. Not as fast as they should be. But faster than they once were – it seems. The only drama in security was a man who was slightly irate that his Pret A Manger porridge was being confiscated as a ‘liquid’. He said it was thick and not a liquid. Security disagreed. After an overpriced breakfast and a RyanAir £47 fee for our bag being too big me and my girlfriend boarded the plane and was quickly in Spain. I loaded up Uber and Bolt on arrival and was happy to see a €13-15 quote. But by the time I went to actually book it Uber was quoting €48 and not a single Bolt driver wanted me as a customer. So traditional taxis it was. There’s a flat fee of around €25 from the airport to Seville. But the first guy wanted €30. I removed our bags and said “no thanks”. This rejection seemed to cause some commotion on the part of the other cabbies. None of them spoke English so I couldn’t exactly work out what the discussions were about. And the Google Translate app was useless. It was only afterwards that I realised that they were trying to work out why I refused the first taxi and wanted to know the price he asked of me. I don’t _think_ they were warm hearted chaps who were livid another driver had tried to price gauge. It was more that they were concerned that he had price gauged _too much_, as why else would a dumb tourist reject the fare? They likely had an agreement that they would just price gouge _a little bit_ and thought he’d gone over that. Eventually my €25 did get us to the hotel though. So we dropped off the bags and killed time until our room was ready. An hour was spent in front of MUSHROOM whilst I contacted my phone provider (Three, terrible network, don’t go with them) as my phone wasn’t working. After an Indian chap called “Melvin” sorted it out it was tapas lunch time. I’d only had tapas once before. In Bath, England of all places. And this one was very good, if not outstanding. The price was outstanding though. About €12 each for some small plates and a Coke. That’s how much my McDonalds order costs these days. Post-lunch my girlfriend took an extended nap. I explored the city. I purposefully visited the ‘worst’ parts of the city so my girlfriend wouldn’t have to. It was still lovely. I thought perhaps the city would fall to a lull after lunch as people took siestas. But maybe it’s after 15:00 that happens? As the city was full of bustle. I got trapped in a group of 200 school kids at one point, which was oddly traumatising. Though I noted that the trend of having your backpack as long and as low as possible is alive and well here in Seville. After that a poor woman rode her bike over some cobblestones and flashed her entire breast at me. The worst thing is that I don’t think she even noticed. I hate to think who else has seen her nipples today. The temperature here is around 32c. Which doesn’t feel as bad as expected. However after an hour of walking it does feel as bad as expected. Thankfully a bottle of “Kas Limon” I picked up from a corner shop saved me and my dry throat. The corner shop had no prices on anything, which always worries me. So I apprehensively placed my assortment of fizzy and hoppy drinks on the counter, before seeing another red flag: a calculator. No till. No barcodes beeped. But to my surprise it came to a reasonable price and I happily gulped my cut price lemon drink in the sun. I felt a bit uncouth walking around with my earphones in. I’m yet to a single person wearing any. The only earphones were in the ears of tourists who were on guided tours. *Created: [[2024-05-23]]*