Whoops where did that time go.

Can't believe I haven't updated this in so long. We had a great time in Jerevz especially seeing the Andalusian horses. We weren't allowed to take photos but the facility and the horses were great. Did some shopping before we went there. After we did a tour of Sandaman Sherry.  The word sherry, believe it or not, comes from Jerez.  It was very interesting and we had a tasting at the end of the tour.

We then headed north for a great couple of days in Seville. We loved the old city here and had great accommodation just outside the city walls.  Our host gave us detailed maps on what to visit but the highlight of any visit to Seville ts the cathedral and for once we paid to see thie spectacular interior.  Undoubtedly the two highlights of Seville though were the food and going to a flamenco show.

We thoroughly enjoyed both. Sadly Seville was our last stop in Spain and we handed back the cutest car in the world and braved the thought of flying with Ryan Air to Gatwick. All went smoothly and we got out of Gatwick thirty minutes after landing and on the train to Chichester soon after that. Here we stayed with my cousin's son and his partner and sons, Trent, Emma, Leo and Jasper. It was fantastic.  We had a wander round Chichester in the morning, we took the boys for a walk and were grandparents again for a short while (nice as we are missing our princess badly), were looked after like a king and queen, and enjoyed our escape from the heat. Thank you, Trent and Emma for your outstanding company and care. 

On Saturday, we caught the train to Southampton to board the Caribbean Princess for our week long cruise to Norway. We had a great week. We had for ports of call and two days at sea. Our North Sea crossing was very smooth going north and our first port was Stavanger.

We spent our time having a look at the recommended sights in this pretty town. The old part of the town is all wooden white houses which are very pretty overlooking the harbour. We then caught a bus out of town to the sculpture of three sword in a rock. It was well worth it as we saw a bit more of the town and the beautiful setting of the sculpture. 

Skjolden and the beautiful Songefjord was our next stop and we really enjoyed our time here. Even though the clouds were on the top of the snow capped mountains it was a great day and oh so pretty. We walked into town and then did a hike up to a great lookout.

This photo was taken only half way up the mountain. Our next day was at Olden in the Nordfjord.

We were not so impressed with this stop and maybe the drizzly weather had something to do with that. But this was more than made up for as we sailed out of the fjord and the sun came out and clouds cleared to reveal beautiful mountains and picturesque villages along the fjord as we headed towards the sea. It was absolutely glorious and exactly what Imthought we would see on the cruise. 

We headed to Bergen, city of rain for 300 days of the year, and had a wonderful sunny day. The captain was astounded by our lucking the weather on most days. John and I got going early and that was a good call.  Went to the old town on the harbour and then up the funicular for a wonderful overview of this city which makes the claim of the prettiest in Norway.

I wanted to see a stave church, the traditional wooden Norweigan church, so we then caught a local train out to the outskirts and saw the Fantoft stave church. It was beautiful, set in woods.  

Our last day on the boat was at sea and this time the North Sea was choppy but only for a few hours.  We had a great time on board, with wonderful people at our dinner table, fantastic food and lots of rest.  We thoroughly enjoyed it but happy to be back in London where our friend, Alana, met us at Victoria Coach Terminal, and took us, luggage and all, to the West End, where John went and saw Jersey Boys, and here he is with the star, 

and Alana and I went and saw The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.  We all enjoyed our show immensely and it felt great to be back in London. The next day John and I went back into London and strolled around some of the sights in the sunshine. I mean how can you see Trafalgar Square or Westminster Abbey or Big Ben too many times.  

Had a coffee at our favourite, the crypt at St Martins in the Field, and then a wander up Regent Street which is closed to traffic for the month of July.  

It was Alana's birthday and she was having a barbie for some friends, so we spent a delightful afternoon with a very talented and happy bunch of Poms with the last day of Lords playing in the background. A bit smug but satisfying. 

After a very early start the next day we headed north to Shropshire to stay with our wonderful family for a few days.  Pete and Christine, his partner, live in Shrewsbury, and we have now had a wonderful two days with them. We have caught up with Chris and Steve and Alex at a barbecue and then Nicole and her boyfriend came with Pete and John and I yesterday on a very scenic drive to Hay on Wye, a little town noted for its plethora of book shops.  It was fantastic and needless to say we added ten kilos to our luggage.  On our return, we had a cuppa with Carole and then Pete and Christine and John and I went to a football match between Pete's team, Shrewsbury, and Birmingham. Even though Birmingham won, it was a good match. 

As you can see, we are keeping busy.  Tonight when we head back to London, we are having dinner with our good friend, Jim Seaha, who is working in England on one of his "schemes" at the moment.  We head to the Western Front early in the morning.  

Loving England and have had perfect weather. It is great to be out of the heat of Spain but we had such a wonderful time there that it will always be a wonderful memory for its great sights, its perfectly delicious food and wonderful people.

Loving the south

Our drive to Nerja from Granada was through the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. It was glorious with every corner revealing a new vista of olive groves, vineyards, sunflowers, wheat. High rocky outcrops with white villages tucked in there. Glorious and totally unable to be captured with a photo.  

Nerja has a Rick Steves recommended beach on the Costa del Sol and we did enjoy a coffee and swim here. It was refreshing after very hot humid days in the inland. 

Ronda, a white village inland from the Costa del Sol was our next night and we enjoyed wandering again. This little town has two claims to fame. 

this bridge that spectacularly spans the gorge that separates the old town from the new town is one of them and this bullring, one of the oldest in Spain is the other. 

We had the best tapas meal we have had in Spain in Ronda down by the old walls in a little plaza. As an example this was one of the courses

Beautiful to look at and to eat.   We have thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish food. Surprising and delicious. 

Our next stop was Gibraltar. We actually stayed in La Linea in Spain with a delightful couple and walked into Gibraltar each day. There is no love lost between the Spanish and the British but we loved Gibraltar with its great big rock and familiar food (couldn't wait to get some steak and ale pie into my mouth!!) and its history cropping up in unusual places. We caught the cable car to the top of the rock and had a leisurely stroll down with two locals who were happy to impart their knowledge of this little country that they obviously loved.  A real treat. It was a bit of a hazy day but not bad. We saw two planes land at the airport.  It is a crazy airport as the road runs across it. When a plane is coming in they put the boom gates down and when it opens all the traffic flows in and out of Gibraltar.

We drove into Gib each night and had a rum at Europa Point (above). Lovely and quiet and relaxing. Had a great swim across the road from where we were living. This was the view from our window and we really appreciated the beach in this stinking hot weather. 

We left Gibraltar this morning and drove via the coast to Jerez.  We stopped in the lovely town of Tarifa where we had a look around and a coffee watching the kite surfers. Tarifa is the most southerly point of Europe and is a most Grecian looking town. 

We then drove out to Bolonia for lunch and that was also delightful.

We are now in Jerez and tomorrow are going to see the Andalusian horses and do a sherry tour. Can't wait. 

The hot spots

The last few days have been horribly hot with temps soaring into the high 40s. Needless to say this greatly curtails sightseeing ambitions but we have very happily fallen into the Spanish way of lunching about two and then coming back in the heat of the day to siesta.  Not a bad idea really. Here in Córdoba it has been especially rewarding as our hotel has a refreshing pool in a cool park like setting. 

Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid, is a beautiful city with its sky reaching cathedral and its other major churches and fortresses and one which we enjoyed wandering in. At first we were very excited about the quality souvenir shops and John was keen to get a rapier for himself and Paddy but he couldn't find what he wanted and so miracle of miracles we left Toledo with our bank account in the black. Toledo stands on the banks of the Tagus River and our accommodation had wonderful views of this and one of the two Roman bridges that cross the river gorge into the old city. 

We did a great drive around the city at sunset.  Toledo is beautiful at this time with its interesting silhouette.

From Toledo we drove to Córdoba in soaring heat.  We got to the hotel and went straight for the pool. It was 47 in the shade so the cool pool was a welcome relief. The highlight of our trip thus far was a visit to the Mezquita. This was a Moslem mosque which has been turned into a cathedral. The mosque is so beautiful it is believed that the architects who built the cathedral into it fell under its charm and did so very sympathetically.  An English girls choir was participating in the morning Mass there and we happily stayed to listen to this angelic sound. 

Another highlight of Córdoba is its patios and we enjoyed wandering around the old city and popping into casas with open doors to cool off in their beautiful gardens. 

An old Roman bridge, badly restored, is just down from the Mezquita, and apparently, so my good husband tells me, this scenario was recently used in Game of Thrones. 

Yesterday, we hit the road again and drove three hours down to Granada in Andalucia. The countryside thus far, has been pretty dry and forgettable, but almost immediately we entered Andalucia, the hills, olive groves, sunflowers, wheat and rivers kicked in and driving to Granada was a real treat. We stopped in this little hill town for a coffee on the way here. 

Today we have spent a fascinating day at the Alhambre. This site is hard to explain but the absolute highlight is the Moorish palace.  It is without doubt one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen. Simple, beautifully carved, lovely light streaming in screened windows, expansive views of Granada. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here which ended with a walk through the "picture around every corner" gardens.  

Had lunch in the Albayzin quarter.  We LOVE the Spanish lunches, fantastic value and quality food and drinks. 

Off to the beach at Nerja in the morning. Looking forward to some cooling sea breezes. 

These European capitals

never cease to fascinate and excite us and Madrid was no different. We spent the first day exhausting ourselves by walking everywhere in the heat. We learnt our lesson and on the second day we discovered the joy of the metro. We did enjoy the walking and discovered Madrid's main square the Plaza Mayor and its symmetrical buildings and interesting bars. One bar is a tribute to bullfighting. Here are a couple of pictures for the not so squeamish

The dude from the first photo survived. I think this is as close to bullfighting as we might get. The streets are interesting and the walk from here to the Royal Palace and cathedral was a maze of narrow alleys and plazas that demanded a stop and maybe a coffee and cake 

We had a fantastic time the following days at the Prado Museum, one of the foremost displays of classical art in the world. Filled with Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, Raphael, Picasso, Breughel, and too many others we say the highlights over a few hours. It is well presented and as usual, we have to shake ourselves to understand we are viewing the originals, so used are we to seeing photos or prints. 

We had an interesting time too at the Naval Museum tracing Spain's mighty naval history. This painting of Colombus was one of the masterpieces of this museum

But the real stand out were the incredible models and probably the building in which all this was housed. After a delicious lunch nearby, a three course meal with bread and beer/wine and coffee for ten euros, we had a relaxing stroll through Retiro Park.

From Madrid we headed north to El Escorial which we were keen to see as the Royal Palace in Madrid was closed for official functions for the two days we were there. El Escorial was the summer palace of the Kings and queens 

The highlight here was the library with its painted ceiling and of course beautiful ancient books. 

Over the past couple of days we have visited the towns of Segovia and Avila. We have enjoyed them both.  Segovia with its huge aqueduct which up till recently was still in use

and Avila with its intact and well preserved walls 

As you can see the weather has been very kind.  We are enjoying our road trip in our little car and Spanish roads are good. The food is great. Yesterday we splurged on a wonderful meal at a fantastic restaurant at Segovia, roast suckling lamb and vegetables. It was so delicious. As you can probably tell we are being more measured as we look after John's health. He has been OK but is conscious of being very careful. 

Happy holidays to all my teaching friends especially to those heading off on trips. Safe travels and look forward to swapping stories. 

Very happy in Valencia

After a very relaxing time in Peniscola on the beach, we headed south to Valencia - orange eating territory - and our friends whom we met in Vietnam earlier this year, Phil and Denise Barker. Well, we have been treated like royalty for the past couple of days and have had a great look at Valencia. Phil and Denise live in the old town and knew all the great places to eat and drink and we did a bit of both of those. Valencia has diverted its river around the city and turned the area into a huge park with amazing buildings and ovals and running tracks etc.  One area based on Science and the Arts is architecturally astounding - actually Tomorrowland was filmed here. We walked many kilometres in this parkland enjoying the sights of Valencia.  

On our full day there we caught the tram down to the beach and had a swim and lunch on the beach. Of course oranges were always on the menu. 

We didn't really know what to expect of Valencia but we both loved it, particularly living in the old town and our long walks with our friends. Thank you to PHIL and Denise for your exceptional hospitality. Look forward to returning the favour soon. 

This morning we headed off to Cuenca, 

a small town with an interesting old city built on a gorge, and have arrived this afternoon at Belmonte, where Spain's most complete castle stands. We have got great accommodation here.  Spent the afternoon exploring the castle which was closed for renovations. We just pushed the gate open and wandered around. John even got up on the wall. If we had something bigger than the Fiat we could have popped a suit of armour in as there was no one there. 

Belmonte is also Don Quixote country and there are quite a few of these beautiful things dotting the countryside. 

All is well and we are loving Spain.