We got into Seville around 3 PM on June 28. Our hostel was about at 30 minute walk from the station and to break it up we stopped to get some food along the way to escape the heat. After checking in we decided to go to the Alcazar which is the poor mans version of Alhambra, but it was still cool to see. On the way we end up seeing Scott and Steve from Barcelona. After talking with them for a while we all headed into Alcazar.
The courtyard
Inside the Palace
Within the walls of the Alcazar is a garden that included a “labyrinth” that only had one way in and out. Also the garden had peacocks although out. We followed one for a while hoping to see it spread it wings, but the damn children chased it off.
After Alcazar we headed down to the river where we watch the sunset because that’s what men do. The area we were at was also recommended to us by a guy that worked at our hostel about having some good bars. We stayed out till a little after 11 before heading back because Jeff and I were planning on doing a pub crawl that started at 11:30 and Scott and Steve had to wake up early the next day.
The pub crawl was pretty similar to the one in Barcelona in regards that we went to a couple nice chill bars and ended up going to a club nowhere near where we started. We ended up meeting these two Aussies on the crawl who ran with the bulls in Pamplona so we bombarded them with questions. We also met a guy from Michigan (not on the pub crawl, but at one of the bars) who said he was traveling with 20 single girls that he could bring us to go meet. We were pretty sure it was an attempt to rob and possibly rape us so we didn’t really pursue it.
The last stop, the outdoor club. It would be awesome if it wasn't in Seville because their average temp is about the same as Ricks at 1am on a Saturday so it is still just as hot.
The next day the only thing we had planned to do was see the Cathedral which was only a block or two from our hostel. Our train to Madrid was at 6:45 PM which once there would transfer to our sleeper train to Lisbon. The Cathedral is the third largest in the world after St Peters in the Vatican and St Pauls in London. It was built after they kicked out the Moors and wanted to show Christianity was there to stay by destroying a mosque to build it.
It also had the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
We then headed back to the hostel due to immensity of the heat. Even though we had already checked out we just sat in the main room. When we got back it was about 3 and you would think that it would began to cool off, but it seemed to just be getting hotter and hotter. We were just sitting there hardly moving and sweating like we just got done with a run. I know understood why earlier that morning when I went to take a shower the knob was turned all the way to cold, it was because people would come back to take cold showers to cool down. We left about 5 to go to the grociery store to get food and in hopes of getting some a/c both of which held true. When we got back to the hostel we planned out our route to the station that involved the most public transportation and therefore the least amount of walking. We had to change lines to go to a bus, and we were a little bit behind schedule and cutting it close. When we got to the bus stop we wanted, the bus we needed pulled up and Jeff said we should hop on. I wasn’t sure if it was heading the right direction (I think I lost my sense of direction because of the heat) and told him to wait a second and by the time I agreed it was the bus we wanted it began to drive off. So we started the nice hot walk to the station. At this time I thought I train was at 6:30 not 6:45 and so went it got a little after 6:20 I flagged down a cab and told Jeff I would pay for it since I messed up. When we got to the station I took out my wallet to give Jeff the money and then we ran out. Once we got to the platform at 6:30 on the dot we realized what time our actual tickets were. Slowing down to a nice walk we made our way down the platform. Once on the train we sat down and that’s when I had my “oh shit” moment, my wallet was gone.
I ran quickly to one of the conductors and told him. He went with me the check-in booth for the train and explained the situation. He told me I had 5 minutes to which the woman corrected him by saying I had 4. I bursted into a sprint and made it to the front of the station in a little over a minute. I quickly scanned the taxi cab drivers because I am pretty sure what happened is that when I went to shove my wallet back into my pocket when I was sitting I didn’t put it in all the way and it fell out. Not really remember what the cabbie looked like and realizing I only had about 2 minutes left I headed back because if the train left with Jeff and my pack on board leaving me with nothing more than my camera I would have been really screwed.
I made the train in time to realize Jeff got kicked out of our originally seat. It turned out that we did have the same seat assignment as the people that were sitting there, but what took about 7 different people looking at it to discover was that our reservation was for July 29, not June 29. The conductor just reassigned us seats without charging us and we made our way to Madrid.
Getting on the sleeper train to Madrid I began to get worried they wouldn’t let me on, because legally they shouldn’t. One of the glories of the EURail pass is that if you lose it you are screwed. It cost us about $1000 for 2 months and they just give you the paper in return. Nothing is entered into a computer so they can access it, or a back up made. Instead you can buy insurance that will reimburse you for the prorated amount of your trip that is left. Luckily they didn’t check our tickets before getting on so when I did get it checked I was already on the train which I think help because I imagine they are much more willing to say you can’t get on then kick you off. Luckily I made a copy of my EURail (even though it was before it was certified) that I could show him and he let me go. When we got to Portugal the conductor also let me go even before I got done telling him what happened.
So we made it to Lisbon with 90 euros less, no credit card, no debit card, no state ID, no student ID, and no EURail. I couldn’t have been happier.
B
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