Goodbye Spain

Our Spanish adventure is coming to an end. We are all packed up and checking out of our hotel, exhausted and ready to sit for 9 hours. See everyone soon!

Madrid, Day 1

What a busy day! After arriving, we had a great lunch, and then headed to the Prado, a museum with one of the best collections of art in Europe. We were extra excited when we arrived, the special exhibit this season is Renoir! We´ve also done a lot of walking and a little shopping... now, after a little rest, we´re ready for dinner.

Buenos Noches!

Madrid!

Hi everyone! We´ve made it to Madrid, just arrived at our hotel and are going to head out for lunch and a museum. We really enjoyed Sevilla, especially the meeting last night. There were people from all over, I think 14 countries. Laura took us out for tapas afterwards, it was great to have her recommendations. The place we went is owned by Dominicanos, so Rebecca and Carlos were very excited! They even got some authentic Dominican food. This morning, we took the high speed train from Sevilla to Madrid. Only a few more days before we´re home...

Driving in Spain

We've been driving through the Andalucia region, which is the Southwestern part of Spain. Our car is a Citroen Picasso, a small SUV type car.









The roads have been great, although there is a huge difference between the major highways and the small, scary country roads.



Border crossing into Gibraltar, a British colony


Lots of wind farms


Interesting bridge near. This is a major highway, nice and wide and safe feeling ...



And this is a narrow passage in Arcos, just a tad wider than our car!


We made it all the way to Seville - our last driving stop. Good bye, little car.

Location:Andalucia region, Spain

Fotographias de Morocco

On Sunday we travelled to Tangier, Morocco via a hydrofoil jet boat from Tarifa on the tip of Spain. Here are some photos from our interesting day.

We cruised across the Strait of Gibralter into North Africa on a jet driven boat.




This is the view from the back - what a wake it leaves.



Morocco is a Arabic-speaking Islamic country.










We enjoyed wandering around the market all afternoon














Our guidebook lead us to an incredible meal - four types of fish, grilled by the owner / chef out front.

Location:Tangier, Morocco

Fotographias de Arcos

Here is a photo taken out of our windshield as we threaded the needle down the streets of Arcos. Good thing those mirrors fold in!





This is the courtyard of our inn on the cliff-side:






This is the cliff on which the town of Arcos is perched. Our room window looked out over the view.

Location:Arcos de la Frontera

We've arrived in Sevilla

Another day, another town! Last post we were headed out for tapas...what an assortment. Bacon wrapped prawns, octopus, eggplant with cheese, croquettes, secret ham with mustard sauce, all of it memorable. When we awoke this morning, we headed out for the Rick Steves walking tour of Arcos (Ricky, he never leads us wrong). The craziest thing we learned was that the old bell ringer in one of the church towers took up a donkey to his living quarters, then it grew too big to get it back out...so he ate it. Ewe.

The streets are so narrow in Arcos, we had to tuck in the side mirrors of our tiny car to fit down the streets. We've got to figure out how to post some pictures soon! We had breakfast at a cafe/bakery along our walk today...I know I keep talking about the food, but it has all been so good. We started with chorizo scrambled with eggs (very different than the Mexican style), with bread and tomatoes on the side, then we shared a flakey pumpkin filled pastry called cabello de angel, the baker said it's a family recipe passed down in her family. We also took along some homemade macaroons for the road. The drive to Sevilla was uneventful. Of course, once we got into the city there was a bonus tour of the outskirts of town! (For those not my family, that means we got a little lost.) We learned some busy roads that look two-way, are actually one way except for buses and taxis. Whoops.


We are renting an apartment in the Alfalfa neighborhood of Sevilla. We have a huge terrace with amazing views, again I wish I could show pictures. After a jamon y queso bocadillo, we went to the grocery store to stock up on cheese and wine. Now we are taking it easy, pretending we live here. We are hoping to meet up with Laura and Simon, Carlos y Rebecca's amigos, tomorrow and Friday.

Adios!