Sizzling Hot Sevilla, Ronda & Granada

It’s been over a month since I left Quinta Pomar, the beautiful town of Tavira and Portugal and crossed the border into Spain. And gosh, how different it is in Spain!

Sevilla

My first stop in Spain was Sevilla. After spending all that time in the small, sleepy and very pretty whitewashed town of Tavira, I was excited to travel to a bigger and more vibrant city but it surprised me how jarring the experience was! The contrast was huge!

This was my first time in Sevilla and I’ve always heard so many people speak so positively about Sevilla but the contrast with Tavira was so big, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. The energy in Sevilla felt hot and heavy.

I arrived during the last days of a heatwave, it was 43°C when I stepped off the bus and it felt like walking in a hot air oven. It also happened to be Corpus Christi, a religious holiday and the streets were filled with thousands of people trying to see all the holy statues on display throughout the city.

And I struggled a bit with food in Sevilla. The opening hours of restaurants in Spain are not very compatible with my own eating schedule, everything opens so late here. Many breakfast places only open after 9 or 9:30 and dinner places after 8:30pm. By then I’m already starving! I also struggled to find places where they offered nice non-meat options…

But it’s not all doom and gloom, I definitely enjoyed some plenty in Sevilla – visiting the Royal Alcazar, Casa de Pilates, the Jewish Quarter, the Maria Luisa Park, Las Setas, …

Casa de Pilates

And this might be weird to say but somehow certain areas of the city reminded me of India. I’m not entirely sure why, I think it was the combination of hot temperatures, exotic trees, colonial style architecture and the colour schemes of the buildings (a lot of dark reds and yellows).

Ronda

Next stop was Ronda. Ronda is a small historical town about 2hrs by bus from Sevilla. It has a spectacular location, on top of cliffs, with an old bridge connecting two parts of the town across a deep gorge. The views from the town are simply stunning. This sort of town is more of what I like! More quiet, less people, more nature, …

There are lots of walks you can do around town enjoying the many viewpoints. And there are a few hikes through the countryside for those who wouldn’t mind going a bit further while enjoying the gorgeous landscapes. And I wish I could have done some of those longer hikes but unfortunately …

Not a Cold But … Oh Damn It!

While I was still in Sevilla I started to get a light cold from the air-conditioning in the hostel, or at least that’s what I was convinced it was. Just a lightly runny nose, a light cough and some muscle aches (only the first day). Since it’s quite common for me to get colds from air-conditioning while traveling (I usually avoid staying in air-conditioned accommodation unless it’s extremely hot – above 35°C), I didn’t think too much about it. It seemed like lots of people had a cold in Sevilla by the way, so many people were sneezing and coughing in the streets…

Because I was planning to stay at my friend Kathy’s place in Almuñecar for a while and wanted to be sure I wouldn’t infect her with covid, I did a rapid covid test while in Ronda and to my shock it turned out to be positive. My guess is that I got infected while staying in the hostel (or possibly on the bus from Tavira to Sevilla).

And of course ideally you should isolate when you test positive, though it’s not mandatory to do anymore in Spain. And when you’re traveling solo it is actually quite difficult to isolate perfectly cause you need to eat and you need to go outside for that. And with hotels and transport booked and no option to cancel without loosing all the money it’s tricky.

So ultimately I took the middle road. I did rest and isolate as much as possible in my room, but I also got myself some FFP2 masks at the pharmacy to wear while outside and more importantly inside when I needed to buy food at the supermarket. I sometimes ate at restaurants but only outside and if there was lots of space to keep distance from other people. I would go on short walks occasionally, which allowed me to get some fresh air and see my location a bit, always keeping my distance from people, making sure there was no chance I could infect anyone.

I tested myself daily and after a few days I only got the faintest of lines, which supposedly means you’re still positive but your virus load or contagiousness is likely very low. On day 10 after my symptoms started I finally tested 100% negatively. And even after that I was careful and kept on masking up indoors.

I’ll be extra careful for a while longer cause I don’t want to get infected again while on the road. While my symptoms were pretty light, I did feel quickly exhausted for a few weeks while my body recovered and it’s just a hassle while traveling.

Granada

I traveled from Ronda to Granada by train. Luckily there were hardly any people on the train, which made it very easy for me to keep my distance. And of course I was masked all the time.

I enjoyed Granada, it’s still a relatively big city but it’s smaller than Sevilla and the energy felt more relaxed. The architecture in Granada seems softer, the colour palette as well. And I found more food options to my liking.

The Alhambra is absolutely stunning and well worth a visit. It’s much bigger than the Alcazar in Sevilla, so if you ever traveling in the South of Spain and have limited time I’d choose Granada with the Alhambra rather than Sevilla and the Royal Alcazar.

Next post I’ll take you along to Almuñecar, Cordoba and Mérida!

AlhambraAndalusiadigital nomadGranadaRondaSevillaSpainthe journey