Day 8 – Tavira, Portugal to Seville, Spain

Today was hot. Did you know one of the hottest cities in Europe right now is Sevilla, and that is where we are headed for the next four days? This morning we had a leisurely pack and breakfast in Tavira, returning to our breakfast stop from yesterday. The coffees were beautiful, and the food was delicious, so we went to the same restaurant for a rare round two.

Packing is becoming easier as we cram our packs and find side pockets for our sandals and souvenirs.  We headed out of our AirBnB, waved goodbye to our host through the open door to her dress shop, and tripped down towards the bus station.

I fell behind because I found the most fantastic shop with hand-painted tile, and I could not resist chatting with the artist and looking at her beautiful work. Jen doesn’t know – but I grabbed her email, so maybe I can order some once we return home… she will love it!

We shlepped our bags into the bus station and dumped them onto a bench. Here Jen, Evan, Addison, and Priscilla left Kate and me to watch the bags as they ran back into town to view the camera obscura. Jen is going to insert something here about how great camera obscuras are and how they helped pave the way for photography as we know it today, and this particular camera obscura is really cool because of all the things she is going to tell you – just read…

OMG, yes – Jen here. First of all, now I know about the tiles. And that explains Kendra disappearing, now on to camera obscuras. They have been around since the Paleolithic era. Basically, you make a hole in a wall of a darkened room, and the image outside can be seen on the wall opposite the hole. Upside down. And eventually, that led to photography, with lots in between.

The camera obscura in Tavira is built into an old water tower, and the projection was onto a large white disc in the center of the viewing platform. The guide was a lovely British man who now resides in Portugal. He skillfully moved the camera and gave us a live tour of the city from a bird’s-eye view. It. Was. Awesome.

Back to me – Kendra. Kate was reading a book on her iPod and sat plugged in, nestled between bags, and I moved a bottle of frozen water from my neck to my shoulders and back to my neck again while catching up on some of our reservation correspondence.

Jen and the crew arrived just in time for our bus, but our bus did not arrive for another 10 to 15 minutes. The driver swung into the slated spot and opened the luggage hold for us. No one got on or off the bus except for the six of us and every seat was taken once we woke people, moved them out of our seats, and gave in to people who would not move and took the remaining seats spread throughout the bus.

I am sure there were rolling hills and vegetation, maybe some fields of solar panels or livestock –  however, I can’t tell you about them because I was knocked out and only woke when my leg bumped against the man spread next to me or when I snored and startled myself awake. Time changed by an hour as I slept, and we were delivered to a much larger bus station in Sevilla.

Packs back on, heat wilting our bodies, we pulled up our resolve and headed to the streets for a sweltering walk to our Airbnb. The busy metropolitan streets gave way to cobblestones and winding roads with sidewalks that widened and contracted with the shape of each building. We scuttled from shaded patch to shaded patch until we were in streets lined with orange trees and restaurants with umbrellas out, waiting for the heat to end and diners to come back out of their homes and hotels.

Our Airbnb could not be more lovely. Elevators, endless AC, clean, and the most impressive central location. We can see the cathedral from our windows and are close enough to pop out to see the sights and pop right back for some ac or a siesta.

Dinner was tapas (obviously) at a lovely place Jen found. We walked past their wall of cheese and a gorgeous raw edge wood table into the dark eclectic restaurant. We had goat cheese in puff pastry with orange jam, white asparagus, spinach and chickpeas, a Spanish egg omelet, artichoke hearts in a light pesto, a considerable wedge of blue cheese with walnuts, and dried fruit, Russian salad, crusty rolls, salami and chorizo, meatballs, Sevillian salad, and finally, chocolate mousse, creme brule, rice pudding, and pears marinated in red wine drizzled in chocolate.

After rolling back to the apartment, we showered, drank giant glasses of water, quickly checked for tomorrow’s tickets, backward planned our day, and said goodnight!