Plaza del Salvador

For me, there was so much going on in Seville, this is a place I could really get used to. The city was really closed up in the day, come afternoon, the place comes to life with people eating outside, bars and romance.

Seville electric micro bus

Navigating the tight streets of Seville, I saw a fleet of smaller electric powered buses transport a limited number of people around, I looked on with interest.

I wonder if these buses are still in the trial phase, I am not sure if the size and carrying capacity makes this fleet currently viable, it is definitely worth trialing. As the technology develops, larger buses and fleets may be the future of sustainable public transport.

Seville shop front

Wandering the lanes of Seville, I shuffled past this wonderful shop and couldn't but help but stop and take a snap of this shop front. For me, this is Seville all over.

Paseo Vicente Aleixandre

Because of the heat, I was out and about in Seville early, this had the advantage of no crowds and cool temperatures. Hanging out in parks reading a book was a pretty good way to spend the late morning. Apparently, the park was named after the prominent Seville surrealistic poet who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. As the afternoon heat kicked in, it was time to head back to the hostel and kick back for a while before heading out in the afternoon.

Seville shade cloth

There is no denying it, Seville is hot in summer, really hot. So, it is a brilliant idea to erect shade cloth between the buildings, not only is this really nice to look at, the drop in temperatures is amazing.

Not everywhere is covered in shade, the places that are tend to be in the tourist friendly areas, this gives the city of Seville a distinct look and feel - wonderful place.

I loved this place, the city is both scenic and large enough to not do the same thing every day yet small enough to be personable. 

A fiesta

Maybe leaving my passport in my hotel room was a positive after all, we headed across to La Línea de la Concepción and right into a fiesta. Already forgotten about not making it across to Gibraltar, just a distant memory now.

The streets were alive, music pumping, young and old together in a great big street party. When people were still showing up at three in the afternoon, this party was going to go all night.

The women were dressed in old style flamenco dresses, colourful, once again, young girls, teens, adults and even older women.

There was dancing in the streets, drinking sangria and some other lemon style drink and of course beer.

We enjoyed the sprit of the Spanish festival, you get the feeling the Spanish are living for the moment.

A day in Gibraltar gone wrong

We took the bus from sleepy Algeciras to Gibraltar, once on the bus, it was an "oh no" moment, my passport was back in the hotel room. Still, I wasn't sure, the rest of Europe has an open border system, I hadn't once shown my passport moving between countries once we landed in Rome.

Today wasn't the case, full immigration inspection at the border, our view of Gibraltar was from the border.

I don't think there is much to actually see in Gibraltar, but now we will never know. I have viewed Google maps, there doesn't seem to be much. By the scores of English tourists filing across the border with bag in tow, I guess this is the aircraft hub from the UK.

You could see a number of hotels in the distance, more like a place to land and sleep.

The time was midday, I quickly raced back to the bus station to check on the bus timetable, the next one was 2:15, the one after 3:45 and the 7:00 had been cancelled for some time.

So, I walked back to McDonalds where I had prearranged to meet Noriko, of course, she was nowhere to be found, back to the bus station just in case she went there, once again, no Noriko.

The chances of us spending the day in La Línea de la Concepción were fading, instead this day was rapidly shrinking, today was turning out to be yet another disaster.