Wow, tour guide Cindy has been trying to wear out both the trusty Peugeot and me! We left Granada early as we had a long adventure filled day ahead of us!

We drove down to the bottom of Spain, through the area called the Sun Coast of Spain. It’s filled with condos and golf courses for the Brits on holiday or retired. The area reminded us of California’s central coast. They love toll roads in Spain, €30 later.

Then on to the Rock of Gibraltar, which is an area of huge historical importance. The area was inhabited by Neanderthal man and both the Phoenicians and the Greeks lived in this area and believed this was the end of the world as it was flat.

The Rock has lead many, many lives, and is now a British sovereign territory. The tunnels in Gibraltar were started in the 1790’s by the British as they were under seige by Spanish cannon.

The city was evacuated during WW2, and the tunnels expanded to have many more artillery locations.

We then drove the short distance to Jerez de la Frontera which is famous for Sherry and Brandy!

We checked into our lovely Airbnb, which is a former sherry winery. Lovely!

Today, a short drive to Cádiz, which some people believe to be the longest, continuous inhabited city in the western world. It was founded by the Phoenicians, then the Greeks and then the Romans. Quite a city.

We found the Mercado Central, which has the most unbelievable seafood market we’ve ever seen. Truly awesome.

Truly unbelievable! What I wouldn’t do for a Weber and a bag of charcoal here😎👍

Ok, walking tour of the city.

They found entombed Phoenicians here in the 80s, confirming the Phoenicians founded the city.

Stopped by Arcos de la Frontera on the way home.

Then a quick walk through our city, Jerez de la Frontera, lovely. Too bad we don’t care for brandy or sherry.

Wonderful time here. On to Sevilla, with a stop in Ronda in the heart of the Andalucians. 👍🍷😎

PS Happy Father’s Day to all us Dads🍷👍😎

Adios Amigos 🍷

We left Córdoba with the trusty Peugeot and GPS guiding us on a four hour trip through the back county of southern Spain to Granada.

We drove through miles and miles of olive trees with millions and millions of trees.

We saw many, many olive oil pressing plants. Below are the retired stone wheels they used in making olive oil.

The countryside is beautiful, but a bit remote as you can see by this rest area.

We arrived safely in Granada, had a few issues with our Airbnb host that we over came and spent the next day and a half exploring the city.

The main sight in Granada is The Alhambra, a former Muslim mosque/palace built in the 1000’s on top of Roman ruins, the palace has had many lives and was in fact was abandoned for many years. Today it’s fully restored and one of the most visited sights in the world. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure tickets because tour groups snap them up in minutes every day. So, we didn’t get to tour the palace. It’s a wonderful view and we did walk the gardens, lovely.

We walked the entire old city, 17 miles in two days, including cobble stones and hills along with steps 😳 and viewed the city. It was lovely.

Tomorrow, a driving tour as far south as you can go in Spain, Gibraltar. Then on to Jerez de la Frontera for two nights.

Adios amigos 😎👍

We drove four hours from Madrid to the southern part of Spain and Córdoba Spain. The drive was very interesting as we drove past dry land wheat farmers who were harvesting their crop. Then a section of land with white wine grapes. Then, literally, 200 miles as far as you could see of olive trees. Millions and millions of olive trees. Unbelievable! We also saw dozens of olive oil plants. 😎

Arriving in Córdoba we found our lovely Airbnb with a little help from the police😜 They always want to help Cindy!

Córdoba is a UNESCO World Heritage site and at one time, was the largest city in the western world with over 400,000 people living here in 1000 AD.

This area has been populated for a long, long time as traces of Neanderthal man from 35,000 BC have been found here.

The Romans controlled the city from 200 BC until 700 AD or so. They did the usual Roman stuff, viaduct, coliseum, gates, bridges, etc….a lot still visible today.

This area was again the sight of wars between Muslims and Christians and in 700 AD Córdoba fell to Muslim forces. The Muslims started the great Córdoba mosque which was unparalleled in beauty at the time. Muslims built many (11, I believe) mosques around the city for Muslims. The population of Córdoba begins to decline at this time. As it’s main industry was trade, Christians refused to visit the city.

In the thirteen century, Muslims were defeated by Christians again and the mosques were converted to Cathedrals, including the grand mosque which is now a cathedral. Unbelievable!

Note the twin Muslim windows on this cathedral😳

Today Córdoba is known for their patio districts and the the lovely flowers and plants in the patios of homes and businesses. It’s a beautiful city, especially this time of year.

A light, late lunch at a local Tapas bar and after a 12 mile walk, we headed home to plan tomorrow. A 2 1/2 hour drive tomorrow to Granada Spain for two nightsBread and olive oil supplied by our wonderful host Jose Maria 👍

Adios Amigos!

After two great days in Madrid, we decided to take a quick one hour trip up in the hills to Segovia, which is part of the Leon region of Spain. It is a UNESCO World Heritage sight and quite lovely. We drove through pine forests at the top, just beautiful.

The city’s in this area of Spain have had very bloody pasts as the Christians, Muslims and Jews all were active in the area. This region went back and forth with Portugal also. The city had many battles and was abandoned twice as Muslims overtook the city.

The Romans built the viaduct for which Segovia is famous for in 100 AD. It was made without mortar and is quite impressive!

The viaduct runs uphill the last three meters and is quite impressive.

The Plaza Mayor was built as a cleansing station for the viaduct as it’s waters were from a lake and could be dirty.

Next to the Plaza is the Segovia Cathedral, which is the last cathedral built in the Gothic style. It’s very large and impressive.

The Alcázar de Valle is a very famous castle as legend says Christopher Columbus was anointed as a representative of Spain to try and find a different sea route to China. Because of treaty’s signed with Portugal he had to sail higher than anyone ever had. Thus the conquest of the new world.

The early version of the castle also is designed to have holding tanks for water from the aqueduct. the castle burned in 1862, it’s was completely restored.Those Romans, they thought of everything😎

The rumor is Walt Disney used this castle along with the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany as the model for Cinderella’s Castle in Disneyland. Hope they had a copywrite on that 👍

Fun city to visit and we beat the crowds as we went earlier in the day.

Back to Madrid and a little cocktail and Topas action in the neighborhood.

We are moving to Cordoba Spain today, a four hour drive towards the south of Spain and into the Andalucians. Two nights there then on to Granada Spain.

Busy, busy, staying safe and healthy!

Adios 😎

Wow! That’s what you should say when you talk about Madrid Spain. It’s truly a wonderful, big city. Madrid is the 3rd largest city in the EU, behind only London and Berlin. There are 3.5 million people that live in the suburban Madrid area, mainly in apartments, which they buy or rent here. Very few single family homes even in the suburbs.

We toured Madrid for 2 busy, busy days, walking 25 miles in two days.

We are staying in Madrid and use the metro to get around. It’s a great metro, clean, safe and inexpensive, €1 per trip.

We started on the Gran Via and Plaza Callao, the 5th avenue and Times Square of Madrid.

The architecture and design of the entire Central ( downtown) area is beautiful. So clean and well maintained.

Then to the Roman Temple de Debod, which is wonderfully maintained. It’s the highest point of the city with a great park, green space and views.

Located close by, the Palace of Madrid. The Buckingham Palace of Spain.

Next door, the Catedral de sta Maria la Real de la Almudena. We visited at 11:00 AM, the bells rang for 11 minutes.

A light lunch of squid sandwich. We liked Barcelonas spicy one better.

The Plaza Mayor is stupendous!

What’s Spain without a churro?

Wonderful, wonderful city! Highly recommend!

A Spanish lunch of Tapas after walking 12 miles!

Off on a day trip to Segovia, a UNESCO sight about 1 hour from Madrid 😎👍🍷

Adios Amigos!

After a wonderful one day, two nights stop in Zaragoza Spain, we hopped in the trusty Peugeot and headed for Madrid Spain. Cindy, our tour guide says, no road tolls on this trip so we stuck to the main highway A2. Four hours later we are in our Airbnb in Madrid. Lovely place, one bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Madrid. Easy metro access so we spent 6/6/19 touring Madrid. We have two more days here so I’ll recap Madrid when we leave, Sunday.

Today we hopped in the trusty Peugeot and headed to Toledo Spain, about a one hour drive. Quick easy trip with GPS and we parked at the base of the city wall. Safe, easy unground parking.

Toledo is a UNESCO sight and has a long and storied hosts, with Christians, Jews and Muslims. Of course, the Romans founded the city as it lies on a hill above the river Tagos. It’s a lovely historic filled city, but can get a little crowded as it’s on the tour bus route. We avoided the tours with our early morning arrival and use of off the beaten path advice from TripAdvisor and the local tourist office.

We saw numerous sights including the Cathedral Primada, Puerto de Bisage and drove the famous Mirador del Valle, lovely.

Toledo is famous for its cutting steel, and knife/sword shops are everywhere.

Tomorrow and Sunday back to Madrid which is a wonderful city.

Until Sunday, Adios Amigos😎

We left sunny Barcelona on 6/3/19 and drove across the middle of Spain to Zaragoza. The drive was only 2.5 hours on the freeway, so with time not an issue and hoping to avoid tolls, (which are brutal in Spain), Cindy and the GPS took us on a scenic tour of the area.

Leaving Barcelona was a steady climb through hills covered with irrigated fruit trees, quite lovey. Then we moved into a dry land wheat farming area. This area was a little strange as the small city’s we drove through looked abandoned. Not sure what’s happening here. Hemingway lived in this area and loved the white hills. Zaragoza is very dry and hot in the summer, cold in the winter.

The city was lovely, easily walkable and flat, limited cobblestones😎

The city was founded by Caesar Augusta in 23 AD and has some excellent Roman ruins including an amphitheater.

Zaragoza is a UNESCO sight and for us the highlight is Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Piler, an unbelievable Basilica. The current Basilica dates from the 17 century and churches have been on this sight since 100AD. Unbelievably beautiful! I was humbled.

The city also includes a Muslim mosque, Palacio de la Aljaferia. Which was built in 1078 and has had many, many lives, but is now fully restored.

The Puente de Piedra links the city, the first version was built by Romans in 190 AD, the last version built in the 1700s

The city has a great central market that is being rebuilt. It will be awesome when completed.

Great city to walk, the area known as El Tubo has lots of quiet backstreets with shops and restaurants. Very few tour groups 👍

At lunch we tried the local specialty, calamari sandwich, delicious!

Fun, fun city. We stayed out of town and rode the bus in €1.25 . Highly recommend!

Off to Madrid tomorrow, 4 hour drive, possibly more Sangria 😎👍🍷

Ok, two more lovely days in Barcelona. Saturday 6/1/19, got off to a late start as we are still trying to fix our Airbnb problem, not much luck yet.

So, off we go on the metro around noon here, which is a very late start for us. Without any pickpocket problems, we rode the subway in to see the city. The city was teaming with tourists. It was packed.

Saturday and Sunday we visited the Gothic Quarter, Parc de la Ciutadella, Columbus Monument, Las Rambla, Arc de Triomf, Gaudi’s garden , Mercat de la Bogueria , Ciutat Vella and walked over 22 miles in the 2 days. Woo Hoo.

Did you know Barcelona has wild parrots? It was wild seeing them fly in the city.

Spanish hams are a huge deal here. They cut them like prosciutto. The average ham is €125 per ham 😳

We really, really enjoyed Barcelona and all it offers. It’s a big destination for bachelorette and bachelor party’s, Kind of like Nashville or Vegas in a European way. Also a large group of gay men visiting for parties😳

Treated ourselves to Tapas today, delicious and add Sangria, excellent.

Tomorrow a 4 hour drive to Zaragoza, half way to Madrid 😎

Adios amigos!

We slept in today, 7:00 am and headed to the metro station to visit Barcelona. One of our favorite city’s in the world. Bought our metro tickets and headed to the metro. As soon as we got on, a guy tried to pickpocket Cindy. Classic move, stand close, try and stick hand down bag. Cindy shut him down. She had her hand across the zipper of her bag, felt his hand trying to open the zipper of her bag, realized he was trying to get into her bag then she said “you’re trying to get into my bag” and he played stupid, I shoved him, end of story. Then, repeat of the story at the end of the day with the same thing happening to me. Moral of the story is…pay attention no matter where you’re traveling. Found Sagrada Família (an amazing Basilica designed by Gaudí) and the sights around it. Drank Sangria had lots of fun.

Tomorrow, the water front and hopefully more Sangria 😎👍🍷 we will do our best 😎

Ciao ciao 😎🍷

Wow, what a day! Early exit from Carcassonne up through the middle of France to the city of Foix and the climb begins.k

Cindy and I are both huge Tour De France fans and have watched this leg over the years! It’s so steep, the camera does it no justice. To compound matters, this is a famous bicycle and motorcycle route, so bikes and motorcycles are everywhere.

Bumper to bumper traffic with bikes and motorcycles make for a hair-raising drive, and don’t forget motorcycles can lane split here. So they pass on the inside of corners anywhere they want.After a lovely picnic at the summit, we continued a memorable trip, but we made it over the top and into the principality of Andorra, a rich tax free principality.

Gas is so cheap in Andorra, people drive up the hills just to fill the tank. €2.80 a gallon cheaper.

Into Spain and through Catalonia, the area that wants to succeed from Spain. Beautiful hill county, steep decent into Barcelona. We are staying just outside of the old city center, so we will park the Peugeot and use the metro the next 3 days.

Looking forward to relaxing and walking the city. Abnb account problems adding some compilations.

Abnb host here trying to help, say a prayer for the travelers.

PS, trip time 8 hours of driving, long day🍷

Chow chow.