Time for lunch on the streets of Cadiz. The local mandarines were just out of reach.
The view over Cadiz harbour from the fort is truly superb.
Our hotel Riesco was in Sol Plaza, Madrid and it was in this Plaza that the residents of Madrid tried to foil the Napoleonic army when it invaded Spain in about 1803. The men, women and children resorted to throwing rocks from the balconies of the houses but all I had was my hat.
We arrived in Spain in Holy week.Every day there was a procession and a marching band with hooded people marching behind.
In Seville we had to witness an evening of FLAMENCO and it was everything we expected. OLE
Chris in Madrid with our supplies of food.
"Beautiful, beautiful" was the description of the local hostal manager in Sol Plaza,Madrid, of the parkland near our hostal. She was right, of course.
Sometimes we had to take time out from busy travelling life and just stop and smell the roses.I am pooped because it took ages to get this computer to write in English instead of Spanish...Chris is writing this segment because Drew is trying to pay wages on another computer. This is my second go at this computer stuff and I do not know what I am doing. We arrived in Spain at Madrid airport at 7 in the morning after 1-2 hours sleep on the plane so we were slower to think than usual. Not a good place to be thick. Metro is fantastic, we could understand where to go and a map was also easy to understand so we found our way to our accommodation which was in a good spot very near the main square, had a sleep for a couple of hours, then the fun started. Armed with limited words of translated phases we tried to communicate to people in cafes, bus stations, museums and on the phone. Virtually no-one speaks English unlike in Egypt and India , so we gave up and went for a lovely walk around some parks (beautiful, beautiful - as our hotel receptionist described it - her only English words) and then off to a very fine restaurant, our only splurge for Spain.
Our limited Spanish is now coming in handy. We know how to order beer, red and white wine, coffee, tea, chocolate and not much else. We can count to 4 and say please, thank you, yes, no and of course no understand. We smile alot and use alot of pointing and body laungage. This does not go down to well, especially with young men who tend to stare at you as if to say go home you ignoramous.
Never the less, we enjoyed our time in Madrid, sampled many tapas bars, chocolate concoctions , cafes, walking tours of the old churches , Prada museum and went back to a market where dad had a pickpockets hand in his pocket 33 years ago. I can still hear him yelling thief, thief and thus frightened the man off. Nothing as exciting happened to us.We even managed to book a bus to Seville. We had to go to the bus station to book as we could not get anyone to understand us on the phone. At this point, I must be honest and say that Drew was the one that did all the communication stuff while I stood back and did nothing.
Off to Seville we go. That part was easy enough, but then we had to get a local bus to our accommodation. Around and around we went until we finally were told to get off the bus, go this way and that, more around and around we went ( all with back packs on) until we find our room at 10.00 at night. We dumped our luggage and headed off to a tapas bar - surprise. On the way back, at midnight we ran into a parade with floats and marching band music. It is holy week in Spain and we will see this sight over and over again.While we were in Seville we had a few great hours in the sun, next to the river, sipping vino, then more tapas bars then finally, the flamenco dancing. Yes... we had to do the tourist flamenco thing, but I tell you, it was fantastic.
Next adventure, bus ride to El Puerto de Santa Maria with the usual miscommunication . We seem to be able to get from city to city easily enough, it is the getting to the booked accommodation that seems to stump us. So around and around we go (again)until we find our room. Here we discover a treasure called (you guessed it) Maria. She cannot speak a word of English but she is delightful. She calls me Christina and then I cannot understand a word she is saying. She gives us the important things one needs in life - towels, a key with mimed instructions on how to get in and out of the place, a knife and a corkscrew - We seemed to have lost ours , bugger. Here we spend 3 nights , oh how good it is not to have to think. We wander around the pebble stone streets and find tapas bars - surprise - cafes, churches, forts and wineries (famous for sherry and of course we sampled as many as were available). We also spent a great day catching a ferry to Cadiz where we did the usual wandering the streets and finding the usual things to see and eatand drink (often without knowing what they were).
Tomorrow we bus it back to Madrid and the next day off to the next adventure - Morrocco.
It has been cold in Spain but mainly sunny. I have been wearing all my cold weather clothes on all at the same time. Drew purchased a leather coat in Cairo so he seemed to be warm enough. The countryside from Madrid to Cadiz is beautiful and fertile and I must say, that the vino has been very, very good. The streets of the cities are mainly clean and quaint and the facades of the old buildings are being or have been restored.
Adios amegos untill the next installment of this adventure.
PS We will eventuall put some photos here too. If you would like to see or hear some more about the Indian adventure, Scott and Shelley have a great blog called shelleymoore.blogspot
Our limited Spanish is now coming in handy. We know how to order beer, red and white wine, coffee, tea, chocolate and not much else. We can count to 4 and say please, thank you, yes, no and of course no understand. We smile alot and use alot of pointing and body laungage. This does not go down to well, especially with young men who tend to stare at you as if to say go home you ignoramous.
Never the less, we enjoyed our time in Madrid, sampled many tapas bars, chocolate concoctions , cafes, walking tours of the old churches , Prada museum and went back to a market where dad had a pickpockets hand in his pocket 33 years ago. I can still hear him yelling thief, thief and thus frightened the man off. Nothing as exciting happened to us.We even managed to book a bus to Seville. We had to go to the bus station to book as we could not get anyone to understand us on the phone. At this point, I must be honest and say that Drew was the one that did all the communication stuff while I stood back and did nothing.
Off to Seville we go. That part was easy enough, but then we had to get a local bus to our accommodation. Around and around we went until we finally were told to get off the bus, go this way and that, more around and around we went ( all with back packs on) until we find our room at 10.00 at night. We dumped our luggage and headed off to a tapas bar - surprise. On the way back, at midnight we ran into a parade with floats and marching band music. It is holy week in Spain and we will see this sight over and over again.While we were in Seville we had a few great hours in the sun, next to the river, sipping vino, then more tapas bars then finally, the flamenco dancing. Yes... we had to do the tourist flamenco thing, but I tell you, it was fantastic.
Next adventure, bus ride to El Puerto de Santa Maria with the usual miscommunication . We seem to be able to get from city to city easily enough, it is the getting to the booked accommodation that seems to stump us. So around and around we go (again)until we find our room. Here we discover a treasure called (you guessed it) Maria. She cannot speak a word of English but she is delightful. She calls me Christina and then I cannot understand a word she is saying. She gives us the important things one needs in life - towels, a key with mimed instructions on how to get in and out of the place, a knife and a corkscrew - We seemed to have lost ours , bugger. Here we spend 3 nights , oh how good it is not to have to think. We wander around the pebble stone streets and find tapas bars - surprise - cafes, churches, forts and wineries (famous for sherry and of course we sampled as many as were available). We also spent a great day catching a ferry to Cadiz where we did the usual wandering the streets and finding the usual things to see and eatand drink (often without knowing what they were).
Tomorrow we bus it back to Madrid and the next day off to the next adventure - Morrocco.
It has been cold in Spain but mainly sunny. I have been wearing all my cold weather clothes on all at the same time. Drew purchased a leather coat in Cairo so he seemed to be warm enough. The countryside from Madrid to Cadiz is beautiful and fertile and I must say, that the vino has been very, very good. The streets of the cities are mainly clean and quaint and the facades of the old buildings are being or have been restored.
Adios amegos untill the next installment of this adventure.
PS We will eventuall put some photos here too. If you would like to see or hear some more about the Indian adventure, Scott and Shelley have a great blog called shelleymoore.blogspot
