Category: Travel

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After breakfast and check out in Ronda, we once again followed the back roads, gazing at fields and modern windmills before arriving for our sizzling hot day in Córdoba.

When anyone asks me what is my favorite place in Spain, I always say Córdoba, and with good reason. The Old Town is a mixture of Jewish, Christian and Arab cultures with magnificent architecture. There is tourism here, but the charm of the white-washed narrow winding streets beguile me above all else. I was here six years ago in October and was happy to return. It was more crowded and hot here than our earlier trip. I didn’t expect a heat wave in early June! I still recommend fall and spring as ideal travel times to this part of the world.  Our local guide told us that this year TripAdvisor ranked it as the #1 most popular destination.  It’s well worth a visit.

We walked over the Roman bridge to enter the Old Town.  We spent the first hour in horse-drawn carriages, going through the narrow streets, then stopped for lunch in air conditioned comfort with other friends from the group. Everyone in the group had favorites and we tasted others’ food choices. We two ordered two tapas: one was fried eggplant smothered with honey and the other was fried shrimp, all chased down with water and a cold beer. Delicious!

Our destination was the Mezquite of Córdoba, a mesmerizing eighth century mosque and one of the world’s greatest Islamic buildings.  The English translation on the pamphlet calls it the “mosque-cathedral of Córdoba.”

Córdoba has been a cosmopolitan, international city since its founding and was the largest city in Western Europe in the tenth century. What makes this site unusual and unique is that in the center of the mosque is a Catholic cathedral, where two of the world’s faiths intermingled in one building. The church was built in the sixteenth century after the Christians took over the city from the  Arab world. Instead of tearing down the mosque,  King Carlos V decided to keep it as is and have the cathedral in the center of the existing building. The result is the juxtaposition of two faiths, two points of view and two cultures in one space. If only we could all so peacefully co-exist today! We are grateful to King Carlos for his decision to blend instead of destroy a work of art and architecture. The visit brings home an important message for us all.

Our local guide Antonio then gave us a tour of the Jewish Quarter, which has been thriving for centuries.

At the end of our visit, we boarded the bus for Ubeda, where we are now located, once again, in a parador.

After a rigorous day, settling into the cool reception area was like being in a sea of tranquility.

The city of Ubeda is a UNESCO World Heritage site because of the perfectly preserved Renaissance buildings. We’re in the main square, in the center of it all. Tomorrow we meet a family and take a tour of their olive trees and mill in a nearby town. The name of their olive oil? San Francisco!

 

 

The scenic drive from Seville to Ronda included lovely fields of sunflowers and a huge lake.

The whitewashed village near the lake is reminiscent of the hill towns of France and Italy here, but here the uniform white dazzles.

To break up the journey we had a tour of a ranch where Andulusian horses were raised and trained  I didn’t have many photos because the heat was oppressive and I didn’t feel too well. We had lunch there after our tour.

We arrived in Ronda and are again staying at another parador, the Parador de Ronda, which was originally the City Hall. This is a building from the twentieth century, so its history is a young one, compared to others in which  we’ve stayed.  The building is ultra modern with the room is huge with all the modern conveniences, including our own balcony with a view of the gorge!

We did an orientation walk after arrival and Susana gave us an interesting cultural adventure.  We went into a small enclosure where cloistered Carmelite nuns live and sell their wares to the public in an ingenious way: one enters a small room, rings the bell and asks for whatever goods are displayed in the cabinet – knitted baby articles, religious tracts, desserts, and other hand made items. The cloistered nun comes to the other side of the door but does not show her face;  the exchange of money is handled discretely.

Our walks during the last two days took us through some spectacular scenery.

We attended  a home hosted dinner our last night here. Juan and Ima are veterinarians and work for the government visiting the farms, making sure that the livestock are inoculated and cared for. They have three sons, ages 13, 15, and 17.  The oldest boy will be attending high school in the U S in the fall, his younger brother is a budding cartoonists and the youngest is a scholar. The house is filled with animals: a cat, a Spanish water dog named Katy, a rabbit named Greta, a love bird and fish. They also have a large terrace with magnificent views of the city. It was a delight to sound time with this warm and welcoming family.

We are now in Úbeda, at another fantastic parador. Tomorrow we explore an olive mill and discover this delightful town.

To be continued..

 

It’s tough to say goodbye. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the beautiful Parador de Carmona.. 

Right now I’m playing catch up, as the internet is much better here in Ronda. Choosing and uploading photos took quite some time, and I’m doing the blog as I can with life going on around me, so I apologize for the length.

We’ll begin with the photos from Mérida:

Walking the Roman road over the bridge

The Temple of Diana: notice Muslim building  behind it.

Diana, not really in a good mood

Thespian sister mimics statue: “Not tonight, dear, I have a headache!”

Lunching with locals

Boy, that beer tasted good!” With ninety plus degree temps, it’s important to find the shade – or the indoor space with A/C.

Friday was a long day, but very worthwhile, as we spent time in beautiful Seville, the capital of Andalusia. It’s the fourth largest city in Spain, after Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.  It’s about a 45 minute drive from our hotel.

Our local guide was Pablo, who was very entertaining and knowledgeable. He got his PhD in Texas so his English is excellent.  We did a drive around the city, then focused on the Old Town, where we had a tour of the Jewish Quarter with its tiny, tight winding streets, the Cathedral of Seville with the tomb of Christopher Columbus and the Royal Palace and Gardens, AKA the Alcazar Palace complex.

Our first stop, however, was the magnificent Plaza de España in the Maria Luisa park, which was built for the 1929 exposition. The main building material was porcelain tile.

 

We then visited the Jewish quarter with its maze of small winding steeets and shops.

The massive cathedral at Seville is the third largest  in the world, after St. Peter’s in Vatican City and St Paul’s in London. Some places just can’t be adequately captured with photos because of their size, so I focused on one item of interest: the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Yes, he is buried there. He had several “final resting homes” after his death, including Santa Domingo and Cuba.

He had an elevated burial crypt with allegorical figures representing four kingdoms of Spain during his life: Castillo, Aragon, Novara and Leon. The tomb was installed in 1899. The tomb was orinally installed in Havana before being moved to Seville after Spain lost Control of Cuba.

No one actually knew if Christopher Columbus was a religious man or even if he’d been baptized a Catholic, but here he is. DNA testing was done to make sure the bones are really his.

Our next stop was the Royal Palace and Gardens, also called the Alcazar, located just across from the cathedral.  It was a fairly busy day but Pablo was able to get us fast tracked, and through the line quickly even though his tour with us was officially over.  We showed ID for a substantial senior discount. The buildings are very Moorish and greatly resemble the buildings of the Alhambra in Granada.

We decided it was time for a snack and a cold beer so we headed for the cafeteria, then visited the magnificent  gardens.

We went back to our ” home,” the Parador de Carmona, where we had a bit of time to rest, read, play cards,  or swim in the pool before heading off to dinner in an old olive mill. The restaurant was conveniently located down the street from our parador.

I decided I needed more food porn the next morning so I did some breakfast photos before we left for our scenic drive to Ronda.

It’s time to hit the road again..to Ronda!

 

 

 

 

We sadly said goodbye to Portugal this morning as we headed out to Spain. There was nothing dramatic as we got in the road; the signs jusr changed to Spanish and we lost an hour of time. We are now nine hours ahead of California time. We had our first comfort stop a couple of hours after leaving and about an hour and a half later, we were in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mérida. It was in the 80s at that time, with highs climbing into the 90s. No humidity though.

We left the bus and walked over the Guardiana River taking the old Roman bridge, which is in excellent condition, especially considering that it was built two thousand years ago.  Mérida was conquered by the Moors after the Romans, then by the Portuguese so it has a colorful past. The Roman ruins here are among the best preserved in Europe.

We walked across the bridge and wandered up the pedestrian street, where Susana pointed out the ham store. She went in and came out with samples for us – delicious! We climbed up to our first monument.

The Temple of Diana was our first site, at the corner of a quiet side street and a longer road.  It was a Roman site constructed in the early first century AD  after the conquest of the area by Emperor Augustus. Roman Mérida, known as Emerita Augusta, became a thriving metropolis and and an important center of power in the region.  Within the city the Temple of Diana would have become a central part of the Roman forum, where the principal civic buildings of the city stood. Among the Roman ruins were also ruins of the Muslim rule of the land, since it was conquered in 713 by the Muslim army under the leadership of Musa bin Nusair,  an interesting juxtaposition showing the layers of history on one small piece of land. The museums actually re-used and expanded the ancient buildings, bringing us the concept of recycling!

We continued up until we came to a main thoroughfare.  There was a modern building which housed parts of Roman roads which was part of one of the many renovation projects of the area.  Susana mentioned that it is now common to put garages at street level, not underground, because as soon as the city digs, there will be found ruins, so the demolition of the streets must stop in order to preserve what is underneath.

We turned right into a street with many restaurants and Susana stopped, got a few menus and discussed the specialties of the region. At the end of this long street of food choices, we came to the two most beautifully famous monuments:  the 6,000 seat Roman theater and its adjoining amphitheater, where gladiators fought animals imported from Africa and Asia. It took us about a half hour to walk among the ruins.

We had lunch on our own at a charming local brasserie, where we had potato salad, gazpacho and a beer.  It was perfect!

After lunch we explored the National Museum of Roman Arts, which housed the antiquities from the discoveries found in the town.

We were back on the bus at about 3:30 and headed to our next stop: the beautiful Parador de Carmona, at the very top of the hill in the whitewashed old city. We had an hour or so to reorganize  ourselves before heading down to the dining room for a delicious dinner at 8:30. At the evening’s end Susana took some of the group on a “digestive walk” then we were in for the night.

I haven’t been able to  upload my photos for today, so this will be sent out without them. There’s some kind of glitch and I’ve been trying to figure it out.

Just returned from a wonderful day in Sevilla, which I hope to tell you about soon – with photos I hope.

 

 

 

 

Before starting our day, we fueled up with a magnificent breakfast among the gothic arches in the cloister – what a glorious setting! The food was heavenly as well.

Our guide Susana met us in the lobby, then we went outside, and in the shadow of the Temple of Diana,  she explained to us the history of this medieval university  village.

 

We then walked through the old city, stopping by to chat with a lady named Antonia, who happened to walk out of her house. She gave us kisses and wished us a good day.

We got to the university and met two students who gave us a tour and answered our questions..

They  told us of their traditions, some formal and some funny. We were able to sit in one of the classrooms for a Q and A. They were attired in their robes which are used in ceremonial occasions, which looked quite familiar.  Was Harry Potter a member of the University of Evora? No, but J K Rawlings was living in Portugal when she wrote the books. The robes are identical!

Old and new, the medieval along with the modern – all worked together. The buildings were beautiful  and the students were a delight.

We did a walking tour of the other sites including the Évora cathedral, which has a blend of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. It is the largest cathedral in Portugal.

The church of St Francis houses the unusual Chapel of Bones, which reminds us of the transitory nature of our being. The bones were brought here by three Franciscan monks in the sixteenth century  who dug them up from local cemeteries as a warning and a reminder to the wealthy citizenry who appeared to enjoy their worldly goods a bit too much: “We bones in here wait for you to join us.” The bones were artfully arranged along the chapel walls, ceiling and columns. It was very eerie and the reactions of the people who paraded around the chapel freaked me out a bit. Some seemed to enjoy it a bit too much, whereas others were appalled. It was a thought-provoking  encounter.

 

Susana took us to the food market for a few tastings of local products, then we were free . We found an ATM for me, and a store that seemed to have lots of odds and ends that met our needs: sunglasses and souvenirs. Beatrice saw a sign for ice cream on one of the streets, so we tracked it down and enjoyed a sumptuous “lunch.”

We had free time until 5:15, when we set off for our cooking lesson from the Portuguese Cooking School. A friend and colleague of Susana’s, Sophia and her crew greeted us enthusiastically. The school is located in the patio in what was the former garage of her home, which was renovated to resemble a garden house, with plants and herbs growing outside. She was assisted by three ladies. We broke ourselves up into two groups: one group made the salads and dessert and our group made the main courses. We were responsible for a pork stew and potatoes, and a cod dish with, among other things, onions, garlic and olive oil. ..the three most important ingredients in Portuguese cooking, we were told.  Menus were given out and we will bring them home to cook for you, or you can cook for us! Sophia started us out with a chorizo appetizer and fueled our culinary spirit with plenty of sangria, which went down smoothly. It was a delightful experience even for those of us who are less than gifted in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, we must say goodbye to Portugal, as we cross over the border into Spain tomorrow. Though it is a driving day, there will be some stops around the back roads once again. We will visit Mérida, Spain, one of the most important Roman capitals on the Iberian Peninsula and step back in time for a few brief moments.

To be continued…

We left our hotel bright and early -well, early anyway – to explore the back roads from Lisbon, heading south to the wine area of Alentejo, through the rolling hills. Our eventual destination was Évora, but we had many stops along the way.

Our first stop was to the tiny hamlet of Arraiolos, which has the unusual distinction of being the rug making capital of Portugal for centuries. In 1496 King Manuel decreed that all Muslims were expelled from the country unless they became Christians; Muslim rug making families therefore migrated to the south where they found a more tolerant community. They settled there and the whole family became involved in the rug making craft. We enjoyed a guided tour of the rug making museum in town and learned the history and saw rugs, new and old.

Our second stop was to a monte, a traditional wine making estate in the Alentejo region, which was huge: over 7,000 acres of property with many buildings and vineyards. The wealthy patriarch, Jose de Mello, (1927-2009) had many passions, including  saving horses by starting stud farms, breeding  and racing them. He started growing grapes in the 80s, and got some of his starter vines from Napa. He also had a large family, having produced eleven children, many of whom play a major roll in the running of the estate today. All of his children are involved in some way.

We walked through the vineyards and enjoyed the sights and smells of the herbs mingling among the vines. We had a tour of the winery, seeing the steel drums and oak barrels in the cellar. The production is very successful and they sell over two million bottles a day. They bottle a large variety of wines, though some of the grapes are purchased from other vintners.

Of course, such an event isn’t complete without a tasting. We were also given bread, cheese, and jelly to accompany the flavors of the three varietals we tasted:  a sauvignon blame, a rosé and a sirah.

After the tasting, we adjourned to a huge dining room and had lunch! We started off with chicken soup, then had duck rice with sausage, salad and a phyllo-filled jam dessert with strawberries.

Our last stop was a visit to a cork factory, where our guide Susana explained the process of extracting cork from tree trunks, then drying and stacking them.

The variety of products made from cork is amazing, from furniture to floors. We were guided to the showroom for the ultimate discount shopping experience. I didn’t see anyone  leave empty-handed.

Next stop: Évora, the white washed village which has gained recognition as a UNESCO National Heritage Site. Our home for the next two nights is the Pousada Dos Loios in Évora, a former monastery converted to a boutique hotel by the government and managed by Pestano corporation. We checked in late in the afternoon, with an hour to rest before we had a guest lecturer, Paolo, a university professor who discussed his experiences during the 70s, a turbulent period in the history of the country.

We had a delicious, elegant dinner served in the cloister of the hotel, with puréed vegetable soup, spinach and pork cheeks, with a gelled pineapple with chocolate ice cream for dessert. We took a stroll after dinner to explore the hotel grounds. We discovered that the pool is not heated, no surprise.

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As twilight turns dark,  we wander among the Roman ruins from the first century, reminding us of the past is always with us.

My internet conked out last night, so it is now tomorrow.  After breakfast, we will have a walking tour of Évora, a visit with university students, maybe some time poolside? It is supposed to be 95 degrees.  Tonight we have a cooking lesson. Oh, dear.these sisters were not brought up to cook!

More to come!

We’ve spent time in lovely Lisbon, examining its many areas and sites for the past two days.

The Alfama district is the city’s oldest and we strolled around the neighborhood Sunday morning  while all was quiet, and enjoyed the architecture and culture. As the city was waking, we intermingled with the people and watched the beginnings of a festival that was about to take place. There was also a bicycle race in the district that was about to begin. The locals were gathering to cheer the bicyclists on

One interesting note: on the walls of the district were portraits of the residents, some who have departed this earth and others who are still alive and working in the community. One remarkable example was the photo of a lady, Maria Luz,  who still runs the neighborhood laundry service, where clothes are still washed and scrubbed by hand using washboards. As we were looking in the shop, Maria  herself passed by in the street! Wow! What a moment. 

In the Belém district, we visited two important sites:

This is the church at the San Jerónimos Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The flamboyant architectural style  is called Manueline, after King Manuel I, and was built to celebrate Portugal’s seafaring past.

Also in Belém district, the Monument to the Discoveries has a dramatic location at the bustling waterfront along the Tagus river.

Sunday afternoon was spent in the charming  town of Sintra, in the mountains, a short distance away.  In the nineteenth century, this town was composed of the rich and famous – power brokers, mainly nobility- who built fantastic fairy tale palaces and castles in the forest to serve  retreats from the rigors of power. The fanciful form of architecture during this period, called Portuguese Romanticism,  rivaled the imagination and one could see the craziness of a King Ludwig or Gaudí with effects from Walt Disney. This was truly mind-boggling.

The biggest and most resplendent of all was the  Palace and Park of Pena, built by Dona Maria II, Queen of Portugal and her consort, Don Fernando II, known as the Artist-King. Dona Maria died in childbirth after having had eleven children ; Don Fernando remarried; his second wife, the Countess of Elda continued work on the structure and had a key role in the design of the palace’s interiors and gardens. The second couple remained childless. There had been a structure on the property since medieval times, the first being a twelfth century chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena. It is located on the very top of the hill.  Getting there required two busses, our tour bus and a park shuttle bus.

At the end of our visit, instead of taking the shuttle back to the ticket office, we strolled through the gardens, which ran from the top of the hill to the bottom, where our tour began. The park is composed of exotic plants from all over the world and there are vast expanses of gardens of varying types. Here are just a few photos of what was an overwhelming horticultural experience.

In the evening we had our experience listening to a fado singer and her group at a local restaurant serving traditional Portuguese cuisine.  Fado is a musical experience that is unique to the country, and the lyrics are very important. Taken from poetry, themes involve love and loss, but can also be expressions of hope and happiness. In all cases, these are very emotional songs, and the fado tradition has passed on for generations.

This is morning we left Lisbon for an artistic experience: tile making.  We learned how tiles are made and made our own, which will be finished for us and delivered to our hotel when we arrive in Madrid, at the conclusion of our trip. My sister did a bird tile  I did sort of a flower – not my best work. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

 

Next came cheese making, held in the local cheese museum, where some of us were given the opportunity to participate in the process . Following that, we had a cheese tasting; cheeses aged for different periods of time were brought out, including those made by our trip mates.

We were also served a lovely lunch of pea soup, vegetables and turkey, followed by fruit and an egg yolk rolling cake.

At the end of the meal, I visited with the canines, who were soaking up a sunny day.

We returned to town for one more stroll through the waterfront, to visit this elevator built by a student of Gustavo Eiffel. We had free time in the late afternoon,  time to pack for our next location, as we go from Lisbon to Evora tomorrow.  We’re delighted that our new driver will be the husband of Susanna, our superlative  guide.

On to Evora, for more adventures and surprises!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things often seem easier in the planning stage than in the actual execution. Just jump on a plane and get there – oh, sure.

This is was our plane, a – dare I say it –  kickass one at that. It’s the Lufthansa Airbus 380, the world’s largest passenger jet, which flies from SFO to Frankfurt.  it is so huge that it can’t fit on many airport runways, but we’re lucky at SFO to have it as one of our traveling choices. Even in economy, there is that all-elusive legroom, and again, as Lady Luck would have it, my sister and I, seated across from each other, had an empty seat next to us.  We barely felt takeoff as we floated up in the air, and the whole flight was almost eerily quiet, with no jet engines hammering in our ears. The food was better-than-average, the liquor was fine, the staff was attentive and there was entertainment galore.  I finished my book and saw a wonderful German film called “Toni Erdrich” which I highly recommend. My sister saw three great films (including “La La Land” for the third time) and also finished reading her book.

What did we not do? SLEEP.

We were also just a bit late, so we had a little over an hour to get to our flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon.

Frankfurt airport is also huge and we scampered through passport control, an airbus – twice as we took the wrong one the first time – another passport control, a boarding pass control, and security.  I was stopped in security because it was thought I had a bottle in my carry-on.  I said no. The attendant rifled around, upset all my items, found nothing, nodded unsmilingly and left me to scoop all up my stuff and throw everything back in the carry-on.

Tick tock.

We made our flight to Lisbon with minutes to spare but with no chance for me to visit the restroom.

This flight was a step back in time as we trugged our way up the stairs ( front or back of the plane? I chose front) and realized we should have gone in the back of the plane -oops, sorry- as we ended up like fish swimming upstream, with almost disasterous results for me with an unfortunate encounter with a rather harsh burly male German passenger with a bad attitude who pushed me and my carry on out of the way using brute force – what ever happened to chivalry? It was not the welcome I’d hoped for. Fortunately, my seat mates were kind people, a mother and teenage son from Germany. I, however, was in the window seat, trying to figure out a way to use the bathroom before takeoff.

I didn’t have to worry.  We did not take off.  Oh, we did eventually, but first we waited for the crowd of busy weekenders’ planes to go before us, then the thunderstorm hit, so we couldn’t move for a while.  Tick tock. We sat an hour and a half.  At least I was able to use the restroom. What did we not do? SLEEP

The view of Lisbon from my window seat just before landing made it all worthwhile.

We collected our bags, found our driver, who took us to our hotel, where our guide and group leader was waiting, with the group, to take on on a city walking tour and dinner. Did we want to join them?

Of course. We can sleep at home.

It felt good to walk after being confined in those flying tubes for fifteen hours. We met our twelve fellow travel mates, all perky and anxious to see the city.

This tour is from Overseas Adventure Tours, and we will be visiting two cities – Lisbon and Madrid, and in between we’ll be visiting the back roads of Iberia. In fact, that’s the name of the tour.

We walked down the main thoroughfare, took the trolley to the upper part of the city,  and had dinner at a restaurant  the guide’s grandfather frequented.

By that time, everything was a bit hazy. The food was excellent and not heavy – Portuguese tapas.

I took a goodbye shot of the delightful café next door as we were wending our way to the bus and a ride back to the hotel.

We got back to our new hotel room, tried to organize ourselves a bit, and dropped into bed after midnight, when the realization hit that we will be on an all-day tour beginning with a 7:00 AM wake up call.

Oh, my..

i slept three and a half hours  I’m all perky, not able to sleep. This is called jet lag.

It is 5:24 AM Sunday Lisbon time and we have a big day ahead of us.

It all seemed so easy at home, reading the brochure, but have no fear, dear readers. We will survive. We will persevere.  We may even thrive.

Tune in for our next thrilling installment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frankfurt.