Reflections

At the conclusion of each trip I typically reflect a little in my travel diary, but having no diary with me and arriving home with the 'gift' of a head cold this process was delayed. During one of our last meals in Madrid we reviewed our adventures and looked for the best, and the 'un-best' from our trip...always one of our favorite finishing activities and usually done over a nice bottle of wine!

This trip was certainly full of very enjoyable experiences and was a travel of contrasts. Spain and Morocco, on the surface while spatially close are in many way miles apart, particularly economically. While Spain's economy is experiencing pressure as they try to keep their collective heads above water following many years of excess (re., blog comments "On Strike"), Morocco is much further under water and will likely never break the surface. That said, the longer we travelled southern Spain through the small hill towns, past ancient watch towers long abandoned, and visited the cities we came to understand and appreciate the similarities, mostly based in history. The Moorish and Muslim influence was far reaching. I think this initially came together for me as we flew down the length of Morocco and you could see the villages with their flat roof tops and hap-hazard lay-out.

They clearly used the same town planners in the hill villages along the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains! Basically the only difference being that the Spanish villages were painted white, the Moroccan not, though much of old town Marrakesh (the Medina) was painted a funny off-pink.

The older parts of Granada, Seville and Cordoba have many rounded door entrances and gates plus the same narrow streets and by-ways so evident in Morocco. I found it very pleasing to the eye and refreshing. The use of water and gardens in both countries as a meditative and decorative element was perhaps one of my favorite experiences.

Clearly there is less utilization in Marrakesh as water is just too scarce, but it was there if you looked. In Spain where water is more available, the Moores used it for purification and visual pleasure to great effect, and we saw this most places we went.

Aside from some of the spices, we didn't find too much Moroccan influence in the Spanish food, but if one looked closer I'm sure you could find it. Likely there are books written on the subject! Certainly Spanish tapas accompanied with a glass of Rioja wine and the Moroccan tangine with tall glasses of mint tea created the same healthy environment conducive to lingering discussions over meals...and we enjoyed many. In Spain the jamon (ham) was quite amazing and Annemarie swore by the sangria.


Both countries use animals to move product, the Moroccans use donkies to pull wagons containing just about anything and the Spanish use horses to pull carriages full of tourists. They also do the latter in Marrakesh and we meant to participate, but ran out of time. At a fraction of the Spanish cost...next time for sure!

It was refreshing to find very little English spoken in both countries...ok, with the exception of Sevilla, Gibraltar and Nerja...all second homes for the Brits. It forced us to use our limited French and even more limited Spanish, but use them we did. My language efforts created many a smile with the locals...a good thing, right?! We enjoyed the people we met along the way, both fellow travellers and locals alike. After all, you don't travel just to see the buildings and sites...exchanges and sharing of information with local folks is amoung the best experience available when travelling. You learn more about their world and perhaps they learn a bit about your's...helps make the world a bit smaller.

We had many good experiences along the way. I wrote the following in Madrid, but never got around to completing and publishing as I wanted to experience as much as possible close to the end of the trip;
Sitting tonight in Madrid after a very fast train ride on the AVE which travels at up to 300 km/hr! Not sure how fast we were moving, but it was FAST...the fastest I've ever travelled on land. We trained from Sevilla to Madrid (with 2 stops) in 2 hours 20 minutes, a trip that use to take well over 5 hours just a few years ago. We enjoyed Sevilla...a good walking town, but it sure was quiet and organized after Marrakesh! Our day trip to Cordoba on a Bank Holiday to visit the Mesquita Cordoba Mosque (10thC) was memorable with great parks and walking areas which reminded us of a typical university town (which it is apparently not). We bumped into a pretty interesting religous procession on the way back to the train station...think it was Assumption Day or something, and on the way back to Sevilla the train was full of students. Cordoba was certainly a place to spend more time, but at least we had the day rather than stop for a few hours in transit to Madrid as originally planned.



Well, that's it for now. I have a 'few' photos to go through which will generate further thoughts, and I will start that process in the coming weeks. Not sure where the 'bug' will take us next, but it will perhaps fuel a few long discussions through the dark and cold winter nights. Christmas season will be spent this year in the high Kootenays (roads permitting) and we are all looking forward to that as it will likely be the last time we have the opportunity to family travel before significant others begin to appear (they already are!).

Marrakesh: A City of Contrasts

We are back in Spain and have spent the day on a cheap train trip from Sevilla to Cordoba and back. We had intended to make this stop on our way to Madrid, but then we would have had to deal with luggage drops, etc. More hassle than its worth. So a day trip it was to see the amazing Mezquita! Up and on the train as dawn was breaking (cheap trains are always odd times and take longer, but below half price which in this case saved us about $65). Will be looking for cheap train fares on the high speed AVE tomorrow on line! Day was great and we have just arrived back at our small hotel at 10:30pm after stopping for tapas and vino tinto at a Sevilla tapas bar…great way to end a long, enjoyable day.

Just over 24 hours to think about our experience in Marrakesh which was something of a culture shock coming from Spain and Canada. While still sorting through the data…what we observed and experienced…a few thoughts while the experience is still fresh. Clearly Morocco is a third world country heavily influenced by its position on the northwest coast of Africa…one sees it in the streets and in the souks. There is little to correlate this country with its northern neighbor Spain located just across a small straight of water, and I’ve only read about the countries to the east and west of its borders…understandably they heavily influence the country. While perhaps a bit simplistic, we observed two sides of the city, with significant contrast.

From the tourist/traveler perspective, the city is initially a bit overwhelming…exactly what makes it interesting, and perhaps why the French love to travel to here (aside from the sun!). The city has an edge…a buzz! There is lots of noise, street action (you can barely move on many of the narrow streets without bumping someone or something) and color. Everything seems to be in motion all the time. It’s actually pretty cool! Those who know us, know that when we travel we walk until we pretty near drop. Marrakesh was no exception…we walked it from end to end, side to side and completed circle on circle inside the walled medina (old city). During our brief visit we trekked to the best known sites and into parts of the “new” city where most tourists don’t make a regular habit of visiting. I often had the feeling that if the electricity, cars and a bunch of noisy motor bikes were removed the city would be virtually unchanged from 500 years ago. There were active artisans and tinkers everywhere…much like the Athens’ Plaka area was like up until the late 1970’s.

What most visitors to the city experience is a good, safe riad or hotel (a friendly oasis when needed). We also know that we can get good food (most of the time), clean bottled water, and that its fairly safe (as long as you stay on the main roads at night). Most travel through the city in large tour groups, protected by the collective, shooting photos of most things as they pass. This type of experience is fairly common and we met folks who were just visiting the city for a good time and seemed fairly oblivious to many of the social problems in the city. They didn't appear interested in looking too far outside the tourist zone, and fair enough…you pay your nickel, etc.

But if you look beyond the tourist experience, there is a very different city out there. There is very high unemployment and as a result tremendous poverty is evident which has created a street life all its own. Substance abuse is open and is not limited to outside the tourist area. Sitting in a small 2nd floor restaurant one night we watched some of the street life in action, and it was a real education…the owner of the restaurant spoke with us and expressed his concern for what was happening on his street. It made many of our own urban social problems look simplistic in comparison, though they too are serious. Of course Morocco is just the tip of the problems facing this continent. It gave us both a better appreciation of some of the issues facing this part of the world…food for thought.

On a more positive note…we are watching and celebrating the rescue of the Chilean miners on the small TV in our room…all in Spanish, but you don’t need a translation to see the joy and relief on the faces of the miners and their families! I guess they will bring up the fellow who has his wife and a girl friend waiting for him topside last…from the frying pan and into the fire!!

Tonight we learn the Flaminco…Ole!!

From the Roof Tops of Marrakesh

Flying down here today listening on the ipod to CS&N sing their well known song “Marrakesh Express”, I thought I might be writing a different note today…something about the souks, the dye vats or the snake charmers. Well, they are all here in spades and we have seen bits and pieces of these wonders and will no doubt see more special things during our visit. However, sitting on the roof of our Riad enjoying the more subtle warmth of the late afternoon sun as it works its way slowly west, I’m drawn to an unexpected pleasure. When first looking across the roof tops (buildings are only allowed to be maximum 2 stories) its easy to see just what there is to see…numerous buildings that look as though they have been cobbled together in a very haphazard manner, which they have, with satellite dishes peppering the view! The roof lines are uneven and the construction materials, methods and building codes would no doubt frighten the toughest western engineer. Yet somehow it works, basically held together by cement, gravity and the strength of the building next door! I remember building houses with dominos when I was a kid and Marrakesh looks something like that, but better!

Initially while looking across the roof tops I found I was enjoying the sounds the many birds were making, and then I realized that the source of the sound was from within the many gardens tucked here and there all over the medina. The more I looked the more of these small oasis’ I started to find, usually consisting of small shady trees and flowering plants, and I suspect small ponds of water. The birds fly past in ever greater numbers as the sun drops lower towards the horizon and they continue their business as the sun finally sets softly on the horizon…the colors are amazing! Locals and visitors alike have found their way to the roof tops just as I have to find respite from the blazing heat of the day and to enjoy the sunset. As I write this, the lights have come on across the medina and the face of the roof tops has change yet again. The first stars have poked out. All that I have watched, enjoyed and recorded has occurred during the past 90 minutes. Just when I think the show has ended, the sun has set and the birds have fallen silent comes the call to prayer. It comes from all directions and seems a fitting end to our first day in Morocco.

Its nearly time to enjoy the meal that the Riad staff is preparing specially for us tonight. Something that I can’t pronounce… even though you know I’ll try! Before we get to enjoy the meal, we have the opportunity to connect with our daughter Caitlin…seriously, one of the great joys of modern travel, in a very old world of roof tops!

Something About A Rock

We are sitting in the outdoor bar sipping a nice wine in Zahara de los Atunes gazing across the long open sandy beach waiting for the sunset to happen sometime in the next hour or so. What a life! We arrived here late yesterday afternoon and had planned to travel along the Atlantic coast to Cadiz today, but we were both taken with the endless walking beaches here and decided that if the breakfast that came with our room was ok we would stay another day. Well…it was and we did. We spent the morning driving up the coast to visit a very old and quite impressive lighthouse Just opposite the location where Nelson and his 26 ships of the line crossed the ‘T’ of the French and Spanish 33 ships of war…a place called Trafalgar. I just happened to have read a historical account of this engagement last winter, so the information is still pretty fresh. I had no idea until yesterday that we would be passing right through the area. Until I did some reading I always thought that Trafalgar was a British name as I attended an elementary school with the same name, so seemed logical. Funny how a perception, once established, can remain with you for so long. Along the road to the lighthouse we passed through a national park, and stopped on our return trip to hike out to a Roman watch tower for the views from the headland. You can see all the way down to Africa! We spent the remainder of the day swimming and taking long walks down the endless beach.

Anyway, I started this off to write about a rock. Not just any rock. A rock as familiar to most of our generation as our TV sets…remember those Prudential Insurance commercials from the 70’s? Gibraltar. The name speaks volumes. I remember when my Uncle Geoff and Aunt Mary visited there in the ‘70’s and how impressed they were at the time, particularly with the walk across the air strip and the water catchment system (my Uncle is an engineer after all). Its all still there and more! We rode bus #3 to the far end light house (have to pay with Sterling) and worked our way back from there. Up the gondola to the top of the rock…what amazing views! And the apes…quite amazing. They have photos of the better known apes on the walls with a story about each…sort of like a post office wall of the 10 most wanted. The apes get to walk just about anywhere they want, so you are never quite sure where they will pop up. As the story goes, when the apes have left Gibraltar, the British will leave as well. Short of a major health crisis, it appears that the Brits are pretty safe as the evidence suggests that there is a steady stream of young replacements up and coming!

As mentioned, the views from the top are brilliant. The amount of shipping passing through the Pillars of Hercules is exceptional, and the Port of Gibraltar is pretty busy. At some point those of us who are a bit height intimidated decide that hanging over the 1500+ foot cliff taking photos of the views and the apes should probably come to an end. So we did what most don’t and decided to walk down the road to the bottom. So water and a Snickers bar in hand we headed off down the Rock…dodging Blah Tour buses at every turn (actually called Bland, but we liked our name better!). It was a great walk down with constantly changing views and angles. We finally reached the bottom and found a British type pub for an extremely expensive (and not to brilliant) lunch. We spent our left over Pounds on duty free sample bottles of rum and Drambuie…better than candy as recommended by one of the locals we met! Had a great time walking out of the Rock, across the air strip and through customs. Then through the traffic and south west along the Atlantic coast to where we presently reside.



Tomorrow its likely up to Cadiz and onwards to Sevilla where we will drop our wheels and prepare for the early morning flight to Marrakech…just across the straights and due south from here!

Pueblos Blanca

The ‘White Villages’ of Adalucia are truly beautiful and worthy of a visit even if only for a short time while passing through. Since leaving Nerja on Saturday we have travelled along the heavily developed Costa Del Sol to Marbella where we headed north into the high Sierra Bermeja to Rhonda, a beautiful white village built on very high cliffs for protection in earlier times. A spectacular arched bridge is constructed across the gorge that runs though the town…if you jumped it might be somewhat fatal. During the 30’s civil war many were tossed to their deaths, so while there are tourists aplenty, it’s a somber place, though spectacularly situated. We climbed down to the foot of the bridge…we hardy Canadians and a few others and then hiked out and up through country roads until we were back into the old Moorish part of town, where we promptly lost ourselves!

From there we cruised north-west to the small village of Zahara de la Sierra, situated just below a high, craggy rock outcrop with a defensive structure on top. After making our arrangements at a local hostela, we decided to take a ‘short’ drive to see the highly rated village of Grazalema. Well…we zigged when we should have zagged and took a very, very narrow nasty road that kept carrying us higher and higher and into a developing storm to the 1400 meter level…the road was amazing and we just couldn’t believe that it just kept going…UP!! Obviously we made it and did find Grazalema where there was a village re-enactment of an 18th century historical event during the weekend…never did figured out the story line?!

Very colorful and we had fun pretending to be locals cheering the winners of various historical categories without a clue about what they were being honored for.

Back to Zahara for the night and what a night it turned out to be! First we braved the elements and went out to the local tavern for dinner…pretty good food too! Afterwards we stood at the window of a small crowded bar to watch Real Madrid defeat a lesser football club 2-0. With each goal the locals celebrated wildly…clearly a Real following in this berg!! Then back to the hostel where we buttoned down the hatches for one of the worst fall storms in recent local memory…made the Spanish news service the next day. Being up high and facing the storm we took the brunt of the winds and torrential rains head on. So hard, that it forced water under the doors and all over the floor during the night. Annemarie was running around in the night with towels, moving our gear while…I slept!


The next morning the storm has pretty much passed and we decide to retrace our steps to Rhonda and follow a different route to the coast through the Serraia de Rhonda mountains via Gaucin and down to Gibralter. An amazing day of touring and I’m writing this that night long after Annemarie has headed off to sleep. A very long day…but a very good day!

Tonight, we arrived late into the Gibraltar area (La Linea) only to discover that the area was pretty industrial and there were few obvious hostels to be seen…none in fact! So after driving around and up the coast until almost dark Annemarie and I decided to head back up into the mountains to find a village where we knew there were accommodations. The navigator got excited at one point and told the driver to turn right on to another motor way a bit too early, but fortuitously we found ourselves in front of a hostel just off the major auto-strata. Too funny! Its a simple truck stop where the drivers eat and sleep. Very cheap and probably our best Spanish experience thus far. Dinner at 10pm as usual (don’t know how we manage this…probably why I’m still awake!). All the tables are set on one side facing the TV and the truckers eat dinner and watch whatever is playing…pretty funny to watch! Each orders a bottle of red wine with their dinner and consumes about half the bottle…cheaper than by the glass. Then its desert and smokes while they digest…pretty much the least health types you could imagine, but they seem happy to have jobs here where unemployment is north of 20% officially.

Must get some sleep. Tomorrow will be spent wandering up and down the rock that is Gibraltar, with all its history. From there up the Atlantic coast for a couple of days and then drop the car at Sevilla where we will shift gears for Morocco, which can be seen in the far distance. Will post when I can.

Of Tapas and the Alhambra!

It has been a very busy couple of days of touring tapas and a bit of drinking! In spite of the strike we had a very enjoyable time in Granada, made more so by a chance meeting with Joss and Lynne from Philadelphia who introduced us to the ‘art’ of tapas cruising. More importantly, they were great company and we were sad to part ways. Very extensively travelled and accomplished it was a pleasure to pass the time with them, and I have to say that the calamari was just brilliant…somewhere during that tapas crawl! Fast, close friendships are not uncommon on the road and are one of the more special travel experiences.

So what have we been up to since the last entry? I guess the hi-light would be the Alhambra. Clearly the historical and visual pleasure of the trip. The symmetry of the gardens and buildings is stunning and during its prime during the 150 year construction it must have been breath taking. Its little wonder why the Christians wanted to hold the property so badly. They were unable to construct anything to match at the time, with their own buildings dark, damp and grey. The Moors used the ancient geometric principals developed by the Greeks to create the symmetry. Rectangles, triangles and left sweeping transect lines made the floors perfectly aligned and to the eye the results are stunning. We took time during our 4 hour wanderings to just sit and listen to the sounds around us. There are many birds in the area, but once the tour groups pass, the magical sound of running water was present at just about every location. Not being an expert in many things Islamic, my understandings may be flawed, however, I believe that pure water is very important for various rites and ceremonies within the faith. All over the Alhambra grounds, gardens and in the buildings there are small low rising fountains and tranquil rectangular reflecting pools. The water comes from the stream that flows through Granada far below, but the engineers of the time managed to locate the stream where it originates in the Serra Nevada Mountains approx 6 kms upstream and they constructed a reservoir with a gravity release system capable of filling an Olympic size pool in just seconds. They cut a tunnel through the mountains to carry the water to the Alhambra and a 30 meter aqueduct bridges to the palace complex. When one appreciates the shear size of the Alhambra grounds it is an impressive achievement by any measure! They release 100’s of 1,000’s of liters of water daily from the reservoir and the water is funneled throughout the grounds by a very complex system, designed to accelerate and slow the flow of the water, thereby removing the suspended grit with gravity deposition. Pretty cool!! I thought of my Mother and her passion for flowers as I wandered the gardens…I suspect that the gardens of Babylon were no better. In summary, a very tranquil and present moment during a long day in Granada.

We are now down on the south coast on the Med at Nerja where we have spent a pleasant day wandering, swimming and getting prepared for a number of days wandering the ‘white villages’ before returning to the coast somewhere along the Atlantic Coast. No specific plans at this point. During the drive here we visited a series of small Moorish based villages on the south slopes of the high Sierra’s and travelled some incredibly narrow and winding roads as we descended from the mountains to the coast. I’ve driven many similar roads, but I have to say that for shear terror these roads have to rank fairly high up the curve…but they were sure fun to drive!

More on white villages on my next entry.

SPAIN ON STRIKE!!!

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Let’s see…we were in Northern Ireland during the Maze Prison hunger strike, in Istanbul during a coupe, proudly in Amsterdam for the ‘Ban The Bomb’ peace marches, France for the riots on Bastille Day and now we can add the “National Strike in Spain” strongly protesting the efforts of the government to stop the country from spiraling into economic purgatory. Really enjoying a very nice bottle of special Granada area gold medal award winning wine…we did forget to buy food to sustain us through the strike, but thank god we remembered the wine!! Its been a day thin on food as most everything is closed for this seemingly popular strike. The only way we have been able to eat today is to go to the bars that are open and order a drink which comes with a free tapas! Actually not a bad way to enjoy the day and now we are perched on our 4th floor balcony eating the nuts I put in my pack at home and washing them down with this very nice bottle of wine.

It wasn’t all party time today. We earned some of our drinks and tapas with some long uphill walks into the Sacramonte area where the Roma and so called hippies of today live in a series of caves. Its low rent housing, but the views are million dollar types overlooking Granada and the foothills and plains leading away from the Serra Nevada Mountains (2nd highest range in Europe no less). The hike was all the more interesting as the temperature hovered in the high 20’s…very nice given the early fall we left at home.

We also visited one of Spain’s largest cathedrals which is also one of only two Renaissance churches in Spain. Quite impressive, but didn’t compare to the brilliance of the adjacent Royal Chapel where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are buried. They apparently spent 25% of their wealth to create a home for their remains…from a financial planning perspective this would be unadvisable, but I guess when you are considered the founding parents of present day Spain it makes some sense.

Funny what happens to tourism when a country goes on strike. Everyone in the industry denies that its going to happen so travelers make their plans, such as purchasing expensive tickets to the Alhambra. The next day the tourist awakes to find that everything is closed and their valuable in demand tickets to the Alhambra are just so much garbage. We met just such a New Zealand couple today…while drinking beer and eating tapas. They were not told of the strike by the tourist board and found out this morning that they have to apply to the Spanish Government for a refund for their tickets! So they decided to spend the day as others were on a drinks and tapas crawl! When we met them at 4pm they happily acknowledged that they were basically blotted and that the sting of the Alhambra fiasco had essentially diminished proportionately to their drinking!
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For tonight, I guess it will be chocolate and cashews for dinner as everything is closed and there are no tapas bars in range of our little hotel across from the Alhambra. Every business in town has strike posters all over the windows. For us the Alhambra should be open tomorrow which is the reason we came to Granada in the first place (though must say the drinks and tapas are pretty good here!). Booked the tickets on line a couple of months ago to make sure we could get in (a problem), and just dumb luck that the strike wasn’t called for Sept 30th!!

Pick up our car Oct 1st and will be fun to see where that leads us as we have made no plans for the week. Please note you can click on the photos to enlarge.

Cheesy Train Ride in Toledo

Guess I could have called this entry ‘Holy Toledo’, but then.........mmm, no...don't think so.

We sit here on a high speed train heading south from Madrid to Granada on a 4.5 hours trip (just pulled in and out of Cordoba), that will take half the time returning from Sevilla in a couple of weeks when we ride the super fast AVE (travels at something over 200kms/hr). It’s difficult to compare this ride with the cheesy tourist train we putted around Toledo in yesterday. After a couple of nights and a long, lovely warm day in Toledo, we were still no closer to seeing some of the views made famous by El Greco in his paintings. Sure the town was a gem… but we really wanted to see the views! Having given up our 2nd day in Toledo in order to transit south before the national strike tomorrow (Sept 29th), we missed what would typically have been our opportunity to really walk the outlying areas, something we enjoy doing on our travels. There is a brilliant walking trail along the river and across several old Roman built bridges well below the ramparts built by the Moors in the 1200’s to protect themselves from wandering Christians (history would prove them right!!). The city is built above the cliffs on the inside bow of the Tajo River which of course provides water protection on 3 sides and is classic to the time. You find the same set-up all over the ancient world. There is a large protective wall complete with double barrel gates on the landward side and gated entrances at the foot of bridges crossing the river at several points. We walked much of this yesterday and did see the classic sites in the city, but hey…no views! So against our better senses, cause we really hate touristy things, we bought ourselves tickets on the last train at 7pm and told ourselves, “heck, nobody here knows us”. So hats pulled low and sun glasses on, off we went! Well...hate to say it, but it was actually pretty good…no doubt better to look out from than to look at as we crawl by. We exchanged pleasant greetings and waves with all the little kids and their parents along the route and the views were pretty darn good too! Just goes to show you…I’ll have renewed respect for those tourists at home who crowd on to the big horse drawn wagons. I still won’t quite get it, but I’ll know that on the wagon that there are also some travelers who have convinced themselves, “heck, no one here knows us”! But I’ll know you cause you’ll be the ones with your hat pulled down and your sun glasses on even if its cloudy!




So far we have seen mostly Spanish tourists, however, we expect that to change as we head south towards the Med. With little English spoken, I’m pleased that I learned a little of the language. People tend to smile and treat you a bit differently when they know you are sincerely making an effort. If nothing else, it breaks the ice and I’m pretty sure that they all think to themselves…he must be Russian!

So tomorrow will be an extra day to wander in Granada perhaps up into the Roma areas of the upper city where the views of the Alhambra are exceptional and many of the gypsies still live in caves, perhaps as was the case in Capadoccia. Granada is a city of some 300,000 souls, but most of the areas of interest appear to be fairly central. After recently studying the history of the Alhambra in some detail (guess I was bored one day) I’m pretty excited to see this gem that took approximately 150 years to complete before it was lost to the Christian armies from Castile in the late 1300’s. Weather has been great, in the upper 20C range, and we are having a blast!!! More later…

Erin...there are Magnum Bars here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bits and Pieces

The past few weeks have been busy in a good sort of way. A long weekend taken to play tourist in our own town...one day of the weekend spent walking along the water and through town racking up 20kms and a stop in the pub! Another long weekend to celebrate a 60th birthday with close friends while camping at Miracle Beach and just enjoying the time visiting. In between work has been in peak form as it is at this time of year with everything ramping up in the north for the ice road season. This weekend we both used some recovery time while Annie kicked a cold and I fought it off.

There has been little time to sort out travel stuff of late, so after some exercise and tea, it was time to get organized for our coming jaunt to Spain and Moroc. We sorted through the details and divided paper work as Annie is departing in 5 days for Amsterdam and I will follow a week later heading to Madrid. If all works as scheduled, I'll arrive there at noon and she has a cheap flight down on EasyJet that will have her arrive 50 minutes later...not bad! We will meet at the TI in Terminal 1after I clear passport control. Then a short hop to T2 where we can find the metro into downtown Madrid and a bus down to Toledo where we will have a room waiting in a small hotel. There should be time for a walk, a glass or two of good red wine and a few tapas before crashing. Have been working on Spanish, and it will be fun to see how that goes...spoken like a Russian!! But I'll make the effort:)

Tonight we are all out for a Greek dinner together as Erin flies out early Tuesday morning to TO to return to school. While difficult to leave her pal Jordan, she will be back for a month at Xmas. After that she will complete her Masters by April...the time will fly by as there is so much to accomplish in just 8 months.

While that's about the whole story for now. Next posting should be made from Spain...3 weeks of living in a different environment...can't wait!

A Book Review

I finished reading Paul Theroux's recent book last night called "Ghost Train To The Eastern Star", published in 2008. Essentially Theroux re-traces the train travel he completed in the 1970's, a large circle route from London, through Europe to Istanbul, across Persia via Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, down through Pakistan & India, across Asia, up through Vietnam (during the war no less), across to Japan and back to London on the Trans Siberian. The trip took him months and is chronicled in his 1975 book, "The Great Railway Bazaar" (a personal favorite). In his most recent travel he attempts to recreate this trip some 30+ years later to look for changes and sameness, both in the countries he transits and in himself (born in 1941 so he would have been about age 66 when he did the trip). Of course, due to a few recent difficulties during the time of his travel he was unable to train through Persia on the same route, and instead heads northeast from Turkey, through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and down through Tajikistan before flying over Pakistan to India.

In this most recent train travel, at age 66, he has a life time of experiences to look back on, and he reflects very openly and frankly about his personal experiences and situation during the first trip (there was little indication in book one). He contrasts these reflections very well to his experiences during the second trip and shows humor and humility, something often missing from some of his earlie travel writing. He pulls few punches about governments, past and present...however, I won't spoil the fun for others who may wish to read his book.

I found his summation thought provoking...I'm still thinking about it;

"Most people on earth are poor. Most places are blighted and nothing will stop the blight getting worse. Travel gives you glimpses of the past and the future, your own and other people's...only the old can really see how gracelessly the world is aging and all that we have lost. Politicians are always inferior to their citizens. No one on earth is well governed. Is there hope? Yes. Most people I'd met, in chance encounters, were strangers who helped me on my way. And we lucky ghosts can travel wherever we want. The going is still good, because the arrivals are departures.".

I think most folks who travel independently have experienced the kindness of strangers. Its these and other chance encounters that I have come to cherish most when traveling.

Those of you ghosts out there on the road...enjoy!

Tour de France!

It's that time of year again...time for Le Tour! Short prologue start to the race this year in Rotterdam and nice to see the 3,600 km race get started again. The usual suspects are all in place and Lance claims this will be his last year...but he finished 4th on the first stage so it promises to be something special this year. Will be fun to watch to see if the young legs of Contador & Schlek will be able to beat the experience of the 'old' guy...they didn't help them today. The CDN Hejedas from Victoria is a surprise force this year in 4th place no less!

And then there is the World Cup of Football in S. Africa as it works its way into the semi finals this week with the Dutch, Germans, Spaniards and Uruguay teams still in it. I have to pull for the Dutch, but my money is on the Germans who again dominated today, beating Argentina 4-0.

Finally the landscaping is completed with just some plants to locate and place which can happen any time over the next year or two...no urgency as the infrastructure is complete. Took 2 months part time to finish this up-grade and its always nice to see the end of an effort. Garden is pretty much planted and now its time to enjoy the summer which appears to be arriving this week (finally). I have a stack of good books to get through this summer and we are going to take the first of 7 long weekends next week and head off camping at China Beach for 3 days. No bikes this trip as we are borrowing a Westphalia to see what camping is like with some wheels under us. The thought being that if we like it we will look to travel elsewher in the world using an update of this mode of travel. We have considered purchasing such an animal and then leaving it in Europe for extended post work travel. Its one method of cutting cost on long trips and we could use it to travel a very long way...will see how things go.

Started up the bike riding season and the first ride was about 80+k, not bad after a long winter. Added a monthly walking target this year to supplement the other fitness program cause sitting in a desk can't be the road to health!

Just two and a half months to Spain & Morocco...close enough to taste! Lots of fun to be had before then, but nice to look forward to. Really hoping that we can pull off a barge trip in France with Kathy & Bob and Joe & Marian next June/July. We would spend a week together then head off in separate directions. Perhaps we could catch a stage or two of Le Tour!

Don Quixote and White Windmills

Decisions have finally been made for travel this year and tickets arranged. Greece was calling (it always calls to me), but there is a clear hole in our Mediterranean travels and that hole belongs to Spain. So we will travel to the lands of the Moors, the Romans, Carthaginians and the Napoleonic wars between Wellington's battle squares and Napoleon's dragoon columns! There are also great wines, tapas bars and beautiful scenery to taste! We will be off in late September and Crete must wait yet again...sigh.

Spring has Sprung, the Grass has Riz and my feet itch!!!

On the West Coast of Canada we have just finished the warmest winter in over 100 years? Global warming...who knows, but it has been warm and I cut the grass for the first time earlier this month. We have started our long season of bike rides and are looking forward to many more this year. I even have new tires on my old bike to break in this year!

Ever since I was an undergrad at university, come March and April I always get very itchy feet....time to travel!!! Over the winter months we kicked around all sorts of ideas and slowly our travel plans have taken shape. It started with Annemarie planning a trip with her sister to visit family in Holland in late September, and it just grew from there! From Holland it looks like AB will travel on to meet me in Greece for an island hopping experience with much of our 3 weeks centered on Crete and a few lesser traveled islands...Milos, Naxos and perhaps a hop up to Lesvos just off the Turkish coast...'the island of women'. Truth be known I would also like to show Annemarie Thira (Santorini) with all of its dramatic volcanics driving deeply down into the Med. It is one of the most significant geological sites that I have come across in my travels. I understand that this is what has driven its tourism, and while I know it will be dramatically changed from my first visit in 1975, none-the-less it is an amazing site! We will experience another amazing (and less touristed experience) volcanic island on Milos. But I would like Annemarie to experience Thira...sit together with chilled glasses of Cretian white wine, crack a few pistachios as the sun takes forever to set into the Med...has to be one of the top 10 sun set locations in the world.

I have long wanted to travel to Crete and have managed to miss it on various other travels in the area. If we stay away from the NE corner of the island we will miss most of the mass tourism stuff. I understand that the rest of the island is fairly traditional with excellent gorge hiking, high mountain villages, soft & sandy beaches and not to be forgotten remains from the Minoan civilization, many of these in the south central part of the island well away from the better known site in the north. Already looking forward to waking to the Mediterranean sun and that special , difficult to describe brilliant light that I have only seen in the eastern Med.

Between now and then...a teaching assignment for AB at the university, some weekend camping, lots of bike riding and many long walks. Its a very nice life style on the Island! I'm using a week of my vacation this year to take a series of long weekends through the summer to help facilitate some of these activities. Will watch for good weather weekends and pounce on them!

I think this is progress...

Hola from Puerto Adventura, located on the so called Mayan Riviera, Mexico.

Progress can of course take many forms and can mean many things to different people. We first visited this area over ten years ago when we were able to happily escape the confines of a cruise ship at Playa des Carmen and catch a bus south to visit the coastal Mayan city of Tulum. As I recall, we felt somewhat adventurous as we bumped along on a poor section of road in search of a bit of history. Playa was generally a quiet town consisting of a few shops and was fairly typical of the area, with few roads paved...most not. We brought along a little fruit, some water and of course a couple of cold beers for the 2 hour bus trip south. As we rolled and bumped along I can recall how impressed we were that this road was in the process of a serious up-grade. There were big squares of concrete being poured for road base all the way along, with dirt roads running off towards the sea with signage proclaiming the future home of some resort. There were many of these, but mostly we followed a road along a coastline un-mared by buildings, with exceptional ocean vistas at the foot of long sweeps of undeveloped, untouched Yucatan greenery.

Fast forward 10 years...what a change! Quiet Playa has been replaced with all the trappings, complete with a Senior Frogs, a Wal Mart, Starbucks and traffic congestion. The roads are all paved and curbed. The occasional shop has been replaced with 5th Street which is full of the usual trinket stops carrying Mexican goods, and I suspect others made even further afield. Playa has grown to the point where it is larger than Cancun Town and attracts workers from all over Mexico. On a trip to Cancun about 7 years ago, we found many of the workers were more local, but with explosive development this has quickly changed. For example, we met trained staff at our accommodation from France and Brazil. The coast line is now a never ending line of 'all-inclusive' resorts, over priced condo developments and theme 'adventure' parks. It really has changed the landscape and one wonders what the future will look like. Construction is already underway to build a LRT system running from Cancun down along the highway past Tulum, designed to quickly transport tourists and workers to the various resorts and sites.

All this development has generated considerable employment in Mexico and has put hard currency into the hands of many locals. It has also raised the cost of living for those same locals and one wonders how they are managing. I can't answer this question. I still see the local people as largely friendly and appreciative of the employment in the area. And certainly it is a nice place to spend a week in the sun with seemingly endless numbers of other Canadians and Europeans. Clearly one thing has changed...this is not the 'real' Mexico and one would have to travel a ways to find it in this area. But I know its out there cause we've seen it before...just not on this trip.

On a separate note...we lost a dear and special member of our family yesterday when Auntie Barb passed away. She touched our hearts.