We checked out from Gaudy Hostel today. We didn't booked any flight or train tickets to Sevilla as we had decided to take bus to the Andalusia.

The bag started to feel heavy hehehehe and we've bought our bekal for the day at the shop nearby. Bottles of mineral water, chocolate bars and Lays.. Yup we are now officially Lays-addict. Two big packets of onion flavoured Lays and eat with spinach speghetti.. a must.

We took a taxi to Estación del Sur to tak a bus to Sevilla. The station is quite a distance away from Madrid Gran Via and actually accessible by metro. But the hostel operator did not recommend it especially we are lugging heavy bags along as we need to change stations.

Taking his advise, we took a taxi to the bus station. It is a big station for long distance buses. All the ticket counters are at ground level while the buses waiting at the open lower ground level. Unlike in Puduraya where pollution from the smoke could choke you to death, the open lower level allow better ventilation and all the glass windows allow you to see whether the buses are at the berths or not.

Escalator and lifts made it easy for tourists and locals alike to carry their bags down to the berth areas so that we do not have to deal with steep steps and risk of falling and break our necks.

It took me a while to locate the counter that sells tickets to Sevilla. At last I gave up and asked Jules to take over. Jules went straight to the information/tourists counter and asked for the proper counter. Duh! Why didn't I think of doing THAT before.

We bought the bus tickets for EUR 15.99 per person for the six hour ride from Madrid to Sevilla. The bus will leave the station at noon so it would reach San Estación de Autobuses del Prado de San Sebastián in Sevilla by 6pm. I guess it would give us more time to browse for hostel. You see, we were not able to book any hostel from internet in Madrid so what we did was jotted down a few hostel names and numbers with hope that they have empty rooms for us.

there was no coin operated bag compartment anywhere so Jules offered to look after the bags while I took the opportunity browsing the shops at the bus station. They have quite an interesting type of shops. From the normal bakery that sells many type of breads and coffee, cafes to chocolates shops to this one shop selling key chain with your names and meaning.. but not really my cup of tea.

By 11.45am, we were ready to go down the berth area and look for our bus. Found the bus. So nice! Its look more like tourist bus rather than a normal express bus. Spacious and colourful with EUR 15.99 sign on both sides of the windows. We got the second last row seat. The bus has spacious bag compartment underneath and a toilet hehehe. Not bad for EUR 15.99.

MR. PAMIENTO

There was this mamat sit on the next aisle. He was alone. He looked like Adam Sandler hehehehe... Jules mentioned it to me. We called him " Mr pemiento".

As usual, I would automatically felt sleepy right after we hit the road. Furthermore I got the window seat so, bum! dead to the world. Open my eyes just enough to watch the scenery and then to the dreamland. Jules on the other hand could not asleep and was restless. The guy next to her was also restless as he could not fold his long legs to find a comfort area to lie down and sleep, so he kept bumping into Jules.

He had too much stuff inside his backpack. CDs, player and even a sound box! While he was rummaging his beg, his cute beanbag dinasour fell off.. kakakakakaka A man with stuffed dinasour? Jules laugh when she told me this.. well I was lost in my dreamland and missed that. Why we called him Pamiento?

Well, while he was looking for something inside the backpack, he took out his passport as well. He is from Chile.. so chillies in Spanish is pamiento.. so thats how he got the nickname pamiento.

After three hour ride, the bus stopped at restaurant for the passengers to stretch their legs and get some sustenance. At first we want to stay in the bus coz it was cold out there, but we were shooed out by the driver.. grrrrr!

Bought some more chocolate in the stop-over store. The heater was in full blast. Got a bit uncomfortable with the artificial heat. Like in Malaysia, the goods sold at stop over stores are a bit expensive. So we did not spent too much there. There are sandwiches sold at the cafes, but of course we could not eat the sandwiches, but it was very tempting though especially with the cold weather.. hahahaha

The stop was about half-an-hour. When we emerged from the cafe, our bus had just parked at the parking bay, next to an identical bus.. errr... which one is ours?

Jules said she recognise the bus driver.. yea! I didnt. And it seems I was not the only one. The identical bus was on the way from Sevilla to Madrid.. we are heading to Sevilla. So when the bus to Madrid moved out, suddenly this one guy who was sitting behind me on the bus started running for the bus.. aik? None of us even other passengers stopped him.. kekekeke

I guess he caught up with the bus and the driver told him that they were heading towards Madrid rather than Sevilla coz when we boarded our bus, he came huffing and puffing..

Jules said to me that we should have stopped him... and suddenly Mr pamiento replied.. "the bus looked the same." aaa? he can speak English? Jules looked at me and I stared back :-p

6.30pm
We reached Cardona and I was so mesmerized with the quaint town. I thought we've reached Sevilla already and I was quite worried.. How can we find a hotel at this small town.. but no we still have a few kilometres away before we reaching the bus station.

An hour later we were already at the San Estación de Autobuses del Prado de San Sebastián which is opposite Plaza de Armas an old train station that has been converted into shopping arcade complete with supermarcedonia and a cinema.

We lugged our bags up at the bus counter first trying to find payphones to call the hostel numbers that we jotted down at the internet centre in Madrid but WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO OPERATE THE PUBLIC PHONE.

Pathetic I know but we kept feeding the coins and stillwe could not talk to the person on the other line. Fed up, Jules used her handphone to make calls. Unfortunately all the hostels that we we called were fully booked. I was almost panic. Where would we sleep tonite? It is already 7.20pm and yet we could not find accomodation.

Jules suggested that we gambled our fate for the nite. Maybe we could find a cheap hostel with empty room to spare for the nite. Otherwise we may have to find a hotel and forked out money to pay for hefty accomodation.

Alhamdulillah, while walking around the Plaza, Jules saw a small hostel sign opposite the road. We went inside and asked for the room. They have rooms. YEA! EUR42 with bathroom and EUR38 without. Obviously we opted with the attached bathroom. The room was on the second floor so we have to go up the winding stairs and another narrow staircase before reaching our errr cute room. The room was low ceiling, just enough for two creaking beds and a space for solat. The bathroom was tinier, enough for shower area and toilet. Squeezzeeee me!

Actually it was not a bad choice. The hostel may be farther away from the main attraction but there are always the choice to walk or take a cab. Furthermore, we can see the othe part of the city besides the tourists attraction.

Settled for the night, we ate whatever food that we have, breads and Lays and chocolate. We ran out of mineral water but too tired to go down and buy water.. Jules told me that she was so thirsty, she drank tap water.. my poor friend.