video of the beaches on Menorca

Pictures from Ciutadella

My last couple of days on the Balearic island of Menorca were spent in the city of Ciutadella, on the Western coast. I rode the bus from Mahon, checked into the cutest little hotel, $30 per night and it had an attached bathroom with shower! I jumped on the bike, and headed for the port. Along the way I stopped at the grocery and picked up some sardines, octopus, and bread for lunch. I followed the far road out to the lighthouse and sat by the sea and ate. On the way back I spotted a man descending some stairs to a concrete platform next to a cove at the entrance to the port. I said to him what a nice spot it was, and to my surprise he said, “there’s plenty of room here, you should join!” I did, and it was a stroke of luck. His name was Felix, and he spoke good English, lived in Barcelona, had another home here in Ciutadella, and was super friendly. We talked about the island, and I learned a lot, then he convinced me to go for a swim. I should have been in the water the whole time! It was perfect. The water was as clear as what comes out of the tap, and just the right temp to cool off. We swam for quite a while, then he invited me to join him for a meal. We went to a cafe in the top of the port, and I had the best meal of my trip thus far. Felix left to go back to his family in Barcelona, and I went to find a shop that sold swim goggles. I returned to the cove with goggles, and spent the rest of the evening swimming with the fish. I went back to the hotel, which had a beautiful courtyard with cafe, and planned tomorrow’s visit to the virgin beaches. The next day I rode the 14 miles on winding country roads to the Southern coast, to where the pavement ends, and if you don’t have a bike you walk the last 15 minutes to the beach. This beach, called Macarella, and the smaller Macarelleta another 10 minutes walk around the corner, were spectacular! I swam from the main beach to the smaller beach, then hiked over the mountain to take pictures. In the pictures, the beach that is on the left is the main one, and the one to the right is the smaller one. I can’t stress how much the pictures do not do this place justice. I was so struck by the beauty that I stayed all day. I swam for hours, and got burned to a crisp, it still hurts today. I got back to Ciutadella about 6pm, washed up, and went out to take some more pictures of the city. As you can see from the pictures, it is perfect. I did run into a local horseman practicing for the festival that would take place next weekend. On Menorca, they have a very special breed of horses, one of the only true all black breeds left in Europe. They walk with more pride than any horse I have ever seen, the Lipizzan Stallions have nothing on these horses. During the festival, the rider rears the horse up and the people gather around and try to hold the horse up, and keep him from returning his hooves to the ground. The closer to the heart you can touch the horse, the more luck you will have. They also race the horses on the natural clay area at the head of the port you can see in the photos. The next day I left Menorca via the “fast ferry” which could go a maximum of 46 miles per hour, and we did 46 miles per hour the whole time. What took 9 hours to cover in the conventional ferry only took 3 in the fast one, sweet. I can’t wait to go back to Menorca!!!!

Mahon, Menorca, ESP

pictures of a day in Mahon

After a full day of sights in Barcelona, I boarded the overnight ferry to Menorca. There was a little confusion on which ferry I would take, as there was a major protest in Spain going on, and no fuel was able to make it to the port of Barcelona that day. The company I booked with was unable to sail a ship, so they transfered my reservation to another company that did have a gassed up ship. I was slightly troubled at the thought of going to an island with no guarantee of return if the protest kept up, but hey, I could get stuck worse places than an island in the Mediterranean, right? I woke up the next morning to see a lighthouse painted just like my favorite one in Buxton, NC, on the Outer Banks. A little later we entered the mouth of the port of Mahon, the second largest deepwater port in the world, second only to Pearl Harbor. It averages 40 meters deep, that’s deep, but it doesn’t see nearly the traffic most other harbors do! As we neared the harbor, the harbor pilots came along in a little boat, and one jumped across to a rope ladder on our ferry, headed to the wheel house, and took over the steering. We passed by lots of pastel colored buildings and lots of pleasure yachts, cliffside houses, and some seriously steep and curvy streets that led to the top of the cliffs. I rode my bike to the hotel, a brightly colored place, with some hippy types in charge. The rooms were all different colors, and there was a really cool patio on the roof that overlooked the main part of the city. My room was by far the brightest room I have ever slept in, ever. After I settled in, I took a cycling tour of the city. The standard method I use is to head first to the waterfront, then just ride till I am completely lost, find myself on the map, orient myself, then repeat till I can’t get lost anymore. This adventurous exploration method works really well, in the smaller cities especially. In my wanderings I found a gin distillery with original equipment from the 1800’s, still in use. They had an all you can drink, self serve, unattended tasting room. Too bad I don’t like gin at all, but I did get to witness several Aussies getting way out of hand, any nobody said a word to them. After exploring, I headed out on the bike to find that lighthouse, and the remote beach near it. It was about 12 miles away, in a national park, and the walk to the beach was 45 minutes from the parking lot! The beach was amazing, and there were only about 4 other people there when I got there. I stayed to swim and lay in the sun for a few hours, then headed back to Mahon. Later, I took a really cool harbor tour aboard a glass bottom boat that I really enjoyed. Tomorrow it was on to Ciutadella on the other side of the island. I was talked out of riding my bike across the island by the skipper of the tour boat, he claimed that there was nothing to see in the interior, and the bus would only cost me $2. Besides, my folding bike was perfect for the bus trip. As it turns out, he was totally right.

A few words about Catalan

In Catalonia, where Barcelona is located, they do not speak Spanish. This was a surprise to me, it's Spain after all! They speak Catalan, which is a cross between Spanish, Italian, and French from what I can tell. Catalan is also spoken in the Balearic Islands, where Minorca, or Menorca in Catalan, is located. The capital city of Menorca is Mao, or Mahon in Catalan. I will refer to it as Mahon, because of this reason........

Long ago in the city of Mahon, a certain sauce was created and brought back to the king of France after the defeat of the British on the island of Menorca. This later became known as mayonnaise!! Anyone who has sat at a table with me for more than a few minutes knows my lifelong dislike of this condiment. YUCK! I can't even believe I visited the birthplace of this dreadful sauce, but to me it was sort of ironic. Needless to say, I did make all of my own sandwiches the whole time I was there.  

Gaudi day!

Pictures of my day of Gaudi

No visit to Barcelona would be complete without a visit to Antoni Gaudi’s Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) and the Park Guell. Gaudi was a famous architect from the 20th century responsible for many of the whimsical buildings in Barcelona. Not many of his works have straight lines, and seem modern even for today’s standards. la Sagrada Familia, his most famous work, was started over 100 years ago, is still under construction, and is slated to be finished maybe sometime in the 2020’s. This is my favorite church, and maybe building, in the whole world. I have been waiting a long time to see this. I rode the bike paths from the hotel to the site, and entered the museum in the basement first, actually, this was dumb luck, as I was really looking for the bathroom. I was able to see the history of his life, and this particular building in detail, and also able to witness the workshop where the master builders are quietly measuring the scale models for the continuing construction. Next I rode a lift to the top of some of the towers and got a great view of the city, and the tops of the towers that are decorated in different fruits in mosaic form, as gifts to God. The walk back down the spiral staircase was really quite frightening for even me. It was sooooooo steep, and narrow, there is no way on earth this would be open to the public in America! Inside the main part of the cathedral, the roof was just being completed in the main hall, and the columns that hold up the roof were like nothing I have ever seen before. They looked, by no coincidence, like trees. I spent a good 3 hours here taking it all in. Afterward, I rode to the top of the mountain behind the city, to a spot where Gaudi was commissioned to create a natural park. The main entrance to the park has a cute set of guard houses the house a museum of some of his other works. Above the houses is a covered plaza for a marketplace, and above that still is an open air plaza for yet more market space. Walking up the stairs you pass a couple of mosaic statues and fountains (being fixed that day), to a cute little covered mosaic bench for resting. The entire perimeter of the top open air market place was a mosaic bench for resting. This place was truly amazing! I climbed further up the park to see fantastic bridges and archways leading to more gardens, and more fantastic bridges and archways. What a great way to spend an afternoon, then I was off to Menorca by overnight ferry!

Barcelona!

Pictures of Barcelona

Barcelona, the city, is simply amazing. It is everything that Madrid is not. Less smokers, more bicycles, and way more civic pride. I arrived early in the morning after an all night train ride, and checked into a cheap hotel in the Bari Gotic, or Gothic neighborhood. It was a simple hotel, 30 euros per night with a shared bathroom down the hall. I took a quick nap, then proceeded to check out the city by bike. My new folding bike worked perfectly for the entire trip, and I am convinced this is by far the best way to travel to a new place. I was able to take it on the train without a hitch, just fold it up and put it in the bag that came with it. When I got to the train station in Barcelona I just unfolded it, put my backpack on, and peddled off while all the other travelers were standing there waiting on the bus, subway, or just trying to figure out to get where they were going. Immediately I noticed that almost all of the streets have bike lanes, and I don’t mean some thing on the side of the road, I mean real lanes that are separated from traffic by trees, or a curb. This was my favorite thing about the whole city. In the Bari Gotic the streets are well suited for cycling too, as the roads are not wide enough to allow passage of vehicles! Imagine, roads that were built before anyone conceived the idea of cars. I zipped down Las Ramblas, the most famous street in all of Spain, to the port, and down the beach for a few miles. Las Ramblas is a huge pedestrian walk that has hundreds of stores and open air markets selling everything under the sun. The flower section was really beautiful. The pet section had every sort of pet you could imagine, including baby prairie dogs! About halfway down to the port is a giant Miro mosaic built into the promenade. Imagine, walking on a priceless Miro work? Well, you can do it here, and it is real, not a reproduction, or fake, he installed it himself. I spent 2 days riding around looking at the sights, and visiting some important landmarks. I chose not to go into most of the churches and museums simply because I was having so much fun riding around a new place. I did go to La Sagrada Famila, which you can read about elsewhere in this blog. I did manage to eat my first paella here in Spain, and it was better than any paella I have ever tasted! The restaurant was called Amaya, and was about 40 years old. It is a famous spot on Las Ramblas, and I happened to luck into it. Later in my trip, a local I met on the island of Menorca actually recommended it to me, he was surprised that I had already eaten there. Here is the website if you want to check it out: AMAYA, Cuina Basca. (many of the links in the site are under construction, but check out the gallery) The bike system in Barcelona is super advanced and popular. Residents pay $25 euro for a electronic card that is swiped at any of the many bike depots around town. It automatically unlocks a bike, and you are free to use it for up to 2 hours. You simply ride to wherever you want, and re-rack the bike and go about your business. The program was launched just over a year ago, and they have had to double the service already. The bikes are comfortable 3 speed affairs with a basket, and are all serviced regularly. Now that’s a progressive forward thinking populace! Finally, I stumbled upon a park that had the neatest children’s slide I have ever seen, it was in the shape of an angel fish!

As I was putting the computer away for a week, maybe a little less, I noticed that there are some slideshows on my site, that I have failed to post links to here on the blog. So without further fanfare, or particular narration here you go.

Aviles day 4

Spain May 21

Spain May 22

Some of you may have already seen these when I sent you a private email, the others, well, here is your chance. 

The first link is a trip to Gijon, follwoed by a whirlwind trip around to some of the fishing villages, a lookout in the mountains, and a super cool trip to Covadonga, the chapel built into the cliff, and some alpine lakes in the Picos de Europa. Jennifer did indeed ride her bike up to the lakes, could be the hardest ride of the year for her. 

The second set is from another day trip into the mountains, this time with dad's cousin. Jennifer again rode her bike, I was too sick at the time to make the ride, I'm surprised I even made it out of the house to be honest. The church in the pictures was built in 891 AD, and yes the key did operate the door.

And finally the third set is our bike trip up and over the mountains, out of Asturias. The climbing was great, the grade went to 17% although we did not get a picture of that sign. I had so much fun with my wife on this ride, I wish it had never ended. Coming down the other side was not as nice. Everything turned brown, and workers were mining everything in site. 

OK, I'm off to Barcelona! 

Week trip to the South

Tomorrow night I'm taking an overnight train to Barcelona, where I will stay for a couple days. From there I am taking a ferry to the island of Menorca for three more days of travel. I am bringing my new bike with me, and plan to ride it all over the island, which is only 24 miles long. I am really excited for this excursion, and promise to take lots of pictures. I will arrive on Menorca in the city of Mao, and depart three days later from Ciutadella. Menorca visit website

I spent most of today surfing the internet, researching my trip, and visiting the Atocha train station, here in Madrid, to buy tickets. I would like to have traveled on the train that goes 200 mph, but it cost three times as much, so I'm OK with the longer trip time. 

The picture is from the Museum of the Americas, a real shrunken head, one of the coolest things I have seen.

Dad leaves for the US on the 17th, and I follow on the 20th. I plan to go to several other "local" to Madrid towns when I get back from the South of Spain. See you all soon!!

Day trip from Madrid

pictures from Valley of the Fallen and El Escorial

A few days ago I travelled to Valle de los Ciados, or Valley of the Fallen, and El Escorial outside of Madrid. After dad and I took the battery out of the car, brought it to a mechanic who recharged it, and we had it reinstalled properly (we left the interior light on when we came back from Asturias) we drove and hour to the Northwest. The first stop was Valley of the Fallen, where Franco used slave labor POW's from the Spanish civil war to construct a monument to the soldiers that were killed during the conflict (from the right side politically). He excavated the interior of a granite mountain to build a cathedral, and used the rock that was removed to build the largest cross in the world. It is quite imposing at 150 meters high, which is 492 feet. The cathedral inside the mountain has one of the largest mosaics in the world too. Franco even thought so much of himself that he included his likeness ascending to heaven in the mosaic, but I doubt he ever made it there after killing so many innocent people during his rein. Dad and I walked the path up the mountain to the cross itself, a beautiful hike. The view from the top was really great, and it was nice to escape the pollution of Madrid, which can be seen in the distance. Around the back of the mountain is a medium sized monastery, you can see it in one of the pictures from the top.

We returned to the car and drove a little further down the road to the Escorial, or monastery. This is the largest one in Spain, and it seemed gigantic. We went into the cathedral on the site and dad told me that many of the kings of Spain were entombed there. We walked around the outside of the building for a while, taking in the sights, and ran across a flock of the current king's merino sheep. It was cool to see them walking around the area without anyone really watching them. 

 

New Bike

I purchased a new bike yesterday, and I simply love it. I will be able to take this little guy anywhere I go on the train, plane, or ferry. It folds right up in less than 10 seconds, no kidding. I spent the afternoon riding the streets of Madrid, and I am really impressed with the way the little wheels make it super agile, and easy to ride. Now, off to more adventures. 

(This makes bike 12 for our household, maybe time to thin the herd soon)

A trip to Segovia

Here is a link to the pictures:

www.tonycamblor.com/segovia/index.html

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, not really. It has been raining all over Spain for the past week, with some TV reports of severe flooding in the North. I decided to just ignore what the weather was doing, and have an adventure, so I went off to Segovia. Segovia is a pretty good example of a town built by and around the ruins of the Romans. I took a high-speed train from Madrid, the ride only took about 35 minutes on the new line, and 20 of those minutes was spent inside a tunnel going 160 Kph. When I got there, I was surprised that the weather was perfect for my visit, and it being a Monday, the streets were relatively deserted.

The first thing you notice when you get off the bus from the train station, (the new AVE train station is 7k away, you have to take a bus, no walking on the autopista) is the aqueduct. It is the signature landmark in the town, and part of the reason it was designated a world heritage site in the mid 80’s. It is 728 meters long and consists of 163 arches, none of which has a single drop of mortar holding it together. Good thing this is not earthquake territory. This landmark is simply amazing, and the pictures just don’t do it justice. Dad said there are larger ones still around in Syria and Turkey, but none in as good shape as this.

Leaving to the north on the main drag into the old city I noticed that there was no asphalt in the streets. Indeed the whole day I was within the walls, I noticed that ALL of the streets were cobblestone! From Plaza Major I had great views of the cathedral, which I decided not to go into. Instead I hustled further up the hill to the castle at the top of the hill. I did notice that this church had the biggest, tallest door I have ever seen, that is used to pass people.

The castle is supposedly the inspiration for the castles in Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, and once I saw it I would agree that is true. This castle is totally storybook in appearance, with sheer cliffs on 3 sides, and a really deep moat and drawbridge (now just a bridge) in the front. I did opt to go into the castle, and was surprised that all the antiquities were not really guarded by anyone, the honor system was keeping people from touching paintings and sitting in thrones that were hundreds of years old, cool. I looked at all of the rooms, and took a few photos. The chapel was very quaint, a Spanish king and queen were married here. I climbed the tower next (additional charge, and 156 steps) and was rewarded with the best view of the city. I can see why this was chosen as the spot for a summer home for many of the kings, it would seem impossible to overtake this building without modern warfare equipment.

I left the castle and wandered the streets for the rest of the day, taking in the sights, and jumping out of the way of traffic that still uses the narrow roads. I returned to the aqueduct and walked the length of it to find the starting point, and returned to the plaza to catch the bus, then train back home. What a fun day, I was exhausted, I went straight to bed (kind of, iChat with Jennifer first) and slept like a rock, a roman aqueduct rock that is.