Gracias Granada

We pulled into Granada off the autopista and found ourselves in a block of soviet style apartments that housed our recent booking on AirBnB. The neighborhood was unattractive, had no parking and we became a bit discouraged by where we had landed. Doubt disappeared when we met our delightful host, Paola. She helped us get our car into her rabbit warren of a garage, showed us the apartment and gave us a map. From there, we just started walking. Right outside our building was a small river that provided a gentler introduction to the city. On our evening paseo, Jeff had found a nice walk along the River Darra below the Alhambra. At trails end we noticed a road that seemed to go up so we followed it. It wound up to the top of the Alhambre and we were rewarded with a stunning view of the city from the olive orchard. We could see the Sierra Nevada to the east and the plains to the west. Great perspective. (Thanks for this suggestion Denise!) We bushwacked down from the orchard, picked a road that wove down through more neighborhoods. It was fascinating: We were enchanted. We celebrated by finding the best rooftop bar in the city. And the next day was similar, again, Jeff found a neighborhood that afforded more views of the Alhambre and provided endless alleys, stairs, and cobbled streets to explore. We finally got into the Alhambre that night, it was amazing as you know if you have been there, and pictures do not do it justice. You’ll just have to go and see it yourself. And do take time to walk around town, it’s a treasure. Gracias Granada. 

Granada: It's all about the Alhamra. And wandering.

Alpujarras: Driving over lemons

Las Alpujarras are part of Spain's Sierra Nevada. Beautiful mountains, old traditions, great hiking and not enough time to explore. Have been reading a lovely book by retired Genesis drummer, Chris Stewart called Driving Over Lemons about his adventures buying an Alpujarran cortijo with no water, electricity or road and moving there to raise a family and a large herd of sheep. On the list for the next visit to Spain: walking tour of the Alpujarras.

Driving into the mountains with the hill of Pampaneira in the distance.

The white village of Frigiliana

Frigiliana: While we were in Motril, we spent the day walking through the "white village" of Frigiliana. About 6 KM up from the Mediterranean, it clambers up the hill along the top of a valley. Entering at the bottom, which was already starting to show the promise of some amazing views, we wound our way up through beautiful, narrow alleys punctuated with geraniums, bouganvilla and other semi-tropical flowers. This place was just crazy scenic. Everywhere was a picture. At the top the view went over the village to the sea. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch spot, toasted our very great, good fortune and left with lots of bad photos but great memories.

Costa Tropical

We spent a relaxing week in Motril, on what’s called the Costa Tropical. Motril has a relaxed, beach town vibe, with a city center about a mile from a stretch of beach that features a vibrant port that houses cruise ships (they bus passengers up to Granada from there) and a ferry to Morocco. It’s a fairly new town of about 61K people, felt like my hometown of Bradenton a wee bit. We were there during the Noche de San Juan where people enjoy a night between fire and water. A bonfire burns all night and there is lots of food and music. The fire symbolizes the burning of the past and the water purifies for future wishes. It’s the first party of many that mark the summer in this part of Spain. Now onto Granada, Cordoba & Sevilla before ducking out of Spain into Portugal...

the polythene coast

Spain names each of it's coastal areas to reflect something unique. We were on the Costa Brava north of Barcelona and the Costa Dorada in Delta l'Ebre. It was a great shock to come over the arid Nevada-like hills of Murcia and see the Polythene Coast. The coastal plain of Almeria has the largest concentration of greenhouses on the planet. Towns have been swallowed up. They are vast. We went to one beach where you drove through a greenhouse canyon to reach the beach with greenhouses all the way to the water. Somehow people ignored this odd backdrop and enjoyed the beach. This is the cost of having vegetables and fruit year round. This website has more photos and a short article.

In search of flamingos

The Delta l’Ebre was recommended by several people as a “must-see” natural area in Spain. It’s an alluvial plain created by the Rio Ebro over thousands of years and now occupied by rice farmers and more recently, tourists. The extensive rice farms and the remaining estuary make up one of the largest migratory stopovers for birds heading from Africa to the far northern reaches in Europe like Finland. There are some flamingos however that have stayed and create a little colony of nesting pairs. We must have seen some 30 plus flamingos from the quiet blinds (called “hides” here) and they were fairly close. Their large light pink bodies, supported by thin, long dark pink legs with their heads were down feeding made for quite a sight. And when they flew to a new spot, you got to see under their wings: black and a darker pink. I loved watching them walk around, how their knees bend the other way and the fluidness of their movement as they fed. Two bumped into each other, said excuse me and moved on. Unfortunately with sea level change from global warming and other environmental pressures, the delta is at risk. I am glad we got to experience it.

Our stay there was way to short, only two days. So much to explore in this region of mountains and coast. We were lucky enough to stay on an olive farm with our wonderful hosts, Mark and Sheila Fowler. They have 350 olive trees that need pruning, water and harvesting: knowing how our 21 fruit trees keep us busy, this is mind-blowing to me! According to Mark, they rotate pruning through ¼ of the trees each year (still!) and optimal pruning looks like an open hand that allows the light to come in. They harvest from October through January as different olives ripen and take the fruit to a nearby “molina” for milling to oil. The olive is a slow growing, hardy tree and Mark showed me one that was over 1000 years old. Some of the trees in this area date back to Roman times. And ancient stone walls from unknown origins weave through the trees creating a beautiful, tranquil and timeless scene. 

PS: If you look closely in the photo you will see our newest member of our traveling team, Azul. It's a Dahon foldable bike that fits inside Bridgette (the car).

 

Traveling Mercies: Volume 1

Gemma: the friendly face who met us at the Madrid Airport after an 15 hour flight and whisked us off to our wonderful apartment that she hosted us in.
Mar and Felix: who extended gracious generosity to us in Madrid.
Barbara and Adri: in Barcelona for renting an amazing flat and giving us so many great tips on where to eat, drink and rent bikes.
Marius in Sant Medir: our professor of Spanish and Catalonian history and interpreter of many things. And his father Joan, together they helped us navigate the medical system to answer a question that we needed information on.
Mark and Sheila in L'Amolla, Delta L'Ebre who helped us out of a tight spot with our car.
And now our host Juan here in Murcia who called his provider and the wee fee working for us.
Countless others who have put up with our pathetic attempts to communicate in Spanish, offered kind words and smiles when being away from home can be hard.

Cruising Catalunya

Catalunya is a beautiful province along the Mediterranean stretching up into the inland mountains. Barcelona is in the center. We headed north towards France from Barcelona to a small rural project called Can Sici outside of Girona. Our wonderful host Marius showed us around the small village of Sant Gregori and gave us lots of interesting history about Spain and specifically, the region of Catalunya. Since hitting Barcelona, we began hearing and seeing the Catalonian language everywhere and seeing the flag. Marius helped us understand the strong history of the people, fierce independence and the push to become it’s own state. Marius is trained as a biologist and working aspects of permaculture onto the family land where he was living with his father Joan. Renting his house on AirBnB is one way to help fund the work. From there we were able to visit Figueres and the Teatro Museo de Dali and the beautiful coastal village of Cadaques. The Teatro is really Dali’s crypt and a surreal in an “interesting” way. We also loved the town of Girona with it’s beautiful cathedral, Jewish quarter and wall walk. The area around Can Sici had some beautiful hiking and biking trails and made a great respite after two weeks in large cities. Our next leg is to the far south of Catalunya, the famous Delta l’Ebre, in search of Flamingos. 

Eating in Spain

Food is such a part of Spanish culture. Long lunches, follow by siesta, tapas, late dinners. Jamon everywhere. Lovely bakeries, fruitarias and charcuteries abound. Amazing markets like La Boqueria in Barcelona. Looking forward to the smaller markets now that we are out of the big cities. Somehow our eating rhythms have adjusted. Breakfast is usually simple, just coffee and a roll, lunch is our big meal and usually taken out. Commonly it's the menu del dia which gives a choice of first and second plates and comes with wine, bread and dessert for a set price. Hard to keep up with the Spaniards and late dinner so we've picnicked quite a bit. Families and friends linger of meals and, as it was in Italy, a table of only the two of us looks a little lonely! Food has been fabulous. Below are some highlights. (Larry, this is for you!)

Leaving Barcelona in the broad daylight...

All week long in Barcelona, we see taxis everywhere. The day we plan to leave, we faithfully take our bags to the taxi stand and wait. And wait. Finally, a taxi pulls up and tentatively asks us where we are going. When we say the airport, he says he can't take us, there is a city wide cab strike and he can't risk being seen at the airport by other taxis. But we say we are only going near the airport to pick up our car. He plugs the address in his GPS, deems it safe and off we go! Turns out the taxi strike is all over Europe, a 24-hour strike to protest Uber (a peer-to-peer ride service, popular in the US). I think we were lucky that Ali came along and delivered us to the Renault dealer. We are now the proud "owners" of a Renault Capture, a car we will keep for the next 4.5 months and "sell back" in London. Now we are officially off the tourist routes and off in the country side. First stop, Sant Medir, outside Girona.

Doing my best car model imitation. 

The word is out on Barcelona!

Everyone loves Barcelona. Even our friends in Madrid got all misty eyed when they spoke of it. After a week here, walking, biking, metro-ing, eating and drinking all around this city, now we understand. And word has gotten out apparently, everyone else seems to love it at the same time. Hordes of tourists (7 million a year?) around the Guadí buildings and the old part of the city. Forget walking Las Ramblas, we endured that only to see the famous (rightfully so) La Boqueria market. Alas, that's what happens when you are Barcelona and your buildings, food, parks and beach are so fantastic: You get a lot of attention. Our apartment in the Gracia neighborhood has been a great respite and we spent a bit of time up in Montjuic, a fabulous hilltop park with beautiful museums and wonderful views. Amazingly quiet and green up there. Made the obligatory visit to La Sagrada Familia and was quite moved by the place (Tony, you were right, photos do not do it justice!) and by many of the other Guadí sites. Just walking and remembering to look up at the buildings, there are so many jewels of architecture in this city. Tomorrow we leave and head to a small village outside Girona, hoping to do the Dali triangle there and get some country time in. Hope all is well with you. Bill, we love you and hope you feel better soon!!!

Madrid Postscript

Forgot, the best thing about Madrid: The People. We met up with Mar and Felix, two friends we did an home exchange with two years ago when they came to the US to get married with Elvis. (Mar, I still need a picture of that!!!) After emailing for two years we had the delightful opportunity to meet up, joined by the lovely Puri and Pedro to enjoy the delights of the Circulo de Belles Artes de Madrid including two great photo exhibits, incredible rooftop view and great restaurants/bars. And Minerva on the roof! There was lots of spanglish, enthusiastic gesturing and tons of laughter. Muchas gracias por todo y para ti! Besos y abrazos.

Magnificent views from rooftop terrazza; Claire, Mar & Puri:Minerva, goddess of wisdom and protector of the arts (please watch after the Circulo de Belles Artes!) 

One week in Madrid: Not enough!

One week in Madrid leaves us feeling like we just scratched the surface. There is so much here to enjoy; monuments & museums to be sure but also so many spaces. Like the plazas, the parks and zillions of cafes along the streets. It would require years to respectfully enjoy them all. Here are few highlights for us:
Our neighborhood: we rented a small apartment near the Puerto Toledo (one of the gates from the ancient, walled Madrid of 900 AD). It's near the Madrid River Park and 20 minute walk from everything. Feels like a real neighborhood. And our apartment, the epitome of "just enough".
Open Spaces: Madrid River Park, incredible walking/running/biking, beautiful gardens (lavender blooming and rosemary used as ground cover!) runs over 10 K through Madrid. Also Retiro Park, Madrid's central park, relaxing after visiting world-renown art museums.
Art! In terms of museum, we only made the Prada and the Reina Sofia. Prada, amazing collection of the masters and Spanish artists, a chance to learn some Spanish history though the paintings and their stories. Highlight for me, Heronymus Bosch's The Garden of Early Delights. One truly amazing to see in person. In the Reina Sofia, we viewed a collection from the 1900-1945, showing the politics of the era through art. Most notable, Picaso's Guernica, his take on the bombing of the Basque region in 1937 during the civil war. Again, more history. Also remarkable street murals, graffiti and galleries. Madrid has the soul of an artist.
Eating: Known for dining at 11 PM after a 3 PM lunch, the difference in daily schedules here takes some getting used to and we've adapted to the late dinners by having tapas mostly. Food and wine seem to taste so good and are such a deep tradition in Spanish culture that we feel quite obliged to join in early and often.
Walking! We have made so many great circles around this city and wandered beautiful old streets and alleys. And we do need to work up an appetite for more food.