Aug 2013 - Spain and Costa del Sol

After a week out at Lake Clark, I took advantage of a great deal and flew to Spain Aug 1st.   Arriving in Madrid after the long fight from Chicago, I took the train into the heart of the city to the Principio Pio  main rail station and then a short cab ride to my little hotel a block from Teatro Real and only a few blocks walk from the Royal Palace and main Cathedral.   Inspite of being tired from the trip , I had to walk over and again enjoy the close by features.  Then a pleasant visit to the city market complex for some Spanish food and wine,  dessert at an outdoor cafe, and a long nights sleep.

wine bar in upscale Madrid market center

Then off on day 2 to Atoche rail station and the AVE train at 10 am south to Malaga.   I marveled at the endless olive groves as far as the eye could see.  Two hours in Malaga to browse shops then onto a bus for the nearly 2 hour ride south along the Costa de Sol to Estepona and my hotel on the beach.

me relaxing 1st day on Costa del  Sol

Estepona resort pools above beach

wide , mile long beach in downtown Estepona

 Day 3 was a pool and rest day.   Day 4 was a 6 am pickup for the bus ride and tour to Grenada and the Alhambra.  Grenada sits in a lush valley below the towering highest peaks in Spain, some with snow still on the tops. The  Alhambra and the Alhambra garden section are stunningly beautiful and one can see why they are considered  as one of the worlds most famous and "must see" sites.  The day was broken with a noon lunch in a charming restaurant by a park in downtown Grenada.    It was hot and in the 90's and very  crowded with many waiting to enter the Alhambra.  We had the tour tickets and a time to enter the palace, or we would not have been able to even get in.  Then I had the long 3 hour bus trip back to the hotel, arriving at 8 pm.

cathedral in downtown Grenada

view from ridge of old quarter in Grenada across from Alhambra above city

Spains best cerveza

                         Looking across to the Alhambra from the old quarter ridge we 1st visited

                              Looking from ridge below to downtown Granada and  its cathedral

                                         
                                          Me about to enter the famous Alhambra

                 
                                           A typical view of the garden section of Alhambra

                                          more of the magnificent gardens and pools

                 
                                         Another of the endless, wonderful gardens

                               Some of the flowers and plantings were too beautiful to describe
                           

                          Yours truly enjoying the view out from the end of the Gardens section

                                          An early view of Alhambra itself just after entry

                              Looking across the grounds past the entry , location of many ruins

                                         One of the many remains of ruins of early buildings

                                          Another scene in that area of early ruins

                             The impressive main structures with their halls and courtyards within

                                          Some of the beautiful Moorish architecture

                                                    An example of the incredible Moorish interiors

                                         A particularly peaceful interior courtyard scene

                                                   One of the amazing vaulted halls

                                          A classic example of the architecture of Alhambra

                                          Beautiful interiors beyond description

                                          My favorite interior courtyard in the main structure

                                                   The most beautiful vaulted interior of all

                                      Yet another lovely interior area of such peaceful beauty

                                      A scene from a main garden on the way towards exit.

                                                    An unforgettable experience , the Alhambra

I had another pool/rest day then on Day 5.   On day 6  I caught  an express bus north for a day in Malaga.   The city is delightful, with wonderful pedestrian only shopping areas and a lovely new port area to explore.   All in all , it was a very nice day in a charming city.

                                                 Malaga's lovely downtown waterfront

                      The scene of a midday stroll along the newly developed, lovely waterfront

                                              The front of the immense, famous cathedral

      Yours truly enjoying the wonderful shaded, covered pedestrian shopping streets in the city center

                         My very favorite photo of the many horse drawn carts in the city center with the most photogenic, charming horse of all ! 

Day 7 was another pool rest day, with a walk into Estepona for a grand dinner in an outdoor cafe.    The little city is wonderful, with bike paths and pedestrian access everywhere.   The downtown beach front is wide and splendid.   Then on Day 8 ,  I took an all day trip over to Tangiers and Morocco , which I will post separately.    Finally , the trip concluded with the bus ride back to Malaga, AVE train into Madrid and the airport train out to Barajas and a hotel close by for my early next morning flight back to Chicago.

June 2013 - Italy, Sea Kayaking Sardinia & Exploring Genoa

The trip by giant ferry for the 12 hour overnight trip to Sardinia ushered in the 2nd half of our Italian sea kayaking adventure trip.  We arrived at 7 am and were met by a van and jeep and taken north along the coast and then into the mountains to a lovely village for breakfast.   Then it was back to the coast and our kayaks.   We launched from a small sand beach and headed north, then west across the end of the island towards the town of Palau.  The coast was striking, with amazing granite rock , sculpted by the wind and sea.  It was a long entire day of kayaking and then we headed out across the strait to the largest island and the town of Maddalena.   There we had our little hotel for the 4 days and nights on Sardinia.  The town was charming and very old, as well as being the largest in the archipelago of islands composing the National Park that had been set aside.

While there we had wonderful Sardinia dinners at special little restaurants that our guide and host had arranged. We did the second day with a 6 hour paddle out east and south to the end of the 2nd biggest island of Caprera.  The 3rd day it was an all day paddle north east along the shore of La Maddalena Island to tiny , secluded beaches along with incredibly clear water and scenic views.  It was finally sunny that day, but the wind came up and we had a real struggle getting back.  In fact, we had to go in to a small harbor on the eastern side of the island and hike back into town.  Then the guides came out and retrieved the kayaks later on.  

The final day there was a very strong north wind or mistral as they called it, and we could not get out in the kayaks to cross back to the mainland .  We ended up taking one of the many small car ferries across the strait to Palau.  We then had a day of touring the mountainous interior of Sardinia on our way back to Olbia for the 7 pm ferry.   We got to see some of the remote villages and ancient ruins in the interior.   All in all it was a busy, and interesting 4 days on Sardinia, with some history lessons of its past thrown in also.  We arrived in the port of Genova at 7am and I will conclude my trip with one more set of pictures and comments on Genova and our last 2 days.  

Port of Olbia & giant ferry that brought us here to NE coast of Sardinia

Some of our party having a late breakfast in charming little village stop  in mountains of  Sardinia's North end

Getting our kayaks ready for launch on the remote, small sand beach

Our group along coast with its wind and sea sculpted granite

a land mark rock named "Pluto"

More of the scenic, rocky coast as we paddled up the North coast and around the end  west towards Palau

After the long day of paddling up the coast and across the strait to Maddalena, we were glad to reach our little hotel

Getting ready to launch on day 2 at Maddalena for the trip to Caprera, the 2nd biggest island in the group

Taking a lunch break on one of Caprera's small beaches with its clear waters

me with Enrico, our wonderful Italian guide on a small sand beach on the beautiful east coast of La Maddalena IS. 

view of the stunning east coast and its amazing waters

another view of the beautiful coast.

Approaching Palau on the ferry from La Maddalena

Day 4 above Palau looking back toward La Maddalena as we start a day tour of the mountains
and interior of the north end of Sardinia and then work our way back to Olbia and the night ferry to Genova

Me  relaxing with Palau to your left and La Maddelena across the strait above my right shoulder.

a tortoise being rescued from the road during our trip into Sardinia's mountains  and interior

rugged mountainous spine of Sardinia and a village  on the mountainside upper left

an ancient stone church perched on the rocky ridge

another mountain view and another village in the distance

Stone church and typical architecture in a village where we took a "gelato" stop

Remains of  this famous ancient stone castle with visitors viewing  it

 I had never been to Genova, by far the largest and busiest port in Italy.  From earlier times and a population of a million, it is now about 600,000.   It is stretched along the ocean,  a narrow band of city that runs nearly 30 km along the sea coast at the base of high, steep mountains.  The birthplace of Christopher Colombus, the city dates back centuries and was a power center of the western Mediterranean through much earlier times under many different rulers.  It is recognized for its classical Italian architecture and culture.  Here is a short sampling of the pictures I took during my day of a walking tour of the Old City and the lovely , modern harbor area.  

Typical street parking of the countless, little Italian motor scooters, which were everywhere

The attractive De Ferrari central square and fountain, with a large group of visiting Italian teens engaged in a wild water
fight, throwing each other in the fountain, and dumping what appeared to be sacks of flour on each other.  An hour later
when I came back by, they were trying to dry out in the warm sun in the square. 

one of the elegant covered walkways along the principal shopping boulevard where many of the flagship stores were.

Another view of the main shopping boulevard downtown with its interesting architecture

a side street that we used from our hotel on the harbor to go up to the main shopping boulevard and city center

another of the beautiful covered shopping walkways in the city center, this one with a Roman era building behind it

The Garibaldi Statue with the Genova Opera House behind 

one of the many beautiful  building facades in old Genova

another of the colorful buildings in old Genova

The Annunziata  Basilica

schooner Neptune of  many movies tied up in Porto Antico 

Palazzo San Giorgio just above Porto Antico and dating back to 1260

View out over the lovely, new Porto Antico harbor development 

T
The next 3 photos were taken here in one of Europe's finest aquariums in the new Porto Antico area
A giant sword fish and sharks in a big marine tank.

an unusual and wonderful tank of penguins of various species, enjoying swimming in the big tank
 and  leaping from the water onto the rocky shelves. 

a nice sample of some of the Mediterranean fish and corals

The front entrance to the huge aquarium at the edge of the harbor.

I hope you enjoyed my sampling of photos and comments.   My wonderful 2 week trip ended here in Genova.   Then I   boarded my Air France flight back to Paris and on to Frankfurt for an overnight.   The following morning it was on to the long flights to Chicago and home to Anchorage to end my latest adventure outing.