ESN Trip to Tarifa y Conil

After missing the trip to Seville because I didn’t have an ESN card I decided to get my act together and get a place on the next trip, which was to Tarifa and Conil. I finally got round to getting an ESN card then decided to sign up for the trip, I had to fill in a quick form online and then go into university to the ESN people and pay the €12 for the trip. When I got to university I was told that the coach they had booked was full and that there were not yet enough people to book a second one, but they would take my money so that if there were enough people for a second coach then I could go and if not I would get a refund. So I waited for the Facebook update to say whether or not I was going and other final details.

Due to the bad weather there was no certainty over what the plans were going to be, originally we were meant to be spending time on the beach, but this had to change. Also there was some debate over what time we should leave, 10am or 12 noon, there was a poll on Facebook which I didn’t vote for as I wasn’t particularly fussed when we left. In the end it was decided that there was enough people for two coaches and that we would leave at 10am, so I set my alarm for 8am – way too early for me! So that I could get to the coach on time to leave. When we reached the meeting place we thought the coaches were already there but it was just tours from the cruise ship, I thought a few of them looked a bit too old to be Erasmus. Our coaches did show up shortly and we joined the queue to get on, unfortunately there wasn’t enough space for the group of us to get on the same coach, so we split up, there were no seats left together so we found ourselves in the odd seats that were still available. My new neighbour quickly fell asleep and I read a few chapters of Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal before needing a nap to make up for the early start.

I woke up just as we were arriving in Tarifa, the weather hadn’t improved at all it was still overcast and when we left the coach to visit the castle it started to rain, perfect. The castle was lovely, with some nice views, you could see Africa in across the sea, although I’m sure everything looks a lot better in the sunshine! We took refuge in the old church part of the castle until most of the rains passed and then went up onto the castle walls, unfortunately with so many of us it got a bit crowded, so Geo, Claire, Kath, Hannah and I decided to look around the rest of the castle on our own. It was much more pleasant with less people, although it was upsetting not to have the lovely ESN flag to follow everywhere. We joined the group again as they left the castle, they were handing out maps of Tarifa for the next couple of hours we could wander around on our own or follow the ESN flag some more on a wander around the town, after following the flag into the Old part of Tarifa we decided to peel off from the group and do some exploring of our own.

Geo, Alice, Hannah, Kath and Jana wanted to do some shopping, whereas Claire and I wanted some food, an orange for breakfast was not enough! We found a Pizzeria that looked nice and cosy with decent priced pizza for Claire and I resolved to find an option on the menu that I would like (I don’t eat pizza). We sat down and decided what we wanted to eat and the waiters who were very friendly fetched us some drinks, they also gave us warm bread with chilli oil which was really nice. The food arrived and it was delicious, I’ve really missed Lamb! I can’t find much of it here and admittedly it wasn’t how my mum does it, but still good. We took our sweet time eating, as the weather outside was horrible, it had started tipping it down with rain again. The waiters didn’t mind, they chatted to us a bit and we decided that we would go and find a shop and pick up some snacks for the coach. We didn’t find quite what we were after but instead we came across a sweet shop and bought ourselves some sweets, not overly nutritious but tasty. We got a text from the girls who had gone shopping to ask what we were up to, as it was 20 mins until we were due to leave we decided to head back to the coach to sit somewhere dry. Unfortunately for us the coaches were not there, so we stood outside a shop and waited for the coaches trying to shelter from the rain as much as possible. The other girls showed up just before the coaches arrived and we got back on, we were told that we were next going to Bolonia, but asked if we first wanted to visit the supermarket to buy some alcohol for the night. Of course we all said yes and so 2 coaches of ESN members descended on the Mercadona alcohol aisle, we were given 15 minutes and I felt a little bit like I was a contestant on supermarket sweep trying to find some cups, Kath and I bought a bottle of Vodka and some Sprite to share later. We should have been spending the afternoon on the beach, instead  because of the weather we had an hour to visit the museum and roman ruins in Bolonia.

It was only a short coach ride to the museum so I managed to stay awake, it was nice to look at some of the scenery, which was quite stunning even with the grey skies. When we arrived it was easy to see why the ESN people had planned to spend the day at this beach, it was lovely, but instead we were given a brief yet informative talk on the history of the area, to provide some background information on the museum. It was a bit hard to hear at times, and although there was a megaphone it didn’t seem to be of much use, shouting may have been better. So off we pottered to the museum, which was free for EU citizens and €1,50 for everyone else. The museum was very nice, but not very big, I much preferred walking around the Roman ruins outside, thankfully it wasn’t raining! It was quite interesting, I like historical stuff anyway, the Fish Factory that the ESN people had been talking about was particularly good to look at. We headed back into the museum to grab a drink from the ‘café’ which was in fact a room with some vending machines in it, then waited outside again for the coach, the drivers seemed to be having a bit of a bromance going on, which promptly ended when the rain returned and they each hopped back on their coaches and we quickly followed. Some people were late to return to the coach and as forfeit they had to each sing a song before boarding, I quickly resolved never to be late back to the coach.

We were then taken away to a picturesque white village on a mountain, I had a nap on the coach, I really do need plenty of sleep! When we arrived the weather was picking up, could even see some clear skies for a change, some of the girls decided that they were quite tired, and didn’t want to stay out until 4am so asked at the tourist office what bus would take them back to Cádiz and bought tickets for it. Claire, Kath, Geo and I met a German girl names Kyra and we decided to wander off and explore the town independently, the ESN people had kindly provided us with maps and given us some recommendations for things to do. We wandered off up the hill to some lookouts with lovely views, then walked along further to see some of the towns historical features such as the church and some gates. We stumbled across a restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Espana that had an outdoor seated area that was so pretty that we simply couldn’t pass without eating there. It was such a pretty little place to eat, we ordered some drinks and then after a browse of the menu we ordered some food, the waiter told us that because they cook everything on a proper barbeque we would have to wait perhaps 20 minutes for our food as they hadn’t lit the fire for the day yet. We agreed as we were in no rush and the place was so cute that it would be fine to wait 20 minutes for food. Almost an hour later the food finally arrived, I ordered a burger and it was very nice – and massive! I was completely stuffed by the end of it as my lunch had also been quite large. We could see the ESN flag appear in the Plaza de Espana along with all the ESN people, they took some photos by the fountain and sat down just out of view, presumably for a drink or something. When they left we decided to get the bill as we were due back on the coach in 15 minutes and there was no way I was singing a song! We wandered back down to the coach in plenty of time, as it turned out there were a lot of Italians who arrived quite late and therefore had to do the Macarena for those in the coach to watch which was quite entertaining.

On the journey to Conil we were told the plan for the evening, botellon then to a bar to meet the Cordoba ESN group and then a club. Then they taught us the chant that we had for Cádiz which we had to shout louder than the ESN Cordoba group. The rest of the journey was spent getting us all in the party spirit by playing music, unfortunately some of it was over the microphone (I think) and sounded god awful, or perhaps I’m just a scrooge, luckily for the rest of the time they stuck to the radio / CD’s which sounded much clearer. We arrived in Conil and the boys were sent off the coach for the girls to change, being my lazy self I didn’t change for the night out, then we got off and started our own little botellon with the side of the coach left open for us to dump our alcohol should the policia arrive to ruin our fun. The downside to botellons is the distinct lack of toilets, but other than that it was fine to pass a few hours drinking and chatting, at one point one of the coach drivers took a girl onto his coach and let her drive it a bit, which was quite scary for us bystanders, I didn’t fancy being crushed by a coach. But all was well and the coach drivers continued in there slightly predatory ways talking to everyone. We headed off to the clubs, feeling rather tipsy by now, a few rounds of shots and a vodka and lemonade later I was thoroughly drunk. We encountered the ESN Cordoba group outside the bar and did our chanting before we all headed inside, at some point (I can’t quite remember) Claire, Kath and I went to the bar next door where the barman was very nice and gave us some free shots and didn’t object when I told him to put more vodka in my vodka and lemonade, he also let Claire use his computer to check the Ryder Cup Scores. Geo came in to find us and received a free shot also, from then on my memory of the night is completely blank, I was horrifically drunk and Claire and Geo have told me that this was somewhat amusing. My next memory is standing outside the coach in Cadiz and asking the girls how we got there, I was so confused! We got a taxi home and I raided the fridge for some chicken then passed out in bed. All in all a very successful and enjoyable trip, and a bargain, will definitely be attending some future ESN trips and I would recommend them to anyone.

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