2014 Spain Day 5

Day 5….Sevilla and more Seville.

We are used to calling this place Seville.  But over here it is called Sevilla.  We decided this morning to ‘get out of the car’ and stay in the Sevilla area touring places here.  We have had a wonderful time doing a lot of walking.  Denise and I both slept in late.  I woke up at 8:30 AM and Denise was still howling at the moon.  She has a nasty cold and really struggled last night with it keeping us both up longer than we had planned.  Anyway…we were out the door by 10:00 AM catching a bus to the center of Sevilla.  The center sits on a river and you can see across the river where the Olympic Village was.  Along the river you can see where the rowing events were held.  I would have liked to have toured the Olympic Park.  But Zella thinks it has been turned into an Amusement Park with rides and stuff.  It looked like part of it might be that way.  And it looked closed from a far.

 

We ended up touring, in great detail, the Alcazar.  This is a huge ‘castle’ that is occupied by the Spanish Royal Family.  Apparently it is one of 14 palaces that the Royals own and use.  They must have a hard life you know!?  The architecture and grounds of this place was pretty amazing.  Although the Spanish hate to remember the fact that the Moors had a significant place in their history, many of the architectures have an Arabic look to them.  The building is full of stamped, colored, pressed…you name it…tiles and more tiles.  They are extremely beautiful as you will be some of the pictures we took.  Within the walls of the palace are large ‘gardens’.  This place (Sevilla) is full of orange trees!  They are everywhere.  But their gardens had trees of all kinds.  Very lush.  Very green.  And very beautiful.  The one unfortunate thing is that they have many, many fountains and pools through out the complex but the fountains have no water flowing.  Thus the little water found in the bottom of the fountains or pools was quite dirty and not pretty.  Having water flowing would have brought an even greater beauty to this place.  Nonetheless, it was a couple of hours well spent seeing how the other half lives in Spain!

 

After the Alcazar visit, we meandered down some streets to find a Tapas eatery.  We found a low cost one for the area and stepped inside.  None of us had ever ordered Tapas.  Tapas are small plates of food that you just order  a la carte.  So all of us ordered a couple of Tapas each and then shared with each other.  I had a ham sandwich, a shrimp fritter and a plate of Baby Squids (deep fried).  Pretty good.  I forget what Denise ordered.  But her plates were yummy also.  The odd thing around here is all the shanks of pork hanging from the ceilings with the pig hoof still on.  They don’t cook these meats over here.  The cure them.  It looks odd.  I have a picture that you will see below of one where it is set up to be carved.  But it tastes pretty good on sandwiches and stuff.

 

After lunch, Zella had a Rick Seves Tour book.  In it there was a walking tour that we did for the next hour or so.  It was really fun.  While walking we came to the area where the real ‘Don Juan’ lived.   There was a statue of the atheist, sex addict dude.  Denise snuggled up to it for a picture.  Made us smile.  We also saw some wonderful Spanish architecture among the many plazas that we passed by.

 

To end our touring for the day, we went to the Plaza de Espana.  This is a huge plaza and building that was built in 1929 to bring all the Spanish speaking nations together for a huge celebration for Spanish speaking nations.  I would assume that it was a magnificent site in its day.  And it still is.  But due to economics over here, it is starting to get run down.  Flags from nations and Spanish provinces are torn and not kept up.  You can see the building starting to deteriorate.  I hope the Spanish government gets it together and keeps this place up as it is pretty cool to look at.

 

After we had spent a good while there, we needed to get on a bus to our hotel.  No banos publicos!   Plus we were all tired of walking.  But the weather was sunny and cool, unlike the forecast of rain from the day previous.  So it turned out REALLY nice.

This evening, we jumped in the car to go to dinner.  The Grieve's do not eat out much and really miss American food.  So we ended up at an American restaurant in a mall.  Denise and I had a plate of nachos to share and a bottle of water each.  Price?  14 euros....about $20!  Pretty expensive.  Such is life over here.  

Well, we are going to Cadiz tomorrow to visit this coastal town.  Early start for over here 8:00 AM.  I had better get to bed based upon this mornings experience!  

Adios.....

Alcazar entrance....

One of the MANY Alcazar's courtyard....

One of many garden pathways...

A new friend of mine....lots of peacocks on the grounds....

One of the nice pools in Alcazar....

You can see the Moor's design in the architecture of Alcazar....

These ham shanks were hanging by our table where we ate lunch.  The little bowls underneath some of the shanks catches fluids still dripping.  Yum!

The ham shank on the carving table.  It is an art here to carve really thin slices for meals.

One of the little alley ways as we did our Zella led walking tour.  She did a great job!

Denise with Don Juan.  She was swept off her feet!

The Plaza de Espana.  The camera cannot capture it all.  It would take two more camera shots to capture it all.  The building is oval shaped with a mote in front of ot.  You can rent boats to paddle in the mote.  The plaza is huge.

Two tired and weary travelers....but still smiling.

2014 Spain Day 4

Day 4......Gibraltar!

Wow...another fun day.  We were up and on the road by 8:30 AM.  We first went to the car rental place to get Kelly added to the car rental agreement so he could drive.  And driving he has done.  It was a 2 hour drive to the 'Rock of Gibralter'....which is part of the UK.  We found a parking spot on the Spain side and walked across the border.  For 6 hours, it cost 6 euros.  Upon crossing the border, we looked for a touring Taxi.  We spent the next 2.5 hours being toured around the 'rock'.  It was fantastic. The drivers name was Alex and he gave us a great historical tour as he drove.  We first went to a cannon museum where it described this really large canon that was used to defend Gibralter.  After we spent a little time there, he tool us down to the southern tip of Gibralter.  There, we took pictures of the 'rock' and a lighthouse thereby.  Also at this point was a beautiful mosque that we took lots of pictures of.  This point was up pretty high.  And looking down into the water we could see large schools of some very large fish.  At first we thought they were sharks.  But our driver said they were Blue Mulletts.  After our stop at this point, we headed up the rock.  Our first stop was at St. Michaels cave.  It was really nice.  It actually had the abilit to hold concerts and receptions there.  They were setting up for something while we there.  At the entry of the cave, we encountered our first 'apes'.  It turns out that the rock is home to some 250 monkeys that roam around.  Our next stop was at a point, a very high point of the rock.  There, there were a number of apes walking around and dining on the food that had been brought to them.  These monkeys were friendly.  Our driver had been driving for 14 years and one of the monkeys was 2 when he started.  The monkey is 16 years old now.  The driver went over to it and lifted up his lips to show us his teeth.  They were obviously friends.  After taking pictures, we headed down the rock a bit to a tunnel that was built into the rock.  Alex said there is 60 Kilometers of tunnels in the rock (30+ miles) that was used to protect Gibraltar in various conflicts.  The tour of the tunnel was pretty neat.  You are literally on the face of the rock where canons stuck out to defend the port.  And did I say high up?  At points, we were higher than the Empire State Building!  And, at points, it was like being on top of Half Dome in Yosemite looking over the edge.  For me and Kelly...very hair raising...except I have hair and Kelly has little on top.  After touring the tunnel, we drove down to a Moorish Castle tower that looked over the bay.  Once that was complete, our tour was done.  Our driver dropped us at an ATM to get some pounds...since Gibraltar is British...to pay for the tour.  He then left us in the town square where said good bye to Alex.  As we were driving and getting hungry, Kelly said that he would really like some Fish and Chips. Well, in the square, there were three eateries advertising Fish and Chips.  So we had a very nice meal of Fish and Chips.  From there we had a 30+ minute walk back to the car.  And to get off the rock, you have to walk across the runway for their airport.  I guess that jets landing there really struggle because of the cross winds that are constant there. 

The other cool thing  was to be able to see Morrocco, Northern Africa.  It felt like we could throw a stone and hit it.  Alex said for 60 euros you could go over and back.  If Zella and Kelly were not missionaries in Spain...and cannot leave Spain...we would catch that ferry over to Africa.  Some other life we will do that.

Our return trip home (hotel) took us to the southern most point of Spain.  The small town there was called Tarifa.  Cool little beach town.  But as we drove down from the mountains we were in towards Tarifa, we had the best view of th Strait of Gibraltar.  Pretty cool.  Very pretty.

Well, it is pitch black and raining as we drive back to Sevilla.  Again we are tired.  I am glad Kelly is driving today.  Hasta la mañana!

Kelly, Zella and Denise in Spain with Gibraltar behind them.

Looking over the port back to Spain.

The Mosque with the 'rock' behind it.

Cool lighthouse at the point of Gibraltar.

The rocky cliff looking into the sea.

St. Michae'ss Cave.

Denise's new friends.

A tax paying Gibralter resident.....

Looking over the Mediterranean.....

Looking down at the east end of the runway and done the Sun Coast (south east Spain)...

A cannon pointing out of the rock.  We are inside one of the many tunnels...

The west end of the runway looking towards Spain....

The Moorish Tower.  We went up into this.

Another Gibralter citizen at the Moor Tower.....

The Strait of Gibralter were the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.

2014 Spain Day 3

Day 3.....Cordoba, Ronda and some crazy driving.

Well, my day started early...3:30 AM.  I woke up after about 5 hours sleeping.  I could not sleep so I just laid there thinking about things.  I later got up and went into the bathroom to read so Denise would not see the lights.  But we had to be up early meeting Zella and Kelly at 7:15 AM.  Since Kelly cannot drive yet, I took the keys and drove the whole day.  We just arrived back at the hotel at 9:30 PM.  It was a fun day.  

It was interesting that it was dark still at 7:45 AM!  Odd.  We drove to Cordoba.  It was about a 1.5 hour drive.  The focus in Cordoba was to see the Mesqita...a very old Moorish Mosque that was taken over by the Catholic Church.  It is an absolute stunning building inside and out.  We left early so we could get into this building free.  This worked out.  We were able to get in and walk around for about 40 minutes.  After doing that, we walked down to the river to see a really old Roman bridge.  This wuss pretty nest too.  After we were done there we were off to get our car...which needed to come out of its space by 11:00 AM.  Unfortunately, we could not find it.  Kelly stopped many people.  And is usually the case....the all gave us different directions.  We were also on the clock to get to a train station to meet some other missionary couples who had Kelly's drivers license.  In the end, we found the car....made it to the train station on time...and Kelly got his DL.  He can drive tomorrow.

After Cordoba, we headed south to Ronda.  On the way we peeled off into a town to eat lunch.  We ate at a nice Pizzaria.  The pizza was good.  It was a good thing we peeled off the highway there as it was the right way to Ronda.  Our GPS was taking us to Malaga!    Anyway, we finally arrived at Ronda. It was incredible.  Take a look at the pictures.  The town is built on top of this crazy canyon.  It is awesome.  But the cool thing that we did was buy tickets to go into one of the oldest Bull Rings in Spain.  It was awesome!  

After Ronda, Kelly wanted to take the scenic ride back to Sevilla.  Holy crap....I thought I was driving in Ireland again only in mountains with some serious curves and some serious cliffs.  Kelly, sitting in the front passenger seat about wet his pants a few times as I zoomed around the mountains.  It was an amazingly beautiful drive.  I hope the pictures turn out on this.  We were in the mountains driving for over two hours!  

Well, it was a great day.  But we are really tired.  Tomorrow we plan to leave later and head to Gibralter.  Should be another fun day.

Columns in the Mesquita.  Wonderful place.

More mosque/chapel pictures....

The Roman bridge....

One of the many arches that we have seen....

Ronda in the background.  Towns are all white...just the way it is here.

Ronda is built on this crazy canyon.  Very beautiful.

This is a hotel overlooking the valley.

Ronda has one of the oldest bull rings in Spain.

Un Torero in the bull ring.....

Bull fighting fans....

Cork trees that had been stripped of their bark.....

Little towns tucked in the mountains that we drove by....

Guess who parallel parked this car!  Couldn't be prouder....

2014 Spain Day 2

Day 2.......Planes, Trains and Automobiles....and touring.

We arrived about 30 minutes late due to weather and de-icing that went on in Newark.  The trip went well.  It was quit pretty as we descended into the Madrid area.  And the Madrid airport was huge.  We disembarked from the plane and then walked a good quarter mile to customs.  It was by far the quickest customs we had been through.  Our first sthing to do was to exchange some dollars for euros.  According to Kelly, we got took...lousy exchange rate.  Oh well...it is my kids inheritance anyway!  After getting some money, we headed to the bus that transports people between terminals.  We were in T 1 and needed to go to T4 to see if the Renfe office was open and catch the train to the Atocha train station in Madrid.  The office was open and we bought tickets to Seville.  We then boarded the C1 train and off we were to Atocha.  In the meantime, via email, Kelly told us that he had forgot his drivers license and wondered if we could hookup with someone at the train station that would bring us his DL.  I stood in the railway station with my BYU beanie on, even though it was warm, for about 45 minutes.  But no one approached me.  So we ended up leaving without it.

After a 2.5 hour train ride, we landed in Sevilla around 4:00 PM.  Kelly was waiting for us there at the top of the stairs after un boarding from the train.  It was good to see him.  Both Zella and Kelly look great.  We quickly went to the rental car place to get my name on the rental car contract so I could legally drive.  We then watched Zella try to navigate the car with Kelly giving the orders.  We only missed about a dozen turns we should have taken.  Mostly because Denise and I would not stop talking to them!  We finally arrived at the hotel.  We immediately showered and cleaned ourselves up.  The hotel is really nice.  We then headed on bus to the downtown area.  It is quite spectacular.  We saw an old bull rink.  We saw the third largest cathedral in the world...says Kelly.  We had Mexican food for dinner downtown.  It was yummy to my tummy.  It is cool...but not cold.  Quite nice weather wise.  Just a really nice evening in the downtown area walking around.

Well...I am tucked in bed now.  We are up at 6:00 AM to head to, Cordoba to see the Mesquita.  If you get there between 8:30 and 9:30...the entrance is free.  We shall see....IF WE WAKE UP!

Arriving into Madrid....

Waiting for our train to the Atocha train station.

Apartment complexes in Madrid through train window.

Ahhhh....una cama!  

Enjoying the train ride!

A wonderful sight...Kelly and Zella!

Downtown Sevilla.  An old tower on the river.

Walking the downtown streets.  You know the bald guy on the right.

Cathedral tower.  The cathedral here is very large.

Pretty cool door and archway.  You see a lot of these old walls around.

Dinner last night.  Pretty good Mexican food!

2014 Spain Day 1

Day One....airports and planes.

I write the beginning of this post from Newark on the plane that hopefully gets us to Madrid tomorrow!  Yahoo...but what an adventure.  I woke up at 2:00 AM, which seems to be the norm on travel days these days.  I laid in bed until the NyQuil wore off of Denise around 4:30 AM.   We both got up, got ready and sat down and watched this weeks Parenthood until one of our wonderful sons picked us up at 6:00AM and drove us to the airport.

At the SLC airport, we had 3 shots 2 through ORD (Chicago) and 1 through IAH (Houston).  Twice it came to us with only one seat....and we had to let it go.  We did not want to split up.  All three of these flights left us.  It now became an exercise to see how far and how close we could get but always thinking we would miss the Madrid flight.  Well, we finally were given seats on a flight to Houston that would connect with a flight to EWR (Newark)...which had lots of seats out of Houston.  However, the IAH flight to EWR was scheduled to arrive at 8:15 PM...our Madrid flight was scheduled to leave at 8:10.... We would just miss it even though the gates between the flights seemed relatively close (arriving at C85 and leaving at C71.  As we ascended into the skies, the captain announced that we should arrive at the gate 10 minutes early.  That was our break and our hope.  And we did actually arrive 10 minutes early.  So once we were off the plane, I began to run.  We have done this drill a number of times now.  When I arrived at the gate, there was no attendant at the desk.  There was no one except a few people sitting in seats and one happened to be an attendant.  The plane was still there so I asked if it was too late to get on.  She said she would check.  She asked if there were others.  I said that my wife was running up the terminal.  Once again, we got on out of breath...which led to coughing attacks...and sweating a bit.  Fortunately this plane is half full.  We went right to the back and grabbed a whole row for each of us.  Nice!  

I have to say that in all cases, the United employees have been gracious and really wanting us to succeed in getting to Madrid.  And their support has worked.

Well, tomorrow is another adventure.  I was able to book my hotel in Sevilla while on the plane.  So the next task is to get us to the main train station (Atocha) in Madrid and then a train to Sevilla.  And then I will relax and hopefully sleep.

Hasta la mañana!

Midnight movies on the plane to Madrid.

Sleeping Beauty

Good morning...fresh and ready to go!