Sunny days in the Algarve (south coast)

 

strolling in Lagos

 

Lagos beach

 

rock formations near Lagos

 

beach at Salema

 

from Cape Sagres, most SW point in Europe

once thought to be the end of the world

 

village of Silves, inland in the Algarve

 

lunch at Tavira, east Algarve

 

camera obscura at Tavira

 

view of Tavira

 

beach at Island of Tavira - about 20 km long

but only a few hundred metres wide

Only photos today - it's late here.  North to Evora tomorrow.

Hello Portugal

our house in Bordeira, inland from Faro 

 views from the patio towards Faro

 

ditto

Right now Cheryl is in the air heading back to Australia. The rest of us have arrived in the south of Portugal after a few hours on a bus that left Seville at 730 am! There was not much choice of times.

We collected our rental cars and followed our host 15 minutes inland to a beautiful spaicous house high in the hills overlooking Faro and the coast. The house is on an unnamed road so the GPS is not useful until you have actually found the place. The house is great – 3BR, 2 bathrooms, lounge, dining, conservatory, huge patio with 10x5 metre pool. Plus a welcome basket of fruit, jam, bottles of wine and custard tarts.

Judy and Graeme volunteered to go to the nearest supermarket 6km away to get food for lunch, etc. After 2 hours we were rather concerned as to where they might be. We actually thought we were trapped in the house (as G and J had taken the only key AND locked the huge gates to the entrance) but we found a button to open the gate. A walk downhill did not find them so we resigned ourselves to reclining near the pool with a glass of wine (it’s a hard life). Eventually we heard someone calling and we discovered J and G next to the driveway but on the wrong side of a tall fence – they had been driving around for ages and had found the house but could not find the driveway! Apparently the GPS connection in the rental car is faulty so the GPS had died, and Judy had not charged her phone so that had died too.

After this slightly stressful start we cancelled lunch (it was now 5pm) and had pre-dinner nibbles instead. We are about to head to the nearest restaurant – whether we can find our way back remains to be seen.

Sunny Seville

musicians about to compete in inter-varsity music competition

Plaza Mayor with very modern roof

pre-flamenco - enjoying our "Agua de Sevilla" drinks. They are NOT water
actually a mix of champagne, brandy, whiskey, vodka, cinnamon and cream

flamenco

audience at the La Carboneria bar watching the flamenco

Top of the Giralda bell tower

part of cathedral and Giralda bell tower

square in Barrio Santa Cruz

time for a coffee break

Some streets are called "kissing lanes" because the houses almost touch.
One theory is that it's for coolness in summer, but another (more likely) is that
it's the old Jewish area where Jews were forced to live in rather crowded conditions.
Judy and John demonstrate the kissing!

street in Barrio Santa Cruz

crown with 11000 jewels in the Treasury of the cathedral
the angel's body is made from the world's largest pearl

View from top of the Giralda bell tower
the bull ring is the one in the background of this blog
(those emailed the blog don't see it)

View from top of the Giralda bell tower

Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana

We are in Seville now and the sun is finally shining. We have done a variety of different things, tending to split off into small groups, (in Graeme’s case today, a group of one). Last night Sue and I encountered a group of musicians in costume on their way to a music competition (400 year tradition) between faculties of Seville university and beyond. We all went to a flamenco bar last night recommended by a friend of Judy’s who lived in Seville – (authentic, not touristy) but only Judy and I had the stamina to last till 1.00a.m.

Today we took a leisurely walk in the majestic, but touristy Barrio de Santa Cruz. The weather was more like what we had originally expected of Andalucia, so we actually stripped down to T-shirts. The Giralda tower in the afternoon offered great 360 degree views of Seville, while the Alcazar was judged better in many ways than the Alhambra in Granada. The Cathedral, built over the mosque site is the 3^rd biggest in Europe after St Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. Columbus is buried there. Judy and Sue have been the stalwarts of the day, walking everywhere and seeing the Murillo Gardens, Maria Luisa Park, Plaza Espana, etc etc.

One more full day in Seville, and then I’m off home to more cold weather while the others enjoy the sunshine in Portugal. Well, at least there’s the footy to look forward to.

Gibraltar - it’s not just monkey business

 

heading off from La Linea

 

view of the peak from the Upper Nature Reserve

 

monkey trying to get into Cheryl's bag

Yesterday we walked into Gibraltar, a 15 minute walk from our hotel in La Linea de Conception, just over the border in Spain. La Linea is a rather seedy town full of apartments for the 12,000 workers that go into Gibraltar every day.  Just as well we walked – the traffic was horrendous – apart from the workers, heaps of Spaniards go there for the cheap petrol and duty free shopping.  2000 Moroccan workers also semi-permanently live in Gibraltar.  Total area 6.4 sq km; population 30,000.  Interestingly (especially to Cheryl) the Jewish population is 700 – we ran into a group of orthodox Jewish school kids, and the only shop we went into, to look at handbags, was run by a 4^th generation Jewish Gibraltan.

On entry one is immediately accosted by people selling Gibraltan tours.  We opted for a 2 euro lift to St Michael’s cave, fairly near the top.  We saw the caves (concerts are held inside), walked up to the top of the cable car for the fabulous views of the rock peak(s), and then headed down to town, visiting the other sights on the way – the Siege tunnels, the Moorish castle, and of course the Barbary Apes (actually macaque monkeys) that are everywhere.  The monkeys are very cheeky – one jumped on Judy, opened her back pack and tried to pull out a plastic bag; apparently they know that plastic  bags usually contain food.  Gibraltar has been under siege 14 times; the great siege in the late 1700’s lasted nearly 4 years. Gibraltans voted in 1967 and again in 2002 on whether Gibraltar should be part of Spain or not, but they almost unanimously rejected it each time.

3 days ago I lost part of a filling and tooth, and my poor tongue has been getting cut up by the sharp edge of the remaining tooth. In Gibraltar I found a dental clinic, waited 20 minutes, had the tooth filled and paid about 2/3 the Australian rate.  Great service!

The main town in Gibraltar is full of duty free shops, especially jewellery, tobacco and grog.  It is SO British – with red letter boxes, bobbies, English names and strong English accents everywhere.  Quite a contrast to Spain less than a kilometre away.

Does Gibraltar rock?  Yes and no – the rock itself does, and the town is interesting.  It’s worth a day trip in from Spain.

Today we passed through Tarifa (torrential rain – didn’t look like a an exciting beach resort at all) and Cadiz, where we had to rely on Judy’s 40 year old (!!) Michelin guide to get us around.  Some things don’t change much and it served us well. We are now in Jerez de la Frontera, home of sherry. After a tour of a small exclusive bodega with tastings of sherry that sells for 55 euros a bottle, it’s a wonder I can even type up this post.  Tomorrow we finish our white villages tour, ending in Seville for our last 2 days in Spain.

Ronda - We're on the road again

the New Bridge at Ronda

the old bridge at Ronda

Ronda's bullring - largest and oldest in Spain - still in use

Ronda from near the bullring

one of the many "pueblos blancos" we passed

Today (May 2nd) we hired 2 cars and set off for La Linea (near Gibraltor) via Ronda and other pueblos blancos (white villages). Needless to say I did not take the wheel – Kitty drove the hired Volvo and John the Citroen. This was not quite that simple, as Kitty needed tuition on keys, ignition etc in a somewhat more up-market vehicle than those to which she is accustomed. Our main stop was at Ronda, the biggest of the white villages, and well known for its rich bullfighting tradition and 18^th century bullfighting arena. We had lunch at a cafe with great views of the gorge. Then off for a walk through the gardens also overlooking the gorge. Despite our collective abhorrence of the gore of the bullfight, we overcame our qualms and proceeded to the bullring and bullfighting museum. We were quite taken aback by the intricate rituals and drama associated with what is in essence a pretty barbaric spectacle. After leaving Ronda we wound our way to La Linea with numerous stops for Graeme to view and photograph each and every white village on the way. We stay 2 nights in La Linea and off to see “the rock” tomorrow.

Granada I’m falling under your spell ...

entrance to Royal Chapel - Ferdinand and Isabella are buried here

altarpiece inside the Royal Chapel

a new day with great weather - Alhambra in background

cave museum in Sacromonte (Roma gypsy area of Granada)

a Mayday protest march (sign says something about reforms,
our struggle, and general strike)

first stop on our Alhambra visit - palace of Carlos V

the Nasrid palaces (main attraction at the Alhambra) - next 5 photos ditto

gardens in the Generalife (king's summer palace)

view from the gardens

heading down (down and more down) back to town

..... unfortunately when we arrived it was a wet spell. And cold – Cheryl has about 3 more layers of clothing than she does at a winter’s night at the footy. Looks like the Michelin man! And to make matters worse we got up before 8 am to take a 2 hour trip to Granada – and got into our rooms well after 3 pm. Things got worse the next day as an ATM swallowed hundreds of Euros of one of our unfortunates and others started to weaken and feel ill. An ignominious start which we obviously blamed on the newcomers – the Sheards.

But we are here for sightseeing so we must continue without fail like the Posties. At least we have not been plagued by the tradional horrible gypsy women who give you a sprig of rosemary and then demand 10 or more Euros. Boy, I would like to tell them their fortune – kapow !

But there are sights to see. The burial place of Ferdinand and Isabella who (to my mind) changed the world as we know more than any others since Mohammed. And the place where Isabella accepted Columbus’s proposal (to sail west !) – But they also forced the expulsion of all Jews and Muslims from Spain from 1492 and they started the Spanish Inquisition (which last 500+ years). The Museum of the Inquisition in Cordoba displayed the worst instruments of torture and torture techniques one could ever imagine in their most sadistic thoughts . Nice people those Catholics.

But the ‘jewel in the crown’ in Granada is of course the Alhambra – the ‘greatest’ Muslim monument in Spain. In fact it is a real hotchpotch of old buildings – a hotchpotch city even) difficult to separate one palace from another. But it has great position, position, position (as the Real Estate agent would say) overlooking Granada and with the snow-covered Sierra Nevadas in the background. And many of the interior decorations are quite stunning. A full afternoon’s effort to cover the grounds.

Good views of the Alhambra from Sacramonte on the next hill across – a place where Gypsies live in caves.

We have no idea what public transport is like here. It was awful taking a taxi to our hotel (busy roundabouts with no lights are a total disaster) – and every time we ask what bus or taxi we should take the answer is always “No, no – you must walk. It is only 8 minutes “ !!! yeah – sure; that’s why you run out of fuel at 1:00!!!

So we have (almost) survived Grenada. Tomorrow we hire a car and head off to find the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar. I hope they can read a map better than some of our bushwalking crew !!

Fortunately we have now been in EVERY Jewish synagogue in Spain – so no more of that.

And at least we are missing the Slippery-Pyne sleaze in Australia. Not to mention the sleazy goal by which Collingwood claim their matches (oops – I hope Cheryl does not read this).