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Twilight

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

No, this isn’t going to be a blog about vampires.  However, they could probably live pretty easily here in Spain.  We are adjusting to the late hours that suit a nocturnal lifestyle.  The bakery around the corner from our hotel doesn’t even open for breakfast until 10 AM.  Lunch at 3 and dinner, well, let’s just say “later”.

We’ve been in Leon for a few days with a side trip to the Picos De Europa.  The rocky peaks are beautiful and we went for a nice hike through the gorge at Cain.  All that walking works up an appetite, so we’ve been exploring the tapas bars and restaurants.  The tapas scene in Leon is slightly different than other places and it took us a couple of tries to learn the art of dining here.  When you order a drink, you get a little plate of food for free.  It’s generally some local specialty like chorizo, ham, cheese, or olives.  Since the drinks are only about a Euro each, we thought we could eat pretty cheaply by stopping at a bunch of these places.  After a few bars, we  realized that the quantity of drinks was bigger than the quantity of food, and we would get drunk sooner than we would get full. 

Anyway, we hope everyone enjoys their turkey dinner today…  Happy Thanksgiving!

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Hola!

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

On our way to Portugal, we took a few days to go through Spain.  We’ll be coming back here later, but thought we should break up the drive with a little sightseeing along the way.  Our first stop was San Sebastian and although the weather didn’t cooperate for much outdoor activity it didn’t keep us from enjoying the tapas bars and sampling some really good food.

From food we moved on to wine.  Our next destination was Haro in the heart of Rioja.  We paid a few visits to the bodegas and tasted (and bought) a few excellent bottles.  The vineyards are absolutely beautiful this time of year.  I never expected that the vine leaves would be turning bright orange, red, and yellow.  The best part was that we pretty much had the place to ourselves – most of the tourists are gone by now.

From there, we continued west to Salamanca and enjoyed a day of wandering through the old city, and an evening meal near the lovely Plaza Major.  One thing we quickly learned about food here is that anything – from tenderloin to ham – with the word Iberico in the description is going to be good.

Here’s the view from the rooftop of the Catedral Nueva.

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Overtime

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

November 1st was the anniversary of when we left to start our trip around the world. It’s hard to believe that it has been a whole year already. I’m very glad that we decided to extend our travels by 3 more months because I’m not quite ready to come home yet. We just arrived in San Sebastian, Spain (or Donostia as it is known in Basque), but we stopped in Mont St. Michel a few days ago on the way – see the photo at the bottom.

We’ve been doing a lot of driving to get down here and have had time in the car to reflect on the last year. We also read many travel books along the way, by current writers like Paul Theroux or Bryson, or those from the past like Mark Twain. I’m in the middle of his “The Innocents Abroad” right now and we got to discussing how little has changed in traveling since 1869. While many of the sights he describes are nearly identical today, his thoughts on guides, souvenirs, cultural quirks, and touts could have been written yesterday. And based on what we saw in Rome, it’s been that way for centuries.

However, there are some things that have changed for the better, and it’s certainly a little more comfortable and a lot more convenient to travel in the 21st century. Here’s our list of things that we are glad to have:

15. Quick-dry fabrics

14. Digital Cameras

13. iPods

12. Wheels on luggage – no way we could afford the porters for the trunks that Twain had

11. English bookstores – new or used, you can almost always find paperbacks in English

10. Airplanes – hate the airlines, love the jets

9. Airline Lounges – well, maybe we don’t hate everything about the airlines

8. Rental Cars – who needs public transportation if you have one of these? Although a nightmare to park, there is no better way to see a country

7. GPS – its fun to get lost in a country at times, but there’s still plenty of opportunities even with a SatNav

6. A good pair of walking/hiking/everything-everywhere shoes – even with #8, you won’t get far without these

5. US Passports – easy entry to almost any country, same as in Twain’s days. Everyone still loves America

4. The Sock Puppet – “Levity is good. It relieves tension and the fear of death.” The Terminator said that and he’s our governor now.

3. The Euro – even though it’s unconscionably high vs. the dollar, we don’t have to keep pockets full of lire, marks, francs, and pesos

2. ATMs – always open, almost always work

1. The Internet (and all that comes with it)

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Posted in Spain, Travel | 2 Comments »

El Tour De Francia

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the reasons for our visit to Barcelona was that the Tour de France was making a detour into this area. We saw both the finish of stage 6 and the start of stage 7 here. It was very appropriate to be watching Le Tour in the city of Gaudi because it really is quite a spectacle. It’s a huge commercial for the sponsors, a sporting event, and a fiesta all at the same time.

Despite the pouring rain for stage 6, thousands of people turned up to line the route – everything from local residents who were just curious, casual cycling fans, and people on vacation to business people hanging out of office windows to get a view, and of course, the tour crazies. The weather held up for stage 7 and even more people packed the streets for that one. Traffic in Barcelona was probably a nightmare for anyone trying to get to work.

The race itself almost seems secondary to the caravan that goes before it. While the riders speed past you for just a few seconds, the caravan goes on for hours. It starts with more police motorcycles than I’ve ever seen in one place. After that, a whole string of official cars, team cars, press cars, and mechanics’ vans goes through. Then the fun begins. The sponsors floats come through blaring music and throwing tchotchkes to the fans who go nuts for this stuff. We snagged some polka dot hats, bottles of water, and gummy bears – it was a good haul. After the parade, there are more police (for this race both gendarmerie from France and guardia urbana from Barcelona) and more team cars. The later it gets, the faster they drive by, so you know the riders are close. Finally, after all that, the peloton flies by in a multi-colored blur of jerseys and bikes that last just a few seconds while everyone cheers.

After the riders were gone, we headed back the hotel to watch it on TV. This is one sport where the excitement is great, but there is something to be said for TV coverage to know where the riders are and what is happening out on the course. We’ve been watching it on Eurosport, usually with German or French commentators and the sound turned down. I really miss the Versus team, and Phil Liggett especially. Who else could tell us when they are “dancing on the pedals”?

On our way out of Barcelona back to France, we passed through the Pyrenees on the some of the same mountain passes that the riders will be taking over the next few days. We scouted the course and decided it’s much better to be going up these hills in a car.

 Here is the pack underway.  That’s Fabian in yellow and Cav in green.

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Work In Progress

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

We spent a few nice days in Zurich with a friend and then made the long drive to Barcelona over two days. We had more than one reason for making the trip, though, because we wanted to visit at least one place in Spain (although we soon learned we are in Catalunya), and we also wanted to see the Tour de France. It turns out that le Tour is venturing across the border this year, so our decision was made.

I have to admit that I didn’t really know much about Barcelona before we arrived, but we quickly got up to speed on it’s most famous architect, Gaudi. His apartment building, la Pedrera, captures the imagination and reminded me of a place that a Dr. Suess character might live. It’s a little strange at first, but the more I saw, the more I really like it.

You can’t come here without seeing his most famous work, the Sagrada Familia, although I don’t think anything I had seen or read prepared me for it. It’s huge, mind-bending, and surprising for me, unfinished. I had no idea that so much work is still going on. There are all sorts of craftsman hard at work, but it still seems to be a long way from complete. The parts that are done are fantastic – some are weird, some beautiful – but all really seem to evoke a strong response in everyone who sees it. I’m already looking forward to coming back in 2025 when it will supposedly get its tall bell tower.

Here’s a look at the Gaudi chimneys at la Pedrera:

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Posted in Spain, Travel | 2 Comments »

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