Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

Today we had a LOVELY visit to Toledo and arrived in Madrid later in the evening.

Just a note: Another lady broke two toes and had to be seen at the hospital. She is still with us, but moving slowly with a foot boot and crutches. She did not go home as well. Our dear Charlotte with the shoulder injury is quite an inspiration for all of us and will be for a long, long time.  We all love her!!  It is more difficult to get from place to place for the lady on crutches.  Feet take you everywhere and work quite a differently on cobblestones and ancient winding up and down streets in towns 500 years old.  But my hat and the hats of others go out to these two brave ladies.

On the way to Toledo we made a pit stop at a town described as Don Quixote’s hometown. Perhaps the setting Cervantes set was his home town. I do not know who ever really lived here, but why would the guides tell tales?  It all took place so many hundreds of years ago and it is a good bathroom stop, so why worry about this truth. Whoever lived/s here, it is a picturesque setting, plus it has the best bakery in the entire Spanish countryside.  The macaroons were heavenly and the bread pulled apart was the perfect soft centered, crisp outside kind you expect and usually don’t get.

TOLEDO:

Toledo was once the center of all Spain. It was the capitol and then the honors were moved to Madrid. People began to leave Toledo for Madrid and Madrid is now huge, bustling and magnificent.

Toledo looks much like it did five hundred years ago. It looks this way because as I said, the capitol status was removed to Madrid, so Toledo sopped in its tracks and remained with the help of maintenance very much same.  Its charm is the look of antiquity and other factors, many historical events tourists find fascinating. Many of the monuments are facades and are dedicated to the memories and contributions of those not with us anymore, but who bequeathed remembrances for all of us who come to see how they lived and what they have left.

This beautiful Cathedral is only opened when dignitaries come for a visit which is not very often.

They say that the Christians, Jews and the Muslims all lived together in unity and religious issues were not prevalent. Is this true?  Did they really live in peace with no conflicts and for how long? I hope it is true and I hope it can happen again. Such naiveté, on my part, but let it be right.

One of two signs announcing the Synagogue.

We were treated to a visit to an old Synagogue called Santa Maria la Blanca and enjoyed being there, but realizing it is in an Arabic style, I asked why.  It was explained that the old Synagogue was renovated and made into a mosque long ago.

To be sure you do not miss The Santa Maria la Blanca, here is the second sign.

It is said that several years ago many Sephardic Rabbis were invited back to Toledo for a festive occasion. They were all offered to have the Sephardic Jews return to Spain and receive full Spanish citizenship in only two years when it normally takes ten to fifteen years to become Spanish citizens.  How many do you think returned to become Spanish once again?  How many will come? I predict, none. It is my opinion that it was a gesture with no reality, but a heck of a good show.

We entered a convent, climbed the stairs and knocked on the window of Mother Superior’s quarters. She is said to sell handmade Marzipan if you knock.  Skip knocked and we asked for a box of the marzipan; she handed the box to Skip and Skip handed her six Euros.  We saw a similar box down the road for only two Euros.  Oh well, let us just say we donated to the Convent.

Another note. Do you remember reading about the turtle story and my crossing the bridge? Well, again we had another bridge to cross today to meet the bus. After hours of walking in the lovely town of Toledo, the bus looked far away in the distance as our group gazed across the expanse of another bridge.  Skip said I wasn’t second last time, I was third,  so this time I made very, very, undoubtedly sure that I was FIRST to across the bridge. I did it in front of witnesses.  A young fifteen year old almost got me, but I even stopped to take a picture and still won. Like I said before, it was just I cheering for myself after winning the self-imposed race.  Yeah Sheila, good job in bridge crossing.  Thank you Toledo for your beautiful peek into yesteryear and a few moments in time to reflect, learn and listen to echoes from the past.

See my competition, and see how I clearly was in the lead? Just a little personal best in progress.

Just to add a side note: We are staying just a few blocks from the train station in Madrid where terrorists did their dirty deed several years ago. We have gone past it a few times.  I will go this afternoon to see the crystal monument they have there with all the names of those killed or injured in the attack.

Now that Madrid is the Capitol of Spain it has grown up to be a majestic, huge, metropolis with traffic, sculptures honoring heroes, a beautiful botanical garden, and the Prado Museum.

I will admit that the guide we had at the museum was so slow, much to slow for my biorhythms, so we ditched her and wandered around until we had enough. We wandered off to other areas where we lingered. We enjoyed were the Playa Major and had a long three course lunch in Playa del Sol. After hours of play, joints and feet aching, we jumped into a taxi. I got the front seat. Oh my goodness, let us dispense with all of the superlatives and just say, imagine an amusement park ride. Yes, the ride was exciting, daring and down right scary. But, that was the fun and the spirit of Madrid.

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A Costa Del Sol Sunrise from our balcony.

We are now in Costa del Sol.  The word Sol means sun and the sun shines down with a fury. It is so beautiful and hot, hot, hot here. We enjoyed a midnight stroll along the boardwalk that stretches for miles and miles.

Long ago these beautiful built up towns of Costa del Sol used to be tiny fishing villages of not more that 300 people, but now you will find huge condo complexes, gorgeous homes of the rich and famous and cities within cities. These little fishing villages have truly been transformed into a huge tourist destination. From our location today, we are to visit Malaga the birthplace of Pablo Picasso and a private museum with his paintings put on display by his grandson.

It feels like 1,000 degrees in the sun, but in the shade and out on the beaches it is cooler. This afternoon, all I want to do is stay in our room, with the air conditioner blasting, but alas you are at the beach, so go out and enjoy. Mama Mia, they go topless here.  We noticed ladies are very free about their bodies and comfortable within them. It was one of those non-verbal messages to me.  I don’t have to strip to the waist, but should be happy with what is still there! Still working, still quite presentable, still supple and well hydrated and not too much of it all. One grandmother lifting her grandbaby up and down was so huge and so tan. Everyone is so tan. It looks like hey painted it on, but it is not. One topless wonder was redder than a fresh boiled lobster. Many topless women were mothers with children around them totally unconcerned they might be marking them for life. Marked, how, I do not know for sure. Perhaps it is a good thing, perhaps, not. What do you think?

Oh so sorry, no photos.

Tomorrow there is no luxury of staying at the hotel because the wake up call comes at 4:45 a.m. and soon thereafter we go to Morocco for the day. I can’t even imagine the heat there, but I do know that I will be able to cross off several notations on my bucket list. One is step onto the continent of Africa and secondly, is to add another country to our travel adventures.

First view of white washed houses on a hill, in Tangier, taken from the bus window.

We just returned from Tangier a two-hour bus ride and a 40-minute ferry ride from Costa del Sol.  While it is an interesting border town, it was exhausting. As soon as you get off your bus there are what seems like crowds of people hawing and sticking items for sale in your face.  Ask me what I bought and I will tell you nothing. I watched three sales and each took the entire free time we had.  One sale was two leather bracelets that were eventually purchased, but the dialogues started at ten Euros and ended both for three.  The negotiations were relentless and ended only as the lady entered the bus and sat down. The man acted desperate through the window. Oh my, too much drama for little ole me. The second purchase was a little carved camel. No great shakes, but the child wanted two Euros and the lady handed him a one-dollar bill. He was not interested in the money, but started his relentless pursuit of her.  The second to last was a necklace that was nice but so over priced in a store. The shopkeeper kept on going down and kept on going down, finally a price was agreed upon, he handed the woman the necklace and she gave him the money. He promptly took the necklace back and gave her the money back and said he was only joking, how could she believe he would sell it to her for that price. Twice she had the necklace and he had the money and twice he took it back and gave her the money back. I was in shock and felt funny standing there. In the end she got the necklace, but I don’t know what the final price was nor do I care.  Now can you see that I did not buy any thing? The negotiations here were, too dramatic.  One man followed me all the way through the bazar and told my kids to watch me and take care of me and that someone might want to see what was in my pocket. Freaky?

You are right; that is our daughter Karen riding on a camel.

Getting off of the ferry taught me that the ladies with the head scarves do not have a personal zone, they bang into you and push you aside to get going and be on their way.  I thought maybe they were anxious to get off the ferry and home, but no, this kind of banging and pushing aside happened the whole day every time we got down on the ground. Humm. I just mention this because it happened to me. It joggled me and banged me around. I never got hurt or bruised, just nudged out of the way.  I was jolted a few times into the walls of the alleyways because I was a THING in the way. I was something between this woman and what she needed to do or needed to get.  If it happened once or twice I would say, an accident, but now I see it is a way of being. a way of action.  The men never ever touched me even with a graze and they were all in a hurry, too. The women are very strong and confident out in their world and I wish them well. I thought they were weak and squelched, but not the ones I encountered.

Here she is going about her daily business.

When it was time to return to the ferry and go back to Spain, I was relieved and glad to have spent time there, walked on their soil and returned to less stress.

More photos:

Just a moment of their time. I am thanking them.

This caught my eye and I wanted to share it with you.

I don't know why, but I love this lady and the photo.

A nice mother and child photo.

Mostly men are out and about, but I did capture a few women doing their marketing.

Hard working man.

Look who is enjoying the carpet factory!

Our guide asked me to stop taking photos because she said the people might not like it. I guarantee you none of them saw me taking their photo from behind the pole, from behind the tree, from behind the building, from behind her back.

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This is the entrance to the city of Cordoba.

Cordoba is an hour and ½ drive from Seville. It is well worth the drive to see such a lovely little city. You will realize that in this city Jews and Muslims lived side by side peacefully as they did in many early times in Spain.

There is a very small early Synagogue in Cordova still left intact. We were walked through the small winding streets of the once Jewish Quarters, which is very lovely and well kept, and then on to The Cathedral.

It is especially important when visiting Cordoba to go to the enormous Cathedral for a reflection.  I did have time to reflect on inspiration, beauty, as I perceive it, and truth, as I understand it, righteousness, and taking pleasure in life, guilt free.

At first the site on which the Cathedral sits was the Church of San Vicente and was demolished to make way for the creation of a Mosque now the Cathedral of Cordoba. What have made this huge complex so unique are the red and beige arches. Other aspects are hugely important as well, but for now it was important to experience the beautiful overlapping arches. The red is achieved with red bricks.  Although it was a very hot day and trailing our guide was exhausting, the city and the Cathedral were and are wonders of the world to me. If time permitted, I would have liked to stay within those rooms full of arches and make some decisions. As it was, I did make a decision, I just hoped for more.

MARRANOS:

Our guide’s explanation of the calling of the converted Jews Marranos:

Remember this, one of the Spanish words for pig is marrano. We were told by our guide much about the Marranos who are/were the Jews, who during the time of the Inquisition in Spain had effectively converted to become Catholic or Christians in order to remain in Spain.  Jewish inhabitants of Spain were asked to convert to become Catholic or Christians or leave the country and their homes. So to prove that a Jew had successfully converted he or she was asked to eat the meat of the marrano, the pig.  If the pig meat was eaten then they were considered a Marrano, an eater of pig. So the proof became the name. I stood there in the courtyard, which had been the Jewish Quarter and decided this is something I must always remember. Why, because it is true and it is something I did not now before coming to Spain.

There is a beautiful bridge leaving the historical area of Cordoba and after a long and exhaustingly hot tour of this area, we were to walk the bridge to meet our bus on the other side.  Albeit my face was red and sweat was running down the back of my neck, but other than that, I was on the move towards the bridge.  My family was worried that I was too tired to do the bridge. I do not know what the heck they said to the guide, but she asked if she should order a taxi for me.  What the… are they kidding? I said, “Why?” She said, “I don’t know.” Skip said, “Well because you are so slow.” Pissed was I, and said, “Turtles win races and off I started out over the bridge.  I was second over that sucker and learned a very important lesson.  When you do win or are over before everyone else there is no one there to cheer you. Really. Also, you rushed through the experience of walking over a bridge and have only being over it to remember. Turtles win races in fairytales and in real life; I have been the turtle and I have been the winner. Yes!!!!!

Here they are going over the bridge and here comes the turtle.

COSTA DEL SOL:

We are now in Costa del Sol.  The word Sol I know means sun and the sun shines down with a fury. It is so beautiful and hot, hot, hot here. We enjoyed a midnight stroll along the boardwalk that stretches for miles and miles.

Long ago these beautiful built up towns of Costa del Sol used to be tiny fishing villages of not more that 300 people, but now you will find huge condo complexes, gorgeous homes of the rich and famous and cities within cities. These little fishing villages have truly been transformed into a huge tourist destination. From our location today, we are to visit Malaga the birthplace of Pablo Picasso and a private museum with his paintings put on display by his grandson.

It feels like 1,000 degrees, but in the shade and out on the beaches it is cooler. This afternoon, all I want to do is stay in our room, with the air conditioner blasting, but alas you are at the beach, so go out and enjoy. Mama Mia, they go topless here.  We noticed ladies are very free about their bodies and comfortable within them. It was one of those non-verbal messages to me.  I don’t have to strip to the waist, but should be happy with what is still there! Still working, still quite presentable, still supple and well hydrated and not too much of it all. One grandmother lifting her grandbaby up and down was so huge and so tan. Everyone is so tan. It looks like hey painted it on, but it is not. One topless wonder was redder than a fresh boiled lobster. Many topless women were mothers with children around them totally unconcerned they might be marking them for life. Marked, how, I do not know for sure. Perhaps it is a good thing, perhaps, not. What do you think?

Oh so sorry, no photos.

Gibraltar

All of your life you have seen the icon The Rock of Gibraltar as being strength of the mighty monolith. The Rock icon is a real place and it is a place with a strong and long history and a tenacity to continue to build and reclaim land all around its perimeter. Gibraltar is an amazing place and an honor and privilege to visit there. It covers only 7 miles of property and every inch is used.  I am repeating only what our guide for the day told us. First it was owned by Spain, of course, it is connected to Spain. Then somehow during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Gibraltar peninsula was ceded to Britain by Spain.  Now, this is the part that opened my eyes and dropped my jaw. Spain has made attempts to re-claim the territory, but in the last treaty signed by Britain and Spain, it is stated that the territory would belong to Britain as long as they had monkeys and Jews living on the rock.  I am not making this up. You can tell me I am wrong, but I am not.

Spain will never get their land back, because they have 30,000 Jews living there and wait, they have monkeys living there as well. Lots of them, so you see Spain is not going to get Gibraltar back anytime soon. This is where the situation is now, but history has shown that many countries have claimed Gibraltar each leaving its mark on the area.

Let me show you the monkeys living on Gibraltar, and I only met one Jew, Solomon Levi and have no photo for proof.

Today when we drove right up to the rock, we needed to exit one bus and walk through customs with our passports out opened to the first page. Once on the other side, we walked and boarded another vehicle and drove to a building to fill out paperwork that would allow us to drive up or climb up the rock.  And by the way when we left we had to take two busses out and show our passports again.

We had to wait at the light going into Gibraltar and going out as well. Planes used the main road as an airport runway and when a plane is going to be taking off or landing, you have to stop and wait until the red lights turn green. This can happen quite a number of times a day. Everyone is patient.

Photo shows us waiting for the plane to take off. I really tried to get the photo of the plane passing through, but just got the lights.

When we learned that the peninsula of Gibraltar is at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, we stood and looked for a long time. It seems so interesting that the water just splits and one goes one way and the other goes another.

Back to Gibraltar: It is tiny, they reclaimed lots of land since the original fortress walls were built. They originally had not water source, and used a rainwater catching method of getting water. Now they use desalinization process. We bought bottled water.

There are no taxes; everything is duty free.  They have tiny little alleyways for streets and most all of them are one way. There are 34 miles of tunnels as well as a massive network inside the bowels of the Rock because Britain believed that there was going to an attack by Germany and the network of tunnels would make Gibraltar a fortress!

We noticed during our short, but wonderful visit that everyone works well with each other. I did not hear one horn sound the entire day. Tiny Gibraltar has everything any city has and more. Every inch is used and has a purpose. A visit to this lovely Rock is an adventure and well worth the effort to be there and to share this culture.

This tree is in Maria Luisa Park in Seville, Spain

Our Seville City Tour and Cordoba

Before we leave Portugal let me tell you that I was so impressed as one of their exports is cork, yes, cork as in wine bottle corks, etc.

Did you know that cork comes from trees? I surely did not.   There is such as thing as cork trees and I was captivated. I bought a cork bracelet to remind me of the new knowledge gained regarding cork and cork trees.  The following photo taken by Rachel from the bus is one of a cork tree shaved of its bark to get at the cork.

The second photo is taken from the bus as well showing fields of cork trees as they grow contently in the countryside.

We continued to head south to the Algarve and crossed the border to Spain effortlessly; the wheels of the bus just rolled on. In Seville, we are treated to a visit in the Plaza de Espana built for the 1929 exhibition, but as you may remember the Great Depression was in 1929. It is said no one came, but they have these beautiful buildings and lovely grounds as a result of their planning. On the morning of our visit semi-hoards of swallows were enjoying the early morning with you. Close your eyes and imagine all the tweeting, the swooping low to say hello and the general envelopment of you and the area with their presence. It is times like those complete encounters I wish I had some of the talents of Doctor Doolittle.

Beautiful Moorish Architecture

The Cathedral

The Cathedral is beautiful, full of treasures and adorns the city of Seville. The architecture in the city of Seville is attractive and I will include a few photos to share.

The Cathedral from the outside.

City of Seville photos:

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This building is on a jetty which is the closest point to America from Portugal.

For you who have asked, the luggage arrived. Four people on this tour did not receive their luggage for several days.  I heard once upon a time, that you could tell the quality of a person’s character by the way they handle LOST luggage.

This new lovely hotel does not have any soap. You heard that right! This is such a marvelous, well-rated hotel that they are filming a movie in the lobby with Nick Nolte and other stars from America. They have had trouble with their suppliers and have given us all four bottles of SHAMPOO and asked that we use that as soap. They did not even apologize and acted rather annoyed that we asked.  I’ll betcha Nick has soap; I mean real soap in addition to his shampoo and conditioner. Another guest in our party had poop left in the toilet and the supervisor, after flushing it said, “ All is clean now.” She neglected the other issues with the bathroom area.  Oh dear.  Yes, this is a well-established hotel with movie stars as well as tourists. It is not that bad and not that good.

We drove up the Estoril Coast to get to the town of Estoril where we did not stop, but went on to Cascias a beautiful Fishing village and a place where people come to vacation. We had Portuguese food for lunch and let me tell you it was highway robbery all the way, or let me restate this for clarification; it was a tipper rip off. But the end result was that we tasted Portuguese food for two out of the three nights and I will have to get my rocks off for the rip off and say what nasty food we had. I know there is better food in Portugal; it is just that we did not run into any, yet.  Thank goodness for the bakeries. A little hit and miss, but a good variety and for the most part very tasty.

The visit, the scenery, the resort experience and the photo ops in Cascias were enjoyed; tipper, ripper and all.

Another Beach scene in Cascias.

Fishing Traps photo below

Sintra

Sintra is a lovely little city up in a thickly wooded mountain area about an hour from Lisbon. Skip and I were there about 15 years ago. It is still beautiful and wonderful, but it certainly has grown up.  There were so many tourists visiting. Many, many tourists explain so many curio shops carrying many souvenirs mostly made in China. I was surprised on that one, but according to our lovely guide, unless she tells you what is especially native to the area, then it is not authentic. Be aware that many, many of the trinkets we bring back from our visits to other countries are made in China. That is all I will say on this subject.

Royal Palace in Sintra with elongated chimneys.

We visited the Royal Summer Palace with its elongated chimneys and through the upper window, I found Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.  I found it once before when we visited Sintra, but thought it was just a figment. This time I know it is true. It is exactly how I thought it would look; what do you think?

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Sintra, Portugal, for real!

The Alfama in Lisbon (Lisboa) is one of the oldest sections of the city. The Jewish and Muslim people lived there in relative peace for centuries. When the Inquisition came to pass everything changed, as you know. We stopped to visit The Cathedral in the old section of the Alfama. I was struck by the fact that this huge CHURCH had the Star of David carved in front of the steps leading to The Cathedral. I asked our guide why the star was there and she said that at the time this was being built the Jews gave huge donations do its building fund in hopes of gaining favor and being allowed to stay in their homes. She said there are many, many churches and cathedrals with a Star of David found in various places on Churches to be seen by all who come. As we travel on to Spain we will see, according to Carmen, our guide, the etched and carved Star of David on the churches for ourselves.  So, in the meantime, here is a photo of the Great Cathedral in the Alfama, Lisboa towering up in its greatness and you can see the etched Star of David at the entrance I have provided here. If you know more, please share it.

On our visits in and around Lisbon today, our guide told us that it was very important to take a photo of yourself in front of The Tower of Lisbon, built in 1515 as proof that you were here. There is a saying that when you go to Paris, you must take your photo in front of the Eiffel Tower, when you are in London you prove your were there by taking a photo in front of the Tower of London, when you are in Sydney it is the Opera house and when in New York City you take a photo of yourself in front of the Statue of Liberty.  So we are here in Lisbon and you see proof as we have posed for a photo in front of The Tower of Lisbon.

We also visited in the same area Monument of Discovery.  This monument is dedicated to all of the Portuguese explorers who left from this spot on the Rio Tagus leading to the Atlantic Ocean during the Golden Age of Discovery.

Behold the hugh hill she has climbed

I realize how far I still have to go in life. Even ageing as I once thought was so bad, isn’t as bad as it is going to get. Look at this lady literally pulling her body step by step up a rather steep hill that had my traveling partners and me a huffing and a puffing. I value this woman and her struggles. I value my life, my aches and pains have been greatly ease by the sight of this gorgeous beautiful effort of this woman.  Once I caught up to her, I tried to smile and say a few words to her, but she could not verbally communicate because of a huge language barrier as well as a cultural divide.   I have spent time contemplating the beautiful non-verbal communications I got throughout a number of days after my encounter with the woman in the photo.

Smiles are few and far between from others UNLESS you initiate the smile.

Today was the first day out on the travel trail, so to speak. A lovely lady traveling with her husband and son, exited the bus and fell hard on the white cobblestones.  She smashed her face and was bleeding profusely, but I saw how she fell and it was on her shoulder. As it turns out, she has broken her right shoulder in three places and will require surgery at some point in time. She insists on continuing with the trip. Oh gosh, she does not know how much pain she will be in, or does she. We met just the night before this happened, but I knew immediately I liked her and we laughed a lot.  Hope we all can help her to laugh a lot more.  What happened to her I have seen on three prior trips and it scares me so much.  All of the previous falling victims went home immediately, so this lady, by the way her name is Charlotte has the courage of her convictions.  I worry about falling the entire time on or not on a trip and am extra diligent. I noticed for the rest of the day we all were cognizant of the fact we need to be so, so careful and even then, we are all vulnerable.

This event made me wonder how many times my lady on the crutches has fallen and has anyone helped her?  Is she able to get up on her own?  She obviously has not given up. She hasn’t let her infirmities stop her.