So, How Was Your Trip?

Asked, "What's your favorite destination," a traveler friend of mine responded, "Wherever I'm going next."  That's such a good answer.  Travel, the experience, the education, the wanderlust, will always be something that cannot be quantified.  It can't be crammed into a photo album, or described in a blog, or ranked like a 'best of' series.  It's simply a thing you love and do.  And whether you take extravagant, enviable adventures, or have quiet, quick getaways, travel gets into your DNA.  It not only gives you great stories - tales to tell around a dinner table - it gives you matter to fill the holes in your own life story.

I hate shit like this, but here goes:

T is for tolerance.  Learning about how - through wars, social strife, and economic struggles - cultures, religions, and peoples have managed to live together in harmony, gives me hope for how I can be tolerant of other cultures, religions, and peoples.  Moreover, Joe and I were joined at the hip for 34 days...the only time I had alone was when he snagged a table in the dining room and I headed over to indulge in the buffet.  Those moments were precious.  And yet, we had only small disagreements - like, we should have mimosas this morning instead of bloody marys again, or, should you really have visited the buffet three times in light of the considerable time you spent in the bathroom after your last meal.  Travel gives you reason to make exceptions, and that's tolerance.

R is for realization.  Wandering around in museums, treading lightly at UNESCO sites, and pondering the development of cultures over 4500 years old made me realize the innovation, craftsmanship, and ingenuity of ancient people.  Wow!  I mean, if I had been alive then, and it was left up to me...we'd still be living in caves and eating raw food.  Frankly, I don't know how to make an almost perfectly round bowl without pottery wheels or molds.  Or, I'm not sure how melt this down, so I can make a spear and kill something for dinner.  And, wait, you want me to quarry marble from a mile away, load it on a raft, float it down the river, off-load it and leverage it up the highest point in the city, then stack it together to build a temple...I need a nap. Travel makes me realize just how incredible history is.

A is for awe.  Beautiful white roofs of houses in Bermuda.  The power of ocean waves - not, you know, Poseidon Adventure-like waves, but waves big enough to toss around a giant ship.  The riot of sights and sounds in North Africa.  Uber-rich luxury yachts lined up like soldiers in the marina.  The quaint and charming streets of an old town French village.  Ancient walls and fortresses.  Royal palaces and opulent decor.  Colossal statues, temples, amphitheaters, stadiums, and funerary.  Museums jammed with artifacts that only a trained eye or a master puzzle solver could curate.  I stood in awe almost as much as I stood in line at gelaterias.  Travel works to help expand your vocabulary...or just become frustrated with the limited one you have.

V is for variety.  This trip: Eight countries.  Seven languages.  So much food.  So many shops.  Amazing amounts of scenery.  For anyone planning to vacate, there are beaches, mountains, hiking, zip-lining, riverboat tours, museums, restaurants, people watching...there's no end of stuff to do and see.  196 countries and 6909 languages in the world.  Try one, try 'em all...they're their for the taking. Travel is a smorgasbord of activities and experiences.

E is for excitement, enrichment, and entertainment.  Colorful traditions, cultural rites, local festivals, and national celebrations give you a sense of place and people.  Professional guides impart loads of information (historical and anecdotal), local shopkeepers can tell you the best places to eat in the neighborhood, and a stroll through a labyrinth of cobblestone streets reveal surprises around every corner.  Travel begs you to go on and do that thing you've always wanted to do.

L is for life.  Just like life, travel is challenging!  Late flights, missed trains, bad weather, bad tours, diarrhea and swigs of pepto bismol, no whales on a whale watch, heavy luggage, shitty internet...just scratching the surface.  But life - and travel - is also sweet.  A simple breakfast on a lovely patio with an outstanding view of the Parthenon.  A relaxing riverboat ride through town.  A day at the beach under dazzling blue skies.  An unexpected cool breeze through ancient columns.  Finally going in that restaurant you pass by every time you're in town, only to discover that it's wonderfully appointed and fantastically delicious.  Travel brings your life to life.

Joe and I have a couple of small trips lined up this summer, but the next big one is to South Africa in August. I can't wait...I'm sure we'll have shitty internet!

Total FAIL

Well, we're back in the states; we landed last night after a long day of traveling.  And as I was lying awake at 3:25am, I remembered I forgot to tell you about the flamenco show last Monday!  FAIL

We did a foodie/flamenco tour through a group called Devour Spain.  They operate tours in several cities - Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, etc.  It was so much fun!  Our guide, David, was hilarious.  He greeted us with an Australian accent that I thought was a joke, but it turns out that he moved to Seville three years ago for university and just stayed.  He was a blast!  We had a group of ten, but he made it feel like we were on a private tour.  David led us through several neighborhoods of the old city, fed us delicious tapas (iberico bellota, cured tuna, several different Spanish cheeses, some garlicy shrimp, and a sugar-bomb egg yolk dessert) and then took us a flamenco show.  Wow!

Joe and I saw two Flamenco shows our last trip to Spain, both we more like a dinner theater.  This show was in a small room with two rows of chairs around three sides of a low stage.  A guitarist (who was Stevie Ray Vaughan talented), a singer, and two dancers - a male and a female were the cast of the show.

The man and woman danced together first - sort of a tango style dance, and they were brilliant, both in their abilities and their costumes.  Then the guitarist played while everyone changed clothes.  His fingering was so fast and so fluid.  And the song he played ran the gamut from sweet/melodious to dramatic.  The woman came back out for second dance, and by the end of her performance, she was dripping with sweat and she'd twirled so fast that she'd flung an earring into the singer's lap.  Finally, the man came out to dance.  He stole the show.  He was dynamic and his feet were a blur against the wood.  He wowed us for about ten minutes, then pranced around while removing his vest, rolling up his sleeves, and untucking his shirt (a moment to behold all by itself)...he's sexy and he knows it.  Every woman in the audience swooned.  Then he danced some more, and we swooned again!

The show lasted just over an hour, but I could have watched for many more.  The name of the place - in case you find yourself in Seville with nothing else to do - is La Casa de Flamenco..  I would have included pictures of the dancing, but they don't let you take them.  Sigh.

I have a final wrap up post tomorrow.

Sevilla - Dia Tres

We had zero on the agenda today.  A totally free day to sleep in, roam the streets, have a tapas lunch and a beer, then some sweet vermouth and fried goat cheese.  Later we'll find a place for an afternoon coffee, and then a late dinner (with some craft beer) before returning to the hotel to pack.  BWWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Yep, it's that time.  Tomorrow morning we'll take the early train to Madrid and await our flight out tomorrow afternoon to Miami.  How I wish we could extend this trip even longer.  On the other hand, I'm a little excited to be back home...I still have a basement and a powder room to renovate.

This has been an amazing adventure.  We've met some wonderful people, seen some beautiful places - some unbelievably old places, struggled with at least six different languages, eaten some really great food, been on good tours, and found places that we want to come back to.  All fantastic reasons to travel.

From the rooftop bar at Hotel Dona Maria in Seville w/friends Steve and Rosa

Meat selection on our foodie tour last evening

A guitar shop specializing in flamenco guitars

Stature of flamenco dancer

Tomorrow is a travel day, so I'll do a final post from Miami in two days.  Hasta pronto!

Seville - Day Two

So the last time Joe and I were in Spain, we made fast friends with our tour operator, Rosa.  We've kept in touch over the year, so when we decided to stop in Spain on the way back from our trip, I contacted Rosa to see if she could take a day off and come to Seville and play with us.  She could, and she did!  And she brought her SO, Steve.

But first I have to show you our hotel room at Hotel Casa 1800

We met up around 1pm and headed straight for Casablanca, a tapas bar on the Ave. d. l. Constitution, for some drinks and lunch.  It was great catching up with them, and we enjoyed the outside cafe and the delicious food.

About 3pm we left Casablanca and strolled over to an historic hotel, the King Alfonso, XII.  It's a Marriott luxury property (note to self to start saving points), but it's VERY Sevillian.

It's just beautiful, and the drinks and service were fabulous!

We had coffee and cava (Spainsh champagne), Joe and Steve had gin & tonics (with gin from Leopold Brothers - a distillery in Denver!).  It was all very good and so relaxing in this lovely space.

We bid goodbye for a bit at about 6pm, Rosa had made reservations for 9:30pm at a local restaurant that she and Steve like.  It was delicious - ribs, salmon, potatoes...so good.  After we took a walk back to our hotel's neighborhood and went to a rooftop bar for more drinks.

From the rooftop bar

Adios Rosa & Steve, hasta pronto!  They left on Monday to go back to Cordoba...and back to work.  We slept in and then went on another hunt for tapas.  We waled across the Guadalquivir river and into Triana - sort of the left bank of Seville.  We went to the market and to a giant ceramics store.  We decided to take a boat tour - about an hour seeing the sights, but mostly just relaxing.

Didn't expect this, but then no one really does.

Statue of Mozart in front of the Seville Music Hall.

Tonight we have a Tapas and Flamenco tour - a walking foodie tour ending with a Flamenco performance at a local teatro.  Can't wait!

Seville

When we visited Seville a year ago, we really didn't see much of Seville.  We used it as a base and went on several day trips to nearby sites.  Since we were in Europe, and we now have friends in Seville (our tour operator Rosa Lara, and her SO Steve), we thought we'd swing by and do Seville.  I'm so happy we did.

We booked the same hotel we had before, Hotel Casa 1800 - a beautiful boutique hotel.  Here's our room:

We wandered around a bit this morning before meeting Rosa and Steve.

We stumbled upon a stamp and coin market

The Alcazar

With a huge line!  We had no line when we visited in January.

The back side of the cathedral

After a nice lunch of tapas and beer, Rosa took us to the Alfonso XIII hotel.  OMG

the staircase

beautiful tilework

This is a Marriott!!!  We are so going to stay here next time (on points, of course).

Pretty view of the cathedral

Tomorrow - maybe a tour of the city and then Flamenco!!

Sounio

Two days late, but I have a good explanation!

Sounion is a very southern point of the mainland of Greece about an hour out of Greece.

Legend has it that King Aegeus sent his son, Theseus, to kill the Minotaur in Crete.  Aegeus told Theseus that when he returned - if he was successful - to show a white sail.  If the Minotaur killed Theseus, then show a black sail.  Well, Theseus went off to kill the Minotaur without problem, but he fell in love with a beautiful women and asked her to come back to Sounion with him.  She agreed and so they sailed home.  But Theseus totally spaced on putting up the white sails.  So when Aegeus saw the black sails coming into the harbor, he though his son was dead, and he flung himself off a cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea.

The temple of Poseidon was built in 440BC and is perfectly positioned to honor him.  They say it's best to come at sunset, but our day - unfortunately - did not include sun.  (Of all the days we've had...today not so much sun.)

Here's the temple:

This column is particularly interesting.  Lord Byron loved this spot so much, he carved his name into the rock.  It's on the middle stone near the bottom where it's a little lighter (so many people over the years have touched it - it's now roped off).  If you can enlarge the pic, you can plainly see the word Byron chiseled into the stone.  

A quick note: we started the day at the National Archaeological Museum - yeah, we saw some shit.

Frescos from Santorini

Augustus Caesar

I'm late because the tour to this site returned us to Athens very late, and we had to pack.  Saturday was a travel day - heading to Seville.

Athens - The Oracle at Delphi

About three hours north of Athens is Delphi.  Legend has it that Zeus sent out two eagles from the eastern and western hemispheres to help find the center of "grandmother earth."  The eagles' paths crossed over Delphi.  That point - or the center - where they crossed is called the naval (center of the earth/center of our bodies).  It's basically a big conical rock.  So a temple honoring Apollo was built on the site, and once a month folks from everywhere would come to Delphi bearing gifts or animal sacrifices, and they'd ask important questions to the gods.  The Oracle was a high priestess who was tripping of some local laurel leaves and the fumes from an ethylene (a sweet smelling gas that used to be used as an anesthetic) leak found in a fault beneath the mountain.  She would assess the questions and then mumble something that the philosophers in town would then translate into an answer.  Yeah, right.  Nice work if you can get it!

I just have one observation...if the ancients were jotting down all this lore, did they get it that the earth was round?  Why would Zeus let eagles fly in different directions hoping to have their paths cross if he/they thought the earth was flat?  Just sayin'.

Today only bits and pieces of the temple, the market, and the naval survive.  There's also a nice amphitheater, and a stadium where once every four years the ancient athletes would hold games.  The ruins are high up on the side of Mount Parnassus and overlook a beautiful valley and a small port.  Here are the highlights.

This is the naval - it's only a model (the original one is in the Delphi museum)

There are several of these small temple looking structures, but they're not temples, they're called treasuries.  They would hold important donations, gifts, offerings, etc. for the gods.

The three columns are part of what used to be a sheltered walkway called a stoa (we'd call it a portico).  As people came up the side of the hill, if it was hot or rainy, they could make part of the climb under cover.  Vendors were stationed along the way selling trinkets, bottled water, and fridge magnets.

Along the path there was a wall where people would leave inscriptions.  They'd talk about what they were going to ask the Oracle, or what was going on in their lives.  Some would write poems or songs, some would write emancipation proclamations legally freeing their slaves.  I kept looking for "Jenny loves Bobby" or "Cleo + Philip 4eva." 

Etched on this stone was something about Delphi...you can read the word Delphi on the line beginning with the triangle.

So D (the triangle - the delta is the Greek symbol for the letter D) E (looks like our E) L (the Greek symbol for the letter L is an inverted V) P (the Greek symbol for the letter P is an oval with a line drawn through it) H (the Greek symbol is a small o) and I (looks like our I)

Finally we get to Apollo's temple.

These stones all had inscriptions on them.

Looking down at the valley below.  The two square voids are the top of the little treasury we saw on the way up the hill.

Here's a better view.  Ruins and the lovely wildflowers.

Looking back at the temple

Here's the theatre

Continuing to climb - my thighs were screaming -

we reached the stadium.  The irony was not lost on me that I was climbing to see a stadium where athletic games were held and I am least of all an athlete.  Joe made a good point, though: the folks making this climb in the old days were used to walking and climbing...that's how they got places.  They didn't have a nice mercedes taxi cab like we did...those poor people.

A look down from the stadium and into the valley.  At this point, my thighs relaxed, but my knees were thinking, "um...wait, what?"

About a five minute walk (after you lightly touch down) is the Delphi museum.  Artifacts include additional finds at the site.  Like Pompeii, the oracle was buried for centuries and excavation began in 1893 and is ongoing.

This is Cleobis and Biton.  They are the Kouroi of Delphi.  Kouros means a free-standing statue.

This sphinx was atop a column which stood near the entrance of the stoa.

Part of a frieze along the interior of the temple.  A lion is depicted chowing down on a soldier.

Beautiful decorations including a lion's head rain spout.

Okay I'm hoping that you can increase the size of this.  It's a song hammered into one of those stones along the long wall.

Another one at a closer look

Here's the cool part.  Look between the lines.  See the little markings.  Those are the chords you should play on your lyre or harp or whatever.

Beautiful design - painted

This guy is all in bronze

A little lower view of the valley.

After Delphi, we took a side trip to see the Hosios Loukas monastery.  So restful, so charming, so amazing

Founded in the early 10th century, the outside is rustic and charming, the inside is filled with gold encrusted mosaics.  Dayyum!

This is George, our driver.

And the valley beyond the monastery.

I'm a day behind...tomorrow I'll post about Poseidon's temple.  Then, on to Sevilla!