Month: February 2025

At the end of last month’s account of our post-Christmas vacation in Portugal, we were about to board a bus to Seville on New Year’s Day. After our previous two attempts to book transport were cancelled, we were not optimistic that we would be able to get out of Portugal, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the bus waiting for us. Alas, that pleasantness soon dissipated once we met our driver. He barked at all of the passengers, including two young women who were confused about where to stow their luggage and me when I asked about the bathroom (“Sem banheiro!”). With an eight-hour journey ahead of us, my bladder immediately started sending out anxiety signals. Fortunately, we did stop for lunch. Afterward, the driver yelled at my wife and I for eating on board (it wasn’t clear whether he wanted the food off the bus or us). But all of this aggravation was put in the past once we arrived in Seville. Coming into a new town in darkness is not ideal—it’s difficult to get oriented and we didn’t even know if any restaurants would be open. Fortunately, we found a tapas bar and discovered the low cost of alcohol in Spain (less than 30 Euro for dinner and three glasses of wine!). I was in love. We finished the night with a walk around town and enjoyed the bright Christmas lights still hanging in the streets.

Over the next few days we hit a few of the …