After a fast train drops us in Seville, Spain, I walk past a barber shop. It’s on…that darn song…sticking in my head for the two days we spend here. “I’m the Barber of Seville,” plays repeatedly in my mind, making me nuts…not from the opera, but from Bugs Bunny cartoons back in childhood.
Cathedral of Seville
We find bargains while traveling in Spain during the off-season. Our clean, marble-floored hostal costs $70(US) down from $120(US) and the balcony overlooks cafes that line the cobblestone roads of Sevilla. Mare spills some beer from our balcony, and makes a waiter below us bellow obscenities and bad wishes our way. At least we cannot understand a word of what he says, but the message seems pretty clear.
Tower of Gold
Mare walks the city streets, all along the Watchtower of Gold, and finds a “Lonely Planet” travel guidebook for Morocco, the only one in English, for $40(US), while I catch up on some writing. We are getting spoiled…cafés and drinks, but at least we mostly dine from the grocery stores, with the exception of a few dishes like “Solomillo al Whiskey,” a marinated white pork, as well as some fried squid, clams, and seafood soup.
The people here, as well as most of Spain, continue to be friendly but distant. Most of them smoke cigarettes. All cafés, bars and restaurants fill with cigarette smoke, from the young and elderly, as if immune to the warnings of such behavior. Makes me want to start up again, but too bad smokes are so hard to quit. Many folks here roll their own. By the way, marijuana is legal here, for personal use, and not in public. I don’t even smell it anywhere.
I can see Africa from my house
After a three-hour bus ride, I can see Africa from my house! No, I’m not Sarah Palin (it’s a continent and is not Russia). We land in the town of Tarifa, the southernmost point of Europe, where the ferries take only one-half hour to cross to Morocco, about nine miles away. We decide to enjoy Tarifa for a few days, before heading out for a different, exotic adventure.
The people of Tarifa blend many cultures, as this land had been fought over for centuries. Foods range in influences from Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and of course, all delights from the sea.
The view from our terrace
We stay in Hostal Africa for about $50(US), located in the heart of the historic, walled city. Sipping beers on the rooftop terrace, (Mare is banned from drinking on our small balcony) we gander at a castle, church steeples, antennas on the tops of houses, and of course, a lighthouse that shines where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Our first night in town, we manage to stay awake long enough for a nine o’clock dinner. Mare eats seafood pizza, and I the squid and rice, blackened with the ink of squid, very tasty from an iron pot. That evening we encounter our first American tourists, on our rooftop terrace, a couple of nice guys from San Francisco. The strong winds and rain in this town make them feel at home. They share drinks and travel stories with us. We finds it refreshing to conduct a lengthy conversation in English.
All along the WatchtowerThe next day we walk all along the Watchtower, then towards the beach that earns the distinction of being the kite-surfing capital of Spain. Yes, we may stay here for a few days and look at the African Continent.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! We are thankful for our family, friends, good heath and the ability to embark on adventure. Thank you, Abundant Universe!
Happy Thanksgiving! Really enjoying the lessons of history, geography, cultural anthropology and the worldly cuisines….eating it all up!
Good to hear from you Holly. I know you are traveling with us in spirit and soul.
Hey Ron & Mare – We’ve just returned to San Francisco from our travels in Spain. I’m enjoying your blog! Wishing you more (safe and) exciting adventures! – Ray
Hello Ray and Alan,
Nice to hear from you. Glad you made it home safely. We enjoyed your company, We still plan to visit the mountown town you recommened on our way back to Madrid, but this morning we’re heading to Marrakesh.
Caio,
Ron and Mare
Right away I am going away to do my breakfast, once having my breakfast coming over
again to read other news.
You made a few fine points there. I did a search on the
topic and found mainly
persons will have the same opinion with your blog.
Thank you, that is always good to hear. Ron
I’ve been browsing on-line more than three hours lately, but I by no means found any interesting article like yours. It is lovely price sufficient for me. In my view, if all website owners and bloggers made
good content as you did, the net shall be much more helpful than ever before.
Thanks for your kind words, Melodee.
This site can be a walk-
by means of for the entire info you
wished about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse right here, and you’ll definitely uncover it.
1
There may be noticeably a bundle to find out about this.
I assume you made
certain nice points in options also.
There are actually a
variety of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great level to deliver
up. I provide the ideas above as
general inspiration but clearly there are questions
just like the one you
carry up the place a very powerful factor
will probably be working in honest good faith.
I
don?t know if greatest practices have emerged around things like that, however
I’m sure that your job is clearly identified as a good game. Both boys
and girls feel the affect of just a second’s
pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like
to
shoot you an email. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you
might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it develop over time.
Sure, the “About Me” section has my website, but here is my email: rmitchell61@cox.net.
Hi! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your
posts! Carry on the superb work!
Thanks, stay tuned, we are heading to Iceland, Russia and Mongolia!
hey there and thank you for your information – I have definitely
picked up
something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical
issues using this web
site, since I experienced to reload the site
many times previous
to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK?
Not that
I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your
placement in google and could damage your quality score if ads and
marketing with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to
my e-mail and could look out for a lot more of your respective
intriguing content. Make sure you update
this again soon..