Apr 15, 2012 - Seville, Spain

April 15 - Seville, Spain [Sa-vee-a] Today's 8-hour shore excursion took us out of Cadiz to Seville, the artistic center of southern Spain. A 90-min. drive through some hilly and then flat agricultural land (olive trees and vineyards) brought us to Spain's 4th largest city with a very strong Arabic flavor. We walked the narrow and winding streets of the old Jewish Quarter to see the outside of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the See [1519]. It is gorgeous and huge – the world's largest Gothic cathedral and the 3rd largest cathedral in the...

Apr 14, 2012 - Cadiz, Spain

April 14 - Cadiz, Spain (Cadiz is in the southern Spanish 'province' of Andalusia – famous for its port wine and horses.) Our 'gift day' in Cadiz was great despite extremely strong winds and some rain at times. We left the ship about 12:45 with raincoats and good maps of 4 walking tours we could take. This is a lovely walled city, Europe's most ancient city still standing. It has gorgeous architecture, intriguing narrow streets, and magnificent parks along the seaside promenade & wall. We encountered terrific winds whenever we were near the...

Apr 14, 2012 - Séville

Hola! J’ai quitté Séville et je suis en direction de Malaga et Torremolinos (Miami), pour 6 jours. Un petit retour à l’américaine. J’avais déjà visité Séville en 1994, avec Celyne. Alors, à mon âge, ma mémoire vive est un peu défectueuse ce qui fait que je redécouvrais à peu de chose prêt cette très belle ville. Deux belles surprises m’y attendaient. La première : je suis tombé en amour pour 4 nuits, et la deuxième : le Métropol Parasol (sur la deuxième je vous donne plus d’information). Oui, la Cathédrale de Séville est la plus grande au...

Apr 10, 2012 - Déjà un mois et un jour!

Bonjour! Déjà un mois de passé. La dernière semaine mettait fin à mon séjour (3 semaines) en Tunisie en compagnie de Philippe. J’ai fait un peu à l’inverse des autres en ce sens que j’ai fini mon trip par un retour (déjà vu en 2000, je crois) à Carthage et Tunis. Carthage, bien que ce fût, encore une fois, le plus grand des empires, il n’en demeure pas moins qu’il faut beaucoup d’imagination (C’est presque un sport extrême) quand on visite les ruines, pour visualiser, ce que ça pouvait être. Vous pouvez en juger par les photos. J’aime...

Mar 27, 2012 - Seville

We took the bus to Seville, through very flat countryside which is mostly arable and very dry. They have to have an extensive irrigation system using canals and ditches to channel water and miles of pipe that’s laid in parallel lines only a few metres apart in each field with sprinklers at intervals. Even at this time of year, there were lots of tourists in Seville, including hordes of school children doing group tours. The old part of town has some lovely gardens and squares and very narrow streets, just wide enough for a moped but not a...

Mar 22, 2012 - Post-Hypnotic Suggestions

Wow, what a day in Spain. Lack of sleep, laughing hysteria, and quantum therapy. That's the simple explanation...basically it means that I am much more in tune with myself than before. Haven't done an actual yoga class in two days because I've been busy straightening the head out. Quantum therapy is where some Spanish dude with a laptop sets a headband, much like Neo wears in "The Matrix", on your head. Then asks questions to gauge personality type and current state of mind. Gives a diagnosis based on his intuition along with the...

Mar 21, 2012 - Chocolat

Interesting couple days at the retreat. Interesting, the operative word. Yesterday was great for hill walking and night yoga. Hiked on a mountain path that reminded me of the Beartooths in Montana. Did some late night writing and had a long conversation with a lady from Sri Lanka before bed. Today was a raw chocolate workshop. Learned how to make raw chocolate of different flavors and varieties, then got to eat it! Powerful stuff...I didn't sleep much last night but the chocolate woke me right up.

Mar 20, 2012 - Spain - Cadiz in Andalucia

20 March: We left Vila Real at 7.20am at low tide and were immediately in Spanish waters. We raised the mainsail with a reef as strong winds were forecast with gusts to 18 or 20 knots (roughly 40 kilometres/hour). We originally planned to make Mazagon our next stop, but the wind was from the NE so it would have been a hard slog; instead we decided to make it a long day and head straight to Cadiz. The wind reduced in the middle of the day and it was touch and go whether we would make it to Cadiz in daylight, but then the wind really picked...

Mar 19, 2012 - Yoga

Hello from paradise...arrived in Spain yesterday morning after a sleepless night in the Vienna airport. Currently at the Kaliyoga retreat. Definitely the most posh stop on my trip so far. Slept through the yoga class last night due to complete exhaustion, but I'm feeling much better after a morning class and midafternoon walk to town.

Mar 17, 2012 - Y Sevilla

Sevilla!!!! The weekend after Nerja our program took us on a weekend overnight trip to the capitol of Andalucía: Sevilla. We left bright and early Saturday morning, and our first stop was Itálica: an old Roman city with lots of really cool Roman ruins. After about an hour tour we all got back on the bus and headed straight to lunch (thankfully! we were all extremely hungry and just slightly cranky). The last 15 minutes of a tour with 25 hungry college students is not very pleasant... We had a group lunch at a restaurant called El Cabildo...

Mar 10, 2012 - Beach Weekend in Nerja

After lots of homework, some tests, trips with the program, etc. a group of 6 other girls and I decided that we needed a nice little relaxing vacation away in Nerja: a beautiful beach town south of Granada on the Mediterranean. We took a bus ride Saturday morning out to the town and got in around 11:30 or so. Half of the group was super energetic and ready to walk all the way out to see the famous Nerja caves whereas myself and two others were tired of the long bus ride,and were ready to just hang out right on the beach for the rest of the...

Mar 8, 2012 - and Found

Things are fantastic here in southern Spain. Not much to report, though, besides the slice of falafel heaven I had yesterday night upon arrival. Will be back before the day ends. Monday, head to La Linea where I hope to meet with a girl from the UK that I met in Venice. Maybe take a ferry with her over to Morocco for a day. Life's tough. Thinking of home today. If you are reading this, thanks for being part of my life. I hope to see or talk to you soon.