Spain 2008

We arrived in Granada via Rail and thought since we were now very good walkers, why not walk to the hotel that was providing us with our car rental. After an hour of dragging our luggage *thank heavans we packed light*! We drove the hour long drive to Itrabo-about 10 minute drive from the coast and Salobrena.

We found out after our 6 days that the owners, Debbie and Peter are selling the place. Such a shame as Peter was an amazing host and they have put a lot of work into making their clients stay informative and very comfortable. Peters cooking is really amazing-and has no formal cooking training!
Our stay in Itrabo included a scenic drive to the Tejar Nationales park where we hiked for a couple hours to a canyon that over the years has produced these pools where you can jump in after the dusty hike.
In October, the water was a bit too cold for me, but Tim took the opportunity.

We also drove to Salobrena and Almunecar to take in the scenic shore line. The beaches here are mostly rock. Round flat smooth rocks which keeps the seawater from stirring up silt. Amazingly clear. From some of the hills on a clear day you can see the coast forever in both directions.


We carried on to Nerja, to see the famous caverns there. A total tourist trap-but I recommend it anyway because it really is something to see.
Very much like the Caverns in Virginia, but the ceiling on these is so much higher. It was dizzy-ing to see those stalagtites pointing down toward you. I would want to be there in the event of an earthquake...yikes! I took some pictures, but no flash is allowed in most parts (which many of the tourists disrespected).
Driving back to the Bed & Breakfast, we took the coastal route, through Maro, where there are old towers that dot the hillsides overlooking the sea. Many stops along the route enable you to venture down the steep hills to the ocean where you can swim. The coast here is not as rocky, but the water is amazing. Even I had to check it out-though it took 30 minutes of wading to slowly adjust to the temperature. There are a few Nudist "Naturist" beaches here-which we also happened upon. We must have been a sight to see-pasty white and partially clothed..... One of the highlights was the unexpected Aquaduct that can be seen best from the coastal highway. It'll pop out of nowhere-and don't blink or you'll miss it!

Later that night we spoke with the others staying at the B&B and shared our stories of the day. We planned on all dining together that night, with Peter doing the cooking. It was such a great night, eating and drinking and talking with the two other couples. They were from the U.K. and we laughed until 11PM.
The next morning at breakfast we said our goodbyes to everyone and prepared for our road trip back to Granada and then on to Valencia via the Coastal roads.
The city of Granada is much larger than I thought. We went straight to the Alhambra and toured through.

It's important that you note on your ticket, which time you must the visit of the Palace.

We waited in line for an hour and half to get tickets, only to find out we had to wait 5 hours until we could visit the Palace. Instead we explored the old fortress and the grounds and forfeited our views of the Palace as we wanted to avoid driving at night.
We drove for a long time along the coast, hitting places like Alicante (which stunk like sulfur!) Perhaps it's different at the edge of the water-but I've never smelled anything so bad for so long. It's a big city and I was happy to be through it! Benidorm, Denia and then we had to stop. It was midnight and the hectic driving had to come to an end. We pulled over and tried to catch some zzz's. and continued on to Valencia to turn in our car at the airport. The highway signage in Spain is different in Spain, in that directions are extremely vague. Airport signs would appear, then disappear altogether, making you second guess and veer off. I don't know how we got there to tell you the truth. If you drive in Spain, it's best if you have a really good road map---our highway maps did nothing for us.
Valencia is a great little city.

We stayed outside of the historic city center, which was quiet but next to the City of Arts and Sciences. A very short bus ride took us to the center where walking is super easy with little paella and tapa places everywhere.
Lots of interesting architecture and the big Market there is as colorful as any in Spain. We went to the IVAM there to catch some local modern and contemporary art.
Of course, the City of Arts and Sciences is a place to see for the space-age looking buildings. It's probably hopping with people in the summer months, as it was quiet by now and staff were beginning to do some clean up of the surrounding reflecting pools. There was alot of construction happening in that end of town and it looked like they were expanding the facility. The pricing for the entry were surprisingly low (7 Euros) but the Hemispheric building (at a whopping 20 Euros) was the place we wanted to explore. However-it had closed for the day.
On to Barcelona by train.
We stayed in the Gracia area of town-which was a quick metro ride away from the center of things, which seems to be La Ramblas. The Gracia hotel that we stayed at (the "Silken St. Gervasi") was a nice 25 minute walk to the Gaudi Cathedral and then a 45 minute walk to the Park Gruell where more of his earlier work was constructed at the turn of the century.
The Cathedral is still under construction and will be quite a site to see when complete. It was brilliant to learn all about Gaudi's intentions in the use of materials and his inspiration behind his art. It was breathtaking-even with the pushy crowds.
The 10 Euro ticket was nice too, though you need to pay more and wait in excruciating line-ups for the elevator to the top. We passed on the line-up.
Later that night, we walked through La Ramblas and checked out the restaurants.
So many catering to tourist, but we found one north of the main square called Taller de Tapas (check out tallerdetapas.com) Fantastic food and a great place to talk with nearby tables. We met several people from canada and the U.S who wee travelling or on business. We were there for about 3 hours, eating, drinking and talking late into the evening.
There were pictures of Scarlett Johansson having tapa's on their terrace---I suspect from from her visit during the filming of "Vicky, Christina Barcelona".

We took the fast train to Madrid because it was a holiday and we were late booking a train ticket. I was happy though as the train takes about 6 and a half hours versus the Ave train at 2 3/4 hours. We took a couple of trains/metro to the Astoria Hostel where we were staying. We were placed in a 5th floor room and we were a bit disapointed with it. Tim was sick with what I had had in Istanbul. I mentioned that the TV was not working in our room and without any effort at all she upgraded us for the next day. The room we got was on the 4th floor and was the best hotel room we had stayed at this whole trip with a living room, french doors that opened to the building courtyard and a super comfy bed. They also had free internet which was a bonus. I thought that since this was a "hostel" it would be over run with backpackers etc....It seems "hostel" in Europe is simply a budget hotel. It is located in a central area near the Gran Via and the other major streets leading to the various shopping districs, tapa bars (there's more here than anywhere I had seen yet-but the food didn't seem as good...I think the smaller towns take more pride in the quality of their cooking).
We woke the next morning and walked to the Parade route through the center of town for Spain's National Day. Lots of military marching, tanks...that sort of thing. Madrid is a very proud city. Everything is MUCHO GRANDE.
That night we headed to a Tapa bar that we found the day before and hunkered down for a few hours of more food, spanish wine and cervezas. This is day 30 and we are tired but exhilarated.

The next day our flight to the UK left in the early evening. The Hostel Astoria parked our bags in an empty room "for as long as you want" and we toured again through the city, checking out some local parks.

Off we go to the UK to catch our flight home to Seattle, then to Vancouver, Canada. We were looking forward to our own bed, playing with our doggie and doing laundry using a machine. Traveling doesn't only provide an outlet for learning and cultural exploration, it reiterates how important your own environment is. There are some things so easily taken for granted and some things that I wish I could implement here from the fantastic country that Spain is.
Progressive in Wind and solar power, an extremely efficient public service structure and an intimate-almost sacred, proud connection to the countries past and their own families. Despite it's current economical condition, the people here seem very content with enjoying life to it's fullest---working long hours, but never compromising their vibrant social lives. Cafe's and tapa bars, parades and celebrations-there is always something to go to, to experience, to be a part of and to share.

We took the train to this beach town on the 27th.

Walking from the train station to the center square, we found an information kiosk that sold maps and gave info to tourists etc....pretty typical. Two minutes after buying the city map for 2 Euros we saw a large post bragging that the city offers FREE WIFI. So we could have mapped our way around town with our itouch. Oh well-who knew soch a small town would be so progressive?!
Nearing the end of the point we checked out the town's "old" beach-very quaint. Reminded me of P.E.I.

This is when we realized there's tons to this place other than beaches and tourists.

This farmers market was lovely with locals (they mean business-so get outta the way! It was a great market-considering we couldn't barge through the people buying food for their families....(I thought markets were for photo opp's... ;-/ !!!

You can barely see me peering on the right-it was like a tree from a Hobbit movie. The branches spanned really low for about 35 meters-I couldn't get it all in! Very strange looking thing-we saw more trees similar to this on Seville, but not this massive.

He took awhile to get in-it was as cold as what I know Canada's Atlantic coast to be. It might be the Meditteranean, but that cold Atlantic water flows in just around the corner at Gibralter. I much preferred to people watch on the beach!
This day trip was definitely worth it. I slept the whole train ride home....too much sun!

We took the fast "AVE" train from Madrid to Seville and arrived at 4 pm.
On Day 1 we settled in at the apartment, with a bit of difficulty with the language barrier, and went grocery shopping. We found a grocery market in teh Plaza D'Armas near where we were staying. We bought a bunch of meats cheeses, bread and vino, made a platter of our own tapas and crashed big time.

Day 2 we made a not so big effort to get up early due to the time change and were up at 4AM. Went to a traditional coffee bar on Alphonse X111 and walked around the Cathedral area in the center of old Seville, then to Triana just on time for the 2 o'clock shut down for siesta.....we eventually learned to like the theory of relaxing in the afternoon...I'm just glad we didn't have to be the ones to go back to work at 5 pm for another couple hours/after having a 3 hour break. We would see people sleeping in their cars and later learned those are the ones who live outside the city center and would not be worth their while to go home and back again. Traffic here is no picnic and not for the faint of heart.
Triana is beautiful, but very polished along the water front, no doubt for tourists. I guess this should be no surprise.
Because everything had shut down for the afternoon, there were several young men fishing at the banks under one of the bridges and unfortunately we were too late for the Triana market which is thought to be one of the best in Seville.
Later in the day, we did more walking...and came across an installation of photography inspired by Flamenco dancers and their environment.....very cool.
We picked up a few pork cutlets, chesse and bread and some of this fabulous Spanish potatoe pancake. We fell asleep exhausted. Late at night, just when the city was gearing up, we went out for a cream filled dessert and coffee and cointreau. I hardly needed this...they don't use shot glasses here!

On the 27th we woke to torrential rain, but it didn't stop us. We have had amazing weather so this was kind of a novelty. The last two bullfights of the season were taking place and Tim wanted to check it out. I would wait outside, thanks.
Because of the rain, we were told the fight might or might not happen depending on rain, so we walked. Later that day, Tim watched a live bullfight on TV and later told me he was glad we didn't go. Apparently it's a bit gruesome. Ya' think-
The next morning we stopped across the street from the apartment to a little coffee bar to check it out. Inside this ecclectic crazy little place was an equally ecclectic dressed lady cleaning her bar. It was empty. We slaughtered the Spanish language yet again in an attempt to ask for Coffee with milk and she smiled. She was fluent in English with a cute french accent. She had been living in Seville for 22 years running this little shop by herself. We stayed for about 2 and a half hours talking with her. A Nigerian fellow came in to the bar and took a seat. He also spoke English and had an amazing story of how he got to Seville without a penny to his name. He literally walked there....stowing on a ferry. He had to wait 3 years in Spain to get his papers and with one year left he is hoping to make his way to Canada. Sylvie, the coffee shop owner was also interested in coming to Canada but was concerned with the cold weather. Spain is having a rough time right now, economically, as is everyone else but I got the feeling she was looking for a change. I later learned that Ivan, the Nigerian guy and her have been together for a year.

We exchanged email addresses and I regret not taking pictures. Some times the best moments don't get photos.
We went to the coffee shop every morning until we left for Granada on the first of October.