Not to be confused with the https://europez2a.com/2017/04/17/the-boozer-of-seville/ from 7 years ago.  This version is a lot older, maybe not wiser, but certainly more aware of the potential plumbing situations on offer in these parts.  Each morning begins with bargaining with one’s own sub-conscious to expedite the morning movement before exploring the almost millennia aged buildings whose owners are still thanking the Romans for their sewage systems.

From a max of 15, we were now 5 descending, somewhat broken, on the eternally beautiful, if not temporarily sleepy city of Sevilla.  The streets laden with cloaked penitents of PS2017, were replaced with a handful of tourists sweltering in the sun and a super chilled vibe.

We had a cruisey couple of days, explored the Alcazar again, finally made it into the Cathedral, went to an awesome flamenco show and luckily, avoided a trip to hospital as James had bread soaked in chorizo oil (and the remnants of the naphthalene it was likely cooked in) slapped out of his hand after only one mouthful.  And we’re still not sure if Lea’s mastery of food and wine vocab in almost every langauge ended up helping or hindering some fellow tourists who she saved from ordering 2 BOTTLES of wine instead of 2 GLASSES.  She’s just lucky she didn’t do that to us!

From Sevilla, one down, 4 of us flew onto Basque country.  A second attempt at what we’d expected to do in FFS2019 (https://europez2a.com/ffs/), but had to change last minute.  A lovely night out in Bilbao, where our concierge broke into our room and we watched the local punters heave metal discs at a metal frog, was followed by the well waited trip to the Guggenheim.  A truly spectacular building, that lived up to the weight of expectation we’d given it, if not just a little “Gehry-ish”…

From Bilbao we were shepherded through the Basque country by a local guide to San Sebastian (the guide advised us of the memory tool for saying thank you as “a scary Costco”, as can been seen in the photos thanks to AI and an absent friend).  Along the way enjoying a local winery, viewing the unique 90 degree tilted stratigraphy along the coast and enjoying pinchos in a fishing village. 

San Sebastian was beautiful and the food was amazing, justifying its popularity.  The attention to detail where they skewered their patron with giant pintxo sticks on the side of a church was faith inspiring.  But it was definitely the most people we’d been exposed to on the entire tour. Despite the masses, the sight of us (or some of us at least) out the front of most bars caused many to wander in and James feeling we should be influencers….before being rudely/accurately corrected by a friend who suggested “under the influencers” might be more apt.