A guide tells…

Four languages 

Meet Elena (37), a Spanish woman who speaks three more languages besides Spanish, namely English, German (thanks to her Erasmus time in  Berlin) and French. Speaking different and many languages is one of the skills you need to have to work as a guide. Her (beloved) city is Sevilla  and that’s also why she chooses to work as a guide besides working as an architect with her partner in crime: her father.  

I asked her how she ended up doing bike tours and how she became an official bike guide. She explained that she knew Carlos (owner of ATD)  before and one thing led to another and here she is, doing bike tours for more than 3 years already. When she started, there wasn’t a lot of  competition between bike tours companies. But since cycling is getting more popular, more companies started to settle down in Sevilla and other Andalusian cities. And since the government landscaped the current cycle paths, cycling became more common and normal in this southern city. 

High season

Elena mainly does private tours and excursions, but if it’s necessary she also guides the daily bike tour. How many times she works as a guide depends on the season. “Right now, I don’t do that many tours. But during high season I normally work a few times a week as a guide.” As you can read above she also works as an architect. You can say that she is a busy woman ;)

Taxi tour 

The benefit of this work according to Elena is the fact that you always meet new people. “You are able to meet and talk to new people, to get to know their stories and offer them a good view on the city”. She says it doesn’t feels like working, when she guides people along the beautiful view of Sevilla. Although a lot of people will think it is, it isn´t an easy job. “You have to be a leader and really guide people. And you also have to concern about the safety of the people and be able to do several things at the same moment. It is not so relaxing, some times it brings even stress along.”

But even though it’s not as easy as it seems, she enjoys doing it every time. Especially when she experiences some funny moments with customers. For example, she had to do a private tour and guide an Indian family. The plan was that they would do a bike tour, but the kids weren’t that sporty and weren’t really up to cycle around the city. Which led to a tour by taxi instead of the usually bike. “They returned to the store by a horse carriage, ha-ha.” Every tour brings another story, and it’s fun to look back on these stories. 

When I asked her if she wants to continue working as a guide, she was resolute to continue doing bike tours as long as possible. And who wouldn’t want to show the most amazing views of this bustling city? Elena tells me that her favorite parts of the tour are guiding in Santa Cruz and cycling along the river. Which are indeed beautiful parts of Sevilla!

Would you like to do a tour with our guide Elena? Take a look on the website or send us an email: info@atdspain.com