Tina & Rob’s excellent adventure

Valencia is such a pretty city, especially the city center, with its dazzling architecture lining the squares and palm tree-lined streets. Add to that fabulous weather, and a city beach on the Mediterranean (site of the 2007 America’s Cup) and it is almost perfect. Sunday was market day and we strolled along the tables with the well-dressed locals out and about with their families. We were treated to a show of traditional folk dancing and singing in one of the church squares. One of the many joys of being a tourist.

Here in Valencia and Seville they have a very unique way of double parking. People just block in your car, and when you are ready to leave you just honk your horn til the person shows up to move their vehicle. Another trick is to leave your locked car in neutral so it can be pushed out of the way. Ah city life…

Just outside Seville in the town of Santiponce lies the remains of the old Roman city of Italica. The birthplace of the Roman emperor Trajan, Italica was founded in 206 B.C. initially for wounded Roman soldiers. The ruins contain an amphitheater which was the 3rd largest in the Roman Empire. It seated 25,000 while the town’s population was 8,000. As we walked along the cobbled streets past whats left of houses and shops with their mosaic floors still in tact, we were once again in awe of the far reaching and prolific empire of those industrious Romans.

Seville, capital of Andalucia is a great city full of history and culture and famous for Flamenco and Tapas. It is a good tourist stop; you can get a feel for the Spanish culture, and have all the amenities..hotels, restaurants and great shopping (a must see is El Corte Ingles, an unbelievable department store with the works..high-end grocery store included) Now it is decorated for Christmas and bustling with shoppers .

The city has Orange trees lining its streets, big, beautiful parks and lovely walled gardens adorned with decorative tiles. The architecture is a mix depicting its history..Roman, Moorish, Gothic and Renaissance. Our photos show the Catedral y Giralda and Playa de Espana. The Cathedral is the third largest in the world, after St. Peters in Rome and St.Paul’s in London. Bullfighting originated here. We visited Seville’s Bullring “Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza ” and learned the history of bullfighting. It was in Seville that the sport went from being done on horseback to fighting on foot. Fights are held 40 times a year; 3 Matadors and 6 bulls for each fight. Each matador must kill 2 bulls. The bullfight takes 2 hours. We did not attend an actual bullfight. I don’t think I could handle seeing such a thing, but it is an important part of the Spanish history and culture, and it was interesting to learn about it. Bullfighting is also done in Portugal.

One of the great features of Seville is the bicycle rental system. Available to locals and tourists one can grab a bike at locations all over the city for a small fee (5 Euros for a one week membership and a small hourly fee) . You can pick up and drop off at any of the numerous locations around the city. What a great concept!

Once again we have stumbled upon an idyllic little beach spot! Situated on the Atlantic coast of Portugal it is a “get away from it all” kind of place. The whole area seems to cater to British tourists so English is spoken and you see more signs for full English breakfast than in London! Here we are taking a vacation from our vacation..walk to the beach, lay in the sun for a few hours, walk the beach–Yeah, rough life!! We’ve met some nice people at the local bar Filipe and Raquel from Porto, and Tony from Hartland, England. We pass the time talking about how little we did that day.

We are heading for Spain next so there will be hard work ahead..Seville, Valencia and Barcelona.

We had a request recently for an update on Booger including photos so we have posted a shot of her at the beach. She deserves some time off as well!

Special note to Tim and Gina: Congratulations and enjoy your honeymoon.

Four days just wasn’t enough time to see all that Lisbon (or Lisboa as it called in Portuguese) has to offer. We wore ourselves out exploring this marvelous city, climbing its 7 hills of cobblestone streets and discovering its charms.

The views from the hilltops are incredible, the river Tagus, the Atlantic Ocean, and the old city tucked into the inland hills are reminiscent of San Francisco. Especially the old tram cars and funiculars that traverse the city streets.

In the photos you see church Santa Engracia, Praca de Commercio, Cathedral Se, Miradouro da Graca and St. George’s Castle (Castelo de Sao Jorge). This is just a sample of some of the amazing architecture in the city.

We stayed in a modern little studio apartment-Casa du Bocage, graciously hosted by Vasco and Patricia. It is conveniently located near Praca de Touros do Campo Pequeno (bull fighting arena and shopping center and a landmark in its own right) From there we caught Lisbons clean, modern Metro to all the city sights. Unlike some capital cities; it is amazingly compact and you can get around easily. We must come back to Lisbon one day as we never were able to enjoy fully the night life, cuisine, and cafes of this charming city.

Another day, another monastery! The Convent of Christ in Tomar is another beautiful display of great architecture. One of its impressive features was the 4 KM long aqueduct that provided the water supply to the monastery.

We visited these two monasteries, beautiful examples of Gothic architecture built between the 11th and 19th centuries. We were able to explore all the areas, including the dormitories, kitchen, cloisters, chapels ans stables. The interiors are stark and at the same time ornate with impressive stone cuttings. The monks living there were cloistered and took a vow of silence.There was only one room in the monastery where they were allowed to speak and then only of the daily runnings of the monastery could be discussed. It was interesting to get a glimpse of what their daily lives were like.