robyn johnny

Saturday, July 2nd, After a wonderful two weeks, abrigado (thank you) and tchau (goodbye) Portugal. We spent the day on a long scenic journey from Porto on the western coast of Portugal to Ribadesella on the northern coast of Spain. We fell in love with, Ribadesella, a little coastal town cradled by the lush green peaks of the Picos de Europa National Park. Restaurants and popular ciderias wrap around the bustling waterfront of the small bay and wind out to a beautiful stretch of coastline. We arrived just before dark lucky to snag a spot and local cider at the popular weekend campground. Sunday, July 3rd, after a good sleep we were ready to explore. We drove through lush countryside to the dramatic peaks of the Picos de Europa (like a small scale Alps). We stopped ... read more

Friday, June 17th, marked our first day in Portugal. We were filled with anticipation to discover a new country. Our only plan was to drive up the coast and stop at places that seemed interesting. Sometimes we would just stop in a town or at a beach have a quick look and jump back in and carry on our way. This day our first stop was the small village of Tavira. We jumped on a ferryboat for a 10-minute jaunt to Tarvia Isla. The tiny island was much more developed than we expected with a half dozen high priced seafood restaurant and crowded beaches. You can also camp on the island if you want to stay overnight. We opted to have lunch and a quick stroll to the beach before heading back to the mainland and ... read more

Friday, June 10th, we drove 12 hours from France to the Andalusia region of Southern Spain. We arrived at 9pm in the tiny town of El Rocio. We hit traffic coming into town from the pilgrimage of thousands coming into town for the Romeria del Rocio festival. The pilgrimage is said to be the largest Europe. People (Romeros) travel from all over Spain in middle aged clothing and horse drawn wagons to the Guadalquivir River by the village of Almonte to see the virgin Mary statue in the cathedral and partake in a huge Spanish fiesta which carries on for three straight days. Cars aren't allowed at this Spanish festival so everyone rides around the dirt road town on horseback or by horse drawn carriage. The women dress in brightly colored flamenco dresses and the men ... read more

May 31st, we were experiencing major culture shock traveling to four very different countries within the day. We left Tanzania at 2:15am. 5 hours later we were flying over one of the wonders of the world, the Egyptian Pyramids, arriving in Cairo, Egypt. From the air, Cairo looks like it was built on another planet. The expansive dessert city with buildings set in carved out sand plots was like an ant colony. The airport was busy with groups of men in cloaks and women in headscarves with some in head to tow black cloaks only revealing their eyes through tiny slits. I noticed that interestingly many of the women did have colorful shoes. People were sitting in groups on beautiful prayer rugs on the airport floor. They had us check in again in Egypt where ... read more

Day 76, “Domingo”, May 15th, thankfully our LAM flight was on schedule to fly to Tanzania. We arrived in Dar es Salam just in time to catch a small plane and arrive in Zanzibar at sunset. We got settled at the Africa House Hotel on the beachfront in historic Stone town. We loved the charm of the hotel that was restored from ruins in an eclectic African and Arabic style that reflects the diversity of Zanzibar. We enjoyed an intimate dinner in the hotel bar before turning in. Day 77, Monday, May 16th, we came to understand why May is low season in Zanzibar. It poured rain most of the day. We dodged the downpour as we explored the narrow streets and museums giving into being soaked but kept warm by the tropical humidity. Zanzibar has ... read more