Microblog

While I walked, they danced. Malaga.

I’m now researching a trip we’ll take in 2019 with our Spanish-speaking nephews and their parents. We’ll fly into Malaga, and may stay at a hotel with this view of the Mediterranean.

Hiked to another town. Took a train back.

Explored vertiginous Ronda.

I’m staying in an idiosyncratic hotel in Ronda, Andalusia, Spain. My suite fills three floors in a tower: 1st: Entrance, bathroom2nd: Sitting room3rd: Bedroom I’m going to get a lot of exercise tonight. Posted about the hotel: Madonna Writhed Here.

Today, my Antequera explorations started in a 5,000 year-old tomb inside a burial mound, and progressed through Roman and Medieval times. Towards the end of the afternoon, a rainbow appeared over the face-like Peña de los Enamorados, The Rock of the Lover

Took a train to Antequera, a quiet city, two hours from the hubbub of Seville. My home for the next two nights.

Posted Traveling with Cultural Baggage.

Transferred my clothes from my boots (where they were stuffed to minimize the size of my backpack for a flight from Lisbon to Seville) to a washing machine.

Tonight we’re in a hotel, 5 minutes walk from Lisbon Airport. Tomorrow, 5:00 a.m. Dwight flies LIS-AMS-MSP. Three hours later I fly a short hop, LIS-SVQ Seville.

Posted Snapshots: Hiking the Rota Vicentina, Southwest Portugal.

Walked the Rota Vicentina trails for one final day. In the distance we could see Portugal’s most southwestern point.

Walked a relaxed 22 Km south on a ridge trail, to a village with fab coffee, over rolling hills, to our final stop on the Rota Vicentina trail system: Vila do Bispo. Choosing fish for dinner was too difficult so we ordered Cataplana, a wonderful Algarve version of bouillabaisse.

Rain gave us the opportunity to enjoy books in our €35 per night room.

Took a bus, then hiked to the village of Carrapateira in the Algarve, our base for the next two days. The trail took us across rolling hills and past olive trees, cork oak trees, and abandoned farms.

From our room on this street, we walked past the windmill, through the hill town, then alongside a river until we reached a cliff trail.