Spanish Tales II: Seville and Barcelona

Dear Friends and Family,

It seems that I can only put so many pictures in one blog, so again we're splitting this one on Spain into two; hope we don't wear your patience down!

Toledo was just an overnight so we had a couple hours upon arrival back in Madrid before our train to Seville. Rance raced over to the Reina Sophia museum to quickly see a painting called Guernica, Picasso’s depiction of attack by German air force Condor legion on an unarmed Basque village during the Spanish civil war. I sat happily with bags, book, and time to people watch. The picture is very moving in an abstract way – Picasso would not let it be displayed in Spain until democracy returned after the death of Franco. There were several other very interesting Picassos. Joan Miros and Salvatore Dalis there, too. I discovered that looking at them with my double vision made them seem even stranger – wonder if Picasso painted them under that affliction?

The train ride to Seville was great – we splurged on a 1st class Eurail pass and got properly spoiled on our way.

Our hotel in Seville is the very best yet – the Hotel Amadeus – and we were in a junior suite named Mozart 201. It’s a VERY good thing it’s as charming and comfortable as it is because we were really quite exhausted after schlepping our bags at least half a mile over cobblestone streets. After loading our bags into a cab at the train station, the driver nodded with what looked like full knowledge of where we wanted to go. However, after driving to and through an undesirable section of town – and back through that section of town we figured that we were learning Spanish from the little lady on his GPS, and she was saying “Wrong way, stupid. Go back!” We gave him the address once again and he turned off the GPS and headed for the old city – which is where we knew we wanted to go. Now then – he drove up a tiny street where cars shouldn’t be allowed to go, but do – and indicated that he couldn’t go any further, but that our hotel was just ahead a bit and then on the right. WRONG!! The guy had just given up in despair and wanted us out of his cab – needless to say he didn’t charge the meter rate but a quarter of it. Rance was ready to get out of the guy’s cab, since he was obviously out of his element, and we knew we had to hike a bit anyway since the hotel was advertised as being in a pedestrian alley. So with the cab driver making vague shooing motions and advising “A la reche”, I left Susan where she was with the bags and set off on a voyage of discovery. After several turns and a few hundred yards I found another hotel where the attendant gave me a map and some sympathy and sent me further on my way. First I headed back to where my now not so loving wife was not so patiently waiting, and brought her along part of the way. I had to make several rather complex turns to find her, and wondered for a moment how I would explain to the kids if I never found my way back to her – I’d probably have to check the white slavery ads for a clue. After reaching her we schlepped the bags on for a few hundred meters and through numerous even more complex turns, until I felt that we were close enough to leave her behind again, while I searched on. This time we were successful, finding our boutique hotel on a tiny side alley, and it was a happy moment when we finally checked in. I told the wonderful woman at the desk what had happened, and even showed her on the map how far away the cabbie had left us – her comment was “Oh what an evil man!” Indeed he was, but he provided us with another laugh (in retrospect!) as well another note to our adventure.

Seville was our favorite city in Spain. Large enough to offer plenty of the old world culture, as well as excellent accommodations, food and drink.

The Hotel Amadeus was definitely our favorite. The lobby and entrance area was outfitted with musical instruments, befitting the theme of the hotel. There were probably no more than 15 rooms total in the hotel, and we had splurged on the best one: absolutely charming penthouse junior suite, complete with claw foot bathtub right in the living area and a toilet and bidet on either side of a shower area (these were behind doors)

After a lovely breakfast served on the roof of our hotel, we were in what is called the Jewish Quarter, an amazing tangle of tiny streets and quaint plazas lined with restaurants and shops. The parks were lovely, filled with fragrant flowers and plants. We walked through one on our way to the Alcazar, and then went into this old palace/fortress. This palace is still the Sevillian home of the Spanish king and is huge, with many rooms all decorated in the combined Moorish Spanish style we had come to appreciate. Each time you would think the palace must end, you’d be led into another gorgeous room, or out into the lovely garden, all surrounded by walls isolating it from the city. From there, after a very nice lunch nearby (best meatballs I ever had), we walked along the river past the bullring. Seville had been the center of trade with the new world and we walked by the “Tower of Gold” where the ships would unload the gold stripped from the Peruvian sites we had admired so the week before. We walked and walked, twisting our ways through the lovely little streets and stopping to admire the various churches and buildings. My goal was to find a place selling Cuban cigars, and we succeeded in that - my only shopping wish!

While in Seville, one MUST attend a flamenco dance, which we did – again, once we found the place. We’re both pretty good at reading street maps, but I am certain one must live in Toledo or Seville for a lifetime before being able to walk directly from point A to point B. This wasn’t much of a concern to Rance since he never likes to go the same way twice anyway – afraid of ambush, you know!

The performance was fun to watch – beautiful women with colorful dresses and dark hair pulled straight back; skinny men with floppy hair and red shoes – all with very talented, fast moving feet. The singers and guitar players were also good but unfortunately for them they fall to the background.

We weren’t leaving until the next afternoon, so we had saved a visit to the Cathedral until the next morning. Unlike the one in Toledo which was hidden by its neighboring houses, the Sevillian one is set off on a lovely square so one can appreciate it from all angles, including its tower with the gorgeous figure who turns as a weather vane, giving it its name of La Giralda. The Cathedral is breathtaking on the inside, with its vaulted arches so high overhead, and an alter that was so rich it could barely be taken in all at once. Each side alter alone would have been the crowning jewel of any other church. We took the audio tour, and would gladly have passed more time there if the train ride had not called.

Another pleasant ride on the fast train to Barcelona where we arrived and settled into the much bigger hotel, Hotel Colon, which was right on a main square just across from Barcelona’s cathedral (new city; new cathedral) It was much easier to find our way around Barcelona, but we missed the charm of the smaller city/winding street setup of Toledo and Barcelona. There were also noticeably more tourists here, but strangely, we haven’t run into many Americans. In light of our popularity world-wide right now (thank you, Mr. Bush!), and the weakened dollar, most smart folks are probably discovering more of the States.

We visited La Rambla, the main tourist street, with its innumerable living statues and Monte Carlo players (guess which box has the stone under it – one tried to sucker Susan into the play, but she quickly and wisely stepped back).

We also noticed some men selling their wares from a cloth spread before them, with lines running down to the cloth’s corners – I called them street fishermen. At first we thought the lines were to secure the objects from being stolen, but then realized that it was so they could quickly pull up the cloth and disappear if the tourist police arrived. La Rambla was a bit too noisy and touristy for us, but we did see some nice markets and buildings. The city is famous for its architects, most noticeably Gaudi, so we dutifully visited his Sacred Family Cathedral as well as some of his other buildings. The cathedral was begun in 1886 and is still a long way from being finished, but fantastic in its concept and effect. Gaudi’s buildings are a good distance from the city center, so this made for a very nice long walk back to the hotel, well away from the hustle of La Rambla, and set us up nicely for dinner.
And reporting again on the food and drink, we enjoyed some really nice seafood here – paella, grilled prawn (complete with head and little feelers), and Rance even had a plate of anchovies one day for lunch. That was it – anchovies on a plate with an olive for garnish. That’s one day we didn’t share our meal! After Rance’s long reports on the culture part of this blog, one would think we didn’t have time for anything else, but sitting outside our hotel with tired feet at the end of a day sipping sangria, reading The International Herald Tribune and watching the people has been a luxury. Off to France now, with a really nice feeling about our visit to Spain. Would love to come back, especially after learning a bit of Spanish! But again, there’s no place like home!

Spanish Tales: Madrid and Toledo

After a very civilized, 12 hour flight from Lima to Amsterdam, during which we were forced to drink quite good wine, eat a couple of tasty meals and stretch out almost vertically to sleep, we reached Amsterdam. This was a just an overnight – a complementary stay at the Marriot and a rijstafel (Indonesian dish with rice and lots of different side dishes). We felt like royalty!!

Next day a 3 hour flight to Madrid. Changing countries so quickly really allows us to be fully aware of culture changes – and weather changes which have wreaked havoc on both our sinuses, but that’s information we’ll keep to ourselves! Suffice it to say that going from dry, desert Peru to humid Holland to hot/a little bit dry – and then humid Spain does strange things to one’s passages.

Madrid is a big city – an interesting one with 3 wonderful museums, incredible historical buildings and any number of quaint places to stop for tapas and wine – but a big city nonetheless. We both prefer Toledo and Seville, small cities where we have had unique hotels right in the old city and have walked –and walked, and walked, and walked - you get the idea – everywhere.

But Madrid, in addition to the Royal Palace shown here, does have the Prado and two other world class museums, and our hotel, though modest, was within walking distance of all of them and everywhere we wanted to go. The Prado specializes in European works up to the start of the Impressionist period, with particular emphasis on those of Spanish and Dutch artists from their empire. Lots of Velasquez, Goya and El Greco’s; the latter is especially neat, since he seems almost modern in some of his quasi-impressionistic paintings of agonized saints. Having said that, we got burned out on virgins and martyrs after a bit, and were glad to visit the more modern Thyssen museum after a fortifying lunch – did I mention they serve wonderful snacks (tapas), wine and beer at a lot of really cool little places? Thyssen was a Swiss art collector who gave his works to the city of Madrid at the behest of his Spanish wife (Miss Spain, at one time), and had many wonderful Renoirs and other Impressionistic masters. We may be Philistines, but we sure can relate to and enjoy more such works than St Anthony and his lions, over and over again! Life is nice in Spain: sleep late, tour the city, snack for lunch, tour some more, come back to the room for a rest, and then a late dinner.

A special dinner was at Botin’s, purported to be the oldest restaurant in the world and a hangout of Hemingway. In any case, its specialty is roast suckling pig, which was by far the best we have ever tasted. A friend of mine had given us some advice on Spanish wine, and here I indulged myself in a (full!!) bottle of Ribera del Duelo – a very nice red. Somehow it doesn’t seem so sinful to drink that much wine if you can walk it off during the wandering mile + back to the hotel.

Toledo, which is just a ½ hour train ride from Madrid and which we visited for just an overnight, was built high on a rock as a fortress and used as such by Moors and Christians alike. Our hotel was built into a wall of the old city, and is itself a beautiful combination of fortress, palace and garden. Lots of stairs, but willing help to lug our bags! We’re traveling with 3 large bags plus 2 carry-ons, and we’ve worked out a system to keep from getting killed lugging them. In this case we parked 2 at the left luggage in Madrid and went with the smallest one. After leaving that at the reception we set off to explore, hiking up and up narrow streets, using a combination of the map and instinct to navigate the narrow, twisting, quixotically marked passageways. It is with some regret that I report Susan quickly began doubting my fabled navigational skills, and even dared to use the “lost” word in a tone of asperity. I soldiered on and reached our first “find” - a place where map and location seemed to concur. It was an ancient mosque, originally built around the turn of the millennium (yeah, the 1st one) and then converted to a Christian church when the land was re-conquered from the Moors around the 11th century.

By the way, this conversion of older cultures has been a recurring theme in our travels so far: in Peru we saw how in most places the Incan temples had been torn down to provide building blocks for the Christian churches and palaces, and had gloried in the untouched splendor of Machu Picchu. Here in Spain there was a much happier mixture of the two cultures, with many Moorish influences retained or even built into the “new” palaces (ones built, for example, around the time of Rey Peter the Cruel, in the late 1300’s). More on this theme later, when we get to the Alcazar and other such wonderful edifices.
This mosque/church was under renovation so we couldn’t see the whole thing, but the archeological dig around the building was like looking through centuries of history. Then off we went further up the hill to the Alcazar, the fortress which had protected the city for almost a thousand years – but unfortunately also closed for renovation since 2002! Shame, because not only did it promise to hold some beautiful sights, but had been a bastion of Franco republicanism during the Civil War. Our guide book said the room of the commander had been preserved as it was at the end of the fighting, one of the last memories of that period kept alive by a Spain which would prefer to forget that part of its past. From there we wandered (my navigating, Susan carping) on to the cathedral. This is an incredibly beautiful neo gothic construction, one whose immensity overwhelms you when you are inside it and look forward and up. It seems even bigger than Notre Dame, but unlike that church which stands alone on the Isle de la Cite in Paris, this cathedral is so completely surrounded by neighboring houses that it is only on entering that you realize its size. It is richly decorated with innumerable (OK, they probably could be counted, but we didn’t) altars and works of art – lots of saints and pietas. And then after a nice lunch, on to El Greco’s house and museum. This place may or may not really have been his house, but we missed it anyway. Yup! Under renovation! Although we couldn’t get to see these two of the city, we saw many others – to include a synagogue which was build in the 12th century and most of which is still in tact. This was when Christians, Arabs, and Jews all lived harmoniously together, before Ferdinand and Isabella decided it was easier to expel the Jews than pay them the money they owed them, starting their long period of expulsion from Spain. That was then; this is now! Pity! In all, we really fell in love with Toledo, with its curious winding streets and neat little plazas.

We didn’t really even mind all the climbing, especially after we happened on a series of 6 escalators that ran from the foot of the hill to its top – it was right next to our hotel, and had we turned left instead of right on our first motion of exploring, we would have been saved the hike – but then missed the other adventures. In the end we were glad to use it. Especially with another great meal at our hotel waiting for us! Next off to Seville.

Peru 5 AND THE LAST ONE!!

Coming down from Machu Picchu – once again doing the serpentine route – we saw a bunch of little gaudily dressed kids waving excitedly at the bus as we made the first turn. At first it didn’t make any sense to us since the bus would never stop. But then one of those kids (in sandals yet) darted down a very steep foot path, going directly down hill instead of the zig zag the bus had to take. Every time the bus route crossed the trail we’d see him dartig across the road in front of us and then waving as we went by. To make a long, fast run short, the kid beat us to the bottom of the mountain. He raced across the bridge leading into Aquas Calientes before us and as the bus then came along side, the driver opened the door and let him aboard for his well deserved reward.

Below is a photo of our hotel that night in Aquas Calientes – we’ve come a long way from the Marriott in Lima!! If we had had a window in our 5x8 room, we would have taken a photo from that.

The streets in Aquas Caliente were extremely steep and lined only with touristy shops and places to eat. Waiters from the restaurants stand in the streets (no cars in this town) and solicit business. So now we have people hawking not only Incan stuff, but also food and drink. This is also the street Rance had to hike down to answer Amy’s frantic earthquake phone call – ½ mile down and up, fighting both aching knees and bubbly tummy. Rance was a bit curt with Amy, but on reflection we really appreciated all’s concern.

Next day we were back to Cuzco arriving in time for dinner, repacking, sleep and guess what? Up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the airport by 5:00 a.m. – and as we finish up this blog, we’re spending a bunch of time in the Lima airport waiting for our KLM flight to Amsterdam.
Peru is a beautiful country with lovely people. A great country to visit, but as first stop on our world adventure, we still have to say that nothing beats the USA.

Peru 4

Who would guess that our flight next day from Arequipa to Cuzco would be at 5:50 AM – necessitating a 3:30 AM. wake-up call? Assigned driver didn’t show by 5:00 a.m. so the hotel called for another for us. There were lots of cabs driving by constantly, but most weren’t big enough to accommodate even Rance’s legs, let alone our luggage so we needed a special one. Since we were late to the airport and the flight was overbooked, it looked like after getting up in the middle of the night we wouldn’t get our flight. However, a couple of volunteers tempted by the airline’s offer of $120 allowed us to be the last passengers to board. We couldn’t sit together and my seat was last row/window seat, but there was no window. Rance had an aisle seat but guy by the window had the shade down so neither of us to date has witnessed the great Andean mountains from the air

Cuzco is a neat town – oriented toward Incan ruins, cathedrals and tourists. We toured a bit in the a.m. on our own and were set up for an organized tour in the afternoon. The tour took in both of the afore-mentioned topics and it was truly interesting, but at the end of 4 hours of being told how great the Incan building stones were, we really had to empathize with a young British girl who said “But, mum, they’re just big rocks!” Right after the tour, relaxing in our room, things started to rock and roll a bit and as we lay on the bed we watched coat hangers start to shake. We had been told that they have about 17 earthquakes a day – some big; most not – but I was concerned enough to walk to the reception area where chandeliers were swaying with gusto. Work at the reception desk was business as usual and no one, including us, were very concerned. We never heard about the devastation in the Pisco/Ico area (just south of Lima) until 1 ½ days later when a young traveler entered our hotel in Aquas Calientes. We now understand Amy’s Nancy Drew effort to track us down and the concern of all four kids to make sure that mom and dad were alright.

Got to sleep in the next morning – until 5:30 a.m. when our driver arrived to take us to the train to Machu Picchu. The train ride is 4 ½ hours – an hour of which is spent with the train going forward, backing up, going forward, backing up, etc. which was, needless to say, a bit curious to us until we realized they had to go up bit by bit, changing tracks to get up out of the valley. The rest was just a spectacular ride. Train stops in Aguas Calientes; passengers squeeze through millions of VERY aggressive vendors (more Incan stuff, but twice the price since we are now near Machu Picchu); and we then catch a bus for another 25 minute ride – again zigzagging up a very steep mountain to reach what can only be described as an AWESOME Incan site! We had an excellent guide who explained about the different areas of the site, the reasonings of the Incans and why MP is still in such good condition. Seems when the Spanish invaded, the Incan people left MP retreating elsewhere in the mountains so the Spanish never found it. After the tour, we walked around a different part of the site – up and down some very challenging terraces; original stone steps, etc. Rance was ever the soldier climbing up; coming back down (frequently backwards) and thinking that night that he is truly looking forward to his double knee replacement surgery in November.

Peru 3

Next day with Alejandro and Jorge Luis, a young man studying engineering in Arequipa and one who enjoyed all of Rance’s jokes and his knowledge of certain things, we took back roads (REALLY back roads!) through some tiny villages with very, very poor people, hundreds of mangy dogs and incredibly beautiful churches – alters and relics all done up in gold plate. In one we had to cover our noses and mouths and step around an old lady who was sweeping the dust out for the festival of Mary’s Assumption into heaven. August 15th had celebrations everywhere. In one of the villages they were even digging holes in the paved (sort of) road around the main square so they could put up some sort of arches the procession would go through. After the festival they would fill them back in with concrete, but it was easy to see that the fill-ins were never really total repair. There were dips in the road from other holes which had been dug for other celebrations. Very strange!!

Alejandro dropped Jorge and us about a mile from the top of the canyon so we could walk along and enjoy the scenery. It was incredible, but a bit of a challenge for knees! When we reached the summit, we (and hundreds of others) relaxed and found a spot to watch the flight of the condors. These magnificent birds come out of the depths early in the a.m. when the sun warms the air and they catch currents to just soar around and look beautiful. We thought maybe they were just looking at all of us and wondering who and what we were – and whether or not we were good to eat. But since they are basically carrion birds, we suspect they hoped their antics would cause a camera eager tourist to fall into the gorge for the next meal.


Trip back to Arequipa – another bumpity bumpity 4 hours going from the canyon downhill. We discovered during this ride that busses loaded with a million passengers each must race to the bottom. Double yellow lines mean that a curve is approaching so the bus must get into the left lane and pass anything possible. Having said that, speed is relative. The trip from Arequipa to Colca is 120 miles and takes 4 hours. Gratefully, Alejandro was a cautious driver. By this time, all four of us have become best friends – regardless of the fact that Alejandro speaks no English and we speak no Spanish. Jorge translates most everything – even Rance’s jokes – and we have lots of chatter and laughs, as well as quiet time to appreciate the view on the way down. The area is very arid – desert. Pretty in a rugged sort of way like parts of Arizona.

After hugs and kisses on cheeks, we parted company with Alejandro. Jorge was to remain in Arequipa and offered to buy us a drink that evening saying he enjoyed our company so much, etc., etc., etc. And even though we had tipped him very well, we didn’t want him spending that money on drinks for us. He won! As we sat on the balcony of a neat restaurant overlooking the city square, three Pisco Sours (traditional drink) arrived at our table – with Jorge, and a big grin on his face, following the waiter. Of course we then invited him to join us for dinner at the end of which a young woman with whom he had set up a date, also arrived. After finishing a couple bottles of wine, we were all best friends – or maybe kids and adopted parents. In any case, they were delightful young people and we loved the evening with them.

Peru 2

Continuing our Blog:

this is our view from our eco lodge in Colca Canyon

In the afternoon we started on our drive from Arequipa with Alejandro and Jorge up to Colca Canyon, a ride of about 4 hours. At its highest point our road went over a pass at 4,920 meters, which is higher than any glacier topped peak in our beloved Switzerland. Here it was just cool and dry.

We saw lots of neat animals, including the vicuña, llamas and alpacas – lots and lots of them. Our friends Don and Kim raise these, and we are now able to attest to their value: Susan bought an alpaca sweater (not Incan stuff) and we had a great meal of alpaca meat - delicious! Don, I have a suggestion for the next golf trip menu…..

The highway, such as it was, continued on until it turned into what we would consider an “off road” experience. The switchbacks went at a 180 degree angle and after getting a glimpse across a gorge of Colca Lodge where we were to stay, it took us another 45 minutes to get there bumping slowly through the village of Yanque which has one telephone in the city hall. When/if a villager gets a telephone call, someone announces it through a megaphone from the city hall and the “callee” races to receive it. We could also hear the megaphone each morning from our room at Colca – probably reading news from the NY Times! Colca Lodge is an eco lodge with beautiful views, comfortable though very basic rooms and even hot spring baths – a very long cry from the Marriott in Lima. Great dinner of alpaca meat in an elderberry and wine sauce. (Poor little alpaca!) It was either that or roasted guinea pig which is another national dish. Since they serve that one whole, we opted for the small, unrecognizable alpaca steaks.

If it’s 4 AM, it must be Peru!

Despite the late departure of our first flight, we were quick to make up time with our first, celebratory Bloody Mary. The flight attendants were wonderful, and seemed to relish our adventure as much as we.

First night out, we stayed at the Marriot in Lima, courtesy of points. This is probably the best hotel in Lima, right on the ocean.

Lima is large and busy, with a beautiful center. Seems like every place here is centered on a square surrounded by a Cathedral and lots of colonial era buildings.


It’s close to the sea, so fish is high on the menu. After our tour, we ate of the same, drinking the Pisco Sour they flog, and just a bit of wine. Then walked back to our hotel via the Incan market – good thing we went there, because we wouldn’t see any more typical Peruvian stuff for the rest of the trip … not quite, it’s impossible to avoid! The vendors are aggressive and don’t seem to understand the term “No, thank you” in ANY language. The people as a whole, however, seem friendly and kind, and we know we’ll love Peru.

Next day was from the sea to the mountains – Arequipa. The guy in Peru with whom we worked setting up this visit is a @#$$%^^& EARLY morning person. Our flight left at 5 AM (in fact, they have us scheduled to get up almost every day at 0400 to catch the next flight). Arequipa is a lovely town, and the Plaza Central is great – full of life, color and yes, they even have some Incan stuff! Our guide, Jorge Luis, gave us a great tour of the Cathedral and a working convent – we couldn’t see the nuns in residence, but Rance did ask the guide if it were the custom for daughters to follow their mothers in the trade. She was not amused.

We also met Juanita, an Incan maiden who was sacrificed to appease the gods causing the volcano to erupt. She was ~ 14, and with her procession climbed up to the top of Ampato (over 18,000 feet), dressed ceremonially, given a drug, smacked over the head, and then sacrificed. Juanita was considered honored by being chosen. She was left there and covered with snow for over 400 years, until a neighboring volcano caused the ice to melt and she was discovered mummified. Very cool (cold). TO BE CONTINUED!!!

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