Home Sweet Motorhome

We left Rota, Spain, last Friday morning and arrived in Dover, Delaware, that afternoon. Spent one night on the road and are now in Charleston, SC, in our "home sweet motorhome". It's good to be in our own bed again!

We had planned to do a little sightseeing on the way south, but the Dismal Swamp was burning and there was heavy smoke all through Virginia. The Outer Banks will have to be seen on another trip. We were able to stop and see the Wright Brothers National Monument in Kitty Hawk, NC. We stood on the very hill from which they launched the first manned, controlled air flight. The above photo is the life-size bronze dedicated on the 100th anniversary of the flight.

Charleston is a beautiful city with many historic buildings. The city is on a peninsula between two rivers that empty into the Atlantic. Yesterday, we drove to the Magnolia Plantation, which was disappointing. There were beautiful gardenia bushes, but most of the flowers had been ravaged by the heat. It is hot and humid here!

Tomorrow we head south to meet up with Patti Pratley and Tom who are bringing their sailboat up from Jacksonville, FL, to Brunswick, GA for the summer. We'll stay at Kings Bay where we were in May.

We're Now in Rota and Heading Home

We drove from Torremolinos to Rota. Left about 3 am. There are two flights out about 9 am and we will most likely be on one of them.

Forgot to mention that there is a Picasso museum in Malaga where he was born. Got to tour that this week. The museum is in a restored building and the basement is an archeological site with Phoenician and Roman ruins. It was very interesting.

Top Ten Reasons to Visit Spain

10. 10,000 years of Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Moors, Jews and Christians can't all be wrong.

9. Picasso, Guadi, El Greco, Cervantes

8. Wine is cheaper than bottled water.

7. Fantastic roads, roundabouts, autovias . . . Louisianna should take some notes

6. Tapas, Sangria, Paella, Seafood, Tropical Fruit

5. There's a castle on every hilltop . . . sometimes even a windmill

4. Flamenco, tango, pasodoble

3. Sometime you get to (have to) drive down a walking street

2. Bathing suits are optional!

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON

1. Portugal's right next door.

Lost in Granada

Gene stayed at the beach while I took a tour bus to Granada. I didn't want to miss seeing the Alhambra. It's about a 1-1/2 hour drive to Granada.

The first part of the day was a walking tour around the historic part of the city. The guide spoke four languages . . . English, French, Spanish and German. After the first stop on the tour, he told the English speakers to go on ahead and wait at the next corner. I took off, waited a few minutes, took a few pictures and never the the group again. I tried. I returned back one block, walked ahead, followed another group by mistake. Panic set in. Once I realized I was forever separated from the group (until our lunch rendezvous at 2:00), I decided to make the most of it. I pulled out my Rick Steve's book on Spain (thank you Francesca) and followed his own walking tour of Granada.

I found the Cathedral and paid my entrance fee to the Royal Chapel. This is where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried. This royal couple was responsible for uniting Spain and evicting the Moors after 800 years of occupancy. Isabella was a devout Catholic, and the treasury was filled with religious paintings (Boticelli), as well as her glass encased silver crown and septer and Ferdinan's sword. A silver box, the one she filled with jewels and gave to Columbus to pay for his voyages, was also on display. Best of all, were the tombs, carved in white Italian marbel (using their death masks for a true likeness) and placed right in front of the altar. The actual caskets with their bodies were down one flight of stairs beneath the tombs for all to see.

After leaving the chapel, I happened upon a spice market where two nuns were making purchases, shops selling silk, gypsies wanting to tell my fortune (no, gracias) and finally found my way back to the hotel for lunch. No one even missed me.

Next, the bus dropped us off at the Alhambra, the settlement vacated when the Moorish king handed the keys to the city to King Ferdinand. The city is a maze of sculpted gardens, flowers, fountains and buildings with ornate Islamic carvings and intricated wood ceilings. One problem . . . in order to see it all you have to hike up and down hills and steps. By the time our guide (I didn't lose sight of him) was done, we were all exhausted and ready to collapse ont he bus.

Today (Thurs) we are relaxing, staying close to the hotel and checking on flights home. There are two to Dover from Rota tomorrow. With luck, we'll be on one.

The Real Spain

Wanting one more mountain experience, we drove away from the coast toward Granada, then east into the mountains on a steep, curvy road. The sheer cliffs and cactus reminded me of Arizona. The town we were aiming for, Lanjaron, is an old village of narrow streets perched on the side of the mountain. The town is the gateway to La Alpujarra and the Parque Natural de Sierra Nevada. The view from a city plaza, with a castle in the foreground, was breathtaking.

The hotel we selected, El Hotel Espana, is a grand old hotel built in 1917. According to their spanish language brochure, it has been visited by actors, artists, poets and bullfighters. There are pictures in the bar as proof. The hotel is filled with antiques, including an old radio and an RCA victrola. We had a two-chandelier bedroom overlooking the steps leading to the pool. Lots of roses, bougenvillea and greenery, too. We had a lunch on the front veranda, the ¨menu del dia¨ and watched as a bus unloaded a group of bicylists who were making their way thru the mountains.

The most fun came that night. We took a long nap so we could stay up for the 10 pm ¨baille¨or dance at a hotel down the street. The poster advertised a singer, keyboard player and tango music. When we arrived the ballroom was empty. Slowly couples began arriving, all ¨mature¨, none under 60 years of age. There were about 14 people all together, and the couples danced every single tango. Then they began line dancing, something like our Texas line dancing, to tango music. The ¨paloma blanca¨ or white dove seemed to be their favorite. They were truly enjoying themselves and each partner seemed to know each others moves precisely as they gazed into each others eyes. FUN!!!

We are now in Torremolinos planning our strategy for the next few days. Granada, maybe Gibraltar, more seafood, then back to Rota for the flight home:(

Vacationing in Spain

We left Sitges and headed southwest along the coast of Spain in search of a quiet fishing village. We picked Pensacola for two reasons. First, it was a small dot on the map at the end of a road on a point of land jutting into the sea, and second, because of its name . . . we´d been to Pensacola, FL. Good logic.

What we found was not small. The rocky promentory was topped with a Moorish castle and walled village of white washed houses. Stretching in a curve for 8 kilometers was a beautiful, sandy beach lined with highrise apartments and hotels . . . mostly empty. It was not yet the high season and we had our choice of rooms. We picked a small hotel with 7 floors and only 40 rooms. Our 6th floor, newly remodeled room was just 25 euros each per night, including breakfast. We stayed three days.

We awoke the first morning to a spectacular sunrise or, according to my pocket translater, ¨salida del sol¨ or ¨walk-in the sun¨. As the sun slowly reddened the sky, we could see a fleet of 18-20 fishing boats parading out to sea from their snug harbor about 5 kilometers away and hear the almost inaudible droan of their engines. What a sight (exclamation point---which I can´t find on this machine).

It reminded me of the sunrise we saw on Jan. 1, 2001, as we left Avalon on Liberty Call to head back to Dana Point from Catalina Island. Gene´s granddaughter, Crystal, propped herself in front of the mast, snuggled down into her sleeping bag and waited for the sun to come up. She didn´t want to miss it. Crystal had her own ¨salida del sol¨ this past May when her daughter Addison made her grand entrance into this world. We can´t wait to see them when we are in Nebraska in late July.

The next night was a stop in a beach town, Miramar, where it was raining, then on to Roquetas del Mar in a highrise apartment on the beach overlooking the Mediterranean. By the way, swim suits are optional all along this coast. It´s been interesting watching people ¨people watching¨.

We drove thru Valencia, which, of course, is a mass of orange groves. Then we started seeing hydroponic, white plastic covered greenhouses . . . about a hundred miles of them, erected between the sea and the mountains. They call this the vegetable gardens of Europe.

Barcelona

Our big adventure into the city began at the train station in Sitges, a 4 or 5 block walk from the hotel. It´s a 40 minute ride into the center of the city. The line for Casa Mila, a Gaudi creation, was 30 min. long, so we hopped on the Turista Bus, plugged in our earphones and started our English language trip through the city. Picked out the areas we wanted to explore on foot . . . Gene wanted to see the Maritime Museum and my choice was the Parc Gruell.

Our bus took us from the city center, over to the Olympic Stadium (1992) and down to the harbor. Here we hopped off to see the museum. The two most interesting features were the submarines (of course) built in the 1859-1875 era. Both were made of wood, had little portholes and only carried a few men. They looked like elongated footballs. The museum also had a huge oar powered barge over 200´long, highly decorated with gilt and carvings.

After changing busses downtown to the red line (there are three different circuits included in your ticket) we headed uphill to Parc Gruell. Barcelona stretches out from the sea up to the surrounding mountains and the park sits in the foothills. Gaudi created this Alice in Wonderland vision over 100 years ago. It´s hard to describe except to say there are ceramic tiled creatures and creations everywhere. Dragons, columns, entry houses with tile roofs, stairways, benches, etc., etc. I wonder if Tracy, who did the tiled wall in our backyard, has seen it in person. It makes our wall seem only a ¨little Gaudi¨. Another beautiful Gaudi creations, that is still under construction, is the Sangrada Familia church with many spires strething skyward, and ultra modern sculptures. This church I can´t described but will try to post photos when I get home.

After completing the bus ride and finding our way to the train station, we joined the crowd of workers heading home. It was standing room only on the train back to Sitges.

Today is Tuesday and we will stop being turistas for awhile and become vacationers, finding a place to stay and relax in the sun for a few days as we wind our way back down the coast toward Malaga and Torremolinos.