Back home....

We are home.... 

The last day in Seville, I was not feeling well at all.  We spend the 1/2 day at the Cathedral before heading back to Seville via Vueling flight.  By the time we were back to the airport, I was going between hot and chills. I ended up sleeping at the airport for about 1 hour, and the entire flight.

Returning the car at the airport was easy.  They inspected the car, etc and I passed with no problem.  They didn't say a word about missing GPS mount .... We shall keep close look on my AmEx.

We stayed at Renaissance at BCN airport - which is about 10min free shuttle drive from the airport.  The only hotel during our entire stay where Free WiFi was NOT available!  It did not matter much, because I just wanted to sleep....knowing we have to leave the hotel at 5:00am.

BA flights back home was un-eventful- except for the 5-hour to kill at T5 at Heathrow.  I looked at every shop there...Gucci, Prada, Tiffany...Paul Smith, Thomas Pink....  I got my copy of Hello magazine..... But but.... T5 does not have duty free Hermes.....  I restrained myself and did not step inside Hermes in Barcelona... I felt betrayed....first trip ever I was coming home with no new scarf.....

BA49 from London was....75% Indian!!!! The coach ride from the terminal to the aircraft smelled like Indian restaurant.  They had their luggage tags with Bothell, etc... Eastside addresses.... All the tech people probably went home to visit relatives in India, and were returning to the States....

The flight felt like it took forever....strong headwind...crying babies....my own fatigue and sore throat.

After going through the immigration and customs, successfully bringing Jamon Iberco.... I stepped outside of the airport...dark and raining...and felt soooooo good, refreshing!

We stopped at Chinatown for Chinese wonton noodles on our way home.s

I will have 1000s of pictures to sort, laundries to do this weekend- fun, fun, fun!

Then, time to plan our next trip - to Turkey!!

12/26/2011 Seville

After having a nice breakfast (with view...) at Reina Victoria Hotel in Ronda.....

we headed to the birth place of Bullfighting.... Plaza del Toros.  With not too many people around....Karina and Chris played bull and fighter....

After visiting through the museum, etc we headed to Seville ~ about 2 hour drive from Ronda.  It wasn't as traumatic as yesterday's....no lost equipment parts....

Hotel Amadeus in the heart of Old Seville is absolutely a wonderful hotel.  Each room has room number- and composers name....like Bizet, Mozart, Wagner, Pucci, etc.  Our room is Rossini...and it is a suite with own whirlpool bath.  Before we went out to do anything...of course, Karina was soaking in there.

We first walked about Catheral - the 3rd largest in the world, after St Peters in Vatican, and St Paul's in London - and is the larger gothic cathedral in the world.   We will visit inside, and go up the tower tomorrow morning.

We then went to Alcazar...... the bottom 1/2 is 14th Century Moorish...and top 1/2 is 16th C Renaissance.

By then, Chris was not feeling well, so he went back to the hotel.  Karina and I continued our walk around old Jewish area - Barrio Santa Cruz.

We saw about 3 different sets of tourists with Rick Steve's book today.... And of course, one family who did not have the copy, asked us to borrow a few minutes to find out where to eat...they took photos of the pages. Since we arrived in Spain, we saw at least one tourist set with Rick Steve's book.

We will be off to Flamenco show and tapas soon.... For now the view from our rooftop terrace......

12/25/2011 Driving to Ronda

After the last night in Granada ~ with shawarma, tea, and hookah ... we jumped out of our bed at 8:45am.  Karina did not even have dinner - she was so tired, she slept from 5:00pm and through.

Saying good-byes to the wonderful little hotel, we took cab back to the airport - to get our rental car from Europcar.  There was NOBODY at the airport - and Europcar was the only rental car counter that was open.  We were lucky that they had a navigator for rental available - I bought Spain map and loaded on my Garmin - but when I turned it on in Spain, it does not load.... I just brought one stupid Garmin with me.....  With 6-speed, stick-shift VW Golf, loaded with water and snack, we were on to our day drive to Ronda.

Driving out of the airport, heading down to the Mediterranean Coast aka Costa del Sol was pretty easy.  In about 90 min from Granada airport, we arrived in Nerja.

I didn't know why, but the town felt a bit odd.... very bright, around 70F.... lots of older people.... and then, I realized, people here looked different than people we were mingling with in Barcelona or Granada..... and then noticed.... majority of the people we were passing by were a bit ill-dressed, in lots of pastel colors.... pale skin..... Brits (and some Germans....)  It was strange to be surrounded by Anglo Saxons.... instead of dark Latins.

We make our way around.... including Balcony of Europe.... managed to have a very blah-tourist food also ... (sorry that's what happens when the town is invaded by retired Brits....)

After our 2+hour stop in Nerja, we drove to Frigiliana.  It is a quick 15~20 min drive from Nerja - and stunningly white, small hill town. 

By that time, it was almost 3:00pm.  We decided to skip checking out Malaga, or Marbella... and zipped to Ronda.  Nerja/Frigialina to Ronda is about 1.5+ hour drive.   I forgot to mention, we had NO TRAFFIC problem ~ that what happens around Costa del Sol, when you travel on Christmas day.... absolute off-season, and the locals are off also....  

The route takes you along the Coast until Marbella, and then you take a winding uphill road up to Ronda.  This drive is not a comforable one as a passenger.... with the curves, and altitude changes,  I sort of lost my senses... and our Garmin navigator on rental... flew out of my window.... only by luck, the navigator itself was still attached to the power code... but the base is gone.  I have two days to come up with some excuses before I return the car at Seville airport......

Our hotel in Ronda is an aboslute magnificent place, overlooking the gorge.  The building is old... and it does feel like this is a "investigation" location for Ghost Adventure guys (except they would need to dress far far better....).

After checking-in, and sort-of unpacking, I herd Chris and Karina, as usual for the walking tour of Ronda.  We stopped at Bullring (which we will visit tomorrow) - and then to the Puente Nuevo.... 18th century bridge going across 360 feet hight gorge.  I am not good at height at all..... Chris and Karina know that.  But of course, being funny, Karina was doing things that absolutely freaked me out... so much so that right there, I started to cry.  Fear, stress, fatigue, (and traumatic loss of navigator base...) all culminated to that point... I was in tears.... very fragile moment that I haven't had in many years.

We posted some of the pictures on Facebook from our iPhones also earlier ~ check them out there also.  The Hotel has fast WiFi down in the lobby area!

Tomorrow, we will drive to Seville from Ronda ~ about 2~3 hour drive with hopefully, not so winding roads ahead.  Our trip is now heading to the last 2 nights.....

12/24/2011 Alhambra, Alhambra, Alhambra

We went to Carmen Mirador de Aixa last night....had pig-full of food and Rioja --- which became the family joke now as I cannot pronounce this wine correctly and when I tried, even the waiter laughed.....

We arrived a bit before 8:30pm.  This is after walking around the same around for almost 2 hours earlier- as we completely took the wrong way up (though very scenic along the river....).

The food is rich, requires s lot of wine consumption just to digest..... The place is nice.... And the view.....

We woke up and early again....with very unhappy Karina who wanted to sleep in....  Today was our Alhambra day.  We were up, done with breakfast by 8:00am (except I didn't want to eat...still full from last night.....), out the door with cameras, maps, etc.

We took the small local bus to Alhambra~about 15 min ride from the center of Granada.  Once we arrived there, there was no line to convert our reservation to tickets.  We had about 1 hour before our appointment time to get into Palace Nazaries.  We strolled along tons of Chienese tourists....but with patience, had some photo ops with no humans in the frame..... This is Carlos V palace...and me, trying to blend as a gypsy?  (it was a bit cold...)

Once we were in the Palace Nazaries, we could stay as along as wanted.......  This is a view of Myrtle Courtyard from the viewpoint of irrigation system (on the ground....), water flowing to the Long Pool.

Lions Square was under restoration......

This is how the Palace normally looked like with other tourists...... "Where is Waldo??"

You patiently wait 10 min or so....you find about 5 seconds of time when see no other humans.......

View of Albayzin from the Palace was beautiful........

On our way out, we found this statue of Washington Irving that Granada built to honor his writings on Alhambra.  There was a WordPerfect 5.1 users guide at this foot....I have not seen WP5.1 for the last 16 years......

We finished and back in town by 1:00pm  -  just in time to have a real tapas/bar time at Bodegad Cadganeda, which is only 1/2 block from our hotel.  We knew they were closing at 4:00pm and will not be open at night.  We went back to the hotel first to lighten our gear.... So while enjoying the bar, I didn't have my camera- it is all recorded on my iPhone....food, drinks, people, people singing.....and Karina drinking at the Bar.

Everything pretty much shuts down around 4:00pm on Christmas eve as people still do traditional family Christmas eve dinner - much like our Thansgiving.  We are back in the hotel now....Karina and Chris are taking nap....I took a long hot bath to ease my sore lower back (cannot compare to the Arab Hammam....but better than nothing....).  Walking 8~9 hours every day for the last 4 days is catching up the old body parts.  I don't remember being this sore 3 years ago....(but then, that was Copenhagen and we ended up inside warm cafe soooo often....)

Tonight, we will walk around the quiet Granada....see if there are any Castillian speaking Chinese or Indian opening their doors to heathens...or better yet, real Arab shawarmas.....

Tomorrow, pick-up our car at the airport, off to Ronda, via South Coast!

Granada

All over Granada, you see this all over the town.  Chris noticed it, and explained to us, this must be Arab poppy plant symbol (you crack the poppy open as dipicted, sap comes out, which then converted to heroin or morphine)

When we came back, we asked our friendly front desk woman, Kathy (from Iowa, living here for the last 25 years...)  why there are so many Poppies symbols in town.  She looked at us puzzled, and said, "you mean Granada? Pomegranate??"

It turned out, what Chris explained to us as the source of addictive drugs....simply is pomegranate...which is Granada.  Now that made sense to me....because we saw a lot of pomegranate in the royal museum earlier....Queen Isabelle's silver crown was ringed with pomegranate.

Thanks to Kathy, Karina will not be telling her friends at school ....that Granada was filled with drug symbols!

12/23/2011 So long BCN

We woke up really early @ 4:00am - to cat h our flight out of Barcelona to Granada leaving at 7:00am.   Out cab driver was really nice, once Chris uttered a word in Spanish, they were full-on, talking in Spanish about ???  Chris later told me that the driver is originally from Venezuela - and as the conversation progressed, his Spanish was changing from Castilian to South American.  Karina and I noticed, Chris was speaking three time more in Spanish, at shotgun speed- sounded very legit!

 BCN is a rather new (current airport was built only 3 years ago), modern airport.  Everything was running pretty efficiently- and again, if you are wearing flat shoes, sneakers, Uggs, or ones with no metals, you do not have to take your shoes off - but iPad had to come out of your bags.  We arrived  85min prior to our 7:00am departure, had a light breakfast.  We were supposed to go to the gate around 6:30am at B39.  Of course in 30 min time, they changed our gate.  BCN does not announce gate changes either.  We had to RUN from B30 to A20 at 6:28am as the reader board was showing "last call" next to our flight.  I could not understand why they were closing the gate 30min before the flight.... Then just at 6:30am as we arrived the gate... I noticed, our plane is not at the jetway....we were to be bused to the middle of the airport for boarding.

One thing I learned....Vueling is pronounced voo-eh-ling, not view-ling.

Granada Airport is just as tiny as Yakima, or Leeds, UK.  No jetways....all ground walking.  So much for wheelchair people.  I was wondering what kind of scene our Greek Old Lady would make......

It was very chilly (at 3C) when we arrived at GRX at 8:25am.   Since we had sooooo much time, we took Airport to City Center bus (3 euro per person), instead of taking taxi.  The bus stops right next to the Cathedral, and our hotel is only 3 blocks away.  Our home for the next 2 nights - Hotel Ana Capri is a really nice 3 star hotel at winter bargain price of 136 euro for triple room!!! Again, three twin beds!  And they had our room all ready at 9:30am- we could rest a bit before heading out for Old Granada walk.

We walked through the old Arab market, first greeted by a few gypsy women, trying to hand us some twigs of unknown plants.  As walking through, it felt like we transported to Turky already....all these trinkets, lots of sling shots,   The only reminder that we are in Spain was framrnco dressed hanging at store front.

We reached the side of the Cathedral, where it used to be the important square during Moorish time, with school etc.  Now there are these buildings with tromph de l'oeil which is really charming.

We went inside the Royal museum housing artifacts from Quee. Isabelle and Kind Fernando.  Very small museum with her collection of painting-- only those that were not take by dear Mr Napolen remain here.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside Royal Museum nor inside museum of Cathedral (- and I wasn't going to repeat the Kindergartener incident.....)

The  Cathedal is MASSIVE - not because of religious presence - but the size, the ornate detailing, just over-the-top "catholic king and queen are so wealthy" ego-show off......reminds me of our Medina....

So much so that sculptures inside the Cathedal are not angels or saints.... It's Don Quixote-like soldiers......

After walking around very manageable Old Granada, we hurried to our 2:00pm appointment at Arab Hammam...for 90min soaking and 15 min massage.  Again, it's Photos-No for obvious reasons... The place had old, warm, and hot pools.... Steam sauna..... And my massage guy had very large, strong hands, perfect for my stiff neck and back.

After 2 hour of relaxation, I herded Chris and Karina for walk up to St Nicholas viewpoint - total walk of 90 min by the time we were back in hotel.  Karina was very unhappy....

We were rewarded by a magnificent sunset view of Alhambra.......

And yes I was a bit tired to smile..... Well it's mostly because those gypsies were using dogs to make money.....cute doggies come to you, freeze-pose for attention =. €. I don't like dog-slave.....

Another view of town- taking a wrong way back that we could see all because we mistakenly took really long way back.....

Now, getting ready to go to dinner.... Where we will have The View of night-light Alhambra.......Carmen Miradoe de Aixa!

12/22/2011 Barri Gotic Walking Day

I just noticed, this was not posted!  Sorry for getting this out of order...

Even though we were determined to get up early...again we couldn't wake up till 9:00am. I opened our balcony windows, looking down Placa de Pi- people bustling around- wondering how they can stay up eating until mid-night and get up earlier the 8:00am.  My back is already sore from 8-hr of solid walking yesterday - and I feel like I am developing thunder-thighs!

Chris and Karina wanted to go back to the same restaurant... But I wanted something a lot lighter.  I convinced them to go to Cafe Eliazabet for breakfast where the place was busy with locals sipping cafe con leche and baguette sandwich with jamons.  They have the TV on - showing Catalan lotto drawings.  They way these two teenagers chant the numbers were monotonous and irritating, but one of those "tunes" you catch yourself humming later.

We had followed Rick Steve's walking guide of Catheral area- but modified by me to include "Perfume" tour as well as antique shops, 250 year old candle shop stop and hand-crafted paper shop.

The walk started at old drinking well where the horses also had their water.  It is now a photo-op stop for my own Mules:

Right around the corner from the well is old Roman wall remains where you can still see the original stones from Roman era.

For some reason, everywhere we went, the places were filled with school kids- teenagers.  That, of course, provided extra entertainment for Karina, comparing Catalan boys vs Seattle boys.  She concludes, boys here are "hatter" in general.  All I see is bunch of teenagers and they all look and act exactly the same as in Seattle.

Another thing... Just about every major square is hosting Christmas vendors.  Most of them are selling more religious items - like Nativity figures, etc.  But of course, there are vendors selling Christmas logs which remind you of Mr Hanky from South Park (Season 1 Ep 1 to be exact...).

We walked into the Cathedral, met by 13 geese (acting as alarm).  As we entered inside, we saw a couple that made us laugh....... The book looks awfully familiar......

 

A short walk from the Cathedral is Place de Sant Filip Neri- small, quiet square with fountain, surrounded by buildings with bullet holes as the place was Franco's killing field.  The place was nice and tranquil - until herds of kindergarten kids came out of one of the building, and one snotty boy screaming at me "Photos No!" with waving arms.  I, being a friendly mother of former kindergartner, of course though he was saying something friendly and waving at me- until Karina started to laugh, telling me what the kid was telling me.  Again, it is so unfair that once you know one of Latin language (for Katina's case, French), you can understand another Latin language (like Spanish-Spanish) pretty easily.

If you saw my Facebook, we went to Valor (chocolate place) from here- and using their free WiFi, we posted some photos -- so check out a photo of "so thick a spoon cannot sink" hot chocolate there.

We strolled all the way down to the Port - where we could finally sit down, feel the nice gentle breeze as again, street vendors were selling fake Chanel, Hermes etc a la Canal Street.

We have to leave early tomorrow leaving for Granada!  We are going to try some tapas and hope to go to sleep bit earlier than mid-night....as we have to get up at 4:30am!

More to come soon!!