Leaving Sevilla

 We have been riding trains (7) which run at or close to full capacity.  Crowds of passengers on the loading platforms, people on the train with hacking coughing, if we haven’t been exposed to Covid, or worse, I will be surprised.  Also, dense crowds milling in the narrow alleys, “calle” of the old city neighborhoods we have visited.  Here in Sevilla, temperatures have reached the mid-90s the past few days. Amazing to consider how many man-years these historic structures required for construction with the crude equipment they had.  But slave labor is cheap.

Roman aquaduct at Segovia.  No mortar was used between the blocks of stone, but they were carefully shaped; how did they do it!

On our way to Tarifa, we stopped at Jerez de la Frontera.  The city looked rather drab at first look, but then we found the central old town area. Of course, there was a celebration going on.  We love those pedestrian-only streets.  It was a nice lunch stop.

A rental car “coche de aquiler” was used for the next leg of our trip with our immediate destination being Tarifa on the south coast.  Tarifa, located adjacent to the strait of Gibraltar, has an ancient history itself.  The narrow, crooked lanes of the fortress interior are now shops and restaurants for the tourists here.  Very enjoyable that the crowds of larger cities are not present here. Also, there is a wide sand beach which stretches for miles; I counted almost fifty kite surfers on their hydrofoil boards playing in the ocean off that beach.

Tarifa has a beach that is miles long, what you see is only a moderate section.

Today we go to Tangier, Morocco, for a day tour, taking the ferry between the two continents, Europe and Africa. We have a guide and a van for a tour of the finer points of Tangier and a village to the west.  He loves his country, apparently ruled by a king who is making improvements for the people.  But still, women are far from being equal in this world and the economic disparity between the favored and the poor is tremendous.  In rural areas, formal education ends at primary school, age 13. For the favored, university is free.  We saw the huge estates of the wealthy; hiring servants here is very economical.  We visited a souk where we were encouraged to buy any of a world of items, but none would fit in our luggage.  We had a traditional Moroccan meal; not very memorable, hacking bits of lamb off a large bone.

Morocco as seen from Tarifa, Spain.  You can see a ship traversing the strait.  Further to the right of this photo, the buildings of coastal towns were also visible.

Coastal resort in Morocco.  Magnificent estates for the rich, not so much for everyone else.

Driving onward, we stopped for lunch in Rhonda, a town in the mountains built on the edge of a cliff.  That cliff has been a godsend for their tourism; otherwise, the town is fairly typical. 

Ronda showing its cliff-edge location.  A tourist magnet in a remote mountain location. 

Turning in our rental car at Granada, we were ready for our reservation to visit the palace at the Alhambra.  At 1pm, we were part of a large crowd herded through the many rooms.  The details are amazing in their complexity, but the crowds are distracting. I took only a limited number of photos because many scenes were dominated by the crowds of people. The surrounding gardens were somewhat better.

The main Alhambra complex from a distance.  They say the Moorish style was to have simple exterior lines and ornate interior features.

Looking south to the Sierra Nevada mountains south of Granada.  They have ski resorts there. 

The following day was free, no pre-planned activities. We took a taxi to the high point in the city with great views, then we walked the narrow back streets downhill on our way back to our hotel. At an Arabic “souk” of closely spaced small shops, Dawn bought a skirt. Later that day, we headed out in a new direction until all our surroundings were unfamiliar; then we consulted GPS and plotted a route back to the hotel, stopping for ice cream along the way.  The neighborhoods are attractive with their park-like plazas, many small specialty stores, and restaurants/ tapa bars.

Now we are in Bordeaux, France.

Las Palmas arrival, Canary Islands and on to Madrid

 After 15 hours sitting on our flights, we arrived at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. An overnight flight in an economy seat (we paid for Premium Economy but that just meant that our seats were farther forward) on a very crowded aircraft, followed by a night in Madrid (lying awake with jet lag) and an early onward flight to Las Palmas, left us very tired, but our hotel in Las Palmas is wonderful. Madrid airport is huge, but I think we have the layout understood; important because we will be passing through it two more times (with a 65-minute flight transfer) later in our trip.

Steep and dry volcanic, the Canary Islands.  The temperatures were mild (70's) during our entire visit.

I went on two e-bike rides in the Canary Islands.  Does this look like fun?  Great exercise as it included two climbs' of 1000 vertical feet, but not that scenic. 

This was the ultimate goal of an e-bike ride.  The remains of a caldera, not very amazing.  One of our group crashed his bike in the loose volcanic gravel, nasty scrapes.

The beach at Las Palmas stretches for a mile.  Very relaxing for a long walk with a stop for ice cream or sorbet along the way.

Beautiful but rugged.  When first climbed in modern times, primitive artifacts were found at the peak from climbers long ago.

Our hotel LUMM is positioned close to the beach, bus depot, and cruise landing which makes it ideal.  The airport is about 12 miles away. We have discovered amazingly great shopping malls here. I believe that this is due to the large volume of tourists combined with a much lower VAT tax than European alternatives.  Dawn and I are not much interested in museums; shopping malls by contrast record the current culture of a region.

The inner harbor at one of the Canary Islands.  After strolling the waterfront, we found a nice shopping mall on a pedestrian-only street.  Ale-Hop was our favorite store.

Our weeklong cruise on the World Traveller was wonderful, with less than 150 guests, there were no crowds, meals were served in one sitting, and we met several interesting fellow voyagers.  The Canary Islands were worthwhile for one pass; but not interesting enough for a return trip.  A lot of dry volcanic vistas, roads that were up and down, and habitations without much character.  But now we know what the Canary Islands are like.

Hydrofoil windsurfing.  Note that his board is completely out of the water.  It helps that the wind is strong here.

The Madrid Marathon took place while we were there and went right through our area.

Flying to Madrid, we were quickly immersed in the center of a metropolitan area of almost seven million persons.  We are in a small hotel which provides excellent service and is right across the street from the Four Seasons hotel, which makes it easy to provide directions to taxi drivers.   The taxis here are reasonably priced and well regulated, confidence inspiring.

Today was our first train ride here.  We explored Madrid Atocha train station yesterday to make sure we understood the layout of the immense facility.  The orientation helped, and now we understand the system much better; good, because we have train trips for the next two days.

Train, or airport, terminals double as shopping malls and transportation centers. Thus, they can be quite complex.  Trains have the advantage that most distances in Europe are modest, and a train terminal can be mostly underground, allowing it to be located near the center of a city.  Not sure how they do it, but many trains in Spain run fully occupied, thus, you need a seat reservation to be allowed to board.

Toledo, Spain.  The cathedral here is the most beautiful in the country.

From Madrid, we took day trips to Toledo and Segovia. We then took a train to Sevilla, and from here, we will take a day trip to Cordoba. Then we switch to a rental car.

View from a park in Madrid; palace on the left and cathedral on the right.

The Indian Ocean & South Africa

 We recently put down a deposit on a cruise from the Seychelles to Sri Lanka.  It will truly be a unique 'bucket list' experience.  When you get to Sri Lanka, you are halfway around the world from Colorado.  To get home, you can either fly east or west.

First stop will be Washington, DC, to visit family.  Second leg of the trip goes from DC to Dubai.  A direct flight from the US East coast is about 13 hours.  I hoped to break that up into two segments, but the other choices did not work out.  More stops would make it more interesting, but we don't have time for that with a fixed cruise date, so the 13-hour flight is it.  We have time for three days in Dubai and four days at Mahe Island before the cruise.  Dubai should be an amazing city.

Crossing the equator by air, we will arrive at the town of Victoria, capital of the Seychelles, and explore Mahe Island by rental car; then we embark on a small ship cruise through the Seychelles and Maldives, arriving at Colombo, Sri Lanka, fifteen days later.

Disembarking at Colombo, we spend the next eleven nights on the island nation of Sri Lanka (1/4 the size of Colorado) checking out the central hill country with tea plantations and also the southern beaches.  We have had difficulty getting detailed information on the train system; taxis have been recommended instead.  Then it is time to fly again.  We have decided to head south, instead of east toward Singapore.  We originally were going to do Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, and San Francisco on our way home, but those are all big cities, not our favorite destinations.

Dawn has become interested in Cape Town; thus, we redirected our trip in that direction. We fly back to Dubai for one night, re-cross the equator, and fly to Cape Town, South Africa.  While there we plan to visit the sights around Cape Town, tour the wine country, and fly to Port Elizabeth and enjoy game drives from a safari lodge. Safari lodges need to be booked well in advance.  We will be there thirteen days total.  Reservations for getting home to Colorado were paused to consider the choices.

How to get home?  The most obvious choice would be a sixteen-hour flight directly to the US East Coast, but 16 hours is so long!  I went to Kayak.com and other travel sites looking for other options.  No luck.  Then I went to our world globe and stretched a string (dental floss) from Cape Town to Denver.  The path shown stretches from southeast Atlantic Ocean to the northeast coast of Brazil, eastern edge of the West Indies, crossing the US coast at the Florida-Georgia border.  Dividing that distance to the US into halves puts us in Brazil.

I discovered that we could fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil, 8 1/2 hours and spend a few days there.  That flight only goes a few times per week.  From there we have choices: Fly to Miami 8 1/2 hours plus 4/1/2 hours to Denver.  Or fly to Panama City, Panama, 7 hours plus 6 hours further to Denver.    The Miami route is an overnight flight, leaving late in the evening, while the Panama City route is a 5 AM departure. Then I found a daytime 10AM flight: 10 hours to Atlanta plus 3 1/2 to Denver.  We choose the daytime route through Atlanta; easier to coordinate with our hotel stay and gets us home sooner.  Besides, Dawn never sleeps even on a nighttime flight.

For a trip like this, it is basically, now or never.  We are fortunate to be healthy enough for planning such a lengthy undertaking.  I picked the cruise; Dawn picked the South Africa destination.  It would be ridiculous to not spend time in Sri Lanka after the long haul to get there.  Eight weeks will be needed; now, can we get someone to pick up our mail while gone?

Total distance traveled will be just over 30,000 miles (not counting local travel); more than a round-the-world flight.  We do not fly economy at our ages. Seven currencies to be used:  US dollar, Emirati Dirham, Seychelles Euro, Maldivian Rufiyaa, Sri Lankan Rupee, South African Rand, and Brazilian Real.  Fortunately, a credit card will cover most of those expenses without requiring currency conversion.

Scotland and Sardinia

 Our son called to say that their children will be back from Spain and out of school in late August; would we like to come visit?  Late August in Washington, DC, is hot and humid.  But what if the visit was the start of another longer trip?  Would that make a DC visit more attractive? We have never been to Scotland, although it has been under consideration for a few years.  In early September the main tourist season in Scotland should be ending, and the weather still acceptable.  We have made reservations for when we initially arrive and for the last day before we leave.  In early September, Scotland tourist season is apparently still quite busy.

Once in Europe, what other destination might be attractive?  Something further south?  I looked at cruises, but nothing quite fit. What about Sardinia?  Sort of off the usual tourist route.... but attractive.

Sardinia is a semi-autonomous part of Italy. The main tourists there are other Europeans, many from Italy itself.  Finding flights to and from Sardinia without multiple stops, airline flight changes, hours spent in terminals, and rechecking of luggage was difficult.  If you are rechecking luggage, that means you are going through security all over again. But I have practice at this and found options: KLM Dutch going there via Amsterdam and Swissair returning via Zurich and London.  These flights are scheduled only 1-2 days per week.  Sardinia has two main international airports.  We fly into the south end of the island, Cagliari, and fly out from the north end of the island at Olbia (necessary in order to get the needed flights).  So, it will happen, two weeks in Scotland and twelve days in Sardinia.

Now to practice some Italian on Duolingo; surprising how different it is from Spanish.

Frustration! Our flight from Glasgow to Amsterdam was cancelled which means we miss the connection to a direct flight from AMS to Cagliari.  We have had to reschedule to an earlier day and a book a flight with an additional stop in Rome.  This also affects hotel reservations and rental car reservations.... but I got it done.

Post script:    Then our KLM flight was delayed, then cancelled again.  Instead of arriving in Sardinia at 18:30 on Saturday, we arrived at midnight on Sunday.  Because we were late, our vehicle rental was cancelled; also, our luggage was lost, and the weather was unusually warm with a significant haze.  Our worst trip ever.