One year off to travel with the boys

I uploaded some more pics of Spain below. Included are pictures of Segovia (Alcazar and Roman aqueduct), Guggenheim Musem in Bilbao and Caceres.

More pictures of Spain trip

We are now waiting for our US passports to return from being processed at the Indian Embassy. We received visas but the passports still need to be sent to us. We will then be allowed to leave Spain to travel: either a cruise around the Med, or to Morocco (Marrakesh and Fez).

Now we have an issue with getting inoculations for India. The UK medical center requires an initial appt. for each family member of 20 minutes to see what is required, then another booking is made to actually administer the shots. Since we are planning on only being in the UK for the first week of December, the only alternative is to try to find a travel center in Spain to administer them. Another issue is Malaria: the nurse practitioner said that Goa is the only place where there is malaria in southern India that time of year, so we'd best avoid it. The alternative is to take prophylactics for two weeks before, during, and four weeks after.

Am now busily trying to prepare an itinerary for us to India. Since it's busy season we need to book as many hotels, trains, flights as we can now. Friends of ours are coming from California this week just to go to El Bulli and we loaded them down with gifts for the boys, as well as a Lonely Planet Guide book for India -- which I hope to use extensively for planning the trip. There are also some excellent sites online that have allayed and exacerbated our fears about traveling with the kids to India. This page seems particularly thorough: Traveling with kids in India

As I mentioned in a previous post, we would like to see as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as possible. Here is the list we are using for reference: World Heritage Sites

Posted by chris at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just got back from a 12 day around Spain in a rented Peugot 206.
Day 1: Palamos - Valencia
Day 2: Valencia - Murcia
Day 3: Murcia - Bubion (Alpujarra) in Andalucia
Day 4: Bubion - Alhambra (Granada) - Almunerca
Day 5: Almunerca - Torremolinos
Day 6: Torremolinos – El Burgo
Day 7: El Burgo - Seville
Day 9: Seville - Caceres
Day 10: Caceres - Segovia
Day 11: Segovia - Bilbao
Day 12: Bilbao - Zaragoza
Day 13: Zaragoza - Palamos

View Trip around Spain in a larger map

Here are some un-edited photos from SmugMug, my new favourite online photo store:

Photos from Trip around Spain

Highlights

Valencia: great food, modern buildings, city layout.

Caceres: a World Heritage Site, 'nuff said.

Segovia: the Roman aqueduct which I remember as a child (and thought was in Seville). The Alcazar, a classic fairy tale palace.

Zaragoza: huge festival going on, celebrating Saint Pilar. Statistically, this is one of the most vibrant, happy cities in all of Spain with low population density, high air quality and good churros..

Dissapointments

Sevilla is a beautiful and romantic city, but there are so many other tourists,
it feels like Fisherman's Wharf: a place that all tourists visit but locals rarely go. This was emphasized by the ubuquitous Starbucks as well as outrageous prices for lacklustre food. I couldn't wait to get out and visit the 'real Spain'.

Details

Valencia -- see previous post.

Murcia: This was a randomly chosen half way point between Valencia and Granada and turned out to have a lovely Old Quarter. We took the bus downtown from the hotel and were impressed by the constantly updated maps on a monitor, showing our position on the bus route. We walked along the river crossing both the old and modern bridge before finding the Plaza de Flores, where we settled at an outside table for tapas. After a walk to visit the beautifully lit Cathedral and civic center, we walked through the old streets until Ethan started to demand to be carried. Unable to find the bus stop to take us back to the hotel (one way streets), we were finally able to hail a taxi.

Day 3: Murcia - Bubion (Alppujarra)
This was one of our longest traveling days. The initial plan was to drive to Granada and find a hotel there, but we also wanted to see the white villages in the Alpujarra (Sierran Nevada villages of southern Spain). After using Google Earth and browsing numerous forums on the Alpujarra, we had settled on a specific valley (the gorge of the Rio Poqueira with villages Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira) we wanted to see, that also seemed to have numerous villas nearby available for weekly rental. Ideally we would stay a week and then drive to Alhambra for the day from there. I was in phone contact with two people about villas in Orgiva nearby, and scheduled two villas for us to see. We stopped at a pre-arranged meet spot and waited until the owner drove up in his truck. We followed him for ten minutes and came to a remote and beautiful area with several farms and houses. The bungalow for rent was fairly basic but had a swimming pool, green lawn and toys for the boys to play, as well as crops of vegetables and laden fruit trees that we would be allowed to pick and eat. As we were deciding whether to stay or not, Ethan came hopping over furiously, his foot stung by a bee. The place was idyllic but could we really stay in one place for a whole week or should we continue moving and seeing the rest of Spain in our remaining nine days? Itchy feet that we had, we passed on the opportunity, making note of it for a possible future excursion from the UK perhaps. We continued driving up the valley instead, following the windy road until we came to Bubion. Many places were booked up but we finally found a small dark basement flat at the end of a long lane, by a place advertizing Jamon Cerrano. It wasn’t an ideal spot but it was getting dark so we took it. We took an enjoyable and long walk through the white village of Bubion and then settled for a pizza place near the village square. When we got back to the flat, we switched the shower on to clean the boys, but the water from the tap was cold. We lathered Ethan up anyway, but then the water slowed to a trickle and stopped completely. Luckily there were large plastic jugs of water nearby and we were able to wash the soap off before going to find out what was going on. Apparently the municipality had decided to do some construction that night and turned off the water all night. The owner gave us some bottles of drinking water to keep us going. In the morning, the water was a dark chocolaty color for about ten minutes before settling on a more normal color. Carmen could not wait to leave the place.

Day 4: Bubion - Alhambra (Granada) - Almunerca

We started early to get to Alhambra at our assigned time of 11:45 a.m. and made it there about two hours later. We parked our car, lined up at the automated will call machines for our assigned tickets and proceeded to the entrance. However, the ticket man immediately handed our tickets back and said they weren’t valid for today. I looked at them more closely and realized the date was for the week following! I remember that when I booked the tickets on the site, I had chosen the appropriate date and gone to the check out page. But then I wanted to check availability on another date, clicked the back button, but failed to spot that the date had now moved me a week forward. In the end, it was my own fault and after protestations at various desks, we realized there was nothing we could do. There was another queue for people who wanted to get in today, but it was several hours long.
After looking closely at the Alhambra map however, I realized there was a free side entrance further down. In the end, we were able to see a good part of the Almambra, just not the more famous areas on the inside.
We drove down and then along the coast of southern Spain to a town called Almunecar and found a hotel called Hotel Casablanca. After experiencing the north east coast of Spain, this stretch of coast doesn’t have much to offer except for the promise of sunshine. Surprisingly the sea was quite cold too and we didn’t spend a long time in the water swimming. Quite a soulless place really and we couldn’t wait to get on to the next town.

Day 5: Almunerca - Torremolinos

Our intent had been to shoot for Malaga, but on consulting the guide book as well as seeing what a large city it is on the map, we decided to keep going further west, and found Torremolinos instead. Torremolinos is well known in the UK, with a reputation as a destination for hard-drinking Brits and bawdy behaviour, so I expected it to be quite seedy and maybe a bit run down. We had difficulty finding a place since it was the beginning of a long weekend for the locals, but eventually were able to find a room in an enormous hotel full of package-holiday staying Brits. The facilities were very good and Toby spent some time there in the Kids Club. The beach and swimming pool were very pleasant as well, and all along the beach is a walkway wide enough to bike or rollerblade. Later on, we found there were good places to eat and lots of small supermarkets selling British items. I would certainly consider going back on a package holiday.

Day 6: Torremolinos – El Burgo

Since we had nowhere to stay because hotels were booked up for the long weekend, we decided to head inland. Somehow we ended up at a pensione in the small quaint town of El Burgo, where we took a walk along the stream and up to the viewpoint from the hilltop church. Along the way, Ethan and I tasted cactus fruit for the first time and both ended up with small prickly needles in our hands and lips. For dinner, we made the mistake of driving to El Burgo which although is 40 minutes on Google maps, consists of long windy roads in desolate poorly lit countryside. We got there to see the tail end of a marathon and walked down a pedestrianized streets full of open shops to the town center. We expected to come across the famous rocky view but were too hungry at that point to ask directions, and sat down to eat at a café by the fountain. We tried to order just two meals for us and the boys, but the waiter said the portions were small and tried to get us to order one for each of them as well. Luckily we were insistent as the food turned out to be terrible, the worst we’d had in Spain and most likely from a tin.

Day 7: El Burgo - Seville

Now we were finally going to a more interesting part of Spain, so Carmen and I were quite excited to get to Seville. We managed to get a good deal at the Barcelo and after a swim there, we parked close to the town center and walked around the alleyways and looking at the huge cathedral which was unfortunately closed. We were lucky to run into a cathedral procession for “Our Lady of the Rosary” and it was quite a sight, with an enormous representation of Mary being carried alongside numerous priests, altar boys and girls waving incense holders, a choir and musical instruments. I took Ethan to a well known tapas bar to eat, while Carmen enjoyed a sit down meal with Toby in one of the squares off the alleyways in the old town.

Day 9: Seville - Caceres

The last few days of our trip round Spain were my favourite part of the whole trip. I felt like we were seeing a less touristy part of Spain where real people lived and worked. Although Caceres is a UNESCO site and moreover a university town, we didn’t see as many tourists as in the rest of Spain; overall it felt more genuine. On arrival in the main square of the old town, a PBS representative came up to us and asked if we would be interested in interviewing for a show about the UNESCO cities of Spain called “The 13 Wonders of Spain”, to be shown January in the US. The next day, Carmen went for the show interview and was asked a few questions about what she thought of Caceres. Later, they sent a link to the video: http://www.vimeo.com/7692165 (Carmen appears after 7 minutes 43 seconds). It looks like a good show, although I think Carmen’s piece is the focal point.
Everywhere you turn in the old streets of Caceres has incredible sights and views. This is definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip and place that we would certainly want to come back to.

Day 10: Caceres - Segovia

All along this trip, I had been reminiscing on my own family’s trip driving around Spain as a child, and had strong memories of the Roman aqueduct, although didn’t know what it was until we reached Segovia. What an incredible feat of engineering it is, especially for the fact that no mortar was used to keep the stones together. I think that Toby was able to understand this aspect and hopefully it will inspire him to greater building feats and drawings too! We had planned to stay at La Sirena, very close to the aqueduct, but found it too pricey and ended up staying at the nearby Hostal El Hidalgo instead which was perfectly adequate. Before setting off next morning, we visited the Alcazar, an incredible royal palace on the northern end of the old city. The boys loved climbing the stairway and seeing the view from the towers. There was also a very interesting artillery museum downstairs.

Day 11: Segovia – Bilbao

It got significantly colder as we headed north again now towards Bilbao. This was another long day of driving and we goto Bilbao’s Guggenheim museum just as the sun set. First impressions were that the museum is actually a lot smaller than appears in photos. Also, I remember Bilbao as an ugly, smokestack industrial city as a child and now it was completely transformed. It’s amazing what the effect of one building can be on an entire city. While I went around and took pictures, the boys and Carmen played in the futuristic playground next to it. It was getting cold now and we had to put on our cold weather gear. We found a hotel afterwards but nowhere to park on the street; definitely the most difficult city to park in that I have ever been, even beating San Francisco by a handy margin.
The following morning we drove to San Sebastian to walk along the sea front, but it was a little cold so we didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked. We drove on to Pamplona, but couldn’t find the famous streets of the old city as our GPS battery had run out, so moved on to Los Arcos, a tiny town that is a stopping point along the , a famous pilgrimage that I would like to complete one day. The accommodation there was mostly for walkers, so we moved on to Zaragoza, arriving in the middle of a huge festival called the Posted by chris at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After a riveting four and a half hour drive from Palamos to Valencia, broken up by a stop at an awful beach with enticing names (Playa de Conxa, and Play d'Oro), we arrived to rush hour traffic. Our wire for charging the GPS in the car has broken, and we don't know where to go, AND we don't have a place to stay. We drive around a bit looking for an internet cafe. Carmen says she see one, but when we go round the block and return, it turns out to be a dry cleaners. Suddenly I realize there's WIFI everywhere as my iTouch always seems to be drawing a map of our exact location (hello?). I park the car and stand on a street corner tilting the iTouch in different directions, pacing back and forth to find the strongest signal for an open, unsecure connection that's somewhere around..... Half an hour passes and the boys are going ballistic on the sidewalk, doing their best to create havoc for all asunder. As I'm making a booking on wotif, getting directions using google maps, Ethan claws at my leg and tried to drag me into oncoming traffic. Toby runs up and down yelling and getting in the way of cyclists and pedestrians. It's all too much, and the connection slow, so we decide to drive closer to a possible hotel and try from there.

We jump in the car, using the iTouch to guide us the ten minutes through the city. Somehow it manages to update us on our position continuously as we go, even though I have no phone connection. I didn't put in the exact address however, so it's somewhere on a long block and not so obvious. Luckily there is a playground which Carmen takes the boys too, lends Ethan her watch to wear and he places it on the bench never to be seen again.
Meanwhile, I go off and find a cafe that claims to have internet connection. The waitress is hurried and won't take any nonsense from anybody. She hands me the password but doesn't know the router name, of which there are half a dozen. After several tries, I give up and go out into the street where I find a gushing stream of an unsecure, open internet connection, and within five minutes able to check my mail, update New York Times reader, make a hotel reservation on wotif and get the directions from my precise location to the hotel half, yes, half a block away(!).

The receptionist recommends a place to eat and we drive there at 8:30 to find it's just opening as we get there, and of course it's also empty. It's quite expensive, so we walk along and find plenty of other likely possibilities including a tempting Japanese restaurant. There are tables and chairs set outside restaurants, with terraces and people eating delicious looking tapas. Everybody seems smartly dressed although none wearing jackets or sweaters because it's still quite warm. We find a place called Sa Fonda with seats inside, and fairly inexpensive. The tapas we order turn out to be some of the best food I've had in years, especially the pork dishes. I can't believe the flavours I'm tasting and make a lot of exclamation noises, even though I have a cold which is probably muting a lot of the flavour. The boys enjoy the fideua noodles, and the ice cream that follow: one called Dracula that had vinegar at the bottom of the glass. It actually tasted good.

Next, we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts to walk off the meal. I had seen a documentary about the aquarium and remember that it was an impressive building. When we saw all the various buildings, none of us could believe it. The buildings and bridge are incredibly futuristic and are lite in a brilliant white to contrast against the dark Valencian sky. We parked the car and ummed and aaghed our way around the Palace of Fine Arts and Science Museum. It was very memorable evening for all of us, and totally unexpected.

Posted by chris at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ryan Air took us faithfully back to Girona airport from Gatwick. We picked up a rental car and drove back to Palamos where we hauled our bags up the four flights of stairs to our apartment. Later that evening, my cousin came by to tell me the staircase leading down to the next floor would be destroyed the next morning and we had better be out by 8 a.m.

It's good to have mobility in Spain and we were out of there by the crack of 9:30 with no sign of the contractors, They usually operate on a relaxed schedule anyway, with plenty of breaks for bocadillos and fuet. We headed north to AiguaBlava and look at the Parador there, before going to Tamariu, followed by the lighthouse in San Sebastian.

Posted by chris at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had an excellent four week trip to the UK, mostly sunshine and only a couple of days of actual rain. Every time I brought the foul weather gear on our daily outings, the sun would shine extra brilliantly. On those days when I forgot the rainproof trousers and anoraks, it would just be cold and perhaps spit on us occasionally.

We spent two weeks in Queens Road Peckham ('Saath London'), courtesy of my brother and his wife, Karen, who went to the States to visit North Michigan and Sedona, Arizona. They have a comfortable flat in a gritty, mostly Nigerian, neighbourhood (I should emphasize that it's really not the Nigerian's that make it gritty, just a bit more unfamiliar).

We took advantage of the kitchen to cook delicious British food from nearby Sainsbury's or Victoria Station's "Mark's and Sparks". The first night, we each had something different: boys had mac and cheese as usual. Carmen had a prepared meal of salmon and mashed potatoes, and I had one of the prepared Indian curry meals. I cannot emphasize enough, and I want to put it down here lest I forget, that you can REALLY taste the flavours in British food, the curries are outstanding, and you can't beat Mark's and Spencer's Simply Food for quality and selection. The latter I hadn't seen before and are a new invention to the UK; they are everywhere now and are basically small stores, a little bigger than a 7-11 store which stock low and high end snacks, beverages and prepared meals. You would have thought that Tesco's Fresh and Easy stores in the US would be trying to do something like this, but they are more like Trader Jo's with a British edge and pharmaceuticals. Anyway, I digress, but British food from the supermarket is really excellent now. P.S. everything that you can buy in the US for dollars, can be bought for the equivalent by changing the $ for a pound sign. That means everything is about 1.7 times more expensive!

From Queen's Road Peckham, we took day trips around London. Now I've been to London before but always took the underground. Sometimes I would try to go one stop and have to change trains twice. Only then would I realize that I could have walked a couple of hundred meters instead. So this time we walked and took the bus everywhere. On our first day we bought our 7 day London travelcards (25 pounds each for zones 1 and 2), and got off at Westminster, saw Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and walked for hours around the city. The second day, we walked from Victoria to Trafalgar Square, St. James's Park, Tate Britain and then took the ferry to Tate Modern. The third day, we walked from London Bridge through the Borough Market, across Tower Bridge, around Tower of London and back on the trains. The kids loved the British rail trains, which are now all privatized and consequently able to charge monopoly prices on their respective sections. The next day, we walked across Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens, stopping at the excellent playgrounds and the Lady Dianna Memorial Fountain which is an unconventional and beautiful fountain. After trekking across the park diagonally from South-East to North-West we met Dad, Indu and Marcus at a Chinese Restaurant called Royal China which was good as any in San Francisco and luckily just as noisy to drown out the kids constant screaming.

I forget the exact chronology of the rest of our time in London, but we went to Greenwich Village twice, we liked it so much; we saw the Maritime Museum and the Observatory on the hill. It's easy to see why it's marked as a World Heritage Site and consequently would like to visit a few more if it's representative of how they all are. Greenwich Park is a huge undulating green park with a steep hill upon which sits the observatory. The interesting part for me was that I had read a book called Longitude, lent by my Rocket Scientist friend George, and this had many of the telescopes and clocks mentioned in that book. The story goes that sailors always knew how far South or North they were because the angle of the Polar star or Southern Cross represents the same in terms of latitude. But none knew how to gauge how far East or West they were and so all too frequently got lost or ended up wrecked. If sailors were to have a reliable time piece they could solve this issue, but the clocks of the day used pendulums which were unreliable at sea for obvious reasons. A challenge was made and a reward offered to the one able to solve this problem, who turned out to be a John Harrison. Simultaneously, a solution was also found using celestial means (location of stars). Seems like all the clocks that John invented are still there, as well as numerous early telescopes.

More to come and pictures to follow soon.

Posted by chris at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)