Ola Lisboa

Hey All

Today was a travel day. I took an 8 hour bus ride from Sevilla to Lisboa. The route went along the Algarve southern coast of Portugal to Faro and then North to Lisboa from there. So far, portugal has impressed me. It is a very beautiful countryside with rolling hills olive trees and could it be cork? I'm not sure what they were but they had the bar removed up to where the branches were. To all you birders reading this, there will also countless large nests in the electric towers. Each had like three or four and they were huge. Could these be osprey?

The arcitecture here is also pretty amazing. Very cool modern bridges and buildings. The large train and bus station by the Expo was phenonmenal. Anyone know who the architect was (I apologize for the lack of punctuation but the questionmark key appears to have stopped working on this computer.)

Lisbon is a lot like san francisco in its appearance. A really hilly town on the water. My backpacker accomodation here is REALLY nice. I think I am going to have no problem spending four nights here. Perhaps I'll stay longer if I like it.

They also let you burn CDs for 50 cents so I've gotten some more pictures off my computer, I'll upload a few to share tomorrow.

Pictures Part 3

The view of the Cathedral from the Alahambra



The Palace of Carlos V at the Alahambra



The palace of Carlos V at the Alahambra



A domed ceiling of the Alahambra Palace



An alahambra Cat

Pictures Part 2

A view from a plaza at the University in Granada



Plaza Isabel in Granada



The Reina Sofia Art Gallery in Madrid



Even the dogs take Seistas in spain



Accordian player in Granada (back when I thought it was quaint)

Pictures part 1

OK, I´ve figured out how to post some pictures, and it only took me two hours to do so. I´ve posted 14 pictures in three posts from Granada (and one from Madrid). Savor them because it might be a while before I feel like spending this much time to do it again.




Granada had really cool graffiti, in the distance you can see the cathedral



One of my (many) granada cat photos, this black cat is in front of one of the gypsy cave dwellings in the hills around granada



Me with the Alahambra in the background



Me in the alahambra generallife gardens

Ambience?

For being the center of flamenco music, Sevilla has had some of the worst street performers of anywhere I´ve been in spain. The city is full of tourists and is trying really hard (in a spanish way) to create an atmosphere consistent with other european cities, or at least their stereo types. Anytime you sit dowen at a cafe in the tourist area, or really anywhere not two seconds goes by before someone is there playing some cheesy accordian music (are we in venice?). Or worse, as witnessed today at lunch, billy joel on the saxophone-- complete with a track backup. It was awful and I refused to give the guy any money because frankly, his music ruined my lunch. Alicia, was more compansionate. She said, "if he´s willing to make a fool out of himself, I´ll give him 50 cents". She has a point. Anyhow, someone needs to tell these people to learn the guitar, or castinettes or something because I may throw the next accordian I see into the river.

Confession

I have a confession to make....

.... I went to a starbucks. I know, its horrible. Here I am in España the land where there is a quaint cafe on every corner and I went to a starbucks. But the thing is that spaniards don´t believe in coffee (or really anything food related) to go, and I was late. The cathedral was free today and I knew I would be waiting in line, so I got myself a double short americano with a dash of cinnamon, and I loved it, no guilt.

The Cathedral here is pretty amazing and quite large. It was started in the late 1400s and completed in the early 1500s. When they decided to build it they said, "let us build a cathedral so large the world will think us mad". The cathedral also holds the remains of what is either christopher columbus or someone related to him. Apparently Spain and the dominican republic are stll in a debate over that. There was a very informative sign on the debate next to his tomb, entirely in spainish, so aside from the photos of scientists doing testing I really didn´t know what was determined. Regardless, It was a beautiful monument to the explorer.

More interesting to me was the amount of apparent rehab work that was going on in the cathedral. There were no informative signs on this, at least none that I could read. I spent quite a while trying to figure out what they were doing. There were large steel casings around the columns acting to confine them but they appeared temporary (at least I hope they are). There were also steel plates on a number of the keystones in the arches, and numerous holes in the stone ceiling. My hypothesis is that they are doing some sort of post tensioned strengthening of the masonry. But, as I said, I really don´t know. I took some pictures and will post them eventually. Perhaps some of the engineers reading this can help me guess.

On a related engineering note, I am wondering if spain is in a seismic zone. If so god help me if there is a earthquake. I don´t believe the country has ever considered putting reinforcing in masonry at least none of the new construction I´ve seen has any and most is some sort of clay tile infill in slender concrete columns and beams. Scary. There is a LOT of new construction here. From the cathedral tower I counted 15 tower cranes in one view alone. They must not be as expensive to rent here because it seems they are seldom in use. A work day seems to be 10 to 2 and 5 to 7 so I don´t think things get done as quickly.

Anyhow, enough shop talk. I´ll write more later. I´ll be in Seville until saturday when I will head to Lisbon.

Anyone know any portugese?

Ahhhh Sevilla

I really am enjoying Sevilla. Today I met up with a woman I had met on the bus to sevilla, she was going to go to a the Alcazar a large muslim palace that was later turned into a palace for Pedro I of castille. Known as either Pedro the Cruel or Pedro the Just depending on which side you were on.

When I got there this morning I realized they have night tours so I decided to do that instead, I had wanted to do a night tour of the Alahambra and hadn´t been able to, so I thought it might help the two palaces stand out in my memory. So in leiu of the Alcazar, Alicia and I went in search of a cafe and ended up at the plaza de Espana built here for the worlds fair. It´s a very dramatic and beautiful plaza if, a bit "over the top". There are tiles for all of the provices in spain complete with maps of where they are located. It was quite beautiful. After that, we had a tapas lunch and set out in search of the Museo de Bella Artes, a fine arts museum that showcases the paintings that were produced here during sevilles golden years of the late 1600s and early 1700s. It was really impressive and there were some dramatic paintings. It´s apparent they were petrified of pergatory. All in all it was like a 2 hour trip (and air conditioned) and quite enjoyable. I would recommend it to any of you travelers reading this who are headed to Seville (entrance is 1.50 euro). So that was today thus far. My entrance to the Alcazar is at 8 tonight. I´m looking forward to seeing how the architecture is transformed in the evening light.

I´ve really been enjoying Seville and my hostel here in Triana. I´ve learned that triana was the historical "gypsy district" of seville outside the city (it´s on the west bank of the river). And it is the birthplace of flamenco, of course today it is a gentried neighborhood with lots of tapas bars and restaurants along the river. The river here has been a pleasant surprise, I wasn´t aware it would have such a presence in the city.

Sevilla

Today I took the bus to Sevilla where I am staying a very nice backpackers in a district known as Triana. It has free internet and is very clean and a nice rooftop deck where you can just hang out. Sevilla so far has impressed me as a very beautiful city with lots of gardens and very grand architecture. You can really tell that it was a wealthy city in history. Some of the mansions I saw from the bus in were amazing. Today I just spent the afternoon resting and adjusting and tomorrow I plan to hit the town more fully. Later tonight my hostel has organized a free flamenco show so I think I will go to that. More tomorrow.

More Tarifa, Jerez, and Arcos

Well, I apologize for leaving you all hanging with my latest blog entry. As you could guess I am having the realization that I don´t enjoy solo traveling as much as I thought I would. I really miss having people with me to share my experiences. But on the bright side I have learned how to overcome some of the language barriers, I have gotten very good at sign language, and have learned that getting my bus tickets is much easier if I write everything out (the day, the time and where the bus is from and to) and just hand it to the person on the other side of the window. So far it has been working. So I am managing better and my spirits are higher. I note that the people in Jerez and Arcos have been much friendlier and tolerant of my poor spanish than at previous cities.

Tarifa redeemed itself a bit after I posted, I managed to find a nice promenade with views to Morrocco and sat there for a bit. After a while cats started emerging from everywhere, dozens of cats started coming from all directions, before long I saw an old spanish man headed down the hill towards the promenade carrying several cartons of milk. You could tell he did this everyday and the cats knew just where to find him! Especially amusing was watching how angry he got at the gulls who got in his way.

Yesterday I traveled from Tarifa to Jerez. The town of Jerez is known for its sherry bodegas and they serve sherry to tourists on the street. I tried it, and unfortunately for me I don´t think I like sherry. The city has impressed me with a number of large public sculptures, most with religious themes. It seems to be a very religious city and I have landed smack dab in the middle of some sort of festival. There were fireworks and partying in the street last night as I witnessed with the copious amounts of confettii in the street this morning. Just now I stumbled across some sort of procession with a band at the front and the back and what looked like the elders of the church all lined up by family in a large procession that ended with a statue of some saint (she was black with several children at her feet) throungs of people were joining in to follow her. I am not sure what the occasion is but I have gathered that it might have something to do with it being the day of the city´s patron saint. I´m going to try to figure it out at my hotel tonight.

Today I got brave and attempted my first "day trip" on the buses to a small town near hear. Arcos de la Fronterra. It is one of the town dubbed the "white hill" towns and it was stereotypical spain at its best. Situated on a hilltop with cliffs dropping off on all sides and a castle at the top the rest of the buildings were white washed with geraniums in the windows and old women sweeping their doorsteps. I stopped at a cafe for a glass of vino blanco and it was the best I´ve had since arriving in spain. It came with a large supply of olives and cost me 1.50 euro (less than $2) You certainly can´t beat the cost of food and drink in spain.

Tomorrow I head to Seville where I will stay in another backpackers. I am giving myself until tuesday to how much longer I am staying and where I am going. I am thinking Lisbon for a bit, but nothing seems definite.

Punte del Santo

Greetings from the Punte del Santo. The southernmost point in Spain and Europe. It´s a small surfer town. Quite windy here though. There is a levante right now which makes it cloudy, rainy, and windy.

This town hasn´t really impressed me, I kind of feel like I am in the Cabo of Spain. I expect to see a Senor Frogs around the corner. It does have a cute old town which I explored and some castles, which are closed for restoration, but all in all I have not been too impressed. The people seem merely tolerant (if that) of english speaking tourists and are not very friendly. I am finding this is common in spain and it is frustrating me.

Right now, I am not particularly enjoying traveling here alone. I am looking forward to leaving Tarifa tomorrow and heading on the Jerez de la Frontera. I will be there for two nights and then will head on to Seville. From there, my travel plans are up in the air. I am starting to think about alternative traveling options that may be more enjoyable or in fact feasible given my poor linguistic skills.

Clap your hands and say yeah!

So yesterday I had my first real night on the town here in spain.

I´d spent most of the day figuring out where I was going to go next and where I was going to stay once there and was feeling a bit tired of the whole traveling process. So I decided I needed to get myself out into spain and remind myself why I was traveling. (I´m learning that when I get in those funks it´s very important to get myself out). Anyhow, my friend Nigel from london and I decided a spanish dinner was in order. Here is granada there is a quite large morrocan and north african population so we decided to try to track a place down that might have some of that in its cuisine. (I´m getting a little sick of the jamon y queso tapas). Anyhow, the Lonely planet came through for us. We left the city center in search of the "real granada" and ended up at a tapas restaurant that served morrocan food in spanish tapas style.

The way tapas work in southern spain, or at least in Granada, is that if you order a drink you get a tapas. Each subsequent drink comes with a tapas as well. In some places you don´t get to choose your tapas it just arrives at your table, I´ve heard this is more common in touristy bars. Here in granada it is more authentic to have a tapas menu and when you order a drink you specify your drink and your taps. For example, I had vino tinto y schwarma de pollo (chicken pita sandwich) and Nigel had vino tinto y tangine bolito de carnes (meatballs cooked in a tangine). Anyhow, the food at this place was AMAZING. Tuna with capers, falafel, spiced pumpkin puree on crostata. I have rarely have had food as good as this. We were having fun with our spanish/english dictionary guessing what each would be and then seeing if we were right. And we all was said and done (and we were stuffed) the total came to 11 euro each. A steal! I´m telling you, this tapas thing could really catch on in the US with the way we like our free food.

Well, on a high from our outstanding dining experience we headed out in search of more authentic entertainment, namely a bar with flamenco music. Again, with the help of the lonely planet we found our way to a jazz flamenco bar. It was full of spanish people sitting around, The ceilings were low and there were lots of little rooms connected by arches with benches around the perimeter with people clustered together. The flamenco music was loud and sporadically people around would just start clapping their hands to the music, or later in the evening getting up and doing spontaneous flamenco. It was what I had expected of flamenco but obviously with a modern twist. Not the shows you see around town with the women in dress.
All in all a great way to experience the true Granada.

(Side note: It was at this flamenco club I also confirmed that the urban mullet is definitely a Spanish fashion trend. In fact many times the mullet is also dreaded or braided. Nigel and I have coined this hairstyle the "drullet".)

So I feel I have gotten a good sense of Granada, and I like what I have seen. Tomorrow I will leave for Tarifa on the very southern tip of Spain. It is supposed to be a very laid back surfer town with lots of german windsurfers. I´ll spend a day there on the beach and then hopefully be off to Sevilla. My current plan is to make a loop of Analucia and return to granada before heading north to Barcelona via Valencia.

I´ve gotten a reputation....

.... for being the cat photographer of the Alahambra.

I spent the day exploring the palace today with Erica and two guys from Austrailia. The best part, for me, was that there were cat´s everywhere! Talk about a life, to live in the royal gardens with fish in all the pools, just dip your paw in and feast, and tourists all day to oooh and ahhh over you. I´m telling you, these cats have it made.

I couldn´t help but photograph them all, my new friends were giving me a hard time that I was going to run out of memory on my card with so many cat photos. I consigned that if it came between the palace and the cats I could delete a cat photo or two but not until then.

Hopefully tomorrow I will figure out how to download some images and I can share a gato or dos with you all.

Dawn--- Give my love to Ivan.

An Oasis

Well, I´ve found an oasis, literally.

It´s a hostel here in Granada (thank you Eric and Becky for cluing me into it!). It´s quite a nice place very friendly with lots of activities etc. I think the backpacking scene will be a welcome relief from isolation for a couple of days. Also a relief is that I have met another american girl traveling alone in Spain (from Sacramento). So we were able to hang out today and swap travel stories etc. (Did I mention she was fluent in Spanish?!) She is probably only here for a day or two but it is a much needed friend and we seem to have similar traveling styles.

Today the two of us headed out through the islamic quarter here in town, Albaicin and climbed up into the hills where I saw my first spanish neighborhoods. Its just as you imagine, with whitewashed houses with mosaic tiles and laundry and lots of cats, most missing an eye or an ear unless they are young. We managed to find a little cafe that sold cervesa and sangria and we sat there to have a sangria. The owner brought us out a tapas of a chorizo type sandwich which was fantastic. The icing on the cake is that we were on a shady park bench with a full 180 degree view of the Alahambra and the town of granada below. It was devine. Spain is growing on me more and more If I can keep on top of my accomodations I think I will like traveling here a lot.

I am staying in Granada at the Oasis for sure until Friday, after that they are booked so I will have to see if I want to find another place here or move on (the weekends seem to be tough for accomodations). I would like to explore the Alpujares if I am feeling more adventurous later on. Getting out of Madrid and to more peaceful surroundings has been wonderful though. Madrid was just too overwhelming for me right when I got here`. Hopefully when I return and am more travel savvy/fluent in spanish I will enjoy it more.

Tomorrow Erica (my new friend) and I are going to visit the Alahambra which I am very excited about. Tonight I will join up with the free tapas tour offered by my hostel. I finally feel as though my vacation has started.

Granada! Granada!

Well, things are looking up.

After I posted yesterday, I went in search of the hostel that had been recommended to me by Eric R and Becky, thinking if I could show up begging perhaps they could get me a room soon. I was wandering around looking for it, in completely the wrong section of town, when a spanish man stopped to ask ME for directions. (Eric, I guess your tips on how to look european have paid off as this has happened quite often). Anyhow, I was explaining that I did not speak spanish and was looking for the Oasis Hostel when a woman poked her head out of the window above and said that she worked at the oasis and was going to work in about two minutes so she would take me there. Providence! Once there I managed to book myself a bed for three nights (sunday, monday and tuesday). It seems like a very friendly place, (and cheap, 15 euro/night) I´m hoping to maybe stay longer.

So things were looking up but I still did not have a place to sleep tonight. After some useless searching I returned to my hotel and begged them to please see if they could find me a place for one more night. They obliged and managed to let me stay there another night if I would switch rooms. I think they could see my desperation and took pity on me. It was awesome and this hotel has become a favorite. Hotel Carlos V, if you are ever in granada book a night there, it is one of the most fashionable hotels I have stayed at with a deck overlooking the town and vino tinto for 1.50 euro/glass. Did I mention it is 50 euro a night, not bad! Easily a three or four star place.

Well, I awoke this morning refreshed and able to go out siteseeing for the first time since arriving in spain. Today, I discovered spain, and the beauty of seista time. The entire town shuts down from 1:30 - 4:00 and everyone goes to a cafe or plaza to sit or eat, even the dogs were napping (I have a great picture of this which I will hopefully post later). It was a great time to explore the streets of the town. This town is very beautiful and once I got rid of my map and allowed myself to get lost in it I found it was easier to find my way by relying on my own sense of direction.

So, granada has won a place in my heart and I am thinking it may be a good place to stay for a while until I feel like venturing back out into the unknown, which right now, I do not think will be soon but we shall see. Its nice to be able to relax and enjoy the cafes and plazas without worrying about where to stay and how to get there.

Two other observations....

This seems to be a popular tourist destination for germans (cafes sell bocodillo frankfurt) and the urban mullet is very popular here, I´m not sure whether or not there is a connection.

Granada Granada

Well, I left madrid this morning. I had a hard time finding a place to stay there. I am now in Granada and am hoping to find a place that I could book for like a week here. I am a bit down as I am finding it harder than I thought I would to travel alone. The language barrier is pretty bad as no one, even train clerks or and tourist information booth clerks speak english. For example, after getting off the train this morning in granada I went to the information station thinking that they would be able to give me a map of where to go to find the hotel I had booked. The man informed me he did not speak english and did not have maps (the latter was through some interesting signing and a bit of inferring on my part). So I left on foot to try to find my way into Granada, (There did not appear to be any buses or cabs). I had luckily met a few fellow travelers and so I was not alone in my search nonetheless it was about an hour and a half of walking around before I found my hotel. Now I have been forced to part ways with said travelers and it is getting a bit lonely.

I´m frustrated, and while I have a hotel for tonight I was just informed (from what I could gather in my broken spanish) that they are full tomorrow night, as is the one recommended hostel that I know of so that means that either tonight or tomorrow night I have to set out on foot again trying to find a place to stay, I must say I am not especially enjoying traveling without a route, at least in the end of the high season.

So that pretty much brings you up to speed, in case you couldn´t tell I´m a bit down. Hopefully my next post will be more hopeful.

I should add a post script that Granada is very beautiful city. One of the quaintest I have ever seen.

Lara

Hola from Madrid

I was going to try to do that title completely in Spanish but I´m not sure exactly how to say it. Is it Hola de Madrid? That would be my guess.

Well, I´m here. I left Seattle Tuesday morning at 6:00am Pacific time. I was a nervous wreck as the reality of traveling alone in a country where I don´t speak the language was starting to hit me. My nerves did calm down as I flew on (I think mostly because I was realizing there was no turning back) although on the final flight I was stuck sitting next to a very large spanish man who couldn´t speak any english. This did not help my nerves with regard to my language skills. I think I pointed out Long Island when he was asking where the statue of liberty was. Fewer people here speak english than I thought but my hotel clerks are fairly fluent and all the metro signs are in both languages so I am hopeful that through time and with skillful use of tourist offices with english speakers I will be ok traveling here.

I arrived in Madrid at 9:35am this morning (12:35 am pacific time) The tourist information booth at the airport was awesome at getting me the information I needed to find my hotel and it only cost me 1 euro to get into town. The metro system in Madrid makes me realize how far behind we seattlites are in terms of public transportation. The ride on the metro taught me spaniards or at least those in madrid are very beautiful and well put together people---who really like their cologne.

I was amazed at the beauty of madrid as I surfaced at the metro station at Puerta Del Sol. I felt like I was in disneyland. I know that sounds horribly american and naive but not having traveled in Europe before I have not been exposed to the quaintness of public plazas and winding cobblestone streets except in fabricated facades such as that. I wonder if I will take them for granted by the end of this trip, I hope not.

I found my hotel, equally quaint and, exhausted and allowed myself a seista this afternoon as I am sure I will still be able to sleep fine this evening. So that brings me to the present, as i sit in this internet cafe and write my blog. My plan is to wander the streets of Los Austrias a bit more and maybe grab a tapas or two before returning to my hotel room where I will hopefully get a good nights sleep. More tomorrow.

About this trip

I am setting up this blog to chronicle my travels this fall throughout Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Pennisula. The goal is that it will help my friends and family follow along with my experiences and also give me a way to record my travels while in route.

My trip will begin in roughly a week (september 12) when I leave my home town of Seattle, Washington and fly to Madrid, Spain. I will be traveling throughout iberia for approximately 11 weeks. It's the longest trip I've ever taken, and certainly a long time to be traveling alone but I am looking forward to it. One of the goals of this trip is self exploration and extended travel alone certainly will provide that.

I plan to keep my itinerary loose, discovering spain and portugal as I travel, staying in each place until I feel like moving on. Rough plans are to start in madrid and travel first to Lisbon, then south to the algarve and across southern spain to Granada. From there I will meet my friend, Kellii in Barcelona and we will travel together to Bilboa. After she leaves, I'll continue my travels in Northeastern Spain and eventually make my way back to madrid in the end of November where I will leave to return home on November 26th. I welcome any tips from readers on sites and experiences I should not miss while in route.

It should be an amazing trip and I look forward to sharing it with you all.