Up in the Mountains by the Sea

Hola, friends. We've been lax about posting, but we've had a couple of really
great long weekend road trips. Here's the itinerary of this trip: Started at Point A in El Puerto
and drove 2.5 hours to the Costa del Sol (Point B) for the night. The next day we
drove to El Torcal (Point C), returning to Almunecar (Point D) that evening. The next day
we ventured  into the Alpujjaras mountains (Point E). Returned to Almunecar for
another night and drove home, stopping in Benhalmadena Pueblo (near Point B) for lunch.
Here's what we saw on our travels....

The wonderful thing about the Costa del Sol is that you can spend the night on
the Mediterranean and an hour later you're up in the Sierra Nevadas. 

High up in the mountains is this fabulous area called El Torcal de
Antequera. The landscape has enormous limestone blocks and ravines
and has eroded into an endless land of
whimsical sculptures.

We hiked around this area for a couple of hours in 107 degree temperatures.
Despite the sun and heat, there was a breeze and even some
shade on our route. The rock formations were crazy. 

Sometimes we felt like we were walking on a
lunar landscape.

Other times, we felt like we were in a petrified city that had once had
sacrificial alters at every street corner!

After a day of hiking in the mountains, we headed "home" to Almunecar on the
Mediterranean. This scene was just across the street from our hotel. It was the nicest
two-star hotel you could ever imagine. And the views weren't too shabby, either.

Next day, we headed to  Las Alpujarras, south of the Sierra Nevada, which has a
totally different look. For those of you who have read Driving Over Lemons, this is
the very area that the author was writing about. It's south of Granada, very scenic,
 and remote.

We kept driving up, up, and up. Unbeknownst to us this area is home to
painters, writers and a considerable foreign population.

It was surprising to see such a touristy pueblo blanco up here. But that's what
we found. Pampaneira was lovely. This area was originally populated by
Moors fleeing the Christian Reconquest and Moorish influence is still
evident today.

In the town, we walked up a maze of little streets and found this
old public laundry area (no longer in use).

Water flows down the center of the town through these
channels.

Pretty views.

There are hiking routes all over this area, leading from one pueblo blanco to
another, but we didn't have the time to do any hiking on this trip. This
is definitely a place we'd like to return to---maybe in the fall or spring
when temperatures are cooler.

Next pueblo up the mountain was Bubion. We met a woman, originally from Amsterdam,
 and gave her lift up the mountain. She and
her family had moved to Bubion 12 years ago, trading in
the fast-paced life in Amsterdam for slow, quiet, rural
life. She loved it here. Deb (pictured above) has settled down
to decide on what Moroccan pottery to buy (again).

Next was Capeliera. Both Bubion and Capeliera had a little artisan trade, but not
nearly as much as the more southernly Pampaneira. All three towns were picturesque in
their own way.

Here we are returning home, with a stop-off in Banalmedena-Pueblo. Such
a cute town. Those of you who've visited Mijas---it's closeby and similar.

Pretty little park in town.

This was a surprise. Heading out of town, we saw this unusual structure and
stopped only long enough to take a photo. Found out later that this is
the Suta of the Illumination---the largest Buddhist Temple in western Europe.
It's relatively new (2005) and wasn't mentioned in our (obvioiusly) old guide book.
Definitely would like to return to snoop around more...

Two hours later. Here we are, home sweet home.
(Deb did not leave Jim behind, by the way; he's
taking the picture!). Hasta luego!

Scents of Spain

"The first condition of understanding a country is to smell it."---Rudyard Kipling

We're not sure if we agree with this statement, but it did get us thinking about what we smell in our little corner of Spain. After all, we have chronicled our travels with pictures of what we see. We have focused a lot on what we hear (Spanish conversation, children playing outside til midnight, roosters crowing). But what smells are quintessentially of this place? Smells, that if we ran across them five years from now, would immediately evoke the memory of our time here?

To answer this question, we've spent some time being "odiferously" aware. Here's our top six smelling experiences:

1. Arriving home after a road trip in a closed car with stale, refrigerated AC air, we step out and immediately smell the ocean. We can't see it from our driveway, but we know it is just beyond. The air smells fresh and salty.

2. Honeysuckle. On our walk down the long flight of stairs to the beach, we sniff the sweet scent of honeysuckle that lines the path. Honeysuckle in America smells the same as it does in Spain.

3. Dama de Noche. In our little yard we have two dama de noche trees. Starting in June, they emit this incredibly strong perfume about 9:30 at night when the sun is going down. It's so strong that we smell it upstairs in the bedroom when we go to sleep. Traces of the fragrance linger into the morning when we come downstairs to the living room. (It keeps the mosquitoes away, too!)

4. Fish frying. Especially around 3:00 on Sunday afternoons. The Spanish love their Sunday family meals, and fried seafood is a staple at every restaurant. Bar la Palma is closeby on the beach, and by noon, as we sit on our patio, we get wafts of fish fry coming our way.

5. An occasional whiff of sewer. That may not sound very pleasant, but it really is, in its own way. We wouldn't want a steady diet of it, but the occasional waft reminds us that we are in Europe, not sanitized America. We noticed the same familiar scent in Athens, Istanbul, Germany, and Portugal, too. 

6. The smell of goat hide. We bought a leather pouff in Morocco made of goat skin and it sits in our living room. For the first three months, every time Deb would come down in the early morning, she'd get these subtle wafts of "fresh" hide (this is a different odor than new leather). A lot of sheep, goat and camel skins are sold in Morocco and Spain and if you go into any of these shops, you can't help but notice the scent. The smell in our living room has thankfully faded over time, although every now and then you get a reminder.

So, there's our "aroma round-up" of Andalucia.  By Rudyard Kipling's standards, we've gotten a better understanding of this little part of the world. These scents will be fond souvenirs of our life here! Hasta luego, Deb and Jim

Pretty Prague

Hola, everyone! We flew to Prague at the end of May to celebrate
our second anniversary. What a beautiful, romantic place to be!
There are so many things to like about this city, but we've whittled it down to four: Architecture,
Pedestrian-friendly, Food, and Beer.

It's also multi-lingual, making travel no problema.
Prague, top to bottom: Czech, French (or English), Spanish (or Italian),
and German. The city felt very international, friendly and old.

A little background: Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It
sits here on Vtlava River. The Charles Bridge (pictured above) is always bustling
with artists, musicians, and vendors. Thankfully, during the War, the city was spared,
and many of the old buildings from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Romanesque periods
 are still intact. 

 The first full day there we joined this
free walking group (about 8 of us) and walked all
around the city for 3 hours. Our leader was a local and full of information. Great
way to meet people and see the city up-close.

We did take the tram one time, but otherwise we hoofed it everywhere.
We passed on taking the funicular and climbed up the hill to the Petrin Lookout Tower,
 which strongly resembled the Eiffel Tower.
And hiked up to Letna Park, high up above the city, for some terrific views.
We love a city where you can walk everywhere!

Our first night, we hooked up with Prague "local" Brad Godette, a transplant
 from Saratoga Springs. He kindly took us to a nice little Italian restaurant off 
the tourist path and gave us the insider stories of Prague. After dinner, 
we walked up a hill to an outdoor Beer Garden where
the locals sit, drink, and be merry. It was a great introduction to the city.
  Děkuji, Brad!

Prague is the land of meat and potatoes. This made Jim very happy.

As noted by our guide, in Prague "meat is good; vegetables are bad." He told us that all
vegetables are imported. Could this be true? At any rate, Deb found plenty to
keep her happy, like big salads (which they must make for the tourists),
and other ethnic foods (Italian, Asian....).

Jim also found great happiness with the beer. One authoritative person told us that
a Czech averages 60 gallons of beer per year! And the Czech Republic is first
in beer consumption, followed by Ireland and Germany. (He was so proud of this).
There are three "emergency beer centers" in Prague, open 24 hours a day 365 days
per year, should anyone (God forbid) run out of suds.

There was a trademark dispute over the name Budweiser, with
the Czechs claiming it to be their own.

We took a day trip, which should have been an overnight trip. Cesky Krumlov
is an UNESCO World Heritage site about 2.5 hours out of Prague. (We liked the
fact that they were marketing "adrenalin").

This town looked like it came right out of a Hansel and Gretel story.
Truly storybook perfect.

Our only disappointment was that we couldn't have stayed longer. Maybe
next time...?

And here we are again. We had a lovely anniversary dinner
at the Kampa Park Praha on the other side of the Charles Bridge.
 We could have easily stayed in Prague and explored
 the surrounding areas for another week, but it was time to head 
back to Espana. 
Hasta luego, Deb and Jim

Belated Fez

Last Presidents' Day Weekend we traveled south to Fez, Morocco.
Morocco is fast becoming one of our favorite destinations and this
trip with traveling buddy, Lisa, was a memorable one.
We can't say why it took us so long to post these pictures.
(Excitement about the birth of our little nieto and our trip to the States in March
probably took priority!)  Anyhow...it was fun pulling
these pictures together 3 months later and "reliving" the trip.

We drove to Tarifa about 1.5 hours away and took the ferry to
Tangiers. There we met our driver, Ahmed, who
drove us a very long 6 hours to Fez. Along the
way we saw all the sights and scenery that make
Morocco so interesting, like this Berber woman pictured above.

Donkeys are as popular as cars out in the country.

 Everything you look at it
is exotic by our standards. Even simple stop signs.

The northern Moroccan countryside is surprisingly green with rolling hills.

Once we reached Fez, our first stop was at a pottery collective,
 regulated by the government. Despite Ahmed's
assurances that this was where locals bought all their pottery, the place
was crawling with tourists. 

Nevertheless, the place was interesting. We
 watched artisans throwing tagines.

The pottery in the show room was beautiful (and expensive).

We were told that prices were fixed. In a country where bartering is a way of life,
we decided to hold off making purchases until we got to the Medina
where we could try haggling.

Fez 

Ahmed told us we would visit the King's Palace. We later learned, you
walk around the palace, not through it! 

We stayed at the Hotel Riad Yacout.  A riad is a traditional
 Moroccan palace with an interior garden or courtyard.
This particular one was restored to its former glory and absolutely gorgeous.
We were sitting in the courtyard the first morning
having coffee, when this little guy landed on the chair.

We spent our first full day in Fez exploring the Medina.

The Blue Gate is the main entry to the Medina.

The Medina is an ancient warren of 9,000 alleys with no names and
no cars. You feel like you've stepped back into time. People live and work here.
It's feasible to never leave the Medina.  You can buy food and
everything imaginable. Kids go to school here. The oldest university in the
world is within these walls, as are many mosques.  It's a world
 within a world. We met our
guide Mustafa (not pictured here), who grew up in the Medina
.  Going around with a guide was very helpful. No chance of getting lost and
we felt totally safe.

We were impressed with Mustafa. He was a humble man,
excusing himself to go pray in the Mosque whenever there was a call
for prayer. He spoke openly about Moroccan life (including the practice
of taking more than one wife; which he did not). He knew his history, and
he was generally a good guy with a lot of integrity and information. Pictured
above is a man baking bread.

I guess we're never far from home, even here!

The textiles were gorgeous.

People were fascinating.

In the Medina, we visited the tannery. These vats are full of dyes. We had been
warned that the odor was overwhelming, but the day we were there, it wasn't
too bad. (A day in February might be better than the heat of the summer..?)

Hanging dyed hides. All the work is done by hand, the old-fashioned way.

"Dentists" held out their shingles throughout the Medina. Mustafa
explained that Moroccans have a lot of dental problems primarily because
of all the sugar they eat (try their mint tea and you'll know...). These
dentists are not medically trained doctors. They are self-
appointed people who are experienced in pulling
 teeth and doing general "teeth work."
 You can find "real dentists"  in the new city.

One of the highlights of our trip was going to a cooking class and
 dinner at Ahmed's home. We watched his wife, pictured above,
 make a delicious chicken tagine.

While dinner was cooking, Lisa and Deb tried on homemade traditional dresses.

Plates and utensils were set before us, but we noticed the
 family didn't have any.  We politely declined, choosing to
 eat like our hosts--- using our hands.
Bread was our spoon as we scooped up the different foods.
  It was all delicious.

Our trip back to Tangiers was a faster 4-hour trip. Along the way, we saw
more amazing sights and scenery, including these local ladies on their way to the market.

And here we are at the end of another memorable journey.
We can't wait to get back to Morocco
 in the fall when the kids (and nieto) visit.  Next time: Marrakech!
Hasta luego, Jim and Deb.