Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Learning to Drive in the White Hill Towns of Andalusia, Spain

by Brian on June 23, 2014 in Europe, Spain

The White City of Arcos de la Frontera.

“Is there a problem with your car?” the increasingly annoyed hotel owner said to me in English. He and I both knew that the problem had nothing to do with my automobile.

To be fair, it wasn’t my fault that he had to wait so long for me to park. I’m not the one who decided to prohibit guests from operating the garage door. I don’t know who came up with the brilliant idea to require a front desk person to walk outside and physically open the gate every time you wanted to enter or exit the car park, but it wasn’t me.

Nor was it my fault that parking spaces were so tight that, once in a spot, we couldn’t open the passenger side door at all and, even then, there was so little room on the other side that I only managed to squeeze out of the car after emptying my pockets. Seriously, I nearly destroyed my phone trying to force my way out the driver’s side door.

I’m completely blameless in all of that. But deciding to drive a manual transmission car for the first time through the ancient hill-top towns that dot Andalusia, Spain? Yup, that one is on me.

Once Isn’t Enough at the Alhambra

by Shannon on June 20, 2014 in Europe, Spain, Travel

It was the first time this has happened during our travels. So enticed were we by the idea of visiting the Alhambra, a sprawling Moorish complex perched above the town of Granada, that we pre-booked tickets for not just one but two visits.

When we debated where in continental Europe to begin our travels, an image of the Alhambra kept looming in my mind. And so we set out for Spain, beginning in Madrid and then traveling further south, steadily making our way to Granada. With such a weighty decision made because of a single site, it seemed only fitting that we do it justice by visiting twice to see the Alhambra in sunlight and moonlight.

A Flowering Tree in Granada Spain

by Brian on June 11, 2014 in Europe, Spain, Travel

The Roman Bridge of Cordoba

by Brian on June 2, 2014 in Europe, Spain, Travel

Constructed early in the 1st century B.C. Cordoba’s Roman bridge still spans the Guadalquivir River.

Cordoba Highlights: A Mosque-Cathedral and a Microbrewery

by Shannon on May 30, 2014 in Europe, Spain, Travel

To the victor go the spoils…and the right to re-decorate.

In the site where Cordoba’s Mezquita now stands there was once a Roman temple, then a Visigothic cathedral and then a mosque. Rather than re-do the entire edifice in the 13th century when Christian crusaders took over the town, they left the majority of the mosque intact but made a significant alteration. They constructed a Catholic church in its center.