Cordoba/Malaga/Preigo de Cordoba, Spain

If Granada was hot, then Cordoba is the sun.

We woke up early the morning after our amazing dinner and wind-down in Granada to more cloudless weather. We hit the open road, winding our way around beautiful backroads, through more and more (and more and more) olive trees...my God, we must have seen 10 million of them during the week, that's probably accurate. The drive was great because we would occasionally turn a corner to see a beautiful whitewashed village as such:

Our stop on the way to Cordoba was Preigo de Cordoba (sounds like you are welcome Cordoba). We stopped at the grocery store and grabbed a picnic and had a nice little lunch between a medevil castle and a public fountain (probably 20th century...oh well). Afterwards, we found the real treat of this village/town. The old town was stark white walls and there must have been a city ordinance that required residents to plant hydrangas outside their doors. Very beautiful; the end of the old town brought you too an amazing vista that reminded me of the picnic our French group had between Mirepoint and Toulouse in 2001....oh the memories.

After lunch we said Prego to Preigo and hit the olive trail to Cordoba. I am not sure why, but I have always had a fasination with the Mesquite in Cordoba, formerly a church, converted into a mosque during the Moorish occupancy, and now re-converted back into a catholic church...it is a beautiful mix of Moorish and Christian styles, a true blending of cultures. The hundreds of arches were amazing and were from several different eras including the Byzantine empire (a long time ago), roman times, Moorish times, and the renaissance. They did a great job making the different sized columns uniform.

Here is your blending of cultures...

Right away, I understood why I wanted to visit. Super cool!!!

Since it was a million and three degrees (it was 40 celcius, which is around 105), we took of from Cordoba after wandering around the old town a bit more and made our way close to the airport, which happens to be on the Costa del Soul in Malaga. We stopped, stripped, and swam for about 3 hours before our flight! Erin's first swim in the Med (and topless-optional beach) was a sucess! It was amazing to be back in the Medeterranean after all this time (not including my early April swim in Cadaques (north of Barcelona) with Erin and Linsey in 2005). It was yet again, a terrific conclusion to an amazing bank holiday weekend

Granada, Spain

After the smooth 2 hour drive from Seville to Granada and impeccable navigation through the restricted driving zones of the old town, we made it to our hotel, Casa Morisca, located at the base of the back entry of the Alhambra, the famous Moorish palace constructed by Sultan Mohammed IV among others, and dates back to the 700’s.

We arrived to an extremely hot day (all amplified because we live in Dublin, where it is forbidden to break 70 degrees, even in August), but managed okay, thanks to an amazing tapas bar that still holds the tradition of giving customers their first tapa free with a drink order (beers there are €1.40, or like $62.50;-). They also have fortified wine that made for a stiff glass of sangria at 2pm. Bodegas Castaneda. This place is a must if in Granada. Remember not to bring your camera, I almost got decapitated with a butcher knife for taking these photos.

After lunch, we fought the 105 degree heat and climed up the old town to catch great views of white washed buildings, churches, and a great vista of the Alhambra before heading to the Cathedral in Granada before our Alhambra tour.

After the views of the alahambra, we travelled back down for some ice cream, and a tour of the Catedral (and Capilla Real), which is a beatuiful, MASSIVE church (not quite like the Catedral in Seville, but big) that is a stark white, like all the buildings in Andalucia.

Make sure when buying tickets in advance for the Alhambra, you choose whether you want the morning or afternoon; but beyond that, the tickets specify an entry time to the main palace. I of course didn’t spot this small detail and we had to repurchase tickets (not cheap) to see the palace. It was worth it though, with amazing carvings, arches, and history. The audio guide is worth it (note you can share one with your misses). The pics speak for themselves, what a beautiful place!

The architechure in the complex was stunning, the detailed carvings were the best we have seen in Moorish architecture, and we've seen the best in the last 10 months. Call me uncle Mo.

After making our way back down the hill (BIG HILL), a rinser, and a footrub, we set off for dinner and found this amazing place that has spectacular views of the Alhambra at night….wow!! The name is Carmen de Verde Luna. But first, my Granadese girlfriends...

The food was good too. They cooled you off when you arrive with a complitary martini slushy. We ordered the tasting menu, which was €25 each, but no joke, included basically the whole menu (bread, 6 appetisers, salad, 4 main courses, and desert. Our dinner was accompanied by a couple half liters of house white, which was great with an ice cube on this warm evening. I can't even describe the feeling, an amazing dinner combined with a top 20 view; spectacular spectular!

It was an amazing final dinner of the trip and a great prelude to the views of the Alhambra at night. It was off to Cordoba the following morning for the last (almost) leg of our long weekend.

Seville, Spain

We arrived in Malaga airport around noon on Friday, hopped in the car, and were within seconds lost. They didn’t provide us a map, but thanks to the time out Seville guide, it provided a vague, but detailed enough map to get us on our way to Seville, via Ronda. We made it to Ronda pretty unscathed, driving through the Sierra Nevada national park, passing amazing olive trees, mountains, and vistas. Ronda was a nice stop, a picturesque Peubles Blanos (white village) situated on either side of a 400+ foot gourge….really beautiful. Following Ronda, it was back to the poorly labelled roads, so we didn’t quite find the second town we wanted to see on the way. No bother though, Seville was awaiting. From the second we arrived in Seville, we were hooked. Amazing architechure, beautiful weather (hot but dry…okay, a little too hot), amazing food and night life. After the strolling around Plaza Espana and having our first tapas order written in chalk on the bar in front of us at Los Columns, we were home!

After our first tapas bar, it was on to the next, then the next, and then another. We did our first night of tapas crawling in the Barrio Santa Cruz, where we stayed at Puerto de Seville Hotel, which is very affordable and highly recommended. We were out pretty late that night, nothing a greasy churro didn’t solve the next morning, before making our way to the Real Alcazar, a beautiful depiction of Moorish architecture built in the 13th century, and formally home to Ferdinand and Isabella after the Spanish Requisition. The building itself was absolutely amazing, better than most Moorish architecture in Marrakech even.

After the Real Alcazar, we had a bite for lunch and then wandered towards the river and toured the plaza del toros, a gorgeous bull fighting ring. We unfortunately didn’t see a fight, but the arena was beautiful with striking colors. We picked up a cool poster that will hopefully go up in our house in the Minny when we move back.

After the Toros, we went to the Seville Cathedral, which was built around a former mosque tower (which the Spanish put a peak on the standard Arabic flat-topped tower (see our Marrakech post for an example). The church was great and also had remains of Chirstopher Columbus, proved by DNA tests in 1996. The church was absolutely massive, the ceilings were super high throughout the church and there were countless separate rooms and chapels. The church is said to be more volumous than St. Peter’s (I think we’ll have to go back to Rome and see for ourselves).

We went to the Centro area of the town that night and went to a couple more great tapas places (one was a gastronomic delight called Bar Europa, the other called Los Bodegas was packed with locals and lots of fun). Seville treated us very very well, it’d be worth a trip from the states to visit. The next morning it was off to Granada!

Going to Graceland, Graceland....Locarno, Switzerland

After weeks of anticipation and bragging to our friends, the Paul Simon weekend arrived. Strauss, Erin, and myself boarded the plane to Bergamo Italy, about 30 minutes east of Milan and an hour south of Lake Como. We got in late Friday, grabbed our rental, and made it to our hotel. We had time to mow down a neopolitian za and try a couple northern italian beers. The next morning, Erin and I walked around the town and then we headed out towards lake como.
Our first stop was Bellagio, where we cruised around the promenade and grabbed some gelato. Gotta give a round of applause to Strauss, who endured behind the wheel all weekend through narrow streets, turns, parking spots, and switchbacks. We stopped for lunch in a small town just north of Como on the lake. We had climed way up the mountain to eat at a recommended restaurant, only to find we arrived 3 minutes too late:-(. We made it to Locarno, which is on the north part of Lake Maggoire, having to pass border patrol into Switzerland on the way. Our hotel was in a great location, right outside the concert, which was great for quick bathroom breaks during the show! The pic below is where we had our picnic dinner overlooking the lake; we just didn't expect to see this sight (a big horn for such a little man):

After getting our Africa smile on (microbrewery with a nice heff and a red on tap), we made it to the show. We replaced the African smile stand with a real german beer girl:

Paul rockin it out. He played all the classics including some of his Simon and Garfunkel hits! It was a great show and the non-english-speaking crowd seemed to like!

It was cool because the crowd was so chill in that nobody pushed forward to the front. Erin could walk straight up with our beers without getting nudged or bumped, our places including ample room to dance as well. We met some Swiss girls named Susan and Ursula and their buddy Bruce.

The view of the town square was unbelievable. We will soon add a photo when it was still light out where the alps basically shoot straight up behind the old town, with its 18th century buildings.

Needless to say, it was an amazing show, definitely the coolest setting we have been in (no offense 1st ave or somerset), I suppose we should make it to Red Rocks some day. The next morning we stumbled out of bed and drove towards Isola Bella, make sure you choose the proper side of the island to navigate as the east side is hard to get to Isola Bella (via Stresa). We stopped for lunch in Laverno (I think) on the east part of Maggoire. Erin's pizza topped with arugula and parmasean (over bresola), yummy!

We (Strauss) had to drive around the southern part of the island to get around to Stresa as the ferries aren't too friendly if you are trying to power tour (as we were at this point; Sun pm). We made it though and got a boat to the island, touring the AMAZING palace and gardens (if anyone had the fortune to catch the PBS special that did a helicopter tour through Italy, this was the most majestic part of the show)!! A cool surprise was the grotto beneath the palace, whose walls, floors and ceilings were made completely of shells, coral, and pebbles, it was beautiful! Isola Bella is a palace built by the Borromeo family, construction began in the 1500's (wikipedia just to make sure if you are doing a 6th grade research paper).

Approaching Isola Bella: Sister island (view from palace chapel (cathedral)):
View back to Stresa of terraced gardens:

We made it back to Stresa and grabbed a snack before heading to the airport in Milan. When we were about finished; the BIGGEST downpour I have ever been apart of hit us.

In the 20 HARD minutes of rain, the water engulfed the town was was into our wheel wells as we barely escaped the city, only to get stalled in a 7km long tunnel because lightening struck several trees and the TIMBERED across the freeway. We almost missed yet another flight! It was worth it though, an amazing weekend.

Hi Ho Bauer Take V

Between their first and second visits to Dublin, Dr. and Drs. Bauer had the trip of a lifetime traveling on Ricardo Stevecchio's Best of Europe tour, where they saw pretty much the best of europe. But of course they made it back to their favorite place in Europe, Pembroke Road Ballsbridge baby! Well, maybe not, but they did come back for another round of pints to conclude their adventure.

It was also the actual day of our anniversary, so we celebrated in good fashion with a bottle of wine that the Doc's bought for us on their trip. We then went to our local and had a pint of the black stuff. Thanks so much for stoppin, and thanks Bauer for being one of the most dedicated visitors there is!!!

Anniversary Numero Uno

We made it!! One year; no bruises, no bumps, only the sweetest memories of a whirlwind year.

From Erin's yard last July to the Bemedji lakes, to the cabin (Borgies of course) to DC, to Utah, to MN (lissa's wedding), back home, to Penske truck rental cross country moving our stuff home. To EGF again, to Minneapolis, to Cleveland (MN), to Dublin, to Latvia, to York, to the west of ireland, to Brussels, to Asia (thailand, Kao Yao Noi (Honeymoon)), to Krakow, to Africa (Marrakech), to Italy, to Dallas (x4, Lou only), to EGF (erin only), to Bristol, to Copenhagen....and, phew....to my antique reading chair in our ghetto apartment reflecting on the amazing year we have had. Incredible adventures only to share with my new and wonderful wife!!

For our anniversary, we attempted to re-enact our engagement day by getting a picnic together with olives, bread, cheese, grapes, grilled chicken drummies, and chocolate cake. Not quite the same as overlooking the Shenandoah valley, but a stream in suburban Dublin had to do. We borrowed our friends bikes and toured the city on two wheels, going to a movie afterwards. It was a special occasion as we NEVER go to the movies!

It was a pretty mellow saturday compared to some of our recent adventures, but needless to say, the day was spent celebrating and reflecting on the best year of our lives!