twenties are for travelling

Our friends Rosie and Chris came to visit us in Seville. I wanted to be a great host, but there were a few things working against me:

1 – We weren’t actually living in Seville but in the mountains. When I was in Seville I was studying 9-5 every day, so I didn’t get to see that much. I didn’t have much of an insider’s view itinerary planned.
2 – Ian had to work lots.
3 – I had not been very organised with booking accommodation, so instead of having a nice apartment we ended up lumped in a 4-bed room (with ensuite at least) in a hostel. Finding even this involved much drama and trauma that is better forgotten.

At least I could speak the language okay by now.

Nonetheless Rosie and Chris were uber-appreciative of the supposed hospitality I eked out in a city that I knew relatively little about, and it was so awesome to catch up with our good friends from Cambridge. Mel, our translator friend that Ian works with, took us to an amazing Flamenco show on Saturday night, and we found a great little café where we had breakfast most days.

The benefit of Ian’s work was it gave us a reason to travel into the mountains and I finally got a look at the caves at Aracena, which were breathtaking and well exceeded my expectations. It’s not called ‘Gruta de las Maravillas’ for nothing.

On their last day Rosie and Chris had to head back to Seville unexpectedly early due to mountain travel arrangements. This turned out well, because they ended up going to the Alcazar, which I hadn’t had the chance to do. Rosie told me it was an absolute must-see before I left Spain.

And I was supposed to be the one showing them all the best places! Such is life.