September 7-8, Beaches and Monkeys and Tangiers, Oh My!

September 7,

We are finally settled into beach week here in the south coast of Spain. I'd go into detail about what we did today, but this about sums it up.


(Not pictured...cocktails)


September 8, Gibraltar

This is our first travel day. We decided to head SW from Estepona about 45 miles to Gibraltar and Tarifa. Gibraltar is a self-governing British territory that juts out into the Mediterranean. A place of military history, Gibraltar has been warred over repeatedly by Spain, England and others because of its Naval importance. As a result, today it is a weird mishmash of Spanish, English and African cultures. Known as "The Rock," it rises above the rest of the coastal skyline:




Gibraltar is the only place in the world that you have to cross an active runway to enter. You wait for this light to turn green, then you scurry across as quickly as you can with out being blown out to sea by jet wash.




Gibraltar is very very strange. It is absolutely a tourist trap. Most Brits vacationing in the south of Spain go there to get cheap alcohol and duty-free shopping. Our first thought upon enter was that this place felt exactly like "Disney England." Super clean and stereotypically English. That being said, we really enjoyed it as a day trip. It had plenty to see and do. We bypassed the tourist area and decided to climb The Rock. The view was incredible.



The most interesting thing about Gibraltar...MONKEYS. Specifically the only free-range primates in Europe. These bad boys just hang around the top of The Rock and wait for people to give them stuff. They are cute and vicious...just like Kate.






At the top is an active British military installation. This has been in use for hundreds of years. We stumbled across a remnant of so-called British military "technology." With foolproof plans like this one, its a wonder that they ever lost a war...




Tarifa

Next we headed over to Tarifa, the southernmost point in Europe. Tarifa is an interesting little, non-touristy city that is about 10 miles from Tangiers. As a result, anywhere you go in town the mountains of Africa tower over you. This photo doesn't quite do it justice; it is imposing, to say the least...

Morrocco on the horizon on a hazy day.

Tarifa was quaint and rustic. There were many small winding streets with cantinas and markets tucked away. Below is what passes for a street in Tarifa. There actually were signs for cars on this "road." Good luck driving down that...





After a full day we head back to the timeshare. For more photos of Gibraltar and Tarifa, click here. Next time: Puerto Banus, Ronda and Marbella.

Mike and Kate

September 5-6, Driving The Spanish Coast

September 5, 2009


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We leave Barcelona after two days to embark on what is undoubtedly the most dangerous part of our trip through Spain...the driving. Mike is fond of saying that the likelihood for disaster is high on this leg of the journey. Why? Let's count the ways:

1-Driving through a country not known for its highway acumen

2-Not speaking the language on any of the road signs

3-Not having cell phone service in case of emergency

4-Neither of us having driven a stick shift in 3+ years (and Kate isn't eligible to drive anyways)

Needless to say we are not swayed by any of these perfectly reasonable reasons to fly and we hit the open road.

The journey is about 12 hours, but we decide to break it up over two days. On day one our midday stop is in Peniscola, a beach town about 3 hours SW of Barcelona. This felt a bit like Myrtle Beach, Spanish Style (I mean that in the nicest way possible...which probably still isn't all that nice). I'm convinced Kate selected this town because the name made her snicker.

After a walk on the beach and a quick lunch, its back on the road. Another 3 hours SW is the site of our overnight pit stop, Villajoyosa. We selected this place because it is a good midpoint, is less touristy than nearby Benidorm, and it is supposed to be the chocolate capitol of Spain. Needless to say, we saw NO chocolatiers, chocolate factories, chocolate fountains, or chocolate rivers in Villajoyosa. False advertising.

Some Villajoyosa pics:

The view from our hotel.

This is a beach.

This is what passes for sand on that beach.

Villajoyosa's answer to Rainbow Row.

September 6

We set out for day two of our journey. Our midday stop today is Granada. Granada is a beautiful town in south central Spain. It is the most clearly Moorishly influenced town in Spain. Its most famous draw is Alhambra, a former Moorish castle and fortress. Our plan is to see Alhambra, but this fails miserably as they want us to buy something called "tickets" to see it. This results in us walking around the perimeter and eating lunch at a tourist trap. There was Sangria, so it was still awesome.

The grounds of Alhambra, we would need to scale the wall to get in. Maybe next time.

After lunch we set out to the airport in Malaga to pick up our buddy Chris, who will be staying with us on the second leg of our trip. Within 3 hours we arrive in Estepona, our base of operations for the week. We will go more into Estepona in the coming days, but first we want to get settled in our new digs.

The Timeshare

We thought we'd be content to lay low for the first night in Estepona, but it seemed that wasn't possible. As we relaxed and unpacked, we smelled something burning. After determining that it wasn't coming from inside the house, we looked out the front door...

And saw our "Welcome to Costa del Sol" forest fire! Quite an interesting welcoming ritual. When in Spain I guess...

Follow this link to see more photos from the drive through Spain. Next time: the beaches of Estepona and a trip to Gibraltar and Tarifa.

Mike and Kate

Day Two: Go Go Gadget Gaudi

September 4, Barcelona

Our second day in Barcelona is devoted to three things: Gaudi, wandering and celebrating Kate's birthday (72nd I believe) in style. We start the day from our hotel and venture to see every reasonably close Gaudi work.

From our hotel we head out on foot to La Sagrada Familia. This is the most famous of Gaudi's works and has been under construction since the 1700s. a clear mishmash of styles, it is scheduled to be completed in 2026 (the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death). If you believe they are going to hit that deadline, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. In spite of this impossible task, they are seriously working on this thing. It is a full-scale construction project on a work of art.

After that we head to La Casa Mila, arguably Gaudi's most photographed work. This is a functional office building on the main drag, but it maintains its own sense of uniqueness. I wondered who could possibly afford an office in here, and then I saw the Hermes shop on the first floor.


(that's it on the right)


After that we worked our way through two lesser works, Casa Calvet and Palau Guell. We broke this up with regular stops at Tapas bars. At this point we happened upon our favorite place in Barcelona, this random square...






In this little hidden away place we relaxed with Sangria (pictured before it met Kate at the top of this post, after it met Kate below)...

Listened to wonderful Spanish guitar...

(Sorry its so quiet)

And even came back for another drink at night with all locals...

All in all a pretty good birthday out on the town for the girl I'd say...

For more photos from Barcelona Day 2 click here. Back tomorrow with the next segment...driving through Spain.

Mike and Kate

Day One: September 3

Hey Everybody,

Here's how this is going to work: We are going to create a short travel blog as if it were happening in the moment. It seems that Spain is a country without WiFi, so we couldn't do this live. Anyways, here we go:
September 3, Barcelona

We arrive at 8am local time after flying all night from JFK. Jet lagged beyond belief, somehow Mike's High School Spanish manages to let the cabbie know where we are headed (there will be lots of hand gestures and poorly pronounced Spanish to come). We are staying at the Hotel EuroPark, a recommendation from Dave and Meg, our Barcelona Sherpas (thanks guys!). The hotel lets us check in and we take our first siesta to get acclimated. By noon its time to explore. We've only got two days here and need to make the most of them!

Barcelona is an overwhelmingly interesting place. There is something strange or beautiful on every corner. First we check out the touristy Las Ramblas, a stretch of two parallel walking streets with vendors and shops that heads towards the water. The highlight here is the Boqueria, the world famous market. Stuffed with seafood, meats and produce, it also is peppered with Tapas bars. We sit down for our first meal in Spain and run into this:

















Yes, that is a mussel as big as my fist. Apparently the Mediterranean is pumped full of steroids, because this sure isn't what we see back in the states. It was amazing (not surprising) and cheap (shocking).

After getting our fill we continue towards the water, wandering the side streets until we come upon the statue of Columbus, who is famously not facing towards the new world...an in joke I guess.




You will learn from this blog that Kate loves taking panoramic photos. She lives for it. I, on the other hand, live to annoy Kate to death. Notice both passions thriving in this photo:





Upon arrival at the Mediterranean we discover another theme: Sangria is good:




After this long walk we are beat. Still Jet lagged, we call it a siesta. After nap two of the day we have an amazing meal at Madrid Barcelona and walk the town a bit near midnight. Barcelona is a town that reveres Gaudi, a man who's strange architecture defines the city. At night they light up his works. This was a great place to end day one:




Follow this link to see the rest of our pics from Day One. More soon.



-Mike and Kate