Lions and tigers and....burros? Oh my!

Well after an enjoyable night in Tarifa we took the 9am ferry over to Tangiers, Morocco and met our driver.  We set out for Fes about 10am stopping at a roadside stand to taste fresh picked melons, delicious!  We then drove into a small fishing village and picked out fresh fish at a small market, had the guy clean and filet them.  Them brought them to a cafe next door and had the guy grill them, with the heads on of course.  They were delicious, and we had more melon for dessert. 
Then we were back on the road which became a two-lane country road with a speed limit of 60KPH, that's pretty slow about 40 MPH!  It ended up taking 6 hours riding in a small van to get to Fes.  Our guide was pretty good and talked about all of the area.  They grow a lot of wheat, corn, sugar beets, sugar cane, almonds, and olives throughout the area we traveled.  But they drive pretty wild, a couple times Cindy thought we were going definately going to wreck.  But our driver swerved or stopped quickly and said "don't worry, I like to live".  Pretty reassuring huh?
Fes is huge.  Our Riad (hotel) is in the old city.  Our driver pulled over and waited for a guy from the hotel to come with a pushcart.  He loaded our luggage in it and pushed it uphill through narrow streets, really alleyways since cars can't go into the medina.  The Riad is gorgeous, once you enter through an un-assuming door you enter into a very nice courtyard with a fountain.  Our host greeted us with cold towels to refresh ourselves with and cold mint tea while we checked in.  Then we took a tour of the Riad.  We have a traditional Moroccan dinner scheduled on the rooftop terrace tonight.
Tomorrow we will have a guide to bring us around the Medina and bring us back since it is a huge maze.  We are definately in a foreign land. 

burros are used quite a bit

 

hey buddy, you gonna eat that fish head?

recently harvested cork tree

paradise found!

Sevilla

We moved yesterday to Sevilla in Southern Spain.  It was a nice drive here from Portugal.  We didn't have reservations for last night but went directly to the hotel we have a room for tonight.  The girl at the desk called several hotels for us (she was booked) and found us a room just down the block.  We checked in and brought our bags up.  It is very hot here and the A/C was not on, so we turned it on and headed out to see what we could see.  It was about 7PM and we just walked around, stopped to get something to eat and allow time for the rooms to cool down.  Got back to the room about 11 and had not cooled down much.  OH WELL, just one night.  Didn't sleep too well and we packed up when we got up and brought our bags to tonight's hotel.  The held our bags and we headed out again.
We just got into our room about 1/2 hour ago.  It is very small, the smallest yet..... a little cooler..... just one night.  Almost time for a bite for lunch, Forest is resting his back for a while.  We visited a cathedral this morning.  It is suppose to be the 3rd largest in Europe.  It was beautiful and we attended mass at 10AM there.  I ducked in to another church (St Joseph's) which is just across the street from us.  It is a small church but is beautiful.
The streets here are all very small with very narrow sidewalks (one person wide in most areas).  The cars are small and barely pass, most are one way streets.  You cannot turn into a parking garage without making a SEVERAL point turn.  Look out walkers, he is backing up!  They are all paved with stone (not concrete or asphalt).  Makes walking a bit tough on the feet.  The buildings are several stories high so walking around it is hard to see any reference points.  We were just a couple of blocks from the cathedral and could not see the steeple.

Last day in Portugal

Yesterday afternoon we drove out to Salema, a small fishing village.  Really nice but development has caught up with it.  No highrises but a large villa type development being built on the hillside just above the village.  Nice beach with a few people enjoying the surf and sand.
After walking on the beach a while we found a small Indian restaurant and enjoyed a light dinner of fish tika, samosa with lamb, naan bread with garlic and cheese, and chicken pakora.  This was accompanied with a hot sauce and a great mint yogurt.
Then we headed back to the Memmo hotel and finished off the last bottle of wine.
Today after breakfast we will drive to Seville with maybe a  stopover at a small village.
Life is good.

Furthest point west in Europe

Sagres, Portugal.  We arrived here just after noon and decided to splurge for a couple days so we negotiated prices on 2 suites.  Nice rooms with great views of the marina and the Atlantic.  We enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon, had pizza for lunch at the Bossa Nova cafe then cheese, fruit, and vino for dinner while watching the sunset from the balcony.
This morning after a breakfast buffet we drove out to a nice beach and walked around watching a few surfers.  Then we visited a fort where Henry the Navigator built a school for mariners in 1443.  Columbus wrecked just offshore here and swam ashore, I guess it was a good place to shipwreck.
Then we drove out to San Vincents cape lighthouse, the most southwesterly point in Europe, referred to as the "end of the world". 
We then drove around town a little and came back to our suites for a siesta.
Tomorrow we drive over to Seville, Spain for a couple days.  Then on to Morocco.

view from our balcony

sunrise from our balcony

"end of the world"

"last bratwurst before America"

we need beaches like this back home!

Overnight in Caruche, make that Bonavente

After leaving Salamanca we visited Fatima.  Very inspiring and Cindy and I were able to make mass in the Basilica.  We thought about spending the night there but there are wildfires just north of there so the smoke and ash were more than we wanted.  So we headed south thinking we would find a nice small town to overnight in.  Well we found a nice small town that was preparing for a festival this weekend but there was only one hotel.  David and I went check the rooms and couldn't get out of there fast enough!  Really bad, on a scale of 1-10 this would have been a -2.  Dark, old, dirty, nasty, with a bathroom down the hall that looked like something out of summer camp days.  So we headed towards Lisbon and found a larger town that had 1 hotel.  So we checked it out and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice, new boutique hotel owned by a younger couple.  At dinner on the rooftop restaurant we visited with the husband-owner.  He said he studied law and psychology then when they bought the hotel he decided to abandon that career and run and cook at the restaurant.  Good decision, Cindy had a stuffed hamburger (with smoked sausage), I had a pastry filled with partridge, goose, duck, and chicken, David had a turkey steak.  They were all very good but Denise's "cod in pastry" won the prize.  Very good combination of spices.
Today we head towards a small coastal town for a hotel that he recommended.  He said the fires shouldn't be a problem there.  We hope to see more cork groves.  We started seeing small groves late yesterday but didn't have to stop and take pictures.

Where the heck is Salamanca?

Well after picking up the rental car at Madrid airport we headed west.  A pleasant surprise were how nice the roads were.  Little traffic and very smooth.  As it started getting late and we were hungry we pulled into Salamanca to find a hotel.  A much larger city than we thought, we ended up in the city center at a really nice hotel ($66euros) a block away from the Plaza Mayor.  We walked around the Plaza for a while and ate dinner.  For a Sunday night the plaza was pretty busy.  Quite a few cafes and families enjoying a late dinner.  And of course a helado for dessert, Cindy had limo and I had caramelo.
This morning we walked over to the church and were pleasantly surprised.  This church ranks just below St. Peter's in the Vatican in size and elaborate decorations.  The organs were a double set and looked like gold leaf on the trumpets, one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  The Blessed Virgin's altar was also very elaborate.  Very nice. 
Glad we brought windbreakers as it is 46 F outside!
We all feel so fortunate to find such a great place to spend the night.
Well we leave in a couple hours to head into Portugal.  We plan to drive to Fatima and may spend the night there.

 

our last sunset on the Midi Canal, Homps, France

Carcassonne

Yesterday we took a taxi from Homps to Carcassonne to visit Le Cite'.  A walled city dating back to the old Roman times.  This is a Unesco site and an actual city that has inhabitants and shops, hotels, restaurants, and a castle.  Back in the late 1870's an architect who had studied archeology as a hobby decided to rebuild the city that had been abandoned and in disrepair.  A remarkable job, really felt like you were walking through a midevil city.  The city overlooks the countryside and the modern city of Carcassonne.  In the distance you can see the Pyrenees mountains.  Walking through the castle you could almost hear the knights roaming with you.  A very nice trip.  We then picked up a rental car to drive back to Homps for happy hour.  Today we drive to Toulouse for a flight to Madrid and the start of another adventure in Spain!

Rapunzel, let down your hair