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Trip: The World (Part II)

There are [389] stories from my trip: The World (Part II)


Photos: Castile and Leon

SPAIN | Thursday, 30 May 2013 | Photo Gallery


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Monastery at Guadalupe

SPAIN | Thursday, 30 May 2013 | Views [602]

Perhaps the best part of the Guadalupe Monastery was the drive to it.  It’s a pleasure to be on the twisting country roads climbing into the hills, and monasteries always seem to be in the hills.  In this case a 13 th Century shepherd ... Read more >


Flamenco - National Dance of Spain

SPAIN | Tuesday, 28 May 2013 | Views [794]

We wnet to a flamenco performance for tourists.  Maybe not strictly tourists.  There was a group from Germany with their flamenco instructor, 7 women and one guy who was breaking in his new high-heeled flamenco boots.  None of the women ... Read more >


Photos: Sevilla

SPAIN | Tuesday, 28 May 2013 | Photo Gallery


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Sevilla

SPAIN | Monday, 27 May 2013 | Views [587]

Sevilla is a big city with a small historic area.  Parking, if you can find it, is expensive so we booked a room at the Ibis chain outside of town.  They're not our favorite hotels but have been good in a pinch.  Free parking and a direct ... Read more >


Antequeria

SPAIN | Saturday, 25 May 2013 | Views [577]

Not even Rick Steves can list every place of interest in his guidebooks, especially for those with interests as eclectic as ours.   We decided to take a break from culture and avoid the weekend crowds at the major attraction and stopped in ... Read more >


A Chance Encounter With Rick Steves

SPAIN | Friday, 24 May 2013 | Views [710]

We were taking the Rick Steves walking tour of Granada when Connie noticed "himself" standing on the cathedral steps.  Rick Steves had been an afternoon “guest” in our living room on Sunday afternoons for more than a decade and we considered ... Read more >


Granada

SPAIN | Friday, 24 May 2013 | Views [845]

The year 1492 was a biggie for Granada.  Ferdinand and Isabel gave Columbus a bag of jewels and sent him on his way and after five centuries of rule, the Moors were driven out of a united Spain.  And they left behind the World Heritage site ... Read more >


Cordoba

SPAIN | Tuesday, 21 May 2013 | Views [1580]

Cordoba, once Roman and later Visigoth, came into its own in the 8 th Century when the Umayyad Muslims made it the capital of Al-Andalus, Islamic Spain.  While the rest of Europe succumbed to the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages, Al-... Read more >


Montoro

SPAIN | Monday, 20 May 2013 | Views [1145]

We detoured through the hill town of Montoro on our way to Cordoba.  We were looking for information on the national park and became entangled in a maze of hilly, twisting streets so narrow we had to fold in our mirrors to avoid rubbing the whitewashed ... Read more >


Ubeda and Baeza

SPAIN | Sunday, 19 May 2013 | Views [909]

It was raining and cold, just above freezing, as we climbed the winding road from Elche into Andalucia.  We could even see snow on some of the higher peaks.  Spring in Spain can be like spring in the Rockies.       Nothing ... Read more >


Photos: Andalucia

SPAIN | Sunday, 19 May 2013 | Photo Gallery


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The Palmeral of Elche

SPAIN | Friday, 17 May 2013 | Views [579]

Historians pretty much agreed that the palms in the Palmeral of Elche, just west of Alicante, were planted by the Moors during their long occupation of Iberia. Recent archeological evidence, however, coupled with DNA from the palms indicate that the ... Read more >


Recipe For Travel

SPAIN | Thursday, 16 May 2013 | Views [572]

We joke that while we know where we will be in, say March, 2014 (India), we don't know where we will be tomorrow night.  But it is the truth! Planning is a day-to-day thing.  Often we will decide to stay over for a couple of days if we especially ... Read more >


Wheels of Our Own

SPAIN | Tuesday, 14 May 2013 | Views [1284]

A rental car can be either a blessing or a curse.  On the one hand, having a car enables you to go wherever you like, whenever you want.  At the same time it deprives you of the experience of using public transportation.   In Europe ... Read more >


El Greco

SPAIN | Sunday, 12 May 2013 | Views [1305]

I could write about his background, how Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born in Crete, trained as a painter in Italy and developed his unique style in his adopted city of Toledo where he became known as El Greco, "the Greek."  About how his elongated ... Read more >


Holy Toledo, Oy Vey

SPAIN | Saturday, 11 May 2013 | Views [607]

Toledo, Spain's leading Catholic city, is dominated by a wonderful cathedral.  Streets are named for saints and museums are chock-a-block with religious paintings.  So you can imagine my surprise when I read that the expression "Holy Toledo" ... Read more >


Photos: Toledo to Valencia

SPAIN | Friday, 10 May 2013 | Photo Gallery


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A View of Toledo

SPAIN | Friday, 10 May 2013 | Views [394]

El Greco's "View of Toledo" has haunted me ever since I first saw it in 1971 on a college art assignment to NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art.  With a few days of Madrid under our belts we're back in the vagabonding groove and it's time to see Toledo ... Read more >


Art, Art, and More Art

SPAIN | Thursday, 9 May 2013 | Views [863]

Madrid is a paradise for Art lovers with all the greats on display.  The private collection at the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, valued at €2 billion, has been described as major works by minor artists and minor works by great masters.  If ... Read more >


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