Spain - Seville (part 4) - Testing the World and Looking for Home series
From now on if I have an early flight — or some other travel arrangements — I try to strive to get at least 5-6 hours of sleep. This allows me to enjoy the next day without thinking only about sleep. Unfortunately, I haven't calculated one of my newer tips for traveling, and got my nose completely shut down on me. I can work with 39 °C temperature, I might even be more productive on it, but as soon as you cut the oxygen to my head I throw in the towel. Without being able to breathe while lying down, and without knowing how to sleep while standing up, decided just to go to the airport. At least I won't oversleep this flight.
It's maybe 3 AM and the night is wonderful. The streets are lit up, weather is warm & fresh. From time to time someone walks down the street, but without looking like someone who will stab you just for fun. Just the way I like it. After a long bus ride I'm enjoying a windy air while walking back and forth (don't like sitting down, don't like standing still). After seeing someone putting on 7 sweaters, 3 skirts and 2 pants I'm grateful about traveling just with a backpack. Just a reminder, don't forget to take out your laptop from your bag! It's a bother to go through security second time just for something stupid like that. After a long and unpleasant flight (ears hurting, but at least had an hour of sleep) I'm in Seville.
The bus drive doesn't wow a lot about the city. After getting out, seeing some water and lemon trees I remember to just chill out. After finding my place and regrouping it's time to do some exploration of the city. The city has a much different feel than Barcelona, it's refreshing just to move down the street at a slow pace, enjoying the sun on your face. Except for those places were it smells of horse piss, literally. It looks like it's popular to move around in the carriage, and in the places which are "horse parking lots" (my definition) you have to enjoy a strong smell of horse piss. Well, Barcelona in places smells of sewage so I guess this is the equivalent of Seville, get used to it.
The city feels touristy as the main street(s) are filled with them. Also if you're someone who has problems navigating, don't worry, it's hard to get lost. As someone who likes people watching the streets are great for that. This was my first time in a city and in a map I noticed a big green area nearby, making it my priority. The city has museums/attractions splattered around, but after getting disappointed in Barcelona I'm just filtering them out and not even thinking about visiting them. Especially when the weather is so wonderful outside! The park is wonderful, just the way I like them - just like a jungle. It's not really like a jungle, you have walking paths and everything, but it's great having trees which reach the sky, and all that lush greenery. Big building - I don't care, a tall tree - amazing (go Nature!!!). It's just a way I am. The park also includes an arena, but I didn't care too much about it, not when there's so many greenery down the street.
Walking in the park might be amazing, but being a digital nomad I also have to earn money somehow to allow all that. At the place I'm staying there's a big table which is comfortable to work from while indoors, and if the weather is nice you can work on the terrace with the sun shining on your face. My early mornings and late afternoons was for work, allowing the rest of the time for enjoying the city. The exact work time depended of how hungry I was. My schedule was mostly: wake up, work, go for lunch, explore some farther away place, return and work, go for dinner, walk around in the city. It was a comfortable schedule, sometimes changing depending on the weather. In November you can get rain, or some chilly days so don't forget a light jacket.
The narrow streets of Seville are great for wondering aimlessly, and getting lost. Of course, getting lost is no problem as you can always check the GPS, and see where you are, correcting your direction if needed. Still, it's fun to sometimes look at the map and wonder "How the hell did I end up here?" Another issue with wondering aimlessly is what you might end up in some strange places, but Seville felt safe no matter where I went. In Barcelona I did end up in some places where my thoughts went "I should get out of here," so adjust to your own safety preferences.
Bellow, I will provide some random stories what happened to me, and some random places you might want to visit.
The University of Seville is a strange looking place, and you might want to least walk around it once. You might see some interesting things. I think the inside is some kind of a museum, but never spend enough time to figure it out. On the outside, if you're a lucky, you can find some bananas growing. I found that very cool, and was grateful to see them (where I'm from you don't see fruits growing in the middle of the street). Also you might find a lot of cats, doing what they normally do, or making sure you're not stealing the bird they just caught. This was the first time I seen a really black cat, not those fake black cats.
If you're looking for a place to eat, I would suggest to avoid the main street. It's possible to find better places just by making a turn on smaller streets. One place I liked (if map is not lying) was Teatro de la Maestranza (by the wall). I wouldn't say they had exceptional food, but I liked the place. Due to my schedule every time I visited it only a few tables were occupied (dining outside). It's peaceful with so much empty space, nice weather, and birds chirping around.
Another good place to eat at is an O'Neill's Irish Pub. Visited it as I wanted some ribs (not as good as the ones I got in Amsterdam). It can get noisy, with possible sight seeing of people snorting coke in the bathroom.
The place I could definitely suggest is Viriato. After I found it, all my diners was at this restaurant. Had to have lunches in different place as they open late (to my schedule, not Spanish time). The food was amazing, especially the salad which I ate like I haven't had any food for days (damn it's hard writing about food when I didn't had any for 48 hours).
These are a couple places I liked. It's a bit of hit-and-miss, so just select a restaurant which might provide you what you like, and just test it.
That you will notice in the streets of Seville are street performers and disabled/homeless people. Unlike the "unfortunate" people I'm used to in my country, who just get in your face stinking and asking for money, I had a lot of respect for those people in Seville streets. Depending on their situation any of them are still trying to make some money by some means. Which I respect and was glad to give a few coins here and where. I even gave away my shoes to one person who had none. As I haven't got used to receiving thanks I try to disappear before someone understands what happened, but I would be lying if I said it didn't feel good hearing "Hola Amigo" for the next couple days.
I would also suggest to visit Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo. It has some art, and a nice place to walk around. This was an accidental find as I just looked at the map, saw a big splash of green and blue, made it my destination for that day, and started moving towards it. It's your choice what you're going to do there, but just walking around is nice - water, trees, quiet. At some point I chose to walk down the road, enjoying company of lizards near every tree. After walking around some abandoned space related area I chose to return through the park. Ah, what a beautiful park, just the way I like it.
A random tip: don't mix your eye drops with some other medication! After the drop hit my eye the first thought was "Why do I have a piece of burning lava in my eye?", the second was "Holy F*@# it hurts!"
To be continued...
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