Ronda!

Posting this on Monday morning instead of Sunday night, because I was whipped!  We started out on the way to Ronda, but stopped at another small town (I can't remember the name right now), and three locals each took 8 of our group to their homes for brunch.  This was a really neat way to get to know the locals a little bit better and also see how they live.  The group I was with went to Salvatrore's casa, where he had prepared a nice brunch of Spanish tortilla, Chorizo, homemade salsa, bread, cheese and cold cuts.  It was delicious and he was a wonderful host.  One of our members, Luis, is fluent in  Spanish, so communication was not an issue.  Salvatore also had a great ice breaker, his 6 week old Yorkie puppy, Yogi.  Yogi stole the show, and of course all the ladies in the group just hat to hold him before we left!

We went on to our destination of Ronda, a small city with a great bullfighting heritage.  The bullring there was the first that was purpose built in the world.  They had an extensive collection of artifacts in their museum, especially old weapons.

The main attraction to the town in my opinion was the natural feature.  Ronda is built on a high hill and is separated from another hill by a gorge that is 300-400 feet deep.  Years ago there was a bridge built connecting the two and it really is something to see.  The city is surrounded by mountains in the distance and the views are incredible.

We stayed at a rural hotel about 15 minutes outside of town that is extremely nice.   It is a bit rustic, but boasts a pool, extensive gardens, and each room is one of a kind.  Mine is the biggest I have had yet on this trip.  We also had a meal last night that was incredible.  Mine was a salad, pork tenderloin with baked potato, and for dessert, white chocolate soup with a brownie.  I was on gastronomical overload!  Today we go to the Pueblos Blanco, where we will see more of the whitewashed hill towns of southern Spain.  Breakfast is awaiting me...adios.

Grenada-the Alhambra

The Alhambra is a Moorish-built castle that was begun in the 10th century, and was the inspiration for some of Washington Irving's writings.  It wasn't something I was really looking forward to seeing when I booked this trip, but I was very impressed by the time we got through with the tour today.  The Muslims do not use flowers, animals, or people in their artwork; their art is geometric shapes and patterns, and frankly, the pictures I saw online didn't impress me, but in person it's very impressive. The gardens in particular were very noteworthy. This was our only organized activity today, and following our tour a bunch of us went to a Moroccan restaurant for lunch.  My chicken Tajir was very good.  This afternoon I did a little napping and shopped for souvenirs, then went out with some of my fellow travelers for wine and tapas.  We stayed out later than we should have and probably drank more red wine than we should have, but all's well that ends well!  Adios!

Toledo to Grenada

Today was another travel day.  I didn't post last night because I was out late and was tired, so here goes:  An early start and a long bus ride today, but we made the trip in fine style.  Good meals and a couple of interesting stops along the way.

We traveled through La Mancha, which is Don Quixote country, and of course we had to stop and see some windmills.  They were pretty interesting, and were mostly used for grinding grain, as well as saffron, which is locally grown.  Saffron is the stamens of Autumn Crocuses, harvested by hand, then toasted and ground to become a spice we use in cooking.  I am going to have to sample some Paella before I leave to see if it is something I want to add to my recipe book.  There are also many olive groves there.  I have never seen so many olive trees as I did today.  Olives, grapes, saffron, and wheat seem to be the main agricultural crops of the region.

After getting into Granada late this afternoon, we took a little walking tour of the neighborhood and wound up at an awesome restaurant that had an awesome view of the Alhambra, a Moorish palace from centuries ago.

We will be touring the place tomorrow, but this picture was taken from the outdoor patio where we had a fabulous dinner tonight.  Most of us walked back to our hotel to work off some of the calories we just consumed.  That's all for tonight...will post again tomorrow.

Segovia and the Roman Aquaducts

Well, what about that?  I was finally able to load a picture, although it took forever.  We took a day trip to the city of Segovia, where the Romans built an 8 mile long aquaduct about 2,000 years ago.  It's still standing and considering it was built without mortar, that's pretty cool!  We had a local guide to show us around the town and fill us in on all the local history.  He was a very entertaining guy, with lots of stories about growing up in that town, including playing on top of the aquaduct as a kid.  Nowadays it's blocked off due to some people using it to end their lives by jumping off.  As you can see, it's tall enough to get the job done.

The tour ended at the Alcazar, a castle dating  back to the 12th century.  It is very well preserved and has many artifacts and weapons on display.  The moat was incredibly deep also and the views of the surrounding countryside were spectacular, rolling hills covered with mushroom pines, a small type of pine tree with all the foilage ath the top.  It would have been incredibly difficult to attack this fortress.

We finished off our day in Segovia with a dinner at an establishment known for it's specialty, suckling pig.  The meat was incredibly tender and they make a big production of cutting the pig with the edge of a plate, then breaking the plate to prove it's not a hoax.  This isn't a meal I would order at home, even if available, but it is part of the culture here, and that's what this trip is all about.  Like almost every meal since I've been here, the food was delicious, even if it is out of my comfort zone.

We're on the move again tomorrow, this time to Toledo, which was formerly the capital of Spain.  There's another spectacular cathedral there along with some famous artwork by El Greco.  We only stay there one night, which is a rarity for this tour company, so we will have 2 travel days in a row.  I will keep you updated.  Adios.

Museums in Madrid

Today was the day for a local guide to take us around the city and through the Prado Museum.  She was extremely knowledgeable and pointed out a number of subtle things in certain paintings that I never would have seen on my own.  For instance in one painting she was able to point out perspective; when you stood near the painting it looked flat, but as you backed away, the image seemed to take on depth.  I don't know how the artist did it, but it was really cool.

Well, once again Google is not cooperating with my photo uploads, so I am unable to post any of the pics I took today.  I finally got a group picture of all of us (the local guide snapped it for us), courtesy of Mildred, who suggested we use a stairway for the photo op.  It turned out quite nicely...too bad I can't show it.

We were on our own for dinner tonight, and about 2/3 of our group ended up at a market not far from the hotel.  It's a collection of tapas bars all under one roof and the variety is incredible.  One vendor had olives stuffed with everything imaginable (they were delicious!), others specialized in seafood, another was strictly ham (a Spanish specialty--a Spaniard without ham is like a fish without water), and many that had a variety of foods.  After chickening out a few nights ago, I got brave tonight and tried the baby eel; it was actually pretty good.  It had a mild fishy flavor and was in a garlic sauce and piled on a piece of Spanish artisan bread.  Once again a couple glasses of wine rounded things out nicely.

We are doing a day trip tomorrow to see Roman aquaducts in Segovia.  the bus ride is supposed to be about 90 mins. each way, so not too far.  I'm looking forward to seeing a structure so old still standing, especially considering it was built without mortar!  Adios, friends.

Another Travel Day...

...this time to Madrid.  We got up and got moving early, onto a bullet train from Barcelona to Madrid.  This the fastest I have ever moved on land...30 km/hr...roughly 187 mph!  The ride was smooth as silk, and we had a picnic on the train.  Unbelievable!

There was a tour of the Royal Palace this afternoon but I had a hard time enjoying it because I woke up an hour before my alarm this morning.  After that was a couple of hours of free time before a group dinner.  And what a dinner it was!  First course: chorizo, cured pork loin, cured beef (sliced very thin), Manchedo cheese.

Well Google is not cooperating.  I was going to post pics of the meal, but I guess I will have to type it.  2nd course was salad; romaine lettuce, steamed red pepper, bonita (fish), green olives, and a wonderful vinagrette dressing.

3rd course; Spanish mushrooms, sliced very thin and sauteed, had a beefy flavor, very good.

4th course: Spanish tortilla...a potato fritatta served with a wonderful tomato asuce.

5th course: Sea salt crusted beefsteak, medium, served with steak fries. (Melts in your mouth!)

Dessert: Chocolate! This was a cross between fudge, ice cream, and tiramisu...delicious!  All washed down with red wine...more to come tomorrow.  Adios!










1

Whew!

One of the main reasons I chose this trip is to see the Modernista architecture of Barcelona and Antoni Gaudi.  Today was the day and I was not disappointed.  We toured La Sagrada Familia, a church that has been under construction for over a hundred years and has many more years to go, then Park Guell, which he conceived of as a high end housing development, but it never took off, and is now a city park.  Then several of us visited the Block of Discord, nicknamed that by locals because several architects build building on the same block and tried to outdo each other.

Then there was a once a year parade that went right past our hotel, lasted about an hour.  Neat!  I have to be up early and ready to leave for Madrid first thing in the morning, so I'm going to cut this short and go pack.  Enjoy the pics.

Barcelona!

What a lively and exciting place!  It's such a large city and so much to see and do...I went exploring on my own today, as I wasn't going to meet my tour group until 6:00pm, and managed to get lost several times.  Not a problem though, as I just pulled out my trusty map and managed to figure out where I was and get back on track.  There are so many parks and squares; it seems like there's a park on every other block, all well maintained and most having some kind of statuary.

I strolled down the Las Ramblas, a pedestrian street that is filled with street vendors as well as established brick and mortar stores, and it seems like everyone in the city was there.  There were also a bunch of living statues--the kind where you're not sure if it's a statue or a person until they blink or do something to freak somebody out. They ranged from genteel ladies of the eighteenth century to more modern day monsters with wings, etc, like you might see in a cartoon or comic book.  Some of the costumes were pretty elaborate, and I saw one guy getting his together and it appeared there were 3 or 4 main pieces to it.   Las Ramblas terminates at the oceanside, where there is monument to Christopher Columbus.

It's also a very busy city, and a lot of the drivers seem to think they're in Formula 1.  When crossing a street it pays to have your head on a swivel looking for traffic and your feet busy getting across in a hurry.

I also hit a beach for a little bit today and gave myself 30 minutes without my shirt.  That's all it took to get my belly to a pale shade of pink...glad I timed it or I could have wound up with a painful burn in a very short period of time!  It was crawling with people and once again it seemed like everyone in the city was there.

I got back to my hotel (a very nice place, by the way) and grabbed a quick shower before meeting the other members of my tour at 6:00pm.  It seems like a very nice bunch of people and I'm sure we'll all be fast friends by the end of this 2 weeks.  We all went to dinner at a restaurant where they served us a tapas style meal...the potato and octopus was my favorite!  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, starting at 9:00am with a local guide taking us on a tour of the Gothic Quarter and on to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church before turning us loose to be on our own for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  The architecture here is amazing and I will be snapping pics like crazy tomorrow.

Travel day

Tonight's post will be another short one without photos...I didn't even get the camera out at all today.  I rode 2 trains, 1 plane, and 1 bus to get from Bath, England to Barcelona, Spain.  I went from mildly cool but sunny weather to hot and sunny in the space of just a few hours.  Barcelona is a really busy place.  Lots of people but so far they all seem friendly enough.

About the only exciting thing I have to report today is the food report.  Breakfast and lunch were very forgettable...take out from the grocery store and airport cafe food.  Dinner is another matter.  After checking into my hotel I grabbed a quick shower and went out to look around.  A few blocks from here I found a Tapas bar and got very adventurous!  This is the kind of place where you help yourself to hors 'd ovors...they are all pinned together with giant toothpicks, and when you're done they count the toothpicks and charge you accordingly.  I had several kinds of fish (some raw), sausage, and beef, in various combinations with cheese, vegetables, and who knows what else.  Wash it all down with 2 glasses of red wine and Tim was a happy camper!  Adios, my friends!

Last Full Day in England

Today was kind of a laid back  kind of day...after breakfast I found a laundromat and got myself some clean clothes so I can start out my tour in Spain fresh.  I did quite a bit of hiking around today, getting farther from the city center than I had before.  I visited a building called the Royal Crescent, a very large Georgian style building that is built with a curved footprint.  It's pretty impressive and without the tents and scaffolding I think it would have been an even better pic.

I also visited a public park near there and also the Bath Abbey, which I was able to go inside.  The architecture of that place is incredible with fan-style arches on the ceiling,  I'm not a huge fan of churches, but this place was pretty cool.  It boggles my mind to imagine how these buildings were constructed.

There is also a museum nearby that I visited.  It had a lot of artifacts from life in the 1700-1800s as well as paintings from the same era.  I got some ideas from how they displayed stuff there that may translate to Durand Union Station, and I will be sure to suggest some when I get home.

When all was said and done, though, I kind of ran out of things to do here.  There were a few things I would have liked to see, but time and logistics prevented me from doing them.  Ultimately, I just headed back to my hotel for the evening and watched the World Cup soccer game on TV and relaxed a bit.

For the food report, I started out with the English breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs,baked beans and toast.  Lunch was different, Indian cuisine and I can't remember the names of what I ate, but the soup course was nothing like I was expecting and really stands out. The menu description said "lentilos", so I was anticipating a bean soup type of dish. Instead it was a bright yellow soup, very thin, with cilantro, shallots and a few lentils, served with a wedge of lemon in the bowl. For sure out of the ordinary, but quite good.  Dinner was fish and chips washed down by a pint in a pub downtown, also good.

Tomorrow is a travel day.  I have a 9:13 train back to Reading, then another train to Gatwick airport where I catch a 2 hour flight

to Barcelona.  I will have tomorrow evening and Saturday until mid-afternoon to myself, then meet my tour.  I'm excited to start the next leg  of my journey.

Bath, England

This will be a short post today, without pics, because I am writing this early in the evening and I haven't downloaded my photos yet.  The reason for that is that I am heading out again this evening to take more pics.  The city was founded around some hot springs, thus the name Bath, and one of the attractions here are the Roman Baths, but there is a very cool bridge and a semi-circular weir which they light up at night!  So, since I hauled a tripod all this way for nighttime shots, and have yet to use it, I will be putting it to use tonight. This city is very beautiful; the architecture is spectacular, the river views are great, and the rolling hillsides make for some very nice vistas.

The train ride out here today was interesting.  I told the ticket agent where I had to go, when I had to return, and inquired about getting to Gatwick airport on Friday.  He took about 10 minutes checking various options for me, asking about the time schedules that worked for me and finally sold me 3 one way tickets for about 71 pounds, which was a considerable savings from the higher priced combinations he checked.  Kudos to him, although I was getting a bit anxious with the uncertainty of it all.  He really went above and beyond to get me what I needed and do it as cheaply as possible.  The train ride itself was uneventful, very smooth and quick with clean cars and comfortable seating.  I watched the scenery change from the London city to something resembling suburbia, then farms and rolling countryside.  The sun was out for the majority of the journey as well!

Today's lunch menu was a baguette with chicken salad and vegetables along with a bottle of water, eaten on a bench in the heart of Bath.  When that didn't quite fill the hole I ordered a sausage in a bun, similar to a bratwurst, and topped off the full meter.  For dinner I fulfilled my desire for a supper in an English pub.  I ordered Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) and washed it down with a pint, all while watching a World Cup soccer game.  I truly feel like a proper English gentleman now.  Okay, proper and gentleman might be stretching it a bit, but you get the idea.  I will have pictures tomorrow.  Bye.

A Day of Museums

The plan for today was to get some culture.  Yeah, I know, culture on me is like perfume on a pig.  Anyway, I started out the day going to Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery is located.  There's also a few fountains and statues celebrating generals and admirals there too.  While waiting for the museum to open I watched a guy who had a couple of raptors of some kind.  They would fly up and land on the building or a handrail, then he would call them back with some food.  These birds had some serious talons, and it was pretty cool to watch.

After I went in and toured the National Gallery, I walked down to the Thames, crossed and then down to Tate Modern.  I guess I'm pretty shallow, because I think I needed some drugs to appreciate some of the stuff in there...I just didn't get some of it.  I finished up the trifecta with a visit to Tate British.  It's art from about the 1500s up to the early 1900s, and all by British artists, and made more sense to me.  The best part is that all the museums were free! A donation was suggested but there was no admission fees for any of them.

Something I really like about this city is all the little pockets of green space they've set aside.  Some are major parcels of land while others are just a few hundred yards long by 50 or 60 yards wide, but almost all of them have some large mature trees and are very beautiful places.  Well kept, too.

On the way back I was passing the billet where the horse guards stay and they were doing some kind of drill or inspection.  I'm not sure what the ceremony was, but it was nowhere near as crowded as the changing of the guard ceremony was yesterday at Buckingham Palace.  Even arriving after it was underway, I was able to get close enough to get a few pretty decent shots just by reaching up and pointing the camera and getting lucky with framing and focus.  There couldn't have been more than a 300 people there and I was only 3 or 4 deep from the front of the crowd.


The food was interesting today too.  I went to Borough Market, an open air place with lots of food vendors selling all kinds of stuff.  The scents coming from some of the booths were incredible, and I settled on pie and mash, a British staple.  The vendor was a young guy who recommended the English beef and Irish Stout pie, a traditional favorite.  It was very good, a two crusted meat pie, served with mashed potatoes and covered in a brown gravy, and it really filled me up.  The price was reasonable, 5.50 pounds (about $9) too. I also hit a cheese vendor that Frances suggested, but they didn't have the variety she suggested.  I settled for about 50 grams of Peccorino to take with me and snack on.   For my dinner this evening, I hit a little hole in the wall joint near my hotel and had piri piri chicken.  I think it's the Middle Eastern version of buffalo wings.  The piri piri sauce was extremely hot and they served garlic mayo as a dipping sauce.  Add fries and a drink and a price of about 5 pounds, and I was a happy guy!

Before returning to my neighborhood, I stopped by Picadilly Circus.  There is a statue there and is a place where people congregate.  There was a one-man band playing and this kid was pretty good.  He had a microphone, electric acoustic guitar, harmonica, and a foot tambourine, and was playing Beatles and Bob Dylan tunes, among others.  He had a great voice, was a very talented musician, and a big hit with the assembled crowd.  I would load a picture, but Google is not cooperating all of a sudden. Oh well.

London

Wow! What a busy day.  I took off this morning and got a seat on the Big Bus double decker  bus tour.  It's a hop on / hop off arrangement with buses running every 7-10 minutes, and there was also a 30 minute boat cruise of the Thames river included as well.  I went crazy with the camera, taking about 250 or more tpictures. A lot of them are junk, taken from a moving bus or boat and under less-than-ideal conditions, but that's nothing new for me.  I tend to do that a lot, then cull out the real stinkers and keep the better shots after I get home.  I got off the bus to try to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but the crowds were insane.  Unless you get there a couple hours early and camp out to to protect a spot along the fence, there's absolutely no way you're going to get any good photos of that action.  What little of it I got to see was pretty cool, with all the ceremony involved, but the crowd ruined it for me, and I couldn't get out od there soon enough.  Likewise at the Tower of London...I had planned on taking one of the Yoeman Warder-led tours, but they were so mobbed, there was no way I was going to be able to hear anything he was saying. As a result I just toured the place myself, but it was disappointing just the same.   I did get a good shot of a guard patrolling his beat outside the building where the Crown Jewels are kept, though.  

I decided when I came over here that I would be adventurous when it came to eating.  I plan to never eat at the same place twice, except for breakfast, which is part of my cost of lodging.  As expensive as it is to eat here, I would be silly to pass up meals I have already paid for to buy it somewhere else.  I had a roast beef sandwich and chips at the cafe at the Tower of London for lunch, but for dinner this evening I visited an Indian restaurant and had chicken and lamb combo plate, prepared 3 different ways, and washed it down with a beer from India as well. That meal set me back 20 pounds, which is about $33.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but not $33 good!

Well, that's all for tonight.  See you all soon.

                                                                                      

I Made It Across the Pond!

It was a long flight, and had a few tense moments in Chicago when the agents there couldn't find my reservation, but in the end it went off without a hitch.  I slept on the flight better this time, too, getting a whole 90 minutes or so on the way between continents.  Needless to say, was pretty tired when I finally got checked into my hotel today, but after an hour nap, got up and went exploring in jolly old London!  I've successfully used the Underground (subway) system, and managed to take in a few of the sights.  The Tower Bridge is as cool in person as it is on tv, and the atmosphere of the area around it is energetic and full of life.  Of course there were zillions of other tourists around taking pictures of the sights and of themselves, but it made for an entertaining afternoon.  I got back to the Paddington neighborhood where I'm staying, had fish & chips at a local hole in the wall joint, and skyped with Rhonda for a bit.  Now it's about 9:30 pm local time and I'm sipping on a little bottle of wine I picked up at the corner party store, and very soon I expect to be catching up on my sleep!  That's all for tonight folks, but I have a big day planned for tomorrow, so I better get my beauty sleep.

Test posting

Testing 1 2 3...hoping this windows 8 system holds up for me.  It has been unstable and giving me a hard time, shutting down / freezing up for no reason.  Hopefully that's over after having Dan work on it.  Gonna do a test posting of a pic too.