Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1087

Last weekend I planned a little Andalucia tour for 5 days. I had one day off and I took one day off. Who´s counting anyways? But Andalucia is the region in the south of Spain. I was so interested in travelling there because it has an especially interesting history because it is the area that the Moors, the Muslim empire, lived in until 1492 when the Catholic kings, Ferdinand and Isabella kicked them out /conquered them and took their land and then proceeded to kick out all the remaining Muslims and Jews while they were at it. So, to say the least this area is extremely rich in history and in a very different history than that of Barcelona and the rest of Spain that I have seen. I had planned to do this trip alone ... read more

photos from Barcelona. and now, on to Madrid...... read more

Malaga Spain has been a wonderful surprise, much much more than the tourist ghetto we'd been expecting. This ancient city, palpably Roman but actually occupied much earlier by the Phoenicians, has shattered our stereotype of the shallow Costa Del Sol resort town. It's actually a decent-sized city, and getting from the airport into town was more of a challenge than we'd expected, even having perused Google sat photos beforehand. (For the record, there ARE sufficient connections across the riverside natural preserve area that cyclists don't need to take the heinous Autovia bridges into town.) The GPS guided us directly to our pre-selected, Lonely Planet-approved pension, the Hotel California. (Coincidently, Kate and I first met at a same-named hotel some 15 years ago in Baja, Mexico. Everybody say "Awwwh....") The beautiful room, with a Mediterrnean-view balcony, w ... read more

well hello to all,we know it has been a long time since our last entry, so what better way to battle the hangover but to sit in front of the laptop and stare at this page...After our last blog we went back to the beautiful croatia and cruised from top to bottom over two and a half weeks.It was an awesome way to see a handful of the 1000 islands that stretch the coast.Our season finished in Dubrovnik so we hung out there for a couple of days before heading to Palma where we currently are,just coming to the tale end of our shipyard period.On our way to Palma we stopped and refuelled in Tunisia and took a couple of hours to have a look around.It was ramidaan while we were there which is when the ... read more

As a Brit, I am often dissapointed by my government in their lack of moral fibre and principles. I am of course proud to be British, and hail from the same land as Rhubarb Crumble, King Arthur, London fashion, Radio 1 and T4 on a Sunday morning. But sometimes, and especially recently with our 'brits abroad' foreign policy in the middle east, I fail to see how a country that spawned such articulate people such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Locke, and even blimming JK Rowling...are upstaged by the oral perfection that was the King of Spain, telling Hugo (Im telling Castro on you) Chavez, Porque no te callas? ....translation: why dont you shut up? To put this into context, Chavez has recently called the previous PM of SPain (Aznar) a fascist. The current PM Zapatero, although ... read more

We caught the Renfe train from Ronda to Granada, which was a wonderful wonderful thing to do. If we hadn't done so we would never have experienced the sweeping mountain scapes; the seemingly brown barren land that sprouted grove upon grove upon grove of blackest olives; the glimpses of everyday village life such as the highly charged soccer match right next to one of the local train stations; the abandoned industrial estates; or the surreal wind farm that stretched as far as Andrew could see (I had been rocked into a deep sleep by then)... Granada is nestled at the foot of the great Sierra Nevada mountain range, and lives in the shadow of the great Alhambra. It is a beautiful town with more 'old grandness' than you can poke a stick at... huge cathedrals, over ... read more