Busing it

I´ve just arrived home after an interesting adventure in Seville. Along the way, I gathered lots of valuable information about the bus system in Seville, but boy was it a long night! This is a long story, but to get right to the point, this website is an invaluable resource for anyone else trying to figure out the buses in Seville. And if you're going to Ikea, I recommend you double check the hours of the store and make friends with a Spaniard who can drive you there!

Earlier on tonight, I met up with two other language assistants, who I'd met on Facebook and arranged to get together with. But the interesting part of the story begins when I left to make my way to Ikea. I had checked the website, which said it was open Sundays from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, and it also listed the buses which leave from the Plaza de Armas in Seville and pass by the store. First it was quite an ordeal just to find Plaza de Armas. I ended up walking for at least 15 minutes, all while consulting my sketchy (and somewhat incomplete) map of Seville that I had printed off Google. (I highly recommend getting a proper map from one of the Tourist Information booths in the city as the first order of business in Seville.)

When I finally got there, I talked to someone at the Information booth, and she was able to tell me where to buy my ticket from. From there, the woman at the ticket booth told me where to catch the bus. Just to make sure, I double checked with the bus driver that this bus went to Ikea (this was lucky as I had in fact gone one platform too far and gotten on the wrong bus.) After getting on the correct bus, I was able to relax for a while (the bus was even air conditioned!) Of course I kept a close eye on where we were going, as I was terrified I would miss the stop and end up out in the outskirts of Seville, all alone! I soon saw the telltale Ikea flags and the store itself.

Unfortunately the bus breezed right by, and didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon (it turns out that you have to push a button to request your specific stop, which I hadn't done!) Luckily just as I was realizing my mistake, someone else requested the next stop, where I got off. I was able to walk a couple of extra blocks, and I made it to the store just fine.... unfortunately after all the trouble I took to get there, the store was closed, and the whole area completely deserted!

I figured it wasn't a big deal, as I plan on being in Seville often enough, so I started to look for the bus stop to return to Seville. I sat at one stop for about 20 minutes, assuming there would be a bus at about 8:30 pm. When a bus hadn't shown up by then, I looked around a little more carefully, and realized that while the place I was sitting looked identical to the other bus stops, there was no schedule or route posted... I think it was a booth meant for people just catching taxis. So I headed back to the original bus stop, and waited patiently at the one across the street (going the opposite direction). My only problem at this point was that it appeared that the next bus wasn't scheduled to arrive until 9:15 pm (as it was a Sunday) and it was slowly getting darker and darker. Luckily I had a book with me and a place to sit, but I was a little worried nonetheless, especially by 9:35, when there was still no bus to be seen. A few minutes later the bus finally showed up, and I managed to get back to the main station in Seville. Two more city buses later, and I finally made it back to the house I'm staying at!

Despite how unsuccessful the trip was overall, I'm pretty impressed with my navigation skills in a city that I arrived in only 2 days ago, not to mention a foreign country! But I still have yet to figure out why Ikea wasn't open when it specifically says on their website that they are open on Sundays (I even double checked when I got home)! Maybe someone will be able to enlighten me one day...

Until then, I strongly suggest NOT going to Ikea on a Sunday, especially at night!!!