cheers_malaga

cheers_malaga
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Bar in malaga. Exact copy of cheers. Down to Norm sitting at the bar!

snake

snake
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Battery dying. Me with Snake. More later

Malaga

No Internet access at the hotel here in Malaga, but quite a nice hotel it is. Thought I´d post a quick update from a bar\internet cafe here before grabbing a couple more drinks and wandering back to the hotel.

The coast down here is beautiful. Took a last early morning walk along the beach in Tarifa this morning, where I stuck me feet in the water again before checking out of my hotel and catching the bus to Malaga. Malaga is a really nice city. Very clean, sensibly laid out and somewhat modern. My hotel is somewhat near the old city center, so it´s quite central to everything.

Rolled into town at about 3:30 this afternoon, found the train station and bought my ticket to Madrid for tomorrow, checked into my hotel and immediately went to the beach. In two days time, I´ve been able to swim in both the Atlantic adn the Mediterranean! Surprisingly, the water in the later was much chillier than the Atlantic coast of Tarifa. I figured it would be warmer due to being a smaller body of water. The beach itself is drastically different as well: it´s small stones rather than sand, all interspersed with a fine dust. I may just have to bring a sample of it home with me.

Stayed at the beach ´til nearly sundown: reading, occasionally swiming in the chilly water, soaking up sun, and generally relaxing. These past two afternoons on the beach have really made it seem like a vacation. Tomorrow, I think I´ll hit the beach again early, check out of my hotel and visit the Picasso museum before my 3pm train to Madrid.

Since I don´t have access to the web here or at my hotel in Madrid, I won´t be able to post any more photos until the conference starts on Monday. At that point, you can expect a few more pics: me with snake (yes, I did pay the couple Euro to pose with the snake in Tangier), maybe another meal or two (tonight´s dinner was a fantastic combination platter at a somewhat fancy restaurant), and probably a couple photos from the DC2005 opening session. If you remember from last year, this is the point that the blog gets stuffy and boring and even my mom stopped reading.

Tarifa to Tangier

The place I was originally looking to book the Tangier tour through never opened. Not this morning, not this afternoon, not at all. I suspect this is due to the week long festival that's going on here in Tarifa right now. That said, this morning I was able to wander down to the port and book a tour through a different travel agency. I booked it at about 8 and was on the ferry to Morroco before 9.

I have to say, I completely disagree with all the folks on the various forums that advised against the day trip to Tangier. While it really isn't enough time to experience such a remarkable culture and place, it's still an absolutely worthwhile way to spend a day. I had a great time. It's incredibly cheesy and touristy, but a great experience nonetheless. You start out on a bus tour of the new city, which takes you past the King's summer home, the governer's mansion, various government buildings and a smattering of churches, mosques and interesting looking commuities. During this portion of the trip, you stop at a really touristy point where you can ride a camel (see photo in previous post).

The tour guide was a wonder to behold. Fluent in as many languages as I know to exist, he gives the tour in all of them at once. Our group of 20 to 30 folks consisted of English, French and Spanish speakers. I suspect that if there were folks who sprechen Deutsch in our midst, he'd have added that to the unrelenting multi-lingual torrent of tour-guidance he emited. As it were, it was confusing to keep up with.

After the bus portion of the tour, your taken through the ancient portion of the city, the Kazbah, past a strategically placed snake charmer (pose with snake for picture? - 2 Euro) and off to lunch. The tour concludes with the obligatory obnoxious visit to various vendors of expensive goods (mostly carpets in Morroco, it was furniture and ... more carpets in china) and a bit more touristy shopping. It's a very canned experience, but an experienced not to be missed if in the area.

Was back in Spain by around 4 this afternoon, when I promptly went to spend the rest of the sunshine at the beach. An aside: reading Confederacy of Dunces, and have laughed out loud a number of times. This feels more like a vacation, finally. I'm almost touristed out. Maybe another museum or two (Picasso tomorrow in Malaga, maybe another in Madrid Sunday), but I'm mostly going to spend the next couple of days relaxing on the beach. That is, when I'm not on a bus or train in transit...

Took a couple of swims and the water was fantastic, if not a bit overrun by seaweed. A closer look at the map indicates that these beaches are atlantic, not mediterranian. Tarifa's port is directly on the Straights of Gibralter and the beach is to the Northwest. Tomorrow's beach in Malaga will be on the Mediterranian.

camel

camel
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

A nice young couple from Holland took my picture while I was getting a 30 second camel ride. As you'll see in the next post, the Tangier tour is very cheesy and cookie cutter-ish, but still good fun.

atun

atun
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Dinner in Tarifa: Grilled Tuna with fried potatos and cabbage. Also had a delicious seafood soup (sopa de mariscos)

sunset_tarifa

sunset_tarifa
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Sunset on the Mediterranean on the Coast of Tarifa. The Tangier tour place was closed when I stopped by this evening, so I'll have to get an early start tomorrow and see if I can reserve this tour early tomorrow morning.

Timing worked well though: after I found this place was closed, I decided to walk down to the beach and stick my feet in the water. Turns out that I caught a sunset while standing in the surf. Got some great pictures.

Tarifa

Arrived this evening. Surprised to find a couple of wireless signals covering a quaint but comfortable room here at the Hotel Alborada, just a few blocks north of the gates of the old city. I've got a tiny little balcony, a double bed, air-conditioning and Internet. The only thing lacking is verticle surfaces to put stuff on.

While it was originally my intention to try my hand at windsurfing here tomorrow, it sounds like way too much effort at this point. My feet are sore, I've been doing too much walking, and most of the places are 5-10 km up the coast.

My new acquaintances from Toronto included me on a mass email that said their Tangier trip was quite fun and very fascinating. I think I may try to book a spot on tomorrow mornings tour over there. That will get me back with plenty of time to lay on the beaches tomorrow afternoon, take a dip in the Mediterranean and check out this festival that's going on here in the evening. May take the time to do a whale-watching tour Friday morning, but probably not. Whale watching is something you can pretty much do anywhere.

Doing the bus thing in (and presumably out) of Tarifa is a bit challenging. You have to go through Algeciras, which is not a particularly savory or pleasant place. To make matters worse, the trip involves two different bus stations that are about a 10 minute walk apart. I wouldn't want to travel this route at night.

I'm going to get into town, scope out the Tangier tour office, maybe wander to the beach while the suns still out then grab some dinner.

Whirlwind Granada Tour

Granada's got the goods as far as siteseeing goes. The Alahambra is amazing. My scheduled slot to see the Palacio Nazaries was between 10:30 and 11 this AM, and after a 40 minute wander across town and uphill, I barely made it in time. What a site! This was the royal palace when the area was under Islamic rule. When the last Moorish King was defeated, it became the Christian capital of the Spanish Empire as well. I stood in the room where Columbus asked Isabel and Ferdinand to invest in a hairbrained scheme. The other highlight of the Alahambra is the Generalife Gardens, in which I lost over an hour wandering and admiring the scenery.

The Alahambra took me til about 2, after which I wandered up into the Albayzin area for lunch and a couple of breathtaking views of the Alahambra across the gorge separating the two areas. Then it was back down into town for a visit to the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel (where the afore mentioned Isabel and Ferdinand are entombed). Then I took a walk through the Alcaiceria (an old silk and jewelry market), bought some postcards and returned to my hotel. En route, had an interesting experience buying fruit from a supermarket. A faltering toungue makes and a very infirm grasp on a foreign language makes communication a challenge....

It's almost 10 here, but my plan for tonight is to go get dinner and explore some of Granada's nightlife. I'll then sleep in before checking out and making my down to the coast.

lunch_eating_itself

lunch_eating_itself
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Can't help but to post another food pic here. Rick Steves' book recommended a place called "El Ladrillo", which serves a barco of mixed fried fish. I had a media barco, literally, "half boatload." I think they were smelt, plus lots of tentacles, calamares rings, and prawns. Most everything had heads and tails and legs and the lot. This prawn seems to have been fried into a ring. And yes, Hank, folks do look at you funny when you photograph your food. But it isn't uncouth and brazen, I don't think. More cheesy, touristy and lame. But no lamer than dining alone anyway, eh? Fortunately, I've never much cared what those around me thought. So maybe you're right: maybe it is brazen.

patio_de_la_acequiea

patio_de_la_acequiea
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

The Generalife Gardens of the Alahambra are very tranquil and relaxing. Lots of beautiful flora, running water, shade, patios, and the like. This translates as, "Court of the Water Channel". This was in the vicinity of many other fountains, and a fascinating staircase that had water cascading down the center and the rails. I believe it was called "escalera de agua".

alahambra_view

alahambra_view
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Me at the Alahambra. This view is looking out at the city from a side wall of the Palacio Nazaries. The food obsessed have been partially appeased. My mother now has her token image of me (a very bad likeness, I might add). Now all I need to do is find some way to appease Hank.

Sevilla -> Cordoba -> Granada

Spent quite a bit of time on buses the past couple of days. When last I left you, I was raving about how fantastic a town Seville is. I stand firmly by that conviction. The flamenco show Saturday night was really enrapturing. The guitarists, vocalists and dancers were all really top notch. A picture or two can be found below. If I do the fantasy football draft tomorrow evening, I may try to find a way to post a video segment between picks.

After the show, I decided to scope out a new district of the town, and found my way to a very active strip of bars and clubs on the far bank of the Rio Guadalquivir. While barhopping there, I overheard a couple of young women discussing, in English, the pronunciation of 'Willamette'. It didn't register at first, but moments later I wandered back and interrupted their conversation. Turns out, there was a crowd of a hundred or so American college students all about to start a semester abroad. A bunch of the girls were from Oregon, and I also met folks from Saratoga, Buffalo and Rotterdam. Small, small world. I hung out with this crowd until the small hours of the morning, slept in on Sunday, and made my way to the bus to Cordoba.

Cordoba was a nice town, although very small, very quaint and very much not open on a Sunday night and Monday morning. The Mezquita was open this morning, and that’s really why I went anyway. Seeing as I was only in town for about 19 hours, and was a bit hung over most of the time, it wasn’t much of a problem.

I did have my first real sit down fancy meal of the trip so far: Cordoban salmorejo (a super thick gazpacho), Cordoban churrasco (barbecued pork with a crazy Arabian garlic and chili sauce) and a half carafe of Montilla. This will probably be one of only a few top end meals worthy of photographing that you’ll get this trip. Europe is not cheap right about now, and I will probably mostly eat tapas at various bodegas. Tonight’s dinner here in Granada was tapas and a walking falafel.

Granada’s a pretty cool town so far. Apparently has a huge college population. My hotel’s adjacent to the University, about 15 minutes walk from most of the attractions. Took a long stroll upon arriving in town and it’s quite beautiful. Tomorrow morning’s the Alhambra, then probably a bit more of a walking tour, dinner and a few cervacas before the draft. I think I’ll probably try to do as much site-seeing as possible tomorrow, and stay out way to late again. It looks like this town has a pretty hopping social environment, but like all of Spain, it doesn’t really get going until after 1.

churrasco

churrasco
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

Out of focus pork (must have been quaking with anticipation). There's another picture of the plate empty, and that one's much higher quality. The sauce was so good, but way to much garlicy goodness. I could still smell it when I woke up the next morning.

salmorejo

salmorejo
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

A thick gazpacho common on Cordoban menus

Los Gallos Flamenco

flamenco
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

The flamenco performance at Los Gallos in Seville was remarkably good.

Sevilla!

Sevilla is an amazing town! Finally getting around to trying to write about it. The layout is very convoluted and confusing. Now that I´m finally finished getting oriented, it´s almost time to leave.

The bar scene here is pretty incredible. I found a sort of a dive-y, very young and very fun neighborhood near my hotel to hang out in last night. There was one street corner where three bars stood. They were so crowded that the revelry spilled out into the street, cars had to navigate through the drunkeness. There were a couple of places where you could grab una cervasa at one bar and wander over to another with impunity. Fun times. Stayed out too late. Haven´t really sat down to any full blown meals yet. Eating is really just stopping off for tapas, snacking whenever, usually grabbing a beer, then back to siteseeing.

I finally did get my luggage. Funny story. The short of it is: I decided to spend 45 minutes taking a bus to the airport, only to find out that my bag was delivered to my hotel 15 minutes after I left. Good waste of almost 2 hours.

I´m not going to get to see all the sights I planned to here, but this is one of the most fun cities I´ve been to, and I am certainly taking advantage of that aspect of things. I spent the afternoon at the Alcazar, had Gespacho and smoked salmon on toast for early dinner. Gotta get back to my hotel, shower and maybe grab a bit more grub before going to a flamenco show tonight. Probably will be quite touristy and maybe a bit cheesy, but should be fun. Probably do a bunch more bar hopping thereafter. It´s way too easy to be out til 3 or 4 am here. Especially on the weekend.

Odd toilet paper sculpture

Odd toilet paper sculpture
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

This lady was making a sculpture of floating TP over an exhaust vent for the subway, I think. Maybe I have odd taste, but I thought this was pretty cool.

Painting from the Prado

Painting from the Prado
Originally uploaded by Wasting Moments.

I think this is a Raphael painting, from the Prado. Pretty cool museum.

Pleasant Evening

The hotel isn't so bad. I do have a private bath, and thankfully the air conditioner is pretty good. I wouldn't really mind having to do the shared bath thing. My real problem here is that I don't find the facilities worth the money. I'm paying for ambiance and history rather than amenities.

I doubt my luggage will meet me here. My train for Sevilla leaves at 1 tomorrow afternoon. I hope it finds me there tomorrow though, otherwise I'll have to do some shopping.

My seatmates on the flight over were a really nice young couple from outside of Toronto. I bumped into them again at the Prada this afternoon and made arrangements to meet up with them for tapas and cervacas this evening. Good times. Pictures coming soon.

One nice thing about this hotel is the availability of a wireless signal in room. I'm exhausted, dispate an early evening nap, and want to get up early tomorrow to scope out other hotel options. Nice to be able to make a quick post or two from bed before crashing.

On the Road - Radio Silence Over (for now)

I'm in Madrid. My luggage, however is not. Somehow, it was lost along the way. These seemed to happen to quite a few people. Fortunately, one of the women working at the Continental Airlines baggage claim area spoke impeccable English and was able to help me (and others) out. My bag should come in on the Continental flight tomorrow morning, but probably won't arrive til after I leave Madrid. Hopefully it will get to me in Seville by tomorrow night. My room here is small, with a single twin bed. I may try to find an alternative for some of the time I will be here during the conference. I'm not sure I want to do a whole week in this place, as it doesn't seem to be worth the money.

On the good side, Madrid is a beautiful city. I have access to an open wireless network here in my room, but am not sure if it's the hotel's or not. No pictures yet, but expect them tonight. It's about 1:30 in the afternoon here. I'm going to shower and go explore. Want to get to the Prado, and maybe grab a quick bite to eat. More later...