http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Spain en-us Wed, 14 May 2008 00:57:25 BST Wed, 14 May 2008 00:57:25 BST DAY 0After much planning and even more anticipation we left for JFK at 2pm on Thursday the 8th. We knew we were in for some added excitement when the livery driver drove past our exit on 91 and realizing it was the one we needed to take proceeded to slam on the brakes and BACK UP on 91 to get on said exit.We were so fortunate that Lynn decided she would take the front seat as Khan the drive http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-275942.html Day 5Just a quick note and photo til we can find time to update the rest of the blog entries and photos. Wanted to share a BEAUTIFUL view from the terrace of our hotel where we are hanging out while updating the blog. Behind us in the background is the Castille de Santa Barbara it is almost always present in the background wherever you go here. At night it is lit up and almost surreal. We http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Alicante/blog-275927.html FriendsFirst of all I acknowledge that I am not a natural born blogger. Second I assumed that folks knew what the heck the Camino de Santiago was all about. Well for times sake I must suggest you google itJamie Steves niece and I started our 500 mile walk 6 days ago. We made the first hurdle over the Pyrenees. It is beautiful country and the people along the path and in the refugios are in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Navarre/blog-275876.html Wow what a day It's only 730 here but I am ready to go to sleep. Our flight left Atlanta last night at 809 US time and we arrived in Barcelona at 1110 but the flight was only 9 hours.. oh what strange things time zones are.. I'll be honest and say that the flight was terrible. How anyone can sleep in coach is beyond me. We were served drinks then dinner at 1100 and I didn't go to sleep t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-275858.html After catching the TGV back to Paris the Metro to another train station a train to the airport and a monorail to our terminal we finally boarded our plane to Barcelona. We left Paris pretty much overcast and threatening with rain as Tours had done for the last 3 days. When we arrived in Spain it was a completely different story. The weather was awesome. Sun shining brightly not a cloud in the s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-275822.html HI EveryoneThis may be quite short as I only have 20 mins on the computer and its taken me 10 mins to work out the keyboard. Thankfully I have a lovely young lass Vanja from Slovenia who is at the next computer and has helped me.The walk so far has been amazingly scenic. Yes Im very stiff and sore but after a good nights sleep I can hit the road again. So far no blisters for those of you who ar http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Navarre/Pamplona/blog-275815.html Here are a few photos from the past couple of days. Please be advised that Trish has over 300 more which I am sure are MUCH better....we will make some time tomorrow to sort them and post the best of the lot.Also Day 4 Blog entry below....BARCELONA TO ALICANTEDay 4hellip.We managed to make our 1030 am train without the assistance of an alarm clock. Cell phones wonrsquot work here so th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-275580.html There are beggars and there are beggars. The reasons for begging for money are endless and not really of interest for the people being bothered. But there are the kind of beggars that aggressively bug you for money or other valuables. They use an approaching sales technique running all over the place asking for donations. Returning like boomerangs they tend to annoy the hell out of Everyday J http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/M-laga/blog-275462.html Dear Boys and GirlsI am sorry that I have not written in so long. Camille and I have been very busy. We went to Spain for spring break for 2 weeks. It was wonderful First we went to a town on the Mediteranian Sea called Benalmadena. We stayed in a hotel that overlooked the Sea the beach and our pool. The weather was sunny and 65 degrees but the Sea water was much too cold to swim in. In fact t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-275399.html Hola amigosToday we are in lovely Sevilla. We were sad to leave friendly Portugal Tavira yesterday but had a quick and efficient a.k.a. stressfreeno yelling or getting too lost car trip. We are staying in the most marvellous accomodation in the heart of the historic centre of Seville so its close and walking distance to most of the sights. I decided to break away from mom and dad today a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-275379.html Saturday the 26th of April arrived and brought with it my journey south. After a 25 minute metro trip I had returned to Valencia airport. The land of bountiful vitamin C was soon to be but a memory and I shall be acquainting myself with Sevilla shortly. Within an hour of touching down in Andalucia I knew that I was in for a good time however long that would be. How long would I remain in Sevilla http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-275354.html May 4 2008I went to my last mass at the Cathedral this morning. It was really pretty because the paso we saw yesterday was at the Silver Altar of the Cathedral and that is where they celebrated the mass. We were going to go to Museo de Bellas Artes but the line was so long that we decided to wait til another day. We ate lunch early and then hung out before it was time to leave to go to our Se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-275351.html We survived the night in our hotel. No one came by to bug us. We did hear some ruckus in the night but not nearly as bad as earlier in the evening. We got up around 1100am Spain time 900 am Moroccan Time. We ate breakfast which was very yummy. It was baked goods hard boiled eggs and tea. Our waiters had us sit in the room with the oceanview. It was a nice start to our day. We got re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-275210.html This morning was hectic. Once again we had laundry issues. Since the clothes didnt dry yesterday and it rained overnight they were not going to dry by air before our bus was to leave for Algerciras. We took our clothes next door to the coachs house to use their dryer. However they left their house after our clothes were in. By 1015 we were starting to get quite nervous since nobody had r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-275197.html The pseudolandlady came by for a visit a few days ago when Hermina and Erica were sleeping in the salon. She came by to clean one of the open rooms to tidy up mop and such. Anyhow she needed help separating two buckets that were stuck tightly together. There I was pretending like I was trying to pull. The landlady forearms shaking with all of her tiny spanish might. I knew that if I pulled t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-275165.html Sunday 4 May 2008Had lunch with G down by the coast which was nice although everyone seemed to be a little stressed and agi while we were trying to find a place to eat. I got the cod gratin which was sooooo garlicy Good thing I'm not going out later...The day was boooootiful tho definitely not jumper weather anymoreSent out my CV to a few places on Kate career officer at Oxford House 's http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-275006.html a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-274951.html Hello everyone Just a quick entry as we are having a difficult time finding a good internet connection. We will be posting some photos and entries hopefully later today to keep you updated. Weather not so great...food and wine and sights are amazing. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-274813.html Location Toledo Spain Toledo picturesquely sited on a hill above the River Tagus is the historic center of Toledo. Behind the old walls lies evidence of the city's rich history. Toledo was a melting pot of Christians Muslins and Jewish cultures and during this period the most outstanding monument its cathedral was built. This is one big cathedral In the 16th century the painter http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/blog-274776.html Madrid Espana We managed to get back to downtown Madrid and used the computer internet store. Then we headed for the train station to get tickets to Toledo however our ticket number was 385 and the number called was 157 it was going to be a wait. So I took off to get tickets for Museo del Prado while Bob waited. When I returned 40 minutes later he had only moved up the line 20 to so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/blog-274545.html Present Location Sevilla Spain Back to Madrid we are now experts on the Metro and know how to switch train lines and find different locations Madrid Spain's capital city is situated close to the geographic center of the country. Today is another walking day. First down the Calle Mayor to the Plaza Mayor and some many grand shops along the way. We visited a leathergood store and made so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/blog-274540.html We arrived in Madrid not having a place to stay for the night but we easily found a hostel and slept soundly with eight other French guests. We spent a good amount of time lounging about lazily in the many wonderful street cafes that make Madrid and I would guess many other European cities so great.We ate and drank and spent way too much money but had a great time doing it. We did manage to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-274437.html Even if a toe LOOKS dead it probably isnt and it would hurt more to cut it off The difference between wheat and barley It is possible to sleep quite comfortably on a garage floor when you liberate some garden furniture cushions from the flashy terrace upstairs Snoring echos MUCH louder in a church You shouldnt just randomly pick a country to come from because the next person you meet w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---L-on/Burgos/blog-274226.html Well since the last update Irsquove managed trips to two continents flying across the Atlantic to Los Angeles for a week and just recently a long weekend in Menorca a gorgeous island off the coast of Spain.First things first though and it was off on my 10 hour flight across the pond to be quizzed by a thoroughly intelligent individual obviously doing customs work as a night job from his reg http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Balearic-Islands/Minorca/blog-274214.html Our cankles are gone We can actually see our ankle bones again. We slept late today to make up for our bad night's sleep on the train. We then got ready and taxied via moped to the beach Playa de Tesorillo and sunbathed for a couple of hours. When the sun started to go down in the sky and it got breezier we went climbing on the rocks at the beach. It is a very rocky coast with lots of j http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-274154.html May 3 2008Julie and I have wanted to go to a Sevilla Futbol Club game a soccer game so this morning we made the hour walk over to the stadium to get tickets. Wersquore pretty sure we have nosebleed seats but itrsquos okay because wersquore going for the experience. We went to the store to buy some apparel so we could show we were Sevilla fans. Then we started walking back home. We had s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-274127.html Hello Everyone hows things Hope youre all wellApologies thats its taken a little while to get our first blog under way but when its really hot and youre being lazy in the sun then its very hard. We also havent really had proper internet access till now. The irony isnt lost that the first blog comes the day I fly back to the uk for Madonna leaving Kia to baby sit Rich and Kisha and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-274115.html May 2 2008This morning Julie and I met Katie to walk to the ldquopickuprdquo spot to go to the Monastery that Christopher Columbus stayed at for awhile to see replicas of Columbusrsquo ships and to go to the beach. We first went to the Tres Carabelas which are the replicas of La Nia La Pinta and La Santa Mara. They were a lot smaller than I thought they would be. We also explored l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Huelva/blog-274093.html Gabri and Roberto arrived Friday evening at the bus station by my house. Megan and I met them and brought them back to my place to get settled in and have a dinner party. It ended up being.... Megan myself Gabri Roberto Katrin Ava her German friend and Marina. 7 people may seem like a lot but it's sort of my thing to throw dinner parties... college style. aka barely decent food and paper n http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-273945.html