Sevilla, Spain

My overnight bus got me into the Plaza de Armas around 5am. Needless to say I hadn't slept much. I made my way to the hostel which was mercifully nearby and deposited my gear before borrowing their couch for a nap until 9am. When I awoke I was very confused. I was surrounded by strangers on some foreign couch, no immediate recollection of where I was or how I got there, and for some reason everyone was eating breakfast and staring at me. What is going on here?!... ohhhh yeah, now I remember. Ovenright bus, Sevilla, couch.

So after shaking off the mental cobwebs and excusing myself for occupying the entire couch I dashed for the bathroom for a much needed shower. When I came out of the shower, much to my surprise (again), guess who I found occupying the very space I had just been counting sheep (again)? Yep- the ex. I swear I can't make this stuff up. She was in town visiting a guy she is "road dating" which is a term I just created for someone dated briefly while traveling. We'll see if it catches on.

This time, however, we knew we were both possibly going to be in Sevilla in/around the same time so I had sent her an email telling her that I was arriving Friday morning to avoid any unpleasantries. That said, we had no idea we were in the same hostel. In fact, the only reason we both ended up there is because her road b/f works there and it was the only hostel I could find for less than 30 euros thanks to Feria. Oh wait, so I should talk about Feria!

Much like Oktoberfest celebrates the harvest and coming of autumn, Feria celebrates the coming of spring. And equally like Oktoberfest there is a carnival, tents, copious drinking, and great music. The difference is that the men wear suits, the women wear these great dresses that look like feather dusters, and everyone dances a special dance all night. Oh, and the drink of choice is the rebujito (sherry wine mixed with 7-up). Also like Oktoberfest, the festival locks up hostels and hotels especially on the weekend. But before we get to Feria, there is a walking tour and a palace to talk about.

The most interesting element of the walking tour to me was the Plaza de Espana. Apparently some years back the Spanish felt bad about all of the colonization, theft, genocide, etc. so they invited the former colonies to build buildings representing their countries in Sevilla. Spain itself, not to be outdone, built a gigantic plaza symbolizing all of Spain. Very apologetic, ha. The half-hearted apology notwithstanding, this is an excellent plaza. It has been featured in a number of movies including as a Naboo palace in the Star Wars prequels and forthcoming in the film The Dictator.

After that we stopped at the old tobacco factory which (due to all the money flowing in from the colonies) looks more like a palace. We found out that this was where the great opera Carmen is set. Since I have seen that opera I actually knew what our guide was talking about, finally! After the walking tour Janis (a guy from Latvia who had hitchhiked all the way to Spain) and I decided to check out the Alcazar palace. Arguably the best interior feature is the Patio de las Doncellas. Clearly the best exterior feature is the hedge Labyrinth, which would have been really confusing except that the tops of the hedges were just at my eye level so I could see where we were going. I'm just too dern tall for Spain.

Next up was heading back to the hostel but not before I gave myself a scare. Janis and I stopped to get him some cigs at a kiosk and I collected some vitamin-c (still fighting off a cold). I went to pay and left my freakin iphone sitting on some candy. Got back to the hostel and realized it was gone and went into a mild panic. Then I calmed down and decided if that was the will of the universe then so be it, I can't control it. Anyway, I decided to walk back down to the kiosk just in case it was there fully expecting it to be gone. Barb was nice enough to accompany me- which is hilariously appropriate because we've held the exact opposite roles many times over the years tracking down her lost stuff. Finally I'm the one losing something, ha! Anyway, the guy at the kiosk had it and I was so ecstatic and thankful I bought a ton of snacks from him.

Back at the hostel we occupied the gazebo on the rooftop terrace for a few glasses of sangria in preparation for the night's festivities. Around midnight we went out, first stopping into a bar and finally heading to Feria. As I said, the best way I can describe it is a Spanish Oktoberfest. The flashing neon lights of the carnival portion is mesmerizing.

Inside the tents well dressed Spaniards drink rebujitos and dance the night away. In the private tents (which far outnumber the public ones), the atmosphere is more refined and people really take the festival seriously.

In the public tents people come dressed in whatever just to experience the mayhem. In all the past week has been crazy. I would highly recommend to friends interested in a week long good time to go to Portugal/Spain at this time of year because you have the Portugal Independence Day and Feria. I'd say do 2/3 nights in Porto, 3 nights in Lisbon, and 2/3 nights in Sevilla during Feria. And hopefully the year you go wont be record setting for cold and rain!