Hamilton Court Santo Tomas

After days at sea we had a short stop in Malaga before docking the next day back in Savona. I have decided that I am not crazy about the days at sea. Even though I really enjoyed all the ports, I don't think I would do anther big curise. The fact that there were only small number of people who spoke enlgish on the ship was interesting. So wanted to speak another language .. any lanaugage. Even when I told the Germans I did nto speak Germann they kept talking!

... some time in Retiro Park (similar to Central Park in NYC) before we went to The Prado museum for a few hours. I as pretty shot early in the night from my classes that day and thus Scott and I headed to bed early so we could get up at a decent time to head to Granada,
Since I am living between my homestay and the hostal this week while everyone visits, Scott and I had to get up quite early so I could head back to my homestay to grab some more clothes and drop ...

Malaga is the major city near Frigiliana (where the train dropped us off). We spent a day there when we picked up Jaime and Rob at the train station. Some highlights:

• Watching Jaime and Rob come off the train and meet us in Spain
• The Picasso Museum – a wonderful ...
  Málaga, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands jennyandpaul2

... the pond. The American author, Washington Irving, explored the palace in the 1800s (after it had fallen into disrepair) and stirred up interest about it with his Tales of the Alhambra. It is a truly magical place.

It's hard to list highlights – every room had details and stories about which many books have been written. Some views that stuck with us, though, include:

• the Islamic writings sculpted into the walls
Granada, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands jennyandpaul2

A very colorful country, fill with Mayan Archaeological sites, incredible native markets, history, nature and very gentle people. The stumbling-block is the media images we have planted in our minds: images of violence and civil strife. Once planted, such images are slow to dissipate. However, since the ...

... I stayed at Nixe Palace, it was amazing! It was beautiful and I had a great view of the ocean; every night I had a great breeze. It had outdoor pools, a gym, an indoor ...

... converted into Cathedrals during the Roman control. The Cathedral therefore had both designs of an Arabic mosque and a Roman cathedral. It had the colorful tiles, the wall facing Mecca, and also had pictures of Jesus, an organ, and a crucifix. It was held up by huge pillars and arches. La Mezquita is an extremely large building, with several sections all from different centuries. We spent the afternoon in Córdoba, enjoying a lunch of tapas ...

... de plaatstelijke bus genomen naar het Centrum om daar naar het toeristisch infopunt te gaan. Met de auto was het niet mogelijk, vermits er kei veel straten zijn waar geen auto's mogen rijden en er was zeer weinig parkeerplek in de stad. De meneer van de infodienst zei ons dat het niet meer mogelijk was om kaarten te kopen, maar dat we zondag heel vroeg naar het Alhambra moesten gaan. Dan maar met mijn boekje van Andalucia de streek gaan verkennen. We wilden ...

... the struggeles I have encountered thus far (nothing major, just little irritating things). I am on day-backpack number 2. The one I brought with has a broken zipper, so I had to buy a new one. Then about a week into that one it got sucked under the 4 wheeler in Greece and the plastic broke so the straps are no longer adjustable. Then it ripped on the bottom and i had to sew it up. Along the same line, the ...

... mostly climbing. The temperature dropped by a few degrees by the time we reached our destination, a horse stable. The rest of the journey to the volcano would take place on horseback. The trip to the volcano was very surreal. Areas around the volcano looked more like scenery on Mars, then anything you would expect to see on earth. The lava from past explosions flowed over water and ...