Tuesday, June 2 - Getting home

Pic: Madrid airport

We're not there yet, but the taxi arrived right on the dot at 4:59 and whizzed us to the airport. Got great fresh OJ, baguettes with Iberian ham and cappuccinos. now in Madrid with our AA jet sitting right outside the window. Will finish up and add photos when we get home! XXX

We watched movies all the way to Miami as it was full daylight all the way. We had mojitos and Nathan's hotdogs in Miami before boarding the flight to LAX. We picked up the car at the Sheraton and groggily drove home, stopping at McDonald's for coffee and cheeseburgers. Arrived midnight.

Going to pick up Miss Jane now from the Cat House Hotel! XXXX until the next blog!

Monday, June 1 - Exploring more of Sevilla

Pics: entrance to the Alcazar, tortoise-shell fan, room in the Alcazar, tapas bar with sangria

Had breakfast at nine and the nice concierge took the key I found I had in my pocket from Finca Marta and promised to mail it back to them which was very helpful as finding a padded envelope and a correos (post office) would have been a hassle.

We set off to the cathedral with plans of walking up the 32 ramps to the top of the Giralda (ramps so horses could walk to the top) but it didn’t open until 11 so we headed to the Real Alcázar (royal palace) built by Pedro I in 1350, and although a Catholic, he built a fantastic palace in Moorish style. RR was very pleased to find that, due to our old age, we could get in free, thus saving about $20! We were also able to get audio players and walked around the palace for a couple of hours seeing amazing rooms, halls, gardens with really interesting commentary. Unlike true Islamic architecture which doesn’t allow depictions of people or animals, Pedro I snuck some in here and there. He was called Pedro, the Cruel, although only by the aristocracy, so he probably was a pretty good sort, and, anyway, he and his descendents spent 100 years building a wonderful palace.


We wondered around the Barrio of Santa Cruz, the old Jewish neighborhood of the Middle Ages, now a colorful flower-filled area full of shops and restaurants. We found one of the restaurants that we had looked at last night when it was closed, and found people setting up tables, chairs and umbrellas and were told it would open at 1:15, in about an hour. So we wandered away and stopped in a cool open air bar for glasses of Sangria which we sipped very slowly until our restaurant opened! We got back to El Albahaca and got a table with a lovely view of the Plaza of Santa Cruz. Bob got cold garlic, almond soup with currents in it - very delicious and refreshing. Then he got supremes of chicken as chicken is so hard to get, for some reason. I got wonderful ox tail stew which was really rich and lovely. It was getting quite hot by then and after a bottle of wine we staggered back home for a much-needed siesta.

We dozed, packed, paid our bill. I got the phone number of the taxi service the hotel uses in case no one appears at 5 AM tomorrow, as RR is afraid of.

About eight we walked the short ways to Avenida Alfalfa and found the tiny Bar Alfalfa with a tapas table free and had a delicious light supper of beer, bracaola (dried beef with olive oil and parmasan), eggplant with oil and mint and warm goat cheese with herbs. Just right!

Sunday, May 31 - Exploring Sevilla

Pics: putting out the candles after Mass, flyi9ng buttresses of the Cathedral, the Giralda tower

Breakfast is not served here until nine so we slept in and walked downstairs to find a nice buffet with excellent coffee, breads, fresh OJ and wonderful Sevilla anise-flavored paper-thin cookies.

With guidebook in hand we set out to explore Sevilla. Weather cool and overcast and really quite pleasant compared to yesterday’s inferno. Sevilla in the day and, out of our neighborhood, is very charming, colorful and lively.
We saw a lovely maroon church, Iglesia del Salvador, built on the site of a former mosque, and went inside. A huge towering arched ceiling, a spectacular enormous Baroque guilt altarpiece and Sunday mass being conducted. We sat in the back and watched the rather moving ceremony, complete with organ music, stringed instruments, singing, incense and huge candles Really beautiful!

We walked along narrow cobbled streets lined with fancy shops and noticed large “cherry picker” machines attaching shade cloths between the opposite sides of the streets as this is the beginning of the very hot summer season. There are already huge cloths set up over many of the plazas which make life possible in this hot humid summer climate but make photography difficult!

We went over to the Cathedral which, with the Moorish Giralda tower attached, is the largest gothic building in the world and its third largest cathedral. Plazas with flowers and horse-drawn carriages clopping by surround it and soften somewhat it’s somewhat imposing grey presence. Bob wanted to visit the Archivo de Indias where 80 million documents relating to the 300 year Spanish presence in the Americas are stored. It’s a UNESCO cultural site and quite an amazing sight with row upon row of glass cases filled with filing boxes, much of the documents, maps, records unsorted and un-catalogued as yet. We saw papers signed by Columbus, Cortes and others. Really interesting exhibits, including many references to Santa Bárbara and its presidio!

Feeling peckish by then, it being 1:30, we sat down at a sidewalk café with a spare table in the shade and split a bacon/chicken/tomato/cheese baguette and beers at what turned out to be Flaherty’s Irish pub! Back home for siesta.
Our hotel while lovely inside and with a friendly, helpful staff, is in a pretty rough, trashy neighborhood, and, as I‘ve mentioned, on a pedestrian alley. We’re getting a little anxious about getting out of here on Tuesday morning as we have a 7 AM flight to Madrid and really want to make it and our connection to Miami!

I talked to the nice concierge and he assured me that he would order the taxi for 5 AM on Tuesday morning, but the Casa del Maestro staff aren’t in the hotel overnight…what if the taxi doesn’t appear?? He seemed confident that there would be no problem, but?? We’re planning on being downstairs at 5, with our room key in hand in case we have to use our room phone to call a taxi and also not leaving the hotel until a taxi is in sight…not an easy task since we’re located in the middle of an alley!! Well, we’ll see!!

We went out at 8:30 in search of dinner and found several restaurants that the hotel and Fodor’s suggested, but they were all closed?? Maybe Sunday night is the night restaurants are closed, like Mondays in the US?? Lots of tapas bars were thriving, but we wanted something more substantial and finally found an Italian restaurant that was open and had an OK meal with the usual good inexpensive local red wine. Bought a cono de helado (ice cream cone) on the way home and arrived about eleven.

Saturday, May 30 - to Sevilla

Pics: Bells clanging!, our Blue room, one more stork picture

We checked out of our lovely casita and started our long drive to Sevilla. We headed south on smaller roads, in hopes of seeing bustards and other steppe birds. We even found a large sign advertising a dirt road through farmland as an ornithological reserve and so set off, driving 10 MPH. Unfortunately we saw only storks and lots of larks, but little else. After five miles the road suddenly came to a “T” in the middle of nowhere with no sign of which way to go! I choose “left” as that went south and we took off, gradually heading more and more east, per the GPS, until the road ended at a rundown farm and we were surrounded by six large barking farm dogs…we turned around and finally found our way to the highway and headed south.

Expiring from hunger, we stopped at a little store and got ice cream and cokes before trying to wend our way into and around Sevilla to return our car at the airport.

As we have had more experience than we wanted in getting there, we got on the SE30, then the SE20, zoomed around the city without any problem, checked-in the car, and got a taxi which took 15 minutes to get us near our hotel at 4:30PM. Near, because our hotel is on an alley which doesn’t allow cars. The hotel, itself, La Casa del Maestro, is quite charming, four stories with no elevator, and no view, but brilliantly painted. It’s named for Niño Ricardo (1904-72), a master flamenco guitarist who lived his life in this house. We have Gitaneria Arabesca (place of the Arab gypsy?) room on the third floor which is small but beautiful with brilliant blue walls and superb Arab embroidery above the bed.

We cleaned up and relaxed a bit before setting out at 8 in search of tapas. This is a difficult city to feel at home in. The buildings are all four stories tall, the streets are as narrow as the ones in little villages in the countryside, so the immediate feeling is one of claustrophobia. And as the streets wind around and change names; it’s amazingly easy to get lost and feel panicky. The temperature in the mid 90s didn’t help either.

We went to the tapas bar that the nice receptionist at the hotel recommended, but when we entered we saw trash on the floor and the typical high tapas tables at which one stands and we were too exhausted to think of eating and drinking standing up! There were tables with chairs, but one can only order dinner at those and we wanted to eat lightly. So we wandered around, Bob keeping a close eye on the map, and found ourselves at the Giralda tower, the Moorish remnant attached to the main cathedral. It was 8:40 by this time and suddenly all the bells in the tower started ringing! The tower is very large and square so from all sides you could see bells emerging, swinging upwards and around again. The most amazing noise! It went on for at least five minutes. I don’t know if this is a Saturday night special or if this happens all the time??

We started back retracing our steps and found a tapas bar that looked quite nice with high tables and stools. You pick what you like from the tapas menu and then order it at the bar. We picked out four dishes: Salmorejo tomato soup, potato quiche, shellfish sandwich, shrimp and curry cazuelita and a bottle of Rioja wine and had a fine supper.
We walked back and found our hotel and waited a while with two Spanish couples who where returning from a wedding for the receptionist to open the door which he finally did, but we were glad to have other jolly people there with us!

Friday, May 29 - Day trip to Guadalupe

Pics: Mountain top with Cistus, view of Guadalupe, Cathedral of Guadalupe

Up at 7:30. Walked around the Finca lands and then went in for a good breakfast buffet. Bob designed an ambitious driving tour for today which I grumpily agreed to as I hated leaving this place and could use some relaxation, but he promised to get me back early!

We drove south and east up into the mountains, past the town of Guadalupe, where the cult of G was started and spread to the Americas. I drove up and up a narrow, but deserted road and we started seeing beautiful wildflowers as the season is later at this elevation. White and spotted Cistus, French Lavender, yellow Primroses. The road finally ended at 5200’ at the mountain top covered with radio towers. We saw a few birds, but nothing new, but the views were incredible - miles and miles of forest, farmland and tiny villages.

We started down and pulled into the town of Guadalupe, which only has 2500 inhabitants, but one of the most enormous monasteries I’ve ever seen. It contains four museums which are supposed to be very worth seeing even with the lecture only in Spanish, but it was 1PM and the guides go on siesta until 3:30! There was a huge iron gate in the chapel very elaborately made, that separates viewers from all the gold, statues and paintings, but we could easily see through and saw the figure of the black Madonna of Guadalupe. Columbus first got his authorization to sail to the new world here and there is a lot of history connected to this place.

We decided to get lunch instead of starving, as usual, and thought we’d try the menú del día at one of the plaza cafes…Well, turns out you can get a bad meal in Spain! And you shouldn’t pick a restaurant by the charm of the barker outside!! He sent us upstairs to a nice room overlooking the plaza, and we were given pieces of blood sausage, which I though was great, spicy and delicious. But then we got salads which the Spanish seldom understand at all: a big pile miscellaneous veggies and tuna on iceberg lettuce with a bottle of mediocre oil and vinegar. This was followed by six lamb chops for me with soggy scalloped potatoes and mushy mushrooms, and Bob got six slices of pork tenderloin heavily doused with liquid smoke, an ingredient that should be banned from all kitchens, I think. We declined dessert. Anyway we survived.

We drove back to the Finca arriving at four in 90 degree heat. I considered heading for the pool, but thought that I hadn’t painted in a while and did a little painting of my stork baby in her nest. We relaxed in our garden until 8:30 and went to the comedor for another simple but really delicious meal which started off with, of all things, a tossed green salad with a tuna stuffed tomato! But this time the nice greens had a good dressing and the tomato was very good. That was followed by spicy meatloaf baked with HB eggs. The dinner included a good local wine and a glass of local liqueur after! I had lemon and RR acorn!

Thursday, May 28 - Exploring Trujillo

Pics: the Castillo, Finca Santa Marta, the stork in "our" garden, olive press

Up at seven thirty and off to the Plaza, but it was deserted and quiet, so we went to the beautiful breakfast room at the Parador for a wildly varied, but expensive buffet: several cheeses, meats, churros, pan au chocolate, fruit, yogurt, etc.
We checked out and I drove north, stopping at several supposedly birdy places without much success. We entered the National Park of Monfragüe and I turned onto a narrow winding road to the Castillo, a tower of brick and stone originally constructed in~ 12th century by the Muslims and then built over by Catholics. It was built on a wind-swept ridge overlooking the river Tajo and miles of oak woodland. It’s famous now as a great place to see storks, vultures, buzzards and eagles nesting in crags and spiraling up into the sky, and from the top we could see Griffin Vultures swooping towards us with their legs down and claws extended. Fortunately they only eat carrion!

We drove to the elaborate Visitors’ Center where we were too early for lunch, but managed to pick up Magnum ice cream bars. I had hoped to get some hiking in and they gave us a very nice map with color coded trails, but it was quite hot and the trails looked dusty and flowerless, so we drove on stopping at various overlooks. At one of the last, on the bank of the river, we could see a wonderful Black Stork on her nest in a crag. She was the size of a great Blue Heron, glossy iridescent black with a white belly and red bill and had several fluffy white chicks. We met some Brit birders who had just seen the Spanish Imperial Eagle, but it had flown away and didn’t return.

We got back on the A5 freeway and returned to Trujillo, driving ten miles east and turned off onto a country lane to Finca Santa Marta where we had booked a room for the next two nights. The Finca was built in 1879 and still functions as a olive and fruit producer. There are sixteen rooms, most in the newer buildings on the north side of the lane. We were shown our casita which is in the original building, entering through a heavy metal door into a private garden. Our cottage is built into the original hacienda wall and has a sitting room, bedroom and large patio with a view of the hacienda chapel bells complete with a huge White Stork’s nest on the top with a chick and the crucifix sticking out!

We unpacked, cleaned up and went to the honor bar by the swimming pool, for beer and gin and watched the swallows skimming the water. At eight we joined the two other couples staying there for dinner in the old olive pressing room. Two huge stone cones that used to rotate around a center column, crushing the olives stand in the middle of the room and a channel is cut into the stone flooring to direct the flow of the oil.

Dinner was perfect and simple: slices of salami and olives, followed by cold gazpacho, steak, rice and roasted peppers, and a bottle of local wine.

Wednesday, May 27 In search of the Bustard

Pics: Slate walls, Catedral in Trujillo, the Plaza Major at night

Up at six! And off without breakfast! Going on the advice in a report Bob found from some Brit birders on finding the Bustard, he decided to explore the steppes west of Trujillo. We set off with maps and GPS and headed towards the large town of Cáceres 30 miles away. We drove off onto tiny country roads, past small ranchos with goats, sheep and cattle, through wooded pastures lined with miles of slate walls piled five feet high, past grand haciendas with enclosed green courtyards. The land was very dry and brown and I felt sorry for the livestock trying to get enough to eat, but the land itself was quite beautiful with huge vistas of rolling grassland.

As we circled back and were almost back at Trujillo, we stopped by a wilder, un-grazed pasture, we saw about ten storks hunting for insects and suddenly Bob spotted a female Great Bustard!! About three feet high and ostrich-like she was slowly strolling through the brush and then we saw a half-grown chick following her! If that’s typical, it’s easy to understand why they’re going extinct. Anyway it was a thrill to see her after trying to find one on our last two trips to Spain. The male has famous courting dance in which he fluffs up his white under feathers to such an extent that it’s referred to as a “foam bath”! We have a few more days to try to see that!!

We got back to the Parador at 11:30, after breakfast and before lunch, and so wandered into the Plaza and found one café that would serve us toasted rolls topped with olive oil, tomato and ham, café con leche and fresh OJ. We set off through the Plaza and climbed up the steep streets to the castle on top of the hill in the center of town. We visited the Pizarro Museum and saw exhibits on his amazing five trips to Peru.
Back to our hotel for siestas. Up at 3:30 and realized the Parador bar was about to close at four and dashed down to the citrus-filled courtyard and ordered beer and split a bacon and cheese sandwich and sat there in the sunshine reading for an hour or so.
We walked to the Plaza to find supper and see the lights come on, but no place sounded as good as the Parador, so we returned and had delicious dinner of cold tomato soup with cumin and figs, and cod cooked with garlic and tomatoes. Back to the Plaza which was bustling for the first time and filled with cheering groups as Barcelona beat Manchester United for the European cup.

Tuesday, May 26 - to Trujillo

Pics: Medellin, View from our window at the Parador, Statue of Pizzaro in the Plaza Major in Trujillo

Up at 8, packed, ate another great breakfast, said goodbye to Sam, Maggie and Bucky (Jeanne was off shopping for the next guests) and set off north through fields of wheat, olives and grapes.

We left Andalucía and entered the province of Extremadura, one of the more remote areas of Spain and the province from where most of the conquistadores came. We circled around the town of Mérida and took off on a back road past a large walled hacienda to a reservoir where Bob hoped to get some interesting birds, in particular the elusive Great and/or Little Bustard, an ostrich-like bird that roams agricultural fields. Lots of wonderful butterflies, but not much else.

Off on another little road to the town of Medellín, the birthplace of Hernán Cortés, with a picturesque arched bridge over the Rio Guadiana and a ruined castle on a hilltop behind it. Couldn’t find any monument to HC and continued on to Trujillo, a lovely old town with a huge plaza and statute of Francisco Pizarro. We checked into the Parador de Trujillo, the government-run hotel in an ancient nunnery. We got an upgraded room in the old section of the hotel with 3 foot thick walls around a lovely citrus filled patio. We settled in and then set out to explore Trujillo: winding narrow streets leading to the plaza where we revived ourselves with ice cream.

We returned to the Parador where I can get internet in the lobby. Showered and went to the bar for our welcome drink and then to the restaurant where we had a fantastic meal. I chose the “Cheeses of Trujillo” menu and started with four micro appetizers including garlic soup with cheese pieces and cheese croquette. These were followed by a delicate quiche with asparagus and olive oil crust, pork tenderloin with cheese sauce, and finally cheese ice cream drizzled with honey and cinnamon. Really great!!

To bed right after dinner as we plan to get up at six to set off to the most likely area to find the bustards.

Monday, May 25 - hiking in the Sierra de Aracena

Pics: Cistus, Jabuco, cobbled trail

[We're in Truillo now with better internet (although I have to sit in the hotel lobby) so I've added photos to Saturday and Sunday]

Last night at about 1 AM Maggie and Bucky went rampaging off, barking madly and Jeanne went calling after them…so spotty sleep. Up at eight; Sam served us wedges of hard & soft cheeses, dried beef in olive oil, breads, yogurt, fresh peaches, etc. Wonderful!

The weather was alternating from dark and cloudy to bright and sunny and back again, but we set out to explore the property anyway. We discovered the Villa pool and pool house on a bluff overlooking endless woodlands: an infinity pool with lounge chairs….why couldn’t it have been boiling hot!!! Must come back and vegetate by the pool someday.

We walked down hill to our car and took off for a few KM to the village of Galaroza and parked just off the 2-lane highway. Following the instructions in a wonderful book that Sam lent us called “Discovery Walking Guides - Sierra de Aracena” and using our GPS we took Hike #17 which led up hill along old cobbled country lanes past tiny farms and herds of sheep.

After an hour we reached the town of Jabugo, the most famous ham town in the region, very neat and trim and lined with ham stores. We managed to resist as we had recently had breakfast, and walked down a slope past pollarded chestnut trees and along a bubbling stream, Ribeira del Jabugo, past cherry, peach and almond orchards and onto a walking path lined with wildflowers. After about four miles we returned to the highway and walked back to Galaroza. We couldn’t turn around so thought we’d drive around the block, something that is almost impossible in tiny Andalusian towns. We were almost back when the tiny street on which we were driving down hill suddenly turned into stairs!! Bumpity, bump…we slowly made our way down and out of town!

It was about three, I was feeling rather hungry, but we got back to our Villa without passing anything. I grabbed a beer out of the honor bar and collapsed on the terrace to read. Sam brought out a tray of tea and wonderful tortilla-like crisp cookies flavored with anise. Sam and Jeanne were having friends over for drinks, so we asked them for a recommendation for dinner and they told us about a tapas bar as we didn’t want to wait until nine for dinner.

We changed and set out at 8 and found the bar near the center of Aracena, settled onto bar stools around a tiny table and perused the list of 20+ tapas. Even with Bob’s extensive knowledge of Spanish there were a lot of mysterious words, so we just ordered blindly. We bought bottle of red wine and got a bowl of olives and bread right away. Then the barmaid brought us a plate of ratatouille, cold garlic-mayonnaise potatoes, croquettes of unknown ingredients, different potatoes and Iberian ham. Really good and just the right amount! We picked up ice creams on the way back to the car and arrived back at the Villa very happy

Sunday, May 24 - exploring Aracena

Pics: Villa Buenvino with Bucky, a wonderful blue bee!, bell tower of Aracena

Slept in until 9:30! Down for breakfast. Delicious homemade yogurt, dark-yolked eggs, bacon and several jams - great! Open and shut rain. We set off to explore the town of Aracena.

The streets are fairly wide, by Spanish standards, and we found parking without any problem. We hiked up the hill in the center of town to see the castle ruins and cathedral, dating from the 13th century: originally a mosque, overlaid with Catholicism. It started to pour and we huddled under an archway for a while before starting down the now slippery marble cobblestones of the streets.

Aracena is a very pretty white-washed town with flower-filled window boxes. We wondered through town, found an ATM and got a beer and sandwich at a little café. Looked at a mushroom exhibit in the Museo del Jamón (ham museum) and then drove out of town as it started to rain again. We drove a back road to the town of Alájar which we attempted to explore but found ourselves in a maze of tiny streets that ended in a pile of bricks. Fortunately the traffic was nonexistent on a Sunday, so with the help of the GPS we backtracked and got out of town!
We drove back to Buenvino and were greeted by the dogs.


Bob birded from our third story window getting, among others, The Nuthatch, a life bird. I tried our exotic shower again, using what I call, the Rain Forest mode: torrential vertical warm water, great for washing ones hair! At eight we went downstairs for tapas by the fireplace: ham, olives, mini bread sticks. I made us drinks, and Bucky flung her pebble at us demanding that we throw it for her, which, of course, we did!

At nine we were called into dinner. The room was completely dark except for six candles. We were served a wonderful potato/egg/onion/ham Portuguese dish for a first course. Then Sam brought in quail stuffed with foie gras, potatoes with mint and broccoli. Just amazing! And then Jeanne served chocolate soufflés! Too much. She teaches a cooking class- what fun it would btrails around here.e to stay here eating and cooking!! To bed to try and sleep off all this food. If it’s sunny tomorrow we will try one of the many hiking trails around here.

Saturday, May 23 - to Arecena

Pics: European Bee Eater, Christopher Columbus, "Platero y Yo"-one of Bob's favorites

!


Up and off by seven. We headed west 24 km to the bustling port of Huelva, past a large oil processing plant, huge docked freighters to a bridge that crosses the Odiel River. There we found a small road through marshland and out onto a ten mile long breakwater which ended with the lighthouse we can see from our hotel room.

Since it was Saturday morning, the breakwater was crowded with fishermen, parking any which way, setting up tables and chairs all over the narrow road. We managed to maneuver around them to the lighthouse and then made our way back. We saw Godwits, European Oystercatchers, and Little Terns.

I made RRZ stop at the Cristóbal Colón statue at the entrance to the harbor since we didn’t have time to go to La Rabida Monastery, where CC consulted monks on the shape of the earth. He started his journey 4 miles up river. The monument was a very large, great statue of Columbus looking out to sea clutching a huge cross. And, behind it was the CC café where we were able to get café con leche and pan tostado with butter and jam. I was happily revived, and RRZ was thrilled that we had spent 6 euros for breakfast instead of the 34 we would have done at the fancy buffet at the Parador!


We got back to our hotel at about ten and started to organize our stuff. I called Iberia once again and got someone who didn’t speak much English, so talked back and forth in Eng/Spa pidgin and hopefully conveyed that we did not want our luggage delivered to the hotel, but that we would pick them up in Sevilla. We checked out and said goodbye to our nice sympathetic recepcionista and I drove back to El Rocío, stopping at yet another visitors’ center at Doñana, hiking a miles along beautiful boardwalks and getting great views of the lovely Whiskered Tern.

We headed back to the freeway into Sevilla and I missed the bypass turn and we went into Sevilla center which wasn’t a too bad way to get to the airport. We found the parking structure and wandered aimlessly up and down levels in search of an empty space. Finally we just ignored the arrows and plunged into the outer reaches of the lot and finally found a spot.

We had been instructed to go through Security with our letter from Iberia and head down to Baggage Claim, but, of course, Security would have none of it. We went back to Iberia check-in and were told our bags were heading out to the Parador!! I told them firmly that they were downstairs in Baggage Claim, knowing no such thing!

We were then told to go downstairs in an elevator and knock on a closed door. We went downstairs and found lots of closed doors….finally one opened on the first knock and we headed over to Iberia Baggage Claim……and there were all three bags! What a thrill! We signed off on them and rolled them back to our car and set off for Aracena, our next stopping point.

We headed north on the A-66 and turned west on the N-433. We climbed up into foothills and oaks and past the town of Aracena finally came to KM 95 and turned sharp onto a narrow track which wound up for a kilometer until it ended at a lovely villa. Sam and Jeanne, a Scottish couple, bought the land in the 80s and built this wonderful house, which looks charmingly much older than its 30+ years. Sam and the dogs greeted us and he showed us to our suite of rooms at the top of the house. We have a bedroom, bath, and sitting room. We opened our bags and found nothing missing, not that we’d checked anything of value, but still with all the traveling they have done and the many times they have been inspected, it was amazing to find everything intact.

I went down for tea and asked Jeanne what time dinner was..an error on my part, I had gotten this B&B mixed up with one in the future, but Jeanne said no worries, she could whip up dinner for us, even though they were going out tonight! Asked if we would mind dinner at eight! Definitely no worries.

We pulled out clean clothes and inspected the very fancy shower/steam bath/soaking tub in our bathroom. I managed to squirt water on top of my head and a stream of water by my feet and finally figured out how to turn on the basic shower! Felt great to bathe and be able to actually put on clean clothes!

Went downstairs accompanied by Bucky, a small terrier who, once you have thrown a small rock that she owns, claims you forever as her stone-throwing slave! I made Cuba Libres at the honor bar (my favorite kind) and Sam took us into dinner: poached egg on garden greens, pork tenderloin in cream sauce with potatoes, and sliced strawberries in OJ with mint, contreau and strands of orange zest ---. Really refreshing Great meal! Upstairs for blogging and bed!

Friday, May 22 Exploring Donana

pics: El Palacio, cork oak woodland, El Rocio, birdwatching

Slept in until 9:30...guess we needed it! I called the customer service guy at Iberia (who sounded just like Javier Bardem, so, of course, I believe him!) who says our bags are safely in Sevilla, and will be sent out at noon today. We leave here tomorrow, so I hope so! I prudently washed a few things, anyway. Great breakfast of fresh OJ, eggs with migas (fried bread crumbs, a local treat) and very sweet pineapple.

We set out back towards El Rocío, stopping at a couple of the five visitors’ centers of the Park. The first was El Acebuche, a beautiful old hacienda with 3 miles of boardwalk and numerous hides from which we could watch the birdlife of various ponds and marshes. There were serious Brit birders in several of the hides so I had to be very quiet and proper! The hides overlooked lovely marsh land surrounded by stone pine forest. Wonderful views of huge storks’ nests on top of the pines with young and parents standing guard. We also saw spoonbills, ducks, grebes and green headed turtles! We got back to the hacienda about 1 PM and bought crushed almond and chocolate covered ice creams and felt sufficiently revived to continue onto the next visitors’ center.

The next one was called El Palacio del Acebrón. We found a large palace in the middle of nowhere which turned out to have been built in the 1960s, rather than 200 years earlier, as I thought. The owner died ten years later and it was deserted until the National Park bought it in the 80s. Its boardwalk wound through dense cork oak woodland full of nearly invisible birds making wonderfully musical calls.

We drove into El Rocío in search of an ATM. The town celebrates its annual pilgrimage next weekend and carnival and food stands were being put up everywhere. The wide street are pure sand, I think for the tourist effect, and makes driving a little problematic. Couldn’t find a money machine and drove to the coast to Matalascañas (kill the sugar cane??) and entered the “mess” of winding tiny streets and huge seaside apartments. We found two ATMs, neither of which would give us money. Thank God for the GPS which got us right out of town and back to our hotel.

It was about six PM and No Luggage! I took a shower, washed my hair and put my clothes back on…and got a call from Iberia. Rosa said unfortunately the delivery person didn’t deliver our stuff…and it’s back in Sevilla. I made her go over to the bags and describe them and told her that we would pick then up tomorrow morning. It’s not too far out of our way, although we’ll miss some stuff we were planning to see, but worth it if we actually, which I’m beginning to doubt, see our stuff again! Really thought by this time I would be able to stop incessantly whining about luggage, but not to be!

At 8:30 we went down to dinner and Bob had seafood paella and I had rice with local tiny clams mixed in and a grilled very sweet half lobster on top. Really great!

Thurs, May 21 - Mazagon

pics: dissected skate wing, Stone Pine forrest, Parador beach

Thursday, May 21, 8 PM - Still no luggage, but I’m hopeful! We DID get on the Iberia flight to Sevilla, and began to relax as we descended over the grey-green olive groves, brilliant green citrus and white-washed villages surrounding Sevilla! We stood around while other gathered their luggage and then went to Customer Service where, due to the wonders of bar coding, found out that our suitcases were still in Miami!! But due to fly out later that day and follow us to Sevilla, and Iberia said they would deliver the luggage to to our hotel, 60 miles away, which sounded pretty astounding!
We picked up our rental car, a nice Peugeot, and with the GPS and maps circled around Sevilla and headed southwest to the coast. We left the highway and drove to the tiny town of El Rocío so we could check out where we are supposed to meet our bird guide tomorrow at 7:30. Drove along the coast through Stone Pines, beautiful lollipop-shaped conifers that make a lovely open forest, and finally reached the Parador de Cristóbal Colón de Mazagón at 8 PM. Checked in and went to our room with a large balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. No need to unpack, so washed up a bit and headed for the bar and our welcome drink, which turned out to be a delicious local white wine. Since we were slightly grubby we decided to dine at the bar and both got Salmorejo, an amazingly delicious soup of creamy tomato, garlic and olive oil, garnished with microtome thin slices of crispy ham. Collapsed into bed.

This morning we got up at six in cold fog and drove the 30 minutes back to El Rocío and found the bar where we met José Sánchez of Discover Doñana. He drove us into this wonderful national park of ~100,000 acres of marsh and stone pine forest. Fortunately since I didn’t have a hat or proper shoes, the trip was all driving the sandy roads of the park and birding near the car. Saw buzzards, Little Owl, various larks, pink flamingos and many others. RR got ten life birds! We had scheduled a half day tour, but José didn’t get us back to the car until almost one. We drove back to the hotel and had some lunch before calling Iberia who said our bags were in Madrid…progress! Took a nap for an hour until four and then we headed for the beach. The weather had cleared, temperature of 67 with a cool breeze.
The hotel in on top of a coastal bluff and there is a wooden staircase with 187 steps to the beach.
We reached the very wide, long beach and walked a mile collecting beautiful shells. I waded into the water and measured the temp at 68. Shell fishermen were standing chest deep in the water scraping the bottom with sieves and putting clams in sacks on their backs, not easy work, but at least the water was warm.
We got back at seven still in sunshine as the sun doesn’t set here until 9:30 since Spain’s on double daylight savings (which is why they can eat dinner so late!).
9 PM we went down to dinner, this time in the dining room which luckily wasn’t that dressy, as it is, after all, a beach resort. Had soups, good but not up to last night’s, and then I had skate wings! Not a great sauce but taxonomically really interesting…I really needed the fish knife to lift the long segments of muscle off the gelatinous cartilage center. RR had a fabulous Cabrito stew. Back to the room at 11:30...Gosh, guess what? No suitcases!

A Very Long Day(s)

pic - The fantastic Madrid airport

I’m sitting in 32G, an aisle seat across from Bob’s aisle seat at7:08AM, May 20, approaching Spain after having had four hours of Ambien-assisted sleep, and bloody miraculous that we’re here at all! Our trip stated Monday evening, May 18 with dinner at La Super Rica after putting a howling Jane Cat into the Cat House Hotel. After dinner we drove down to LAX and parked at the Sheraton Hotel (where we can leave our car for 14 days) went up to room 980, very nice with large TV, and crashed.

Up at six AM, caught the van to American Airlines. With my new million mile status we checked in at Business Class and whisked through security, reassembled ourselves, breakfasted at Chili’s and proceeded to gate 42A, where we very shortly boarded the plane. Very smooth! We took off and over Palm Springs, Bob noticed that we were slowly changing direction and soon were heading back to the Pacific Ocean and LA. We were finally told that there was a medical emergency and we had to return to LAX. Well, we were very heavily loaded with fuel and I was rather anxious about landing but the pilot set our plane down light as a feather to cabin applause, and the ill person who turned out the be the cabin purser, was whisked off; we were refueled and off again in 38 minutes.

We had a hour and 40 minute connection in Miami and it was looking pretty grim as to whether we could make it. 75% of the passengers had connections and we got announcements about 30 destinations, but no word of Madrid!! We finally landed in Miami at 6:30 the exact time our Madrid flight was to take off. We exited the plane and were told our flight had gone and to report to a customer service station, D34, a ways down the concourse. We got there with other confused passengers and found it to be a regular gate and no one there. Bob looked at a TV and saw our flight still listed with a departure time of 7 PM at gate E30. So began to run down concourse D through a lot of construction, up an escalator, down hallways, onto a train and suddenly we were at E30. A lady grabbed our tickets, told us to run down the ramp to the plane, past baggage handlers who said, “Boy, are you lucky!” and onto the plane as the doors were closed! Our seats were changed, but at least we were across from one another. There had been a heating problem that had delayed our flight half an hour which is how we miraculously made it!

Good TV screens in our seats! Watched several episodes of my current favorite, 30 Rock, sipped a G’n’T and fell asleep.
Our flight is arriving at last and we are supposed to connect with an Iberia flight of Sevilla…and God knows where our luggage is ???

12:30PM in the fabulous rainbow painted Madrid airport. We landed and took a train to the baggage claim where, of course, our bags weren’t.
American said that they would appear in Sevilla as they, but not us, had been checked through. So we went over to Iberia, as we figured we had missed our connection to Sevilla and went from point A to B, C and back to A to buy a stand-by ticket for 4 PM and back to B to get the boarding pass. Through Security where Bob’s eyeglass repair kit screwdriver was confiscated! Collapsed for a while and then bought a fantastic tiny baguette with nothing inside but a few slices of ham! But what ham!! And what a baguette! That plus a pastry and a couple of beers was wonderfully reviving (for a while, at least). Now to find an internet connection. To be continued…

The plan...

Here's the plan: on American Airlines, LAX to Miami on Tuesday morning, Miami to Madrid Tuesday night. We arrive in Madrid in the early morning and immediately take an Iberia flight to Sevilla. Pick up a car and drive to Mazagon and a huge birdy marsh!