I took so many pictures of the apes on the Rock of Gibraltar that I made a post just for them.
Cute little buggers....
Tomorrow we turn in the rental car and take a ferry to Morocco.
Exciting times!!
Love,
Nancy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Gibraltar Apes .... Part 3 of 3
Dear Family and Friends,
I took so many pictures of the apes on the Rock of Gibraltar that I made a post just for them.
Cute little buggers....
Tomorrow we turn in the rental car and take a ferry to Morocco.
Exciting times!!
Love,
Nancy
I took so many pictures of the apes on the Rock of Gibraltar that I made a post just for them.
Cute little buggers....
Tomorrow we turn in the rental car and take a ferry to Morocco.
Exciting times!!
Love,
Nancy
Gibraltar Part 2 of 3
We are traveling with our friends, Clarke and Brenda. To read their version of this trip click here.
Dear Family and Friends,
We left Coin this morning and headed for Gibraltar. About an hour out of Coin we stopped at a view point over looking this beautiful town. These "white hillside towns" are common in southern Spain.
We arrived Gibraltar about noon.
The town of Gibraltar is only on the land between the rock and the Mediterranean...which is not that much. The town is pretty much tourist city. They have duty free shopping so it is a very popular place to by tobacco products, alcohol, perfume, jewelry and electronics. There is a long shopping street that is loaded with all types of stores and tons of shoppers.
Of course going to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar is the most important thing to do there.
Looking at the Mediterranean from the top.
Looking down on the airport. Notice the strip that goes right across the runway. That is a road. There is a crossing arm that comes down when a plane is taking off or landing...much like a railroad crossing.
This is the Atlantic ocean from the top of the rock.
There are small apes that live on the rock. I will share pictures in the next blog post.
Love,
Nancy
Dear Family and Friends,
We left Coin this morning and headed for Gibraltar. About an hour out of Coin we stopped at a view point over looking this beautiful town. These "white hillside towns" are common in southern Spain.
We arrived Gibraltar about noon.
The town of Gibraltar is only on the land between the rock and the Mediterranean...which is not that much. The town is pretty much tourist city. They have duty free shopping so it is a very popular place to by tobacco products, alcohol, perfume, jewelry and electronics. There is a long shopping street that is loaded with all types of stores and tons of shoppers.
Of course going to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar is the most important thing to do there.
Looking at the Mediterranean from the top.
Looking down on the airport. Notice the strip that goes right across the runway. That is a road. There is a crossing arm that comes down when a plane is taking off or landing...much like a railroad crossing.
This is the Atlantic ocean from the top of the rock.
There are small apes that live on the rock. I will share pictures in the next blog post.
Love,
Nancy
Nerja and Coin, Spain - Our visit with Larry and Liza ...Part 1 of 3
We are traveling with our friends, Clarke and Brenda. To read their version of this trip click here.
Dear Family and Friends,
We got out of Granada without scratching the rental car!
Our next destination was Coin. This is where our friends, the Wheelers, are living. They used to live in Cuenca, Ecuador but moved to Spain about a year ago.
Before arriving in Coin, we stopped at the coastal city of Nerja.
Nerja is a very popular place for northern Europeans to go during the winter to warm up and get sunshine.
The short term rental apartments look out over the Mediterranean.
Chuck and Clarke doing a little hat shopping. Chuck is looking at a panama hat made in Ecuador. The quality is course and should cost about $6 - $7 in Cuenca. This hat cost 25 euros.
After grabbing a bite of lunch we headed to Coin.
We got in touch with Larry and Liza right after we checked into our hotel.
They walked us around the town.
They showed us some of their recent art. It is incredible.
We stopped at a couple of different places for celebratory drinks before winding up back at our hotel for dinner.
Beautiful Liza
Like so many of our friends, we have missed Larry and Liza. We passed on all the "well wishes" from their friends. They really miss all their friends in Cuenca. We had a great visit.
Larry and Liza told us that they may be moving to Granada in a month or so.
Their art website is a must see...click here.
Next stop....Gibraltar.
Love,
Nancy
Dear Family and Friends,
We got out of Granada without scratching the rental car!
Our next destination was Coin. This is where our friends, the Wheelers, are living. They used to live in Cuenca, Ecuador but moved to Spain about a year ago.
Before arriving in Coin, we stopped at the coastal city of Nerja.
Nerja is a very popular place for northern Europeans to go during the winter to warm up and get sunshine.
The short term rental apartments look out over the Mediterranean.
Chuck and Clarke doing a little hat shopping. Chuck is looking at a panama hat made in Ecuador. The quality is course and should cost about $6 - $7 in Cuenca. This hat cost 25 euros.
After grabbing a bite of lunch we headed to Coin.
We got in touch with Larry and Liza right after we checked into our hotel.
They walked us around the town.
They showed us some of their recent art. It is incredible.
We stopped at a couple of different places for celebratory drinks before winding up back at our hotel for dinner.
Beautiful Liza
Like so many of our friends, we have missed Larry and Liza. We passed on all the "well wishes" from their friends. They really miss all their friends in Cuenca. We had a great visit.
Larry and Liza told us that they may be moving to Granada in a month or so.
Their art website is a must see...click here.
Next stop....Gibraltar.
Love,
Nancy
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Adventure at every turn!!
We are traveling with our friends, Clarke and Brenda. To read their version of this trip click here.
Dear Family and Friends,
Driving a car and reading maps in a foreign country can be stressful. Today it was off the chart.
It all started innocently enough. We decided to go see the Gypsy museum and to visit the mosque. Chuck said that instead of taking a bus we could go in the car and park close by.
We all got in the car and headed out. Every route that we could detect on the map turned out to be either under construction, one way streets, or taxi and bus streets only.
This is when we should have brought the car back to the hotel and taken a bus or taxi. The (unnamed) driver of the car thought we could still drive there if we went way around and into the neighborhood from the backside.
The (unnamed) navigator successfully navigated us to where we thought we should be. It was then that things turned dark. The cobblestone streets became very, very narrow. I'm not sure if they were streets or walking paths with cars parked along the side.
My memory is fuzzy from this point on due to the panic attack I was experiencing. We kept driving the car on streets that got more narrow and had sharp turns. We kept going because there was no way to turn around. Finally we came to a place so narrow that there was no way the car could fit.
It was at this point that the navigator and his assistant had to get out of the vehicle and help the driver back down the narrow twisted road. All of this was being done moving downhill. It took 30 to 45 minutes to back the distance we had traveled forward in about 3 minutes. It took this long because we didn't dare scratch the paint on the rented car.
Before long, we had the towns people also in on the rescue project. They all cheered when the white knuckled driver was able to successfully back down and get turned around.
When the navigator and his assistant got back into the car, he said he was done with the navigator business. He just wanted to go back to the hotel and take a bus. His assistant hardily agreed.
Since the driver and I knew we needed to decompress and would not be taking the tour after all, we dropped them off so that they could get a taxi or bus. The driver and I came back to the hotel. After we got our heart rates back to normal we took a Sunday walk.
Love,
Nancy
Dear Family and Friends,
Driving a car and reading maps in a foreign country can be stressful. Today it was off the chart.
It all started innocently enough. We decided to go see the Gypsy museum and to visit the mosque. Chuck said that instead of taking a bus we could go in the car and park close by.
We all got in the car and headed out. Every route that we could detect on the map turned out to be either under construction, one way streets, or taxi and bus streets only.
This is when we should have brought the car back to the hotel and taken a bus or taxi. The (unnamed) driver of the car thought we could still drive there if we went way around and into the neighborhood from the backside.
The (unnamed) navigator successfully navigated us to where we thought we should be. It was then that things turned dark. The cobblestone streets became very, very narrow. I'm not sure if they were streets or walking paths with cars parked along the side.
My memory is fuzzy from this point on due to the panic attack I was experiencing. We kept driving the car on streets that got more narrow and had sharp turns. We kept going because there was no way to turn around. Finally we came to a place so narrow that there was no way the car could fit.
It was at this point that the navigator and his assistant had to get out of the vehicle and help the driver back down the narrow twisted road. All of this was being done moving downhill. It took 30 to 45 minutes to back the distance we had traveled forward in about 3 minutes. It took this long because we didn't dare scratch the paint on the rented car.
Before long, we had the towns people also in on the rescue project. They all cheered when the white knuckled driver was able to successfully back down and get turned around.
When the navigator and his assistant got back into the car, he said he was done with the navigator business. He just wanted to go back to the hotel and take a bus. His assistant hardily agreed.
Since the driver and I knew we needed to decompress and would not be taking the tour after all, we dropped them off so that they could get a taxi or bus. The driver and I came back to the hotel. After we got our heart rates back to normal we took a Sunday walk.
Love,
Nancy
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Granada, Spain
We are traveling with our friends, Clarke and Brenda. To read their version of this trip click here.
Dear Family and Friends,
Today was a high energy day. It started this morning when Chuck dropped Clarke off at the Alhambra at 6:30am to stand in line and wait for the ticket booth to open at 8:00am. Thank you Clarke for braving the cold wind and purchasing 4 tickets.
The four of us returned to Alhambra about 1:30pm to get in line to start our 2:00pm tour. Short of opening hours at Disney World this is the most tourists I have ever witnessed waiting in line.
They limit the number of tourists that can enter the site each day. They have morning and afternoon tours. This has to be the most toured site in all of Spain.
The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located on a hill overlooking the city of Granada. The gardens are extensive. Thanks to Clarke, we were able to see not only the gardens but the palace also.
Like the other palaces we have visited, the Alhambra was built and first occupied by the Moors.
To be truthful, I am just too tired to talk about each picture. My feet are so sore and I am about to fall asleep. I am sure Clarke and Brenda will have a lot of wonderful pictures too. Just enjoy!!
Love,
Nancy
Dear Family and Friends,
Today was a high energy day. It started this morning when Chuck dropped Clarke off at the Alhambra at 6:30am to stand in line and wait for the ticket booth to open at 8:00am. Thank you Clarke for braving the cold wind and purchasing 4 tickets.
The four of us returned to Alhambra about 1:30pm to get in line to start our 2:00pm tour. Short of opening hours at Disney World this is the most tourists I have ever witnessed waiting in line.
They limit the number of tourists that can enter the site each day. They have morning and afternoon tours. This has to be the most toured site in all of Spain.
The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located on a hill overlooking the city of Granada. The gardens are extensive. Thanks to Clarke, we were able to see not only the gardens but the palace also.
Like the other palaces we have visited, the Alhambra was built and first occupied by the Moors.
To be truthful, I am just too tired to talk about each picture. My feet are so sore and I am about to fall asleep. I am sure Clarke and Brenda will have a lot of wonderful pictures too. Just enjoy!!
Love,
Nancy
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