Karissa's European Adventure: Seville Day One-Home of Flamenco Dancing

Hola,

Our bus from Madrid to Seville was leaving at 8am so Chloe and I were up really early to shower and get the metro to the bus terminal on this morning. The bus terminal in Madrid was huge and there were so many buses going to all areas of Spain and surrounding areas. We had seats allocated for us right up the back of the coach and I slept and read my book for around the first four hours of the trip. I woke up sweating and frustrated because I was so hot on the bus and I remember looking out the window and thinking how dry and deserted it looked as we drove along.

At our first services stop we were again a little confused at how much time we had because the coach driver only spoke Spanish so we kept a close eye on other passengers to know when to get back onto the bus. I continued reading and tryed to avoid eye contact with a weird Spanish man who was drinking and constantly moving around and changing seats on the bus. He was saying all of these weird things to himself while people of the coach tried not to laugh as he obviously had a screw loose or had drank way to many beers that day ha.

When we arrived in Seville we decided to book our bus tickets for Lagos while we were at the bus terminal to save time. We waited in line and when we approached the lady at the window we spoke the little Spanish we knew to ask if we could buy tickets for two days time to go to Lagos. She was so rude and kept saying 'full' with a hopeless and mean look on her face. We had just spent all that time in the line and we couldn't believe how rude and unhelpful she was being. We were at a loss as she couldn't understand what we were trying to say so we walked off wondering what the hell we were going to do to get our bus tickets. We ended up going to an information box not far from the line and thankfully the guy spoke English and wrote down on a piece of paper for us to explain to the lady what tickets we wanted. We eventually ended up getting our tickets for Lagos and off we went. If I were to learn a second language I would definitely learn Spanish as it is used in so many European countries and would make it so much easier to communicate with the locals in Spain in the future.

We got a taxi to the Oasis Backpackers hostel and checked in and paid our key deposits. We were told that we were in a different building that was a few blocks from the main building which was a little disappointing and we set off to try and find it. The lady gave us some vague directions and we found ourselves lost in the streets of Seville in the heat with our extremely heavy backpacks on. I remember getting frustrated as I just wanted to find it as I'm sure Chloe did as well and we ended up going back and getting a male worker to guide us back in the right direction to find our buillding. When we arrived in our room we were happy with the facilities as we had our own kitchen, fridge and shared bathroom. The bunk beds looked really nice compared to some of the ones we had been staying in and the room was quite spacious.

It was really hot because the air conditioning wasn't working so Chloe and I decided to leave our bags and head to the supermarket to buy some food and drinks. I ended up buying some salami and cheese along with my usual magnet to send home to my family in Australia. The town was pretty dead and really quite as they were having siesta time in Seville and all of the shops were closed.

When we returned to our hostel room Chloe and I had a few vodka and pineapples while we snacked on Edam cheese and crackers. We spent time getting to know the two 19 year old girls from QLD who were in our room and they seemed easy going like us and were really lovely. We then got ready to head up to the roof top bar for some cheap sangria's and to check out what the pool looked like. When we got to the rooftop area we didn't take long to get into a few sangria's while we chatted and ate pintxos and olives by the small pool. It was so nice and relaxing, the Spanish bar tenders were really nice and the drinks were only 1 Euro each so we decided to stay for around an hour before heading to a traditional Flamenco show.

Seville is the home of Flamenco and we were excited to be taken to a traditional flamenco show with people from our hostel. I had seen a flamenco show in Barcelona on Contiki and I wasn't all that impressed so I was looking forward to seeing what the differences between the shows were as our tour guide explained that there are no traditional and authentic shows in Barcelona and they are purely a show for tourists. As we walked along the beautiful streets of Sevilla (Seville) I loved the small cobbled streets and the truly Spanish feel the city had to offer. It was exactly what I imagined Spain to be as we walked past small little tapas bars and elegant restaurants.

We were lead into a small restaurant and offered a free sangria on arrival as we walked through into a dimly lit room for our flamenco show. They had candles lit and chairs placed around a wooden table in the middle of the room. We sipped on our sangria and chatted as we waited for the flamenco dancers to arrive. We were introduced to the flamenco singer and guitarist and they started to perform for us, they were so passionate and serious about their performance which was impressive. They were well dressed and extremely talented which was a change from the flamenco show I saw in Barcelona.

We learnt from the tour guide that there are four main aspects to flamenco, the main aspect being the singer then the guitarist, the clapping and lastly but most famously is the dancer. I loved watching the female flamenco dancer as she performed a beautiful and strong performance. She almost looked like she was crying because she was so passionate about the dance and the music. They female and the male dancers performed a dance individually before changing outfits and then dancing together as a couple. I had never watched a male flamenco dancer before and I couldn't take my eyes off him as he danced as he looked so powerful which was quite hot!lol Chloe said the dancing reminded her of Strictly ballroom and we loved the flamenco show. On the way back to the hostel we found out that the female dancer was from a very well known Spanish family and had just returned from dancing in Japan! I was so glad we got to experience a quality flamenco show in Seville and it shit all over the one I saw in Barlcelona lol .

After the Flamenco show Chloe and I walked through streets of busy tapas bars and decided to get some dinner. I had swordfish in a stew like casserole as I like to try new and interesting foods and it was delicious and very flavoursome. Chloe and I had some more wine and enjoyed our tapas style meals before trying to find our way home through the maze of streets which reminded me a little of the streets in Venice. The streets were really quite as we finished dinner pretty late and Chloe and I found our way back to the hostel by remembering shop fronts and restaurants. I was already falling in love with Seville and couldn't wait to explore more of the sights the next day.