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Published: June 13th 2007
Since we last wrote, we have been through most of the Iberian Peninsula. After our stay in Nice, we drove for about three solid days straight across Basque Spain to Porto, Portugal. We stayed in Porto for two days, exploring the city and all things Portuguese. We loved Portugal outside of the city, the scenery, the mountains, rivers, plains, and beaches. However, we found Porto to be slightly disappointing. Very filled with a "fallen glory" type of feeling, it was slightly dreary, to say the least. We did however, (not surprisingly) very much enjoy the port wine cave cellars in Porto, along with their tastings! We went to two cellars for tours and tastings, both Croft and Fererra. They were very interesting tours, of which we have great pictures, and a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon.
After Porto, we made an executive decision and skipped Lisbon, possibly saving it for a future European trip. We headed straight to Lagos, in the very southern part of Portugal, with a stop at Mira del Aire, a massive cave system in central Portugal. People are only allowed into 600 meters of the 10,000 of the whole cave. In short, really very cool, even though we couldn't understand the Portuguese of the tour guide, and the campy nature of the water show 600 meters below the surface.
Lagos was spent sitting by the pool right outside our hotel room and cooking on the mini-grill provided us. We spent 4 days there, soaking in the sunshine, but made it over to Prince Henry the Navigator's fort in Sagres (pronounced Shagrush... like most in Portuguese).
After relaxing Lagos, we drove back into Spain, and stayed in Sevilla. The beautiful gardens, old town, and palace were simply enchanting. The food was delicious, and sangria VERY enjoyable. We were also very excited to see Starbucks on every other corner... we might have gone to all of them. We also decided that every growing city in Europe is in the process of building a comprehensive tram, or light rail, system and therefore is under massive construction. The palace was the highlight, with the huge cathedral an almost silly example of Gothic architecture.
After Sevilla, we headed to Marbella with an afternoon stop in Gibraltar. Despite slight suspicion on the part of the Spanish Customs officers on our departure from English territory as to the contents of our hugely overpacked car, (and too much fish and chips) we had a great time. We took the cable car to the top of the rock, and spent the afternoon taking in the views and watching the monkeys, yes there are monkeys in Europe, 230 of them. And in typical British style, they are all named, catagoried, and barracked. We both think the Brits have secretly given them all ranks too. These apes, brought over by the Moors 1500 years ago, have free reign over the rock, and hang out on top of cars, people's heads, and everything in between. We also saw a monkey jump on a woman's head... and then bite her for trying to get him off, actually looked really painful (despite our laughing).
Marbella was very nice, we ate, sat on the beach, relaxed, and made fun of all of the people on the cruise ships.
We then shot up to Valencia so that we could catch the last day of racing of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the cup to decide the challenger for the America's Cup. We quickly fell in love with the city all over again, despite its huge amount of road work (on which we got very lost, repeatedly). The parade of boats out of the harbor, and the race itself were great to watch, especially seeing the hugely excited (and drunk) Kiwi fans all over the harbor. We're still confused about who's in New Zealand now, because we're pretty sure they're all in Valencia. The day after the race, we were big dorks and spent the day in the largest aquarium in Europe. Still growing, the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias is a very cool display of modern architecture.
Moving back down to Granada, we stayed in a hostel about 30 minutes outside of town. We spent the first day there hiking around the Albaicin area, the oldest part of town directly across from, and with great views of the Alhambra. The day after, we went down and visited Malaga, with a tour through Picasso museum, looking at the Matisse exhibit, and walking throughout town. We spent our last full day in Granada at the Alhambra (a candidate for the New 7 wonders of the world... yes, go to www.new7wonders.com... actually kind of cool!) Originally a Moorish palace and fortress, this amazing palatial home was taken over by the Spanish Monarchy. The architecture is stunningly beautiful, the gardens are serene, with fountains and water running throughout the entire place. The Generalife is a retreat from the palace, which is hard to understand the reasoning for until you get there, is even more relaxing and peaceful, with absolutely incredible views of Granada, and the entire valley. All in all, we give a lot of credit to those "heathen" Moors, they did pretty good work.
Leaving Granada, we are now in Madrid, the bustling capital of Spain. We spent our first evening walking throughout the old university quarter, sampling tapas and mojitos throughout the evening. We spent today exploring the enormous Prado Museum and wandered some more. We also did something very cultural, and went to an English showing of Ocean’s 13, with plenty of popcorn and soda. Calling it an early night, we’re headed off to Tarragona for 4 more days of beach and sunny weather, with a pit-stop in Valencia to rest, pick up souvenirs, and eat just a little more paella.
That’s all for now from the wanderlusters, but we promise to write more often, the next time probably in Barcelona, where we’re headed after Tarragona, and before starting our trek back to Tuscany for our last days in Europe.
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albert
non-member comment
I wanna be you
Great to read such teriffic stories they are so well writen congrats on your studies I wasn't worried about the grades.I can only imagine the sights and expiriences you have been through if nothing else if fun to live through your eyes Enjoy the rest of your trip look forward to seeing the pics