Sounds of beautifully played Segovia in Seville

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Seville skyline dark and gloomy in the rain

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Scary road sign!

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Outside the bullfighting stadium Ronda

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And not just blokes

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Blokes stroll and chat

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The view

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Ronda

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En route to Ronda

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What a view, what a home!

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Refuelling the Seat 1.35 Euro a litre

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a picture for you

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Grazalema

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Ronda

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Grazalema pueblo blanco

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Ronda

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Ronda

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Ronda evening

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Hams hang all over Spain – note little funnels to catch the oozing fat! The meat is very dark and flavoursome.

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Satirical models that caught my eye – check out the classic Citroen 2CVwith the artist, all the gear in the back and the dog munching on a tube of paint!

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Happy girls (to be soon leaving Gibraltar)

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Gun placement Gibraltar

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The entrance to Gibraltar is via a full on airstrip

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Bloody big gun aimed at the narrows between Spain and Africa on the summit of the Rock of Gibralta

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Overlooking Tarifa the hills are festooned with wind generators

The town is generously supplied with wind direct from the Atlantic being the southern most point in Europe. As a result every hilltop has wind gennies ticking over and Tarifa has become the Mecca of wind and sail surfers.

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Footloose in Tarifa

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Tarifa castella with approaching storm

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Fishing boats in Tarifa with the mountains of Morocco behind

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Tarifa castella

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35 mins to Tangier

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Costa too bloody much

We did some serious travelling in the car yesterday passing the most extraordinary and disturbing cavalcade of monolithic buildings extending with little break for the entire coast of southern Spain from south of the Sierra Nevada to here in Tarifa…the so called Costa del Sol interspersed with numerous Costas del Golf which kind of says it all.

Imagine a hundred Gold Coasts crammed together, we drove for hours and the landscape didn’t change. The blue Mediterranean shone as a backdrop but it didn’t help and the hills to our right had only glimpses of the ‘real Spain’ with small farms and occasional distant villages. This scar on the Earth must be visible from space…I must check Google Earth.

The freeway for much part mercifully allowed us to cruise by at 100 to 110 kph unscathed if you disregard the mental impact. Spanish traffic is a breeze compared to other European styles I have experienced – the Italian version being the most frenetic. This is more like driving in Greece but even more relaxed and no comparison with the speed of German drivers or even the French. Without exiting to one of the numerous ‘costas’ there was nowhere to stop to photograph the phenomenon and none of us wanted to take the risk.

We also passed Gibraltar dominated so clearly by the rock and a place we will likely visit tomorrow and of course the nearness of Africa was so evident with the mountains of Morocco in layers to the horizon on the other side.

Liz and Kate have taken a 35 minute ferry ride with guided tour for a day to Tangier of which we will hear more soon. Emma has rambled about Tarifa old town today and following a good cleaning of myself and most of my clothes (the cost of travelling light) I have done the same and now, we sit together for the first time today over a café and tea awaiting the return of the adventurers.

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Skyline in village in the Sierra Nevada

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Free wifi and good coffee but no nasty food for us-lunch of fresh bread and salad from the local supermarcado on the bonnet of the rental!

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Girls at rest

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Dad and I have a secret business

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Kate and her new amigo Luka aged 2

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Yum

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Luka and his two amigas

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Breakfast view

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I thought I should say something

about this journey for those who might be wondering what the plan is.

Well, Lizzie has the plan, formulated over months of late night browsing on the net, a journey in itself. Broadly it’s to travel through Spain, the Pyrenees, into France for a canal trip on a Locaboat along the Canal du Midi then into the French alps, maybe Kate has an introduction to skiing, and maybe we slip into Italy for a café and gelato and a little taste of the Italian way once more, thence more of France until Paris where I head for home while Liz and Kate visit a few cities including Amsterdam, Copenhagen and London.

Emma set out a few weeks earlier and has been wandering through Spain with a brief sojourn in Morocco, staying in hostels and hooking up with other travellers along the way. We met here in Granada and she plans to stay with us for a time which hopefully will include the canal boat where she, Liz and Kate can ride the pushies alongside while I happily putter along at 4 knots to the next village.

Today we hire a car and head for the hills, planning to arrive in Seville in a few days.

While they wander the shops, museums, art galleries, churches etc, I rarely do. I really have no plan at all so what can possibly go wrong as someone said? Preferring to just mooch about seeing what catches my attention and likely snap a pic with the miracle iPhone quietly yearning to be in the country side. This usually involves seeking out nifty little cafes and just sitting…you’ll see.

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The best falafel and fresh mint tea inside – Granada

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San Georgio plaza Grenada

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More street musicians in Granada

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No-one rises early here!

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The streets of Granada at 0730 today

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Blind accordionist (very good) donated instead of sneaking by in case he wasn’t

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Roasting spuds in modified 200 litre drums

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Georgio plata

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Street flamenco

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Granada skyline from our room

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How practical

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Met up with Emma in Granada – breakfast under the watchful eyes of tin men

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Fighting jet lag – spirit willing, body not!

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Fast train Toledo to Madrid 64 kms in 30 mins

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18 April 2011 On our way once more Sydney to London to Madrid

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