- Start of my personal journey!
- Life on the edge of the lake!
- In the Alps!
- Life on the edge of the lake!
- Last few days in Switzerland. Spain, here I come!
- Arrival in Barcelona
- First day of the tour!
- Exploring Barcelona city
- Petty Theft and Roman Relics!
- Hemingway, bulls, Bayonne and crummy French motel
- From topless bathing to Basque culture
- Art and non-art, tapas and pintxos
- Spain out of World Cup; King abdicates!
- Fiesta in Leon
- Glimpse of Lisbon and Cataplana in Coimbra
- A glimpse into pilgrims and hostals
- Stuck in parking garage in Madrid?
- Breakfast, culture and dinner feasts!
- Hanging houses and crazy plazas
- Don Quichote’s world
- Moors, Christians, Romans and ‘chiringuitos’
- Sinfully delightful day on the beach!
- Dancing in a cave with the gypsies!
- Dining with dockworkers and police!
- Beautiful city!
- End of the journey
- ‘Bon Dia!’ Portugal, ‘Hola!̶
- Parking, port and Porto!
- Oysters, sardines and plastic hammers!
Well, my friend Donna says that I am her Forest Gump since I am always where the action is: in California when Ronald Reagan died, in London for the final men’s race of the Olympics, in South Africa when Mandela was on his deathbed, again in London for the birth of Kate and William’s baby boy and now in Spain for the inauguration of King Filipe VI after his father abdicated. And blow me down, tonight USA is playing soccer against Portugal – if we win, they’re going to hate us in Portugal tomorrow!!
Lots of stories going around: Juan Carlos abdicated because of pending paternity suits (apparently he had a lot of girlfriends!), he was getting too old and sickly and Spain was losing the soccer games (only joking!)
Anyway, we drove to the historical city of Burgos where the great hero, El Cid, is buried alongside his wife in an elaborately carved tomb in the impressive limestone Gothic cathedral founded in 1221 by Ferdinand 111. Unfortunately, there was a mass scheduled for the afternoon and we could not visit the tombs. Maryln and I took a delightful train tour through the city while Herb and Judy toured on foot. We found a parking spot in the urban area and had fun ordering hamburgers and condiments in Spanish!
After lunch, we proceeded through the Green Belt along the Cantabrian Mountains to Leon, lying at the confluence of two rivers. During the Middle Ages, Leon was one of the staging points for pilgrims journeying to Santiago.
We had our work cut out for us trying to find the Hospideria (local bed-and-breakfast) since there is no rhyme or reason to the layout of the old city. Our hostel was right next to the beautiful cathedral and facing the old city wall. It turned out to be an amazing evening since there was a Fiesta at the cathedral. We were amazed to see not a handheld device in sight and that families were enjoying wholesome fun: home-constructed carnival-type amusements, food, magic show and ballet on the stage. To crown it all, there was a bridal party and we could enjoy traditional folk dancing in costume!
