Spain 2010 Holy Toledo

As we were heading into Toledo. I had heard there was amazing architecture and a ton of churches. But we didn't know exactly were to stay or what to see. We only had one night so we had to make the best of it. Once we arrived we stoped at a few different hotels, but they were all sold out. They told us good luck but all rooms in the city are booked. I was bummed but we decided to park the car and at least explore the city and have dinner. As we were walking through the amazing narrow streets of Toledo we went into a few small hostels. After some persistence we luck out and found a room for the night. It was getting late so we had dinner and watched a World Cup match. We went to bed early and planned on getting up early and exploring the back streets of Toledo. We really only had a few hours to see the city and we made the best of it. We took a self guided walk I got out of the Spain Lonely Planet book. It took us through some of the most beautiful parts of the city. The phrase Holy Toledo came from this city. There are 79 churches and 1 cathedral. There is literally a church on every corner. If I ever spend time back in Spain, another day in Toledo is definitely justified.

Spain 2010 Alarcon and Windmills of La Mancha

Alarcon is a place most average tourists have never heard of. Danielle's great-grandfather on her mom's side not only shares the villages name, but also has roots from there, so she really wanted to visit. It was a few hours out of the way, but we made the trip worthwhile by stopping at a few other places along the way. Alarcon is a really small town with a river flowing into a big reservoir. There's a castle that has been turned into a hotel, a church and a dozen or so houses. It was a cute small village in the middle of farmland.

After Alarcon we made a few stops in other small towns. My favorite stop was at La Mancha. It is a group of old windmills out in the open plains. While we were there two bus loads of Japanese tourist pulled up. It was funny because I fit right in with them taking tons of pictures from every angle.

This day 6/26/2010 was Danielle's and my 6th anniversary. It has been the best six years of my life and I'm looking forward for all the years to come. Danielle, I love ya!

What I didn't know until a few months later was I got a photo speeding ticket on the same day. Around he the end of August I got a certified letter from Espana. When I opened it up it was a picture of us in our C3 cruising down the freeway. I was driving 101km in a 80km zone. It sucked, but nothing I could do about it. At least I was able to pay it online. It was for 100 euro, but since I paid in a timely manner they cut it in half, so it cost me 50 euro. At least I got a souvenir picture out of it!

Spain 2010 The Alhambra of Granada

Before leaving on out trip to Spain. I had very little time to research our trip. While visiting with Uncle Jim he had suggested that we must see the Alhambra of Granada. I had read a few things about it but didn't really know how amazing it was. The Alhambra was a fortress built by the Arabic in the 9th century. In the 13th/14th century it was converted into a Palace complex adjoined to a small town. After the Christan conquest of Granada the Mosque was converted into a Church. In the 18th century it was abandoned to thieves and beggars. In 1870 it was declared a national monument as a result of the huge interest stirred by romantic writers. It now enjoys a UNESCO World Heritage status.

In my experience it was truly amazing. The grounds were immaculately cared for. The Generalife Gardens were some of most beautiful I've ever seen. The Palacio Nazaries is definitely the highlight of the Alhambra. The rooms and courtyards are perfectly proportioned, with intricately molded stucco walls, beautiful tiling, fine carved wooded ceilings and elaborate stalactite like vaulting, all worked in mesmerizing, symbolic geometric patterns. When you buy your ticket for the Alhambra, which we did in advance over the phone, and is highly recommended. You have to chose AM or PM then you get 30 minute time slot to enter the Palacio Nazaries. They do this so you don't have to wait in lines and can enjoy the rest of the Alhambra while waiting for your window. The tile work and ceilings were what truly impressed me.

After six hours exploring the grounds we head out of town to cut the time of our drive towards Toledo tomorrow. We spent the night in Jaen and watch Spain win one of there world cup games. Watching the locals go crazy over the cup was a highlight of our trip. The whole city stooped and watched the game. It was a truly cool thing to see. I wish the USA had the passion of the worlds sport real Football.

Spain 2010 Benidorm, Calpe & Jalon Valley

On this part of the trip we stayed with Danielle's uncle Jim. He's lived in Benidorm Spain for the last 7 years. It is a huge crazy British tourist city, it has the second most skyscrapers to NYC crazy. Normally this wouldn't be the type of place we would even stay. But with Jim's local knowledge we were able to see some amazing places only 10 minutes away. His condo is amazing, it's on the top two floors of a high rise facing the beach. We stayed there for two nights and packed in a ton. He took us to a neighboring beach town Calpe which I really enjoyed it's a small fishing village. We then went to Jalon Valley which is a big wine producing area. We went to a winery were Jim filled up his Jugs for 2 euro. Danielle and Jim managed to taste most of the wines for free yea. We had lunch at a great family ran restaurant
La Piscina, then head back to Jim's place for a nap. We really enjoyed our time in Benidorm and it was great seeing Uncle Jim. Hopefully we'll make it back to visit again.

Spain 2010 Salou, Benicassim & Valencia

Again sorry for not posting anything for the last few months. I've had a lot of people asking to see the rest of our photos from Spain. I've broke them up into a few slide shows from city to city.

This first group is from were we left off posting. The photos are from the two days after we left Andorra.

We stayed two nights on the coast before heading to Danielle's uncle Jim's. The first night was in Salou which ended up being a British tourist city. The were puds every few buildings. It wasn't our favorite place but it was getting late and we just needed a place to crash.

The next stop was Benicassim which was a beautiful small beach front town. We spent a relaxing night at a nice beach front hotel. We did manage to get a few hours laying on the beach just relaxing in the sun. The next day we were heading to Benidorm to see Danielle's uncle. We stopped in Valencia for a quick tour of the city. I can't believe we managed to get in and out of the city with out getting lost. It was a huge city and we didn't have a map for it. I was a little tense but D gave me amazing directions.

Don't Give Up on the Blog!

First, let me send a million apologies for the lack of blog posts. Our summer has been extremely busy with working in the stores, tent sales, and trying to fit in sleeping and eating every now and again. School is back in session and life will finally slow down a bit. We will work on getting our camping pictures up from the beginning of August and caught up on everything else. We hope all is well with everyone out there. :-) Look for more posts soon!

Were home safe!!

Well we hit a lot of snags on the flight home. But we made it.

Leaving Madrid we were planing on taking the Metro. As we got to the station it was closed? There was a strike! We decided to try and catch the bus. It was about a mile walk so we rushed to the station. Once we arrived they said the airport bus no longer stopped there. We were striking out and decided to jump in a taxi. Once we got to the airport we found out the plane was delayed 2 hours due to weather. We were a little stressed since we only had a 1:50 layover in Dallas and had to clear customs. It looked like we might be stuck in Dallas for the night.

Once we landed in Dallas it took 15 minuted to open the door. No one from the airport was at the gate? That pissed off a lot of people. Once we got out of the plane we only had 30 minutes to get through customs and move from terminal D to A. It seemed imposable. We sprinted from the plane to customs. Grabbed our bags and rushed through. By the time we got through the lines our plane should have already left. We still decided to sprint to the gate. Once we arrived the plane was just pulling up. There was a 30 minute delay. We were so happy.

It was an amazing trip overall. I'm heading to work so I don't have time to write much. But I will do a blog and picture slide show on each city later.

Mountains to the Coast!

After breakfast, we drove into the extremely small country of Andorra. It is wedged in the middle of the Pyrenees in between France and Spain. The landscape is breathtaking. Located right above the tree line, it is the perfect location for ski resorts and rightfully so there is one on every turn of the road. We returned to Spain and headed down to the coast. The drive down reminded us a lot of California complete with its own Altamont Pass and windmills. The town of Tarragona had a little too much hustle and bustle of a regular city for our international driving skills, so we went a bit south to Salou. It’s mostly wall to wall hotels and a big tourist destination, but we are just staying one night. We are planning on continuing down the coast tomorrow.

Headed Out on the Road

We had a wonderful time on our NCL cruise. We spent the days exploring each port city and the night having good dinners and enjoying great live shows. The boat was more like a floating hotel and train all in one. We only spent one full day on the boat at sea. The rest of the time we were in Spain, Monaco and Italy. We got off the boat today, Sunday, spent the morning in Barcelona, then picked up our rental car. We wanted to see the Pyrenees mountains so we headed up towards France and Andorra. Its been a beautiful drive. We're staying the night in Le Seu d'Urgell which is about 5 miles from Andorra and 10 from France. Today we're going to swing through Andorra and France to check out a few ski resort towns and alpine lakes then start to head down towards the coast.

Speeding through Italy!!!

Over the last 3 days we've been criss crossing Italy. We hit Florence, Rome and today Naples and Pompeii. Its been an amazing trip so far. Internet is very expensive so here's a few pics. I'll do a slide show of each city when we get home. Were heading back to Spain tomorrow. Were stopping on the Island of Pala de Mallorca for 1 day before we head back to Barcelona. We've been loving the cruise but excited to get back on our own. The updates should be more often once we get to Spain.

Walking on the Rich Side!!!

We've left Spain on the Cruise and made our first stop in Monaco. It's an extremely wealthy town. Every car is a Ferrari, Bentley or BMW. We strolled the town then jumped on the public bus to go to the village of Eze. It is a beautiful town perched on the cliffs above the French Riveria. No time for details due to the lack of internet availability, but we'll do a more detailed blog later and of course more pics.

Touchdown in Spain

After around 26 hrs of flying, transfering planes, and sitting on a runway waiting out a thunderstorm, we are in Barcelona. We put our bags down and hit the town since it was already about 5pm by the time we got in. In a short time we were actually able to see a decent amount of the towm. Tomorrow we get on our cruise boat around 3pm, so we will try to pack in a full day before.

Adios amigos!

Tomorrow morning Danielle and I are jumping on a plane to Spain. Were spending are first night in Barcelona. Then going on a 7 night NCL Mediterranean cruise through Monaco, Italy and Spain. After the cruise we've got a rental car lined up. Were not sure of our exact destination but were sure it will be amazing. Check back for updates on our travels.

May Snow = Frozen Toes!

Our friends Mike and Siobain planned to get married on May 22nd quite awhile ago. No one thought it would snow 3 inches on us! The ceremony was outside and it just started to snow. Soon after getting inside for the reception, the snow started to pile up. It was beautiful, however, since I had a strapless dress on and open toed shoes, I was slightly blue. Not to worry, the whiskey shots took care of that! Congrats Mike and Siobain!