Tarifa, Spain \ May 5 & 6

TARIFA, SPAIN

(quick note: finally in a spot where I can start posting blogs again...rest of the trip coming soon!)

Took a three-hour bus down the coast from Torrmosolis to Tarifa today.  What a view; at least the last hour or so of the ride.  The coast down to Tarifa is quite hilly and because of the high winds there are new windmills peppering the hillsides. Really makes for a spectacular view to see these huge windmills spinning away with the ocean in the forefront.  Very cool!  Wish our driver could have stopped along the way so I could take pictures.

Tarifa is a windsurfer’s paradise.  The wind blows wild in Tarifa most of the year to the delight of the avid windsurfing community.  I absolutely hate, hate, hate wind!  That said I am so thrilled that we spent a couple days in Tarifa.   Granted we had to roll through to catch the ferry to Tangiers anyway but…

 There are heaps of adorable little shops with what looks like one of a kind jewelry, and just as many clothing boutiques that could have kept me satisfied for days.

Did I mention the hip little coffee shops around town as well?  I do loves me a good coffee.We stayed at Correos Hostel right next to the church.  The hostel is housed in an old, multilevel-whitewashed building.  The doors are all painted a vivid blue, which makes for a great contrast against the whitewashed walls.  The room was huge; actually it was three rooms and a bathroom.  I rarely take photos of the places I stay, especially since I am a budget girl, most of the places I stay are forgettable, but I did snap a few of this place.  There is one downside to the Correos Hostel and it is not the staff, which is a super friendly family, but the church bell rings as it pleases.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the chime. 

All the streets here are whitewashed and as usual they are a maze to wander, which I love.  One of the cheapest meals we have had it Spain was in Tarifa and what is funny it was about one of the best.  I don’t even remember the name of the place but it was just a simple pizza joint.  We ended up there for the mere fact that some soccer game was on and everywhere was packed out, well everywhere with a TV anyway.   The pizza joint was the only place around without a crazed crowd of men screaming inside.  It was greasy, New York style, Pizza to die for.  And did I mention it was cheap!

I would highly recommend Tarifa for anyone coming to Spain for more than a couple weeks.  Beautiful beaches, great shopping, tasty grub, and chilled out atmosphere.

Left for Morocco on the 1pm ferry.  Actually considering it is only a 30-minute ferry ride the cost of 37 Euros is quite steep.   Off to Morocco soon.  Adios amigos!

More photos of Tarifa

Seville, Spain March 30,31 and April 1

Doubled back to Madrid in order to jump on a fantastic high speed train to Seville. Love doing this First Class thing. Trains are typically a nice comfy way to travel (at least the more developed countries) but this was one step up. Sat in my big cushy seat and drank vino, ate one of the best transportation meals I have ever had and had a lovely view of the landscape zooming by.

We stayed at the Samay Hostel near the center of Seville. Since there were six of us we got a room to ourselves. Most people think that hostels are for the 20 something’s but it just isn’t true. The younger crowd definitely out number everyone else but you can easily steer away from the party hostels. At the Samay there were quite a few over 50’s and a few parents with kids like us.

I adore Seville. This is one of those cities I could live in. Finally over our jet lag and ready to get some serious sightseeing on. Our hostel was in Barrio Santa Cruz which is a high energy neighborhood right in the middle of everything. After getting settled in and getting a bit of a seiseta in we decided to just wander our ‘barrio’. In some ways it reminded me a lot of the cobbled alley like roads of Venice. The lanes are so small in fact that that we often had to jump into a doorway to avoid getting run over. Good fun.

The first night in Seville we got our tapas on big time. Found a great little tapas bar and gave a bunch of goodies a try. During this dinning experience I realized that everyone in Spain dines outside no matter the temperature. In fact, most places don’t really have enough room to hold more that a couple tables. I really notice as it was bloody cold out and has been but everyone still eats outside. Very Colorado of them.

On our second day we did a nice walking tour around town and spent some quality time at the park near our hostel….rockin’ slide park for the girls. Amazing how quickly little kids make friends. Ever time we hit up a slide park, which is often, the girls have conversations with kids that don’t speak a word of English. Even though I don’t want to have kids of my own, they are pretty cool little beings.

After the park we went to the Cathedral. Ever city in Spain it seams has a major Cathedral and they are always simply referred to as ‘the Cathedral’. Mr. Christopher Columbus has a fancy little crypt here. Never been a fan of they guy so it was not such a draw for me. But….this Cathedral was absolutely overwhelming. I look at things we build today and wonder where our creativity and honor has gone. The delicate sculpting of the Cathedral in Seville are mind blowing. For me this is the number one attraction in Seville. Next we walked the 30 plus levels to the top of the Giralda Tower (Cathedral tower). The views on the way up were great but wow…the view of Seville from the top of the Giralda Tower is one you don’t want to miss.

I think this is also the day we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the touristy stuff. The best part of the carriage ride was the stroll through Parque de Maria Luisa and Plaza de Espana. I usually am not one to do a carriage ride but I must admit that this was a great idea….thanks mom.

Since I am a bit behind on my journal I can’t quite remember which day we went to the Flamenco Dancing. I do know that is was the same day that we ate ice cream at a hoppin’ plaza just behind our hostel and guess what….we hit up another slide park after ice cream. Anyway, we went to a Flamenco Dance show at a bar like setting (kid friendly). First drink was included and since we were watching Flanenco Dancing in it’s birthplace we decided to have a Spanish specialty….Sangrias!

The show was super cool, I really wish I had any kind of talent. I have to get my dance on behind closed doors, I think my dreams of becoming a Flamenco Dancer will remain just that. We did get some video of the dancing, will have mom post it for me as it is on her Flip.

After the show we went once again for tapas. We have already fallen into the Spanish ways of dinning after 9 or 10pm. The bar\tapas joint we hit up this time was jam packed and everyone was loving their eats. Legs of ham hung from the ceilings (common around Spain). Everything in Spain is ham….ham this….ham that. Thank Goddess I love me the ham. Would love to take a leg with us on the Camino de Santiago…just strap it to the back of my pack. Wicked!

Let’s see how did we get out of Seville. Oh, that’s right! Getting to Portugal from Seville looks like it would be easy by not so. We ended up taking a bus as it cut the travel time in half. As we were sitting in front of our bus, mere moments from loading luggage I notice that one of the stops was Lagoa and two or three stops later was Lagos (main and final stop…big tourist city).

We had bought tickets for Lagos, of course, as that is where everyone goes in the Algraves region of Portugal (Southern Portugal). I turned to everyone and said ’wouldn’t it be funny if our resort were actually at Lagoa since the names are so similar’. Well we pulled out our confirmation and lo and behold the Boca da Rio was is Lagoa. If a bus doesn’t have a record of tickets for a particular town they don’t stop so we had to sort it out. We did get off in Lagoa instead of Lagos. What was really amusing is that most of the folks on the bus were also tourist and they assumed that the fact that we where getting off ment it was Lagos. Luckily for them the bus driver let them know that the stop was Lagoa not Lagos.

Easy trip to the Algraves. Portugal should be fantastic!

More photos of Seville

Toledo, Spain \ March 28, 29

Madrid was amazing and I would love to spend a hell of a lot more time there but off we go. After hitting up the ‘Big Smoke’ of Madrid it’s time to slow down the pace and enter the medieval walled cited of Toledo. Toledo is one old mother, I’m talkin’ 192 BC things were happening here. UNESCO listed the city as part of World Heritage in 1987. There is defiantly a Venetian feel to this city. Toledo is a labyrinthine of curvy, curly walkways that turn out to be actual roads. Amazing to turn a corner and watch a car squeezed themselves up a lane only an inch bigger than they are. Very cool, hope to get to drive around here.

We stayed and a reasonably nice hotel called the Carlos V. It would appear that our hotel is quite centrally located as it was Mardi Gras loud every night. Not to worry…that’s what ear plugs are for, right? We did get a fantastic breakfast included in the mornings.

The Cathedral is the major attraction in Toledo and I can see why. Quite the little church I must say. I was a bit bummed that we where there on a Sunday but couldn't’t go to the service. I am not Catholic or anything but wow, the Catholic Churches rock, so when we found out that only Spaniards could go to service is was very sad. I should have just gone…I can’t imagine that they have passport control at a church plus I blend in everywhere. My sister even lost me in China when I was standing right next to her. There is something to be said about looking like everyone I guess.

more photos of Toledo

Madrid \ March 25 & 26, 2009

MADRID
The shuttle picked us up at the ridiculous hour of 3:45 am. Actually it was not as terrible as the hour sounds. It gave us time to get our coffee on at DIA and watch the early morning commuters do their thing. Both flights (Denver to Miami and Miami to Madrid) were more than comfortable. We scored on the second flight and got those great seats at the front of economy where you get all the extra leg room. The only downside to those seats are that you are stuck watching the ‘chosen ones’ in First Class get treated right.
We met up with the rest of the Family in Madrid as we were on different airlines because Cortney and I are on an Around the World ticket (which means you go funky, long-layover ways). I quick taxi ride later and we were passed out in the Calridge Hotel. More than a handful of hours later we were up and ready to check out the city. Didn’t get very far as we were all still beat. I always have a ton more trouble recovering from an Eastern travel route. Pretty much a spent day.
On our first night we drug ourselves to a tapas joint across from the hotel. We somehow managed to get ourselves a full set up of amazing tapas (everything from potatoes in a creamy garlic sauce, cheese sandwiches, fish and a few other yummies) and a round of drinks. In the end we had to carry the girls (five and six years old) back to the hotel. Talk about crashing out, wow, there was some sleepin’ going on in our rooms.


MADRID
March 27, 2009
Big tour day today. We try to walk as much as possible because you end up seeing so much more than jumping on the metro or taking a taxi. Wandered our way to the Museo de Prado and the girls saw a fantastic slide park off to the side…we actually managed to talk them into going later.
Our first stop was at the famous Museo de Prado which is in the Golden Triangle of museums (others near by include the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. This is one big museum. If you have a number of days in Madrid I would go every other day to the Prado for a few hours so you can really get a good look about. Pick up one of the free floor plans if you only have a day (as we did). Most of the must see pieces are on the main floor which help quite a bit. If you are in Spain you really should see the Velazquezs, Goyas even if it is just to say you saw it in Spain. A little bit about the Prado for all those ‘Art Dorks’ out there. The Prado means ‘meadow’ in Spanish and was built by Juan de Villanueva starting in 1918. I really must go back as we only had a couple hours (just not enough).
We are traveling with kids so the next stop that most people forget about was a park but in this case we hit up the ‘big mother park’ of Madrid Parque del Buen Retiro. Parque del Buen Retiro is basically the ‘Central Park’ of Madrid. The girls wanted to hit up a slide park to have a bit of a play about so off we went in search of such a place. As it turns out taking a bit of a Sunday stroll through Parque del Buen Retiro is a Madrid tradition much like tapas and outdoor café life.
The lake area of Parque del Buen Retiro has at its focal point the Alfonso XII’s Mausoleum with giant marble lions overlooking it. Cafes and buskers make this area of the park a fantastic spot to dine and kick back a vino before continuing your walk about. In the end we never did find the playground but a good time was had by all.
Very sad that we only had two days in Madrid, especially since those where our jetlag days. Thankfully, Madrid is a short easy, cheap trip from anywhere in the states. Another trip here is an absolute.