Around the World in 180 Days
27-Mar-2001 Spain.
What can I say, I am in Love with this country. Myfirst images of it was late at night in a Taxi inBarcelona. My little hotel was an old Monastery calledthe Orienta, situated right on the La Rambala, a busyinner city walkway that extends from the centre of thecity to the ocean. My first walk in Spain was early, Ionly had one day and wanted to make the best of it. Itook a walk up the La Rambala, past all the earlymorning flower stalls, the bird stalls, paper standsand the people making their way to work. I had no ideahow to see Barcelona in a day but I thought if I founda Travel Agency I could get some idea. Turns outBarcelona has a city tour, a bus that allows you toget on and off at various points of interest and itlast all day. This was for me. I met up with a womanfrom San Diago, who was also travelling alone and wesaw this wonderful city together.
This one day in this glorious city was not enoughtime.
What struck me was the cleanliness of the city, nolitter... in spite of my Love of my stay in Greece thelitter and rubbish in the streets were not my favoritesites in Athens, here in Spain I have actually sightedworkmen hosing the streets, I paid careful attentionto the narrow back streets and they too were so clean.
Barcelona and Madrid have these wonderful tree linedstreets, the architecture is magic... Goudi (I thinkthis is the way you spell his name} is a famousSpanish Architect, he has his mark in Barcelona on manyof the buildings, his use of curves and ironwork worksmagic.
I met a friend in Malaga to begin a pilgrimage to theplace his grandfather and grandmother came from beforemigrating to Hawaii in the early 1900. We visited andfilmed the wharf where his grandmother's ship leftSpain and then made our way to Granada where grandpalived in caves. I was able to find a Cave Hotel up inon a hill in Granada overlooking the Alhambra. TheAlhambra is the main attraction in Granada, it isperserved ancient city that contains the mostbeautiful Palace I have ever seen, with the marks ofeach ruler left on its walls, and floors. Many of therooms had a Water feature that was used to cool therooms down and it did just that, the weather wasunusually hot for this time of year, the difference intemperature from outside to inside was remarkable.
I adored Granada, stayed there two days and wasfortunate to experience, what my friend called thebeginning of the Spring Break, as Granada is also aUniversity town. The kids were so thick it took us 30mins to walk through them to get to dinner. The musicand reverie was contagious. On our way back fromdinner, mind you dinner in Spain does not begin until9.30pm to 10pm so it was late, the kids were stillpartying everywhere. This part of the country is magicalso, the narrow streets, the cobbled walkways, thewarm and friendly people... all nod and smile withBuenos Dias. The Caves were unbelievable, we who livein hot humid climates should make use of the earthlike this, even though it was hot outside, when I hadmy afternoon siesta I had to put a rug overmyself....hey I had to have an afternoon siesta sothat I could eat when everyone else ate....it is notbecause of my age...hmmmmmm.
Ok my 30 mins are up at the Internet cafe so I willcontinue tomorrow... with the Costa Del Sol.
My love and hugs to you all,
Wendy
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