La Botica Cádiz

... I saw a bullfight my first week here and it really wasn't my cup of tea, but it was interesting to be where all the action takes place. I then proceeded to go exploring on my own, which I actually do quite frequently. I love people but I find I really enjoy some things better when I make my own experience not surrounded by what everyone else wants to do. I started by going down into the Ronda Gorge, which literally looks like a city built on a cliff. It is just ...

We decided today we would stay in the area and just go driving. We wanted to check out some wineries and take a cave tour. But we didn't get a chance to do either one. The cave tours were 5 hours long. The caves are amazing but not sure Shae would be able to hang that long. my guess is not. And we drove and drove and didn't find one winery. I think we got close one time. But anyway the ride was beautiful and there was a great restaurant in a white village ...

... took us about 30 minutes to get to Grazalema and we fell in love with it as we were driving in. It's set in the hillside but is surrounded by national forest land. I've said it a hundred times about how beautiful the scenery is, but this by far was our favorite. It was breathtaking. The village was so cute set up a bit more for tourists than where we're staying. It has a great square where everyone was meeting. Monday ...

... did not need anymore sun exposure, so we just sat up there and read until it was time to leave.

As we walked the 4 blocks to the station, we realized we were quite hungry, but the only thing open was a Burger King, so we were forced to get that for lunch (monumental for me, actually, since I had never had Burger King before). We saw just about everyone else from our program in the station and all boarded together for the hour-ish ride to ...

... their rotors spinning and roaring, casting giant shadows across the roads and fields. At one point I did wonder whether these were not really generating electricity but actually generating the wind for the benefit of these surfers. Nevertheless we were determined to enjoy this coast, the eastern end of the Costa de la Luz, which really is beautiful. The mountains of the eastern side of Andalucia have ended, giving way to rolling ...

... morning to get another one before heading out to Seville at 10am. After breakfast we walked around town and went to the cathedral. It was eerily similar to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome but slightly different in that it had a huge crypt below. We followed a tour group around to get the gist of what we were looking at but sometimes it was hard to hear what the guide was saying since we didn't want to get too close ...

We leave Boom a day later than most people, staying at our campsite version 2.0 with Ale the dancer and his friend Nicco from Florence. All around us there are scores of proper modern day hippies, with their beautifully converted vans and trucks. It's been really nice to have an extra day to cool down after a week of sun, dust, loud music and general madness, but the time is now ripe for us to move on and head south once ...

... through tiny backstreets to find one of the top recommended tapas bars in all of Andalucia only to find that a busload of sweaty Germans had beat us to the bar and, too snobby to shoulder rub with obvious amateurs in grubby Heineken baseball caps and Scholl slippers, we swiftly exited and made our way to the absolutely-not-in-any-guide-book Calle las Piletas bars, where for half the price, and a quarter of the ...

... you probably just got lost there) - well after my visit I know what he means..the place is lovely and the Alhambra Palace is absolutley amazing! We stayed our first night on a site 3km out of the city called Reina Isabel , this is the most run down site we have seen on our travels, in fact I haven't seen this sort of run down since the last time I was in Middlesborough!! I went in the the showers and almost got an electric shock from the bare wires hanging from the roof, the sinks ...

... we found some great Italian food and splurged. After this, we saw a Flamenco show which made my jaw drop in awe. I will post a few of the pics but they will never do justice to the power of the performance. What a great night. I made my way back to Madrid yesterday, taking the lovely AVE once more. I will save the details of a wonderful couple days in Madrid for the next posting, as this one is quickly becoming a novel. One more night, but many more stories... -Ari