12-Hour Bus Trip from Lisbon to Algeciras, Spain via Seville

—

Day 5: 12-Hour Bus Trip from Lisbon to Algeciras, Spain via Seville – 01 Jan 2010

What can I say? A bus trip is a bus trip. Thankfully the bus route was in operation this morning and we departed on time for Seville. I had never been an international “long haul” bus trip before and I didn’t know what kind of amenities, if any, would be available onboard.

The bus was not all that different than a modern Greyhound, except it had no electrical outlets or wi-fi onboard. The legroom was tight, but the bus was not filled so I had two seats to myself.

the seats in a vehicle

a green hill with trees and a blue sky

The bus company must have a nice arrangement set up with a roadside gas station/cafeteria we stopped at halfway through the day. I thought the prices were ridiculous (12EU for a slice of lasagna?) but the bus driver had a large slice of lasagna, a big bowl of soup, some fruit, a few rolls, and a large beverage—about 25EU worth of food and was waved past the cashier. Nice job perk.

The ride went quickly. I had planned to get some work done for law school, but ended up sleeping through a lot of the trip. We arrived in Seville in the early evening and I had about an hour before my connection to Algecerias.

a building next to a body of water

a tall building next to a body of water

a statue of a man on a horse

a bus parked at a bus station

There was a bus change and my new bus had “Star Class” on both sides of it. I had hoped the seats would be a little roomier, but they were even tighter—and there was no “exit row” seats on this bus or the previous one.

a close-up of a white van

a group of people in a bus station

seats in a bus with blue seats

Still, the ride to Algecerias went by quickly and we arrived just after 2100. Having only had a sandwich and apple earlier in the day, I was quite hungry and immediately looked for a restaurant. I found some great shawarma near by that was reasonably priced and filled up before trying to locate the hostel.

When it comes to finding hostels, I usually attempt to find it myself based on the direction provided when I make the reservation, but half the time I end up asking people for directions. After a half hour of tomfoolery, I finally just asked a shop owner if he knew where my hostel was. Turned out it was one block away. At least I was on the right track…

The hostel owner did not speak English, so we communicated in German. The room was about $30, but was a private with a clean bathroom and hot water. What more could I ask for?

Wi-Fi. But I survived.

a bed with a wooden headboard

a shower door in a bathroom

1 Comment

Stuart Schreiber Reply

November 18, 2012 at 3:50 pm

Hi. I made a similar bus trip last week from Algeciras to Seville, then Seville to Lisbon. In Spain, we passed through a city with a huge public sculpture of a nude male torso. Do you know what city this was? I was very impressed with the sculpture, and the bus passed right by it TWICE. It was in the middle of a traffic circle… Please let me know…