ruta de los pueblos blancos

Our biggest hurdle this trip, aside from everyone figuring out how to get along, has been driving in or out of cities- very dicey. As we drove out of Sevilla, we realized that although we knew the freeway to get on, we did not know how to get to the freeway from where we were. We asked a taxi as we were stuck in traffic, none too soon as we needed to turn right at the next turn (from the left lane no less). We miraculously made it through a terribly circuitous route to the correct freeway. We drove to Santiponce, not far from Sevilla, which had the oldest Roman settlement in Spain, Itálica (206 B.C.). We walked through with an older German woman who was on the Camino de Santiago (a very old Christian pilgramage to a church with relics of St. James) all by herself. She had also walked from her house in Munich to Geneva-quite an inspiring person! We have been trying to see as many Roman sights as possible, since Lydia has been studying that period in school.

Next we drove to some hill towns near the Sierra de Grazalema, called the Route of the White Towns. We saw Arcos de la Frontera (picture with Isabelle/Liam), Zahara (picture with Lydia/, Grazalema, and stayed in Ronda. They were once on the frontier between the Christian advance on the Moors "reconquista". All were not very touristy and incredibly picturesque. We wished we would have had more time here. Chris and Lydia climbed up to a Moorish castle for an amazing view in the town of Zahara. As we drove along we saw some oak-looking trees with their bark all stripped off- turned out to be cork of course. We also saw wild rabbits, and goats, plus lots of non-wild sheep. This region seems much more arable than the Castilla area we drove through from Madrid to Sevilla (that was barren, with red dirt and many olive trees). Next entry on Ronda.

spring in sevilla

Sevilla is quite touristy, but its old city is full of sights. We visited the Cathedral, as typical in Spain, a Christian church built on Moorish Mosque, built on a Roman foundation. It’s got a certificate from the Guiness Book of World Records attesting to it being the largest Gothic Cathedral. We walked up 330 feet with what seemed like every student in France to the top of the only Moorish part of the church that’s left, the minaret. The pathway was not a staircase, but a ramp capable of allowing a horse and rider to ascend to make the Adhan (muslim call to prayer). Great 360 degree views of the city.
The church has the recently authenticated (DNA traces to his brother’s living descendants) tomb of Christopher Columbus. We also visited the Alcazar, originally a Moorish palace that became Christian in the 1200’s. It had the rooms Columbus, Ferdinand & Isabella, had some of their dealings in.

A highlight of our visit, especially for Liam and Isabelle, was going to a playground where we meet a very nice man (Jesús) and his 5 year old girl. She ordered Lydia around telling her to put out pretend fires, which Lydia graciously complied with. Liam has a way of being silly that includes loud mumbling and lots of staggering. The little girl, Helena, called him a borracho (a drunk) and pretended to take him to carced (jail). We met Jesús' woman and sister as they waited in line for the first bull fight tickets of the year- after a little chatting, which included commenting on Bush being a criminal, we were friends. You always know you’ve become a friend in Europe when you are kissing the air next to both sides on someone’s face. It was the second time that day that a Spaniard brought up that Bush was a criminal. Earlier we asked an older woman for directions, and as she talked about the parliament building somehow she brought up the Madrid bombing, that the amigo de Bush lost the election, and that Bush was a criminal.

la comida, by guest editor Heidi

The honest way to sum it up for us veggies here deep in carne country is- bread and cheese (Lydia has eaten her fair share of Nutella as well). We have had just about every iteration you can imagine. First of all it’s just too expensive here to eat out every meal for 5, so we eat out 1 or 2 a day. Our best source of food is a chain called “El Corte Inglés,” which means “The English Style.” It’s like a very nice Target with a grocery store downstairs, where we get the needed queso y pan. We have some success with tapas. Tapas are snacks served between lunch (about 2 pm) and dinner (about 10 pm). The best have been: a wild mushroom fried in garlic and olive oil with cheese & bread, goat cheese and olive pesto on bread, cheese and sweet walnut spread on bread. We tried two vegetarian restaurants in Madrid, which were pretty good but no different than in the US. Also their tres quesos (what else?!) pizzas are good with grueyere, gorgonzola, and goat. We had some very good Pallella con Verduras, and Tortillas de Español (potato omelette that looks like a torte- needs salsa though- should have taken less gold and more chiles from the new world!). Café con leche in the morning a few times has been heavenly. We’ve eaten some great strawberries, and Mandarin oranges from Valencia. As Chris has already mentioned the churros con chocolate, as well as the gelato (helado) that is everywhere, and the marzipan in Toledo have been great. I’ve been disappointed in the cookies- the ones I’ve had don’t have butter in them! The German ones at the grocery were better. Lastly, but certainly not crucially, food would not be food in Europe if it didn’t come with a large helping of second-hand smoke.

DANGER for strict vegetarians: do not read this paragraph. We have eaten a little carne. It’s hard to escape when your restaurant has stuffed bulls’ heads all over the walls (see photo). Ham is very important in Spain so we’ve had some with mushrooms, and once in some boccadillos (sandwiches). We also had some fried fish. This was 'adobo' (shark), served up by your local freiduría. All of which was fairly unpopular with the kids, but there’s only so much bread and cheese you can handle in a day.

crosscountry roadtrip

Yesterday, we made the drive from Madrid to Seville in the southern part of Spain known as Andalucía (from the Arabic Al Andalus, the Moorish term for Spain). Let me tell you, defensive driving in Madrid is a rendundant expression. We drove across the region known as La Mancha ("parched earth" in Arabic) which appeared to be an accurate description. Along the way, we saw several of these -very- large bulls, which, of course, remind Spaniards of their national symbol in case they forget.
Along the way, we were able to stop in Toledo, (the city formerly known as the capital) until 1562, when Felipe II moved it to Madrid. Toledo would have been the capital for Ferdinand and Isabel who financed Columbus. I guess we I am a little Columbocentric since we were listening a book while we drove down in our speedy VW golf. We visited the cathedral and of course the marzipan shop while we were there.

side trip to segovia

Guess who has been studying Rome in their social studies class and was quite interested in seeing a 2000 year old aqueduct? That's right, Lydia. Turns out the Romans set up a fort on a rocky promontory (good for defense) but needed a water supply. Solution? Of course! Build a 9-mile aqueduct, keeps the centurions from getting too bored as well. Pictured above are both the aqueduct and the current Alcázar (castle) which sits atop the site of the old Roman fort. This one is only about 150 years old, since the last castle burned down in the 1860's.

afternoon in the park

How do you make a web log interesting by talking about museums? Not very easily. Let's just say our kids have about 2 hours worth of tolerance for a museum. This can be extended a little by ipods, museum benches, and bribery. We have managed to see art in the Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofia, archeology in the museo arqueológico, and a detailed model of Madrid in the museo municipal. Being the cheapskates we are, we definitely took advantage of the free saturday pm/sunday admission for a few of these.
Well, one of the nice interludes we had was at the Parque del Buen Retiro (park of the good rest). This is the largest park in Madrid and for about 250 years was the private retreat of royaly until it was opened to the public in 1868. There is a large "lake" in the middle, and we were able to go out on the lake in a rowboat. Even more fun was watching all the Madrileños in their boats and walking around the park on an absolutely beautiful spring day. The kids got a chance to burn off a little museum fatigue and mom and dad got a chance to relax as well. A couple of us got slightly sunburned (being a little sunlight deprived in Portland). Also, it would be fair to say that red and gray hair tend to stand out in this country of dark haired, dark eyed folks.
At this point, we are leaving museums behind and heading out to Segovia tommorrow, then Toledo the next day.

España vs. Dinamarca, by guest editor Heidi

How to get the better end of the deal as a parent: Lydia wanted to go to a soccer game and Isabelle wanted to go to a bullfight- so at 10 pm last night Lydia and I were yelling ESPA-ÑA! ESPAÑA! At the top of our lungs with, I’m guessing 70,000, people (mostly men) mostly dressed in red and yellow. The match was a 2008 European Cup qualifier. There were crowds of young men with Spanish flags worn like capes shouting cheers they all seemed to know on the packed Metro getting to the game. Our seats were about 5 rows from the top row (nosebleed), but it was none the less very exciting. Lydia had a Spanish jersey given to her by her school counsellor so we got a few puzzled looks- they must have been wondering what the light haired people speaking English were doing wearing the Spanish jersey. The nice man who sat next to us wondered and after I said “lo siento, no hablo Español, pero mi hija…”- Lydia explained to him the puzzle. It was loud (very) and full of smoke (it wouldn’t be Europe unless you breathe a lot of cigarette smoke). Every good play by the Spanish was riotously praised, and every foul by the Danish or missed call was shouted down by the crowd. Every time Spain almost scored, the crowd said “EEEEE!” in unison, instead of “ooooh!” The score was 2-1, Spain (Denmark played most of the game down a player due to a red card), our ears were pounding, it was past midnight, but we made it back to our apartment and had a fabulous time.

lifestyles of the rich and famous

Today we managed to get up at the bright hour of 10:00 and go to visit the Palacio Real (royal palace) in Madrid. I managed to survey 3 of the visitors. My question "So what do you think about this building of 2800 rooms, built by Felipe V (a "French" king who was the grandson of Louis XIV of France) in the 1700's?" Isabelle, aged 10 "I wanna live here." Liam, aged 6, "Doesn't the king have a yard where you can PLAY?". Lydia, aged 12, "This would make for a great game of hide and seek."
So you might ask, how does a family of vegetarians survive in Spain? Easy-in Spain, ham is not considered a meat, so if you ask if there is meat, they will say "no". Seriously, we have gone out for some tapas, mostly mushrooms, potatoes, cheese, eggs. It is a bit tricky to navigate the tapas system, but we rely heavily on Rick Steves who usually steers us right. No one has starved yet.

chocolate solves a host of problems

What do you do when you can't get money out of your account because the ATM says something in Spanish about your institution is not permitting the withdrawal, the kids are fighting, and feet are getting tired? Have some chocolate of course! San Ginés is a very famous local place in Madrid to get "Churros con chocolate". They give you a cup of almost pudding thick chocolate and some churros (sitck like donuts) for dipping, and pretty soon kids are getting along and ATM cards are working again (actually we had just run into a 24-hr lockout).
We are looking forward to tomorrow, when we hope to visit the Spanish Royal Palace in Madrid. Also coming up in the week: Spain vs. Denmark (national teams) at the local fútbol stadium and Chris & Isabelle go to the bullfights.

siesta is the besta

We managed to discover Continental Airlines has a secret time machine that will transport you 9 hours into the future and only takes 19 hours to accomplish. We agreed to be human trial subjects on this time machine, but we did not realize that when we came out we would have the same bodies, except a lot more tired. Thank goodness for the Spanish siesta, the afternoon nap which runs from about 3-5 in the afternoon. Imagine if we in the United States adopted such a lifestyle of actually taking an afternoon nap, kind of like during kindergarten. We might even have lower stress levels!
Speaking of stress, we are having a little technical difficulty navigating la vida Madreileño, primarily not having any money. Not to worry, we are working it out, asking our landlady for patience while we wire the money, being very good at looking for a "VISA" sticker on store and restaurant windows. So many years ago, you could just take traveler's checks with you, but now, you just need a valid (keyword) piece of plastic to get cash.
Guess what! We made a record! Coldest March 21st on record in Madrid! Actually, it was a little windy, but the sun was shining and our apartment is nice and warm.
More pictures to come. Chris, Heidi, Lydia, Isabelle, Liam

how to start a trip to spain - not

Step 1: Get your kids to fight on opposite sides of a glass paned door. Step 2: Have one child attempt to force their had through a pane of glass. Step 3: Stand back and watch as blood and screams flow freely. Step 4: Bring child to their father's work to patch them up. (if you work with chris, there was abslolutely no supplies used from work). Step 5: Once child is patched up, send them to bed and wake them up at 3am to get up and take taxi to the airport.

off 2 Spain

OK, so maybe it's a little cheap to add a picture to your web log before you've actually been in the place. I guess we could have taken a picture of us packing our bags (wow!). So far, all of our focus has been in preparation, figuring out where we are going and where we are staying. We did manage to find an apartment online (see links), hopefully it is not in the red light district. After about 20 e-mails back and forth between us and Sonia, the rental manager (do you accept visa? no we don't accept visa! can we pay by check? no, but you can wire the money with western union!), we finally managed to reserve the apartment. don't ask me with everything going wireless why you have to wire money to rent an apartment in spain. Sonia has it planned that we will arrive precisely 80 minutes after we land and will be waiting outside. I tried to find the proper words in spanish to say, "yes but we are dragging 3 children that are still bound and gagged for 12 hours on the plane" but to no avail. She just wrote "yo espero" (I wait) and "call me".

So, to summarize, the plane leaves 6am tuesday, we get there 8am wednesday, and then to navigate to meet Sonia. Our plan is to post updates every other day or so, hopefully interesting pictures and reads. feel free to write to us via posting messages, We will write back as we are able. Oh, yes, our picture-this is the Plaza de España (platha day espanya). The white statue is Miguel de Cervantes. In front are his two literary creations, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. to the left and right is bipolar Dulcinea (left is depressed/right is manic). I counted 5 blocks from the apartment to the platha.