June 15, Segovia

OK, In the morning I got off to an early start. Yeah, early, like around 11:00 AM. Raquel is flying into Madrid and then taking the train to Segovia. I drove around Madrid, about the same time she was arriving, and headed up to Segovia too. We have an apartment rented there and the guy who runs it came down and met me outside the city to show me the way. Good thing too, the apartment is right in the center of the old town, just below the Cathedral. A fantastic location, but I never would have found it alone.

Raquel came up by train, arriving at 6:00, so I walked down to the train station to meet her. We took a bus back and went to the plaza mayor to catch up on the past five weeks.

June 14, Santa Elena

Another beautiful drive. Now I am heading towards Madrid to meet up with Raquel, Anamaria and Monica for Francisco's wedding.

El Chorro was great. The people who ran the cafe were from England and they served English breakfasts. I stayed there for a couple of days, driving around the mountains and lakes. Really had a great time.

Today I packed up and drove over a back road to catch the highway to Cordoba. The road was paved, but just barely. It was one of those country roads were you feel like you've gone back a few generations in Spain. People on horseback and muleback.... and lots of gravel and things to watch out for on the road.

I stopped at a gas station for a break and it just happened that there was a campground right next to it, so I decided to stop for the night. The Eurocup is on, so they were showing the games on tv. So, I watched soccer and drank beer.

June 11, Garganta el Chorrro

I spent the last few days in Tarifa driving up and down the coast, which is really beautiful. And, a major milestone...I got my sleeping bag cleaned. I saw the ruins of Baelo Claudia, which are pretty spectacular considering their age and the fact that it was nothing more than a roman fishing village.

On Wednesday I packed up and had a spectacular drive up through the mountains to Ronda. Along the way I passed some really nice little villages perched on the side of the hills. I ended up in El Chorro. This is a place that I had wanted to go a few weeks ago, but it was raining too hard. It is an area of spectacular mountains with several reservoirs. The campgound is really nice, simple and with some really nice people. I camped out next to John, from England and Tam from the Netherlands.

June 8, Tarifa

Well, four days have passed since I last blogged.

On Saturday I left the hotel and headed down to the coast to Cadiz. This is the Atlantic coast now. From Cadiz I headed in towards the mediterranean again and found a campground near Tarifa, right on the beach. This is the windsurfing capital of Europe. The winds are so strong it is hard to drive my bike.

Sunday, I went to Gibraltar. It´s a strange place, like something from the 1950´s. I road the cablecar up to the top of the rock, but could not see anything because of the clouds. The picture at the top shows it all. The one below also seems to have its' own Gibraltar quality. The apes were all over hoping to get handouts but there were lots of graphic signs warning against it. On the way to Gibraltar there was a motorcycle stopped on the side of the road. An old Harley. I stopped to see if they needed any help. They didn´t but invited me to a motorcycle "concentracion" where I would be sure to have a great time along with hundreds of other bikers. Just what I needed. Then waiting to go through customs at Gibraltar a guy came up and offered me hashish. Great! I don´t know if I would still go through the "nothing to declare" line if I bought it.

June 4, Sevilla

I´ve changed hotels to the one that I had reserved for Raquel and I. Since I´ve been here I´ve gotten together with Nacho and Monica. Nacho is from Sevilla and has shown us all around the old part of the city. The cathedral is incredible. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. And inside has the tomb of Columbus. At least that is who they think is buried there. I climbed to the top of the Giralda which is the old minaret from the mosque that existed here up until the 1500´s. A small tower was added to the top, with bells, to give it the Catholic touch and show the world who was in charge now.

Today I went to the museo de bellas artes, which has an exhibit of Sorollo from the Hispanic Society of Nueva York. Pretty impressive, but it seems strange to see art devoted to Spain that has been brought from New York.

The photo is taken in the Alcàzar. This is a palace complex made up of three styles of buildings. The oldest being a Mudejar palace. It doesn't take long to realize the impact that the Moors had on the culture of Spain.

June 1, Sevilla

Sevilla is really beautiful. I spent the first day here just walking around the old part of town. I went to the archeological museum in the Plaza Americas. It´s primarily a roman museum with exhibits from the roman city of Italica which is near Sevilla. This is the city where Hadrian was born.

I haven´t added any photos to my blog for some time. The computer does not have a USB connection. As soon as I get to an area that has one I will add some photographs.

May 30, Granada to Sevilla

Time to move on. I packed up and had breakfast with Axel. Then on my way!! Well, the weather had been gradually getting darker and darker as I packed. When I came out onto the freeway it started to rain. And did it rain! My plans were to drive a short distance and turn of into a mountain area called Garganta del Chorro. But, I decided with this weather I did not want to drvie on mountain roads (or set up camp in the rain), so I kept on going all the way to Sevilla. When I got here I stopped at the first available hotel near the downtown area and checked in.

Sometimes I miss having my camper.

May 29, Granada

Granada is beutiful! I´ve spend the last few days wandering around seeing things in the city. My neighbor in the campground, Axel, has accompanied me on these trips. It´s great to have someone to see things with.

One of the most incredible sights was the cathedral of Granada. It is huge and very beautiful. At the side of the cathedral is the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabel. You can actually go down into the grotto where their caskets are. For me, that was the strangest feeling. To be standing alongside Ferdinand and Isable. It kind of makes the more than 500 years since they died seem like a much shorter time.

We also wandered around the Abaicin. This was were the moors lived up to the conquest and even afterwards for some time until they were expelled. I´m reading a very detailed book about the rebuilding of the Alahambra and it mentions one of the Moor workers who was baptized and lived out his live in a house next to the Puerta Elvira. Well, the gate is still there and probably so is his house.