Buxton is the new Beach!

Here we are at the
top of Solomon's temple

We are writing this post together as we are waiting to fly to Lisbon.

Inside the Buxton Dome

We took a very unplanned side trip which became a highlight of this European holiday so far. Why??? Mostly, because of the family- Dan, Fi, Aidan and Will and this magical, historical and centrally located place in England where they chose to put down roots. Buxton has become, for us, not only a place of great interest, but a place that we desire to return to again and again. We are already planning to continue our adventures for an extended period of time in 2017.

Buxton in the winter

So what about Buxton. It is the highest market town in England's Peak District and from here there is easy access to Manchester, London and anywhere in the UK. It is only three hours to Wales which is also on our list of countries to visit. I was excited to know that Buxton had not only a Buddhist center like the one in San Cristobal de las Casas, but Tai Chi as well. There is also plenty of yoga for Susan too. All this added to the fact that it has amazing healthy food options and is completely walkable which is really important to both of us (we did not use a car for the week). 

We were there for probably the worst of the yearly weather...cold and snowy but can envision the beauty of most of the rest of the year when it is lush and green.We managed to go for several hikes over the wonderful hills (covered in snow) including Solomon's Temple and Corbar Cross.  We also saw the map with literally hundreds of options for short, long or overnight walks - a walkers paradise. This further whet our appetites for the future.

"Twisting the night away"

Happy 13 to Aidan

"Our" family has a long history as we have traveled for many years to beach vacations when we all lived in NC. It had been a long time since we had seen each other but we went right back to where we left off. We met a few of their friends and had quality time with everyone especially for Aidan's 13th birthday celebration. 

We walked all around the downtown of Buxton, visited several tea rooms and a short day trip to Manchester which was only one hour away by train. We can't wait to explore so much more the next time.

Manchester ready for Chinese New Year

Manchester

The world's first city to be
declared a nuclear free zone

This used to be the Mercantile Exchange and is now a beautiful theatre in Mancheser

Caves under Buxton

wearing our "wellies"

"Buxton is the new Beach" ..... our logo as it has everything we have loved about our beach vacations...especially sharing time together as we like it to do. Pack your bags and come and visit us in Buxton in 2017!

Buxton in the winter

We love Dan

Snow angels Susan and Ricky

Bye Bye family

Winding down in Andalusia - from Cadiz to Cordoba

This time I will begin with thoughts from Ricardo.

Our last day in Andalusia.

Here are my final notes as we wrap up our time in this land that is deep in history, magic and adventure.  We have been traveling now for a month investigating all that there is here in Andalusia - viewing the past, present and a glimpse into the future in this ancient land which has been inhabited by Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, Jewish and Catholic Kings and now to us in this present day. We have learned of some their battles for control and power over a two thousand year history, which has come down to the present day where once again people of all types are living in harmony as brothers. I would recommend to all that it is worth the time to travel through this part of Spain, but one must give it time so more can sink in. I could have given it much more time since throughout the year there are many different festivals and celebrations and as our time was short they were out of reach for us. Our goal was to spend 4 - 5 days in each place which wasn't enough to build community as we like to do. However it was enough to meet many wonderful people here and from other places in the world traveling as we were. This part of the world is clean, orderly and safe with ease for getting around from place to place (we did it mostly with trains and a few buses).  We will leave tomorrow for a week in Buxton, England to be with good friends Dan and Fi and their sons - Aidan and Will and then to Portugal until the end of February. Thanks for traveling with us. As we all know the world is a big track of land and one has to chose wisely. I feel that Andalusia was, for us, a very wise choice. I know that we will return to Spain again in the  future.

Cadiz- Mosque, church and Roman ruins

As our month is winding down I can only say that we have loved all of Andalusia - each town or city is so different with its history, architecture, food, accents yet many common denominators as well - all friendly, walkable, photogenic, dropping of the ends of words making it hard to understand and very different (for us) with eating times - restaurants closed from 4-8....just when we like to eat!

Stay with me if you want, as this might be a long post and there will be many photos and lots for us to remember for ourselves. This is one of the ways that I remember the many things we do - writing them and then able to go back and review as I wish.

A typical street scene of tapas bars

A view from the tower to the ocean

I left you in early January when we had just arrived in Cadiz. It is shaped somewhat like a lollipop and the main old town is the top of the pop and the new area is the stick which then leads to the rest of Spain. It is the oldest city in Europe and you can imagine that there is a great deal of history. The streets are tiny and winding and confusing at first. We always spend lots of time walking and first thing we do wherever we can is take one of the free walking tours. All of Spain has this program where they offer the tours for free with the hope that people will pay what they feel it is worth. They are very popular and offered in many languages. We have done them in both English and Spanish (and sometimes both). In Cadiz you can walk all around the whole city with the water on your side. We enjoyed a 360 degree view from the top of the tower as well as a Camera Oscura which showed live what was going on in the vicinity of the tower.

Botanical gardens

In Cadiz we stayed in the Hostal Cadiz Inn - a great little hostal right in the center of the historic district and made good friends with the owner Simo (who is from Morocco). We spent many hours hanging out with him in the kitchen area over tea with brainstorming of several of my ideas for tourist businesses in Andalusia. Here I cooked our main meal almost every day with delicious veggies from the local market.

Amazing old trees in Cadiz

View of Cordoba from Roman Bridge

Roman ruins in Cordoba

Then we were off to Cordoba where we have been for the last 5 days. Here we had our first series of rainy days but it did not keep us from seeing the many sites with the most famous being the Mezquita. Words cannot describe the experience. We saw it the first night from the other side of the Roman bridge - all lit up and although amazing, it did not prepare us for the next morning. This city has been a mixture of cultures for hundreds of years - Phoenician, Visigoth, Roman, Muslim, Jewish and Catholic.

On Tuesday 1/11 we had one of the most incredible days and I want to share it with you in detail - I hope that I never forget it. I am calling it:

"The Most aMazing M day" ....Mezquita, Mushrooms, Muslim women and haMMaM.

Mezquita

"blending" of cultures

WOW

Early in the morning we visited the Mezquita -  there is hardly anyone there at 8:30 (BTW, it is still dark till just 8:30 in Spain in the winter). Walking in was a mystical experience of quiet with no tours or groups of people - just a few solo folks like us walking around. It was otherworldly. The Mezquita is a great Mosque and later a Cathedral was built in the middle when the Catholics arrived to Spain, It is now called the Mezquita Catedral. Somehow they managed to blend the architecture though King Charles V of Castile and Aragon who allowed it to be built said afterwards: "They have taken something unique in all the world and destroyed it to make something you can find in any city." It was not really destroyed but certainly the original feeling has been taken away. Muslims have been requesting for years to be able to return to prayer in the Mosque but turned away by the church. There are hundreds of arches as you see in these pictures. We sat down for a bit to draw and "feel" the experience and then organ music began to plan. Drawing is a way to stay in the moment and remember a feeling which I will, though I wish I could put the sound of the music into my drawing as a feeling.

We followed this experience with the the meal Ricardo had been waiting for - mushrooms with garlic and oil - so, we had them for breakfast!! These tapas bars are open all the time and there does not seem to be a rhyme or reason as to what one eats when. Restaurants are also closed from 4-8 pm (just when we usually want to eat) so it is a timing thing. We have taken to eating a big meal before 4 and then a snack later in the evening.

After the mushroom breakfast, later in the day we went for a meal at the "Salon de Te" which is a Teteria (Moroccan style tea cafe). We sat down in a small room where there was a group of 5 young 22 year old Muslim women who were from Malaysia but had just finished 2.5 years of medical school study in Ireland and were traveling a bit before heading back to Malaysia. None of them spoke Spanish and were using their phones to try translate all the items on the menu so I sat with them and read them the whole menu translating from Spanish. We had many laughs and chatted about our lives and theirs for a while. Then we quietly left them while we ate and they ate. In between a woman also with a hijab who was from Saudi Arabia spoke to the women a bit. She spoke in Arabic but the women did not speak Arabic and they found that they all could speak English. She wished them well while inviting them to visit in Saudi Arabia and hugged them all goodbye.

The girls were ready to leave and I then hugged each of them goodbye as the other woman had. They left to pay their bill and seemed to be struggling so I went to ask if they needed some help but they said no and shooed me away. Then they continued by writing things on their computer to the owner and once again I asked if they needed help and they said no. So, off they went.

We then were ready to leave and asked for our check. The owner told us that the girls had paid for us and that was what they were writing in their phones - looking up the translation for how to ask for our check.

We were baffled and grateful - we just don't know why this beautiful good deed was given to us - they were young and very sweet and oh so nice. We kept hoping for the rest of the day that we would find them walking around so we could thank them or do something kind. We will pay it forward to someone else - as it was such a kind and generous act of love.

So, if that is not enough wonderfulness for a day....we went again to a spa bath (Hamamm) with massage - same Arabic baths as we had in Granada and Ronda and now once again in Cordoba - a wonderful way to end this magical day.

Maimonides, born 1136 in Cordoba. Statue
in former Jewish section of the city

"Flower" street - there is a big contest
in the spring each year of courtyards and
balconies decorated with flowers.

Medinat al Zahar - home of the Calif

Olive press to make olive oil - in town of Baena

60% of the world's olive oil comes
from Spain - we have eaten it everywhere

Fernando, his family owned the olive factory for
7 generations - in Baena - 160,000 olive trees

This day was special, but we seem to have many wonderful experiences like this - we feel very grateful and lucky to experience travel in this way.

A few other notes from this month experience. We met a lovely family from Melbourne, Australia while in Granada and then here in Cordoba another couple, also from Melbourne. We found, in conversation that they know each other. We are mounting a list of new friends to visit in the future. Maybe Australia for next winter (their summer)!

One of the odd behaviors that we have is watching TV series either on disks, Netflix or Itunes and recently finished a series of Downton Abbey, Newroom and many series of Parenthood. This is an odd form of entertainment while we are in this other world but it is our way of being!

We are trying to add a bit of drawing to our day - not every day, but more and more. Richard has been faithful to his Chi Gong - everyday. Me....sometimes. I have taken to sleeping late everyday - partly because it is dark and partly because I can!

Now...of to England and then to Portugal for a month. You will surely be hearing more as it happens. Thanks for joining us.

Continuing in Spain - from Granada to Cabo de Gata Natural Park to Ronda

San Jose, Cabo de Gata

Hello again.....we have so much to say as this adventure continues. We left you in Granada at Christmas and now it is already a few days into the new year. We headed for a week at the secluded Parque Natural Cabo de Gata - Nijar which is at the most southeastern point of Spain. It was very quiet at this time of the year as the main season is during the hot summer months but this made it even more special for us. We found another airbnb in a tiny town called Pozo de los Frailes which was so small that it had no restaurant or stores. We were only 2k from the largest (though still tiny) town in this park called San Jose so we were able to buy simple foods and cooked in on most days.

Los Genoveses

The week consisted of many walks with many times getting lost. Our big complaint was that most hikes were not well explained as to start and route - we did follow along with various notes and brochures but seemed always to get lost and confused. One thing that helped is that we found out after a few hikes that red arrows meant mountain bike routes and we had thought it was the walking route...no wonder we never found our way. We did rent a car for this whole week so were able to drive to places that would have been impossible to get to. In fact, we would not have been able to get to the little town we stayed in without a car.

Playa Monsul

Mostly for myself or for anyone else who has been to this area, I am going to list all the places we went so that we can remember them for ourselves and advice to others. The variety of walks included different flora, fauna, rocky coast and mills or mines. Each a different terrain - reason to be protected in this natural park.

Isleta del Moro

Las Negras

Las Salinas

We walked to Los Genoveses and Playa Monsul. We tried walking from Pozo de los Frailes to Los Escullos  but went completely the wrong way. Visited Los Escullos and Isleta del Moro, then Rodalquilar and El Playazo. On our anniversary (Dec. 30th) we went to Agua Amarga and Las Negras and celebrated with tea and tapas. Also to Playa de Los Muertos, Las Salinas and Cabo de Gata.

Playa de los muertos - a
nude beach for some.

Rodialquilar - old mining village

Once again we had delicious veggie paella in San Jose the first and last night and home cooked meals for the rest.

Veggie paella at sunset in San Jose

25 years and still in love with our best friend

This was a great place to celebrate our 25th anniversary and quietly bring in the New Year. In fact, I never got dressed that day - stayed in all day - to some this is not a big deal but to me - a once in my life (so far) occasion, gracias a dios .

Then on the 2nd we headed to Ronda, a beautiful little jewel of a city - very friendly, comfortable and walkable. It has an amazing location and history (built on the edges of a steep gorge) and is one of the oldest cities in Europe. We feel we got to know the city well by walking up and down from new part of town (1700's) to the old part of town occupied as early as the Roman empire. Ronda was a moorish fortress and therefore walls around the high cliffs on the gorge of the river below. It was such an amazing place for photographs - could have taken one in any direction at any spot in the town.

View from the puente viejo (old bridge)
13-15th century)

"New" bridge from the 1700's

Arabic baths

We visited the ruins of the Arabic baths (Banos arabes) and treated ourselves to one of our favorite luxuries - the new hammam "Aguas de Ronda". We had two hours of hot bath, tepid bath with forceful waterfalls on our shoulders, cold bath with ice chips shooting out of a pipe and steam bath. We did it all, several times over and needless to say, we were completely relaxed after this treat.

view from below the bridge

my favorite morning breakfast -
gluten free bread with tomato puree salsa

Ronda was great for food options. This time we stayed in a small hotel so had no facilities for cooking. We were lucky to be right next to a great little breakfast spot and found a few great tapas bars and and an Indian restaurant.

Our hotel on the left

Our weather (for the first time on this trip) was not so great - drizzily most of the time. As you have noted in our pictures, it has never been warm enough to go in shirt sleeves and always needing a scarf and jacket.

Halfway down the gorge

As I write we have just arrived in Cadiz and I will share more on this area in the next post and now for some words and thoughts from Ricardo.

Travel, why travel? It is a question that I am often asked. I grew up being taught that you can watch everything on TV and it's cheaper and safer. Well, I can truly say that I was misinformed. There is so much more to be seen and felt by the act of just leaving one's comfort zone and traveling. We are now into our fourth week in southern Spain called Andalusia and our adventure will take us to Cordoba; Buxton, England and then to Portugal for the rest of our time in Europe.

We are closing in on six years of living mostly outside of the US and working very hard on a new language. All of our travels since retirement have been to Spanish speaking countries where we have been feeling comfortable enough in the language to move easily and engage with other people. Later on this month we will be in Portugal where language will force us into a different situation and maybe some isolation. More shall be revealed.

What about our last two destinations Cabo de Gata and Ronda?  They were opposite kind of places which helps to give a contrast to each of them. Cabo de Gata is all beach and very few people, very laid back with incredible landscapes of sandy beaches to rocky cliffs. We enjoyed the hikes and just being alone in our apartment. I would recommend it highly for a meditative and relaxing experience.  We left it feeling as if the world just stopped and that all is well.  

The old and new steps going down
from the old bridge in Ronda

Next we went to the magical city called Ronda, one of the oldest in Europe, it has been said. This was a mix of old and modern coming together to offer the traveler a truly deep experience with modern conveniences - it has it all.  It is a small city that one can walk all over including steps down 900 foot cliffs that surround the old city.  Both places have given us one of the joys in our lives, which is walking and some times we call it hiking. I'm not to sure of the difference except that I think that hiking means it is more difficult. Both these places had both kinds and so much more to offer.

Serene landscape in Cabo de Gata

And I cannot forget that we spent our 25th wedding anniversary here with much talk about the past 25 wonderful years and many more to come. As they say in Mexico - "Si dios quiere" (if God wishes).

This is just my two centavos. I am happy to be able to express myself which always helps in adding to the feelings of our travels together. Have a great year full of love and adventure.

Once again - thanks for traveling with us both on our adventures.