Beer, Tapas & Champions League: Southern Spain, Buoyant Germans & A Dash Of English
Michaela drops me off at the airport and we kiss goodbye: it’s going to feel a little odd being apart for a few days having been welded together on our travels for so many months.
Adrian climbs out the back of the car looking more than half asleep, but then it’s so early that it can’t reasonably expect to be called morning yet. We’re booked on a red eye flight that’ll be in the air before the birds are; Adrian came down last night as we live much nearer to Gatwick than he does.
“At least with me here you can’t go to the wrong bloody airport” he grunts. We’re resurrecting a time honoured pre-COVID ritual, an annual sortie into Europe for a lads’ weekend of beer and football, we’ve done it lots. Except it’s no longer a weekend now that we’re both retired. On one of them one year, given what I still maintain were poor instructions, I went to Luton when we were flying from Stansted, and, just like all English blokes given a chance to put a mate down, he’s still ribbing me about it more than fifteen years later. Let it go, Adrian. Please.
Our flight is so early that even with a 45-minute delay we’re in the centre of Seville before mid morning, only to find that none of the morning trains to Cadiz have any remaining seats, giving us a few hours to kill in Seville. Could be worse. Purely by coincidence our wander around Seville brings us to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, the stadium where we’ll be seeing the Champions League match on Wednesday. Well that’s that bit of orientation sorted more by luck than judgment.
So it’s about 4.30pm before we alight the train in Cadiz and reacquaint ourselves with our old friend Cruzcampo beer in the still warm sunshine. The plazas and narrow cobbled streets of Cadiz form a delightful labyrinth bordered by the sea on three sides: this really is a lovely setting. Let’s hope there isn’t a modern day Francis Drake on his way over.
Next morning there is indeed an invasion, but of a different kind. No seafaring arsonists thank goodness but there is a gigantic cruise ship in town, towering over the whole scene like a mobile apartment block, 5,000 passengers – we’re told – temporarily swelling the town’s population and, annoyingly, stealing all of the best sunshine tables in the best squares. We mull on how odd it must be for the residents of a cruise ship port town, with these constantly changing waves of large numbers of people, but then conclude that firstly you can get used to anything and secondly that the likes of Cadiz is no doubt grateful for the trade. Better than a bowls player armed with a box of matches, anyway.
Tapas is a great way to eat, especially when like us you want to visit lots of bars and consume disgraceful quantities of beer and Rioja. Small plates at regular intervals are very much more appropriate than large meals that bloat the stomach and reduce the drinking capacity. Consequently Adrian and I do decent justice to the Cadiz crawl and probably contribute considerably more funds to the bar trade than your average cruise ship passenger does.
One group of such passengers engage us in conversation having heard our English accents – turns out they live in Whitstable, about six miles from my home in England. The following evening, some distance into the beer consumption which is such an essential part of a trip like this, a lively and amusing conversation with two Aussie sisters ensues – then Maggie, the smaller of the two, tells me she’s an Aussie expat now living in Faversham, about twelve miles from my home. What’s going on??!
Wednesday dawns and after breakfast in the square accompanied by an unhealthy but entirely essential number of strong coffee shots we’re back on the train and returning to Seville for the main event of the trip, the Champions League fixture between Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund.
A side interest for us tonight is to see the English rising superstar Jude Bellingham in the flesh, and throughout the evening it’s easy to see why the lad’s reputation is burgeoning – he controls the midfield all night and continually finds the right pass at the right moment. He also scores a delicious goal, Dortmund’s second in a more than convincing 4-1 victory.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, the stadium pulses with passion all night, the home fans giving loud and continuous support and the Dortmund fans doing the things that Dortmund fans do. We’ve been to a couple of Dortmund home games before and these fans are fantastic – we know of no other club in the world whose fans have such a range of choreographed actions to accompany such a wide collection of songs.
It’s fantastic to watch, and to hear – in fact in my opinion I think that everyone who loves football (soccer) or loves the pageant of a live sports event, should witness a Borussia Dortmund home game at least once in their life. Go and see the Yellow Wall. Tonight, they give it their spectacular best despite being heavily outnumbered and nearly 1500 miles from home.
The Sevilla head coach bids farewell after the final whistle, his tenure at the club ended after a run of poor results culminating in tonight’s capitulation. His time here has not been without success though and he is warmly applauded by the home fans in spite of his dismissal, something of a poignant farewell.
We don’t get to see much of Seville the city – we’ve both been here before by the way – but after the match we do find a lively outdoor bar which is still buzzing with activity when most of the city has fallen asleep. Our last few Cruzcampo beers accompany a big slice of people watching as the bright young things of Seville enjoy a late night Wednesday – in fact as we head back to our apartment we realise that they are now starting to enjoy the early hours of Thursday too.
Tonight has been great: a large sweeping stadium filled with two sets of passionate fans of very different character, Latin temperament meeting German orchestration and it’s a close call to say who won the day. On the pitch it’s been a different story though as Dortmund, and Bellingham, have been a different class from their Spanish hosts.
This brief trip is done. We say goodbye to Spain and bring to a close our first football sortie since before COVID. It won’t be our last, this is an addiction to which we keep returning. A bit like the Cruzcampo.
Another black coffee, Adrian?
20 Comments
wetanddustyroads
A great trip for the boys, that’s for sure! I am not the world’s best soccer (football😉) expert, nor a lad … but I wouldn’t mind going with you … purely because of the Rioja and tapas of course! Even the game looks like it was fun (and the right team won … right?)
Toonsarah
Sounds like a great football/beer/bit of sightseeing trip – the sort we used to enjoy when Newcastle played regularly in Europe! Ours tended to me lads plus one lass (me), although some of the other wives came from time to time – some to shop, some to actually come to the match. We reckon the Toon Army is hard to better when it comes to singing but I don’t think we’ve ever had coordinated actions 😮 I’m curious why you stayed in Cadiz rather than Seville? Was it simply availability of accommodation or was it to see a new city? And if the latter, would you recommend it for a short break?
Phil & Michaela
Nobody is as good as the Yellow Wall – they’ve dreamt up a whole of gamut of different actions to different songs, almost formation dancing, it’s a terrific spectacle that, like I say, every football fan should go and see at least once. We chose Cadiz simply because we’d been to Seville before (the other stadium, Real Betis). Can definitely recommend it but it’s very compact and you wouldn’t need more than a couple of days. It’s also surprisingly cheap, food and drink wise (6 beers and 5 tapas dishes for 18 euros can’t be bad!)
Toonsarah
I’ll bear it in mind – and also consider seeing Dortmund play some time. Ideally against Newcastle of course!
Phil & Michaela
If that happens, stay in Dusseldorf and go to Dortmund by train. But if you do so, you’ll need your beer head and your rock music ears on!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
Great post, Phil! Since I’m into American football, I wondered if I could make it through a post about soccer. Well, sir, I did, and I loved every word of it! With the added bonus of wonderful photos of the cities and quips about your and Adrian’s shenanigans, it was a perfect read.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you!
leightontravels
So THIS is the game you went to. I have seen a lot of southern Spain, but never made it to Cadiz, so enjoyed your windows into the place. We’re gonna need Bellingham to continue this form methinks, as we approach the World Cup in the unusual position of being in not great form. Heck, low expectations might not actually be a bad thing. Well written and amusing as always, Phil.
Phil & Michaela
Well, when we travel together, Michaela does pretty much all the photography. When I came home, she simply said, “Phil, you’ve written the whole thing about drinking and not taken a single photograph of a bar or a beer”. Oops. And, World Cup wise, I find it hard to watch England (not for the first time). We have the greatest crop of attacking players in living memory but we have a cautious coach who preaches defensive formations and manages to remove the flair. It’s incredibly frustrating that we don’t play to our considerable strengths. My bet is that there are coaches around the world who laugh at our inability to realise what we have at our disposal. All this talent and yet none of us are confident of beating Wales. That says it all.
WanderingCanadians
It’s nice that you have these traditions with your friends to get away for the weekend, drink some beer and enjoy a football match. I’m such a fan of tapas as you get to sample all these different types of smaller dishes.
Phil & Michaela
Yep, tapas rocks!
notesoflifeuk
It sounds like a great trip. I hope you’ve recovered well! 😀
Phil & Michaela
Not quite shaken off the beer alarm yet!
Phil & Michaela
Well enough to already be sampling the delights of Bologna!
grandmisadventures
Beautiful pictures of the city. But to go to the game and be immersed in that energy of the crowd is amazing! I’m counting down the days to the world cup!
Phil & Michaela
Yes me too….although we’re going to grabbing whatever snippets we can on TV because we’ll be thousands of miles from home and even further from Qatar!
Lookoom
It’s good to see that you can do what you like to do again, our lives are no longer confiscated. Cadiz, the sight of the cathedral brought back memories, I spent a night there during a road trip in Spain. I remember mostly the rain and the hot bath needed afterwards. But I didn’t see much of the city.
Phil & Michaela
No need for hot baths last week, that’s for sure
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Cadiz looks lovely, except the cruise ship! 😃
Annie Berger
Fun read about your Covid delayed soccer jaunt with Adrian!