Highlights of Spain & Portugal - part 2
27 & 28 May – Tryp Macarena Hotel – Sevilla
Yesterday we had our trip to Gibraltar. What a crowded place! Having to show our passports to two sets of customs (Spanish & English) was a farce! They hardly glanced at them. We got into an old English double-decker bus to cross over the runway of the airport (!) before arriving in the town proper. By the time we walked up Main Street, it was 12 noon and the minibus was to meet us at 1pm to take us up the hill, so we had to find something to eat – with restrooms attached! This took a while. Finally found and Irish place “Venture Inn”. Quite small, tucked around the corner in a side street. We had Irish pasty, chips & peas. The pasty was really sausage meat rissole! The woman running it was very Irish & kept calling me ‘darlin’. Oh, before that, I wanted to get a postcard and stamp to send to our son. Pedro said they (shops) accept Euros or Gibraltar Pounds (GP). We bought two postcards in a little shop attached to the P.O. and she said she also had stamps, but then could not find any we could use to post to NZ. We paid for the cards in Euro and asked for GP in change but she told us she had to give Euro back. So we went into the P.O. for stamps but a big sign said NO EURO! We wandered along a bit further and saw a currency exchange. Minimum exchange €6. We got €10 worth of GP and received 8.22. On the way back, we bought our stamps. In the Irish pub, we paid with 5GP plus some euro.
Trip up the hill to St Michael’s cave was a bit hair-raising. I happened to be sitting on window seat next to the steep cliff! Our driver was a Scotsman named Ian. The cave was like Waitomo in NZ. They keep it quite dimly lit and it was very damp underfoot. Quite large (high ceiling). They used it during the war as a hospital and military defence post.
The monkeys – Barbary Apes – were quite relaxed and tame. 
They wandered about the place like cats or little dogs. I went over to take a photo of one sitting on the railing above the road going up to the cave, outside the shop. It suddenly leapt down, so I looked over and it was climbing down the sheer rock face quite deftly and quickly. It was down to the road just as another minibus was coming and it jumped into the driver’s open window! It looked very funny with its bum out the window and the rest of it inside the cab holding on to the driver’s arm and steering wheel. We realised afterwards that, although our driver told us we were not to feed them nor try to pet them, some of the drivers do, so the people in their vans get ‘better’(?) pictures! I reckon that monkey knew that van and driver were coming up at that time, as he was one that did feed them, as we saw later on down the hill. A baby one would jump up and cling to his arm to get the food while a big one searched for food in the driver’s pocket!!
When we finally crossed back over to Spain we were about ½ hr later than Pedro wanted us to be. The bus drove through some land when we finally saw animals! Cows, bulls, goats, a horse and – my favourite – a donkey!! We also saw storks nesting up on top of the power pylons. There were quite a number and they already had ‘baby storks’ as Pedro said. He told us that his surname Pinto means ‘little chicken’.
We only had just over ½ hr when we got to the Hotel, to freshen up - 36°C! Then we were off to a Bodega (winery) for a nice dinner and a display of Andalusian Horsemanship! I took photos and a small video to show our horse-mad daughter.
We had a few tapas, gazpacho soup and then for the main a beautiful slow-cooked meat. Lamb we thought, but no! It was the cheeks of the black pig that they farm under the oak trees and they eat the acorns!! Absolutely delicious! Now we realise why the Iranians at our table had fish.
After dinner, it was back to the city near the Bull Ring where we watched a great Flamenco Show. One of the male dancers reminded me of Danny Kaye in the film where he was mistaken for the new “Count”! I had to keep getting that image out of my mind so I could enjoy his very good, dramatic dances.
We did not get back to the Hotel and 11:30pm so it was about 12:30am before I finally got to sleep! What a full day, but plenty of fun & excitement. What I have seen of Seville is very beautiful but also very, very hot!!!
28 May – Macarena Hotel, Seville
It is now 3pm and we (us two) have just had lunch in the Hotel. Very nice and cool in the dining area. Had a delicious ‘Salad of Colours’ with goats’ cheese and avocado. Also nuts, dried fruits and mango pieces. We followed this with an omelette that was very tasty.
We had a tour this morning of ‘old’ Seville with a very knowledgeable and humorous guide – Aurora. She met us at the Hotel and came in the bus with us all. We had a group photo in front of one of the buildings that were erected in 1929 for Expo of the Americas – all Spanish/Portuguese Nations represented in this area. A very nice park surrounding it all – Parque Maria Luisa. It was only 9:30am and already very hot!
Then we walked through little alleyways of Santa Cruz which was the Jewish Quarter. Of the 1.5million people now in Seville only about 60 are Jewish she told us.
On the way Aurora had arranged two guitarists to met us and we had a ‘lesson’ in “Rumba Flamenco” dancing. There we all were in a side street off the park, all gyrating to the rumba rhythms – much to the amusement of other tour groups passing through, and disbelief from Sevillians!!
Then, in a little square where there were a few artisan shops, she showed us the ‘language of the fan’. She then went and borrowed a comb & mantilla from a shop and dressed Cecelia from Columba in it and Rosa from Brazil in a lovely black silk shawl with embroidered flowers on it. Similar to the one I had bought, except that mine was not a large square but triangular, and it was not made of silk! 
I was happy with mine though at a good price. We found, and bought a nice Seville T-shirt in the shop for Eddie. (Update: It’s now his favourite ‘go to’ top when needing to wear smart-casual. He wore it last week (27 March 2015) when he went for a sail on one of the older NZ America Cup Racing yachts out in the Auckland Gulf – a gift from our offspring for his birthday).
We continued on to the cathedral with the famous tower – Giralda, that was originally the minaret of the Mosque. The bell tower was added later when the Moors were ousted, and the statue – a bronze weathervane – was added on top. The church is apparently the third largest in the World. St Peters in Rome and St Pauls in London being larger. Inside massive ‘tree trunk and branches’ limestone columns and beautiful stained glass windows that were completed in five years by a German glass artisan.
Inside the Cathedral is C. Columbus’ tomb, held up by the four kings of Spain and Grenada represented by a pomegranate at the foot of the King of Castile de Leon.
The tour finished about 12:30pm. Most wanted to stay as the area is the ‘centre’ of town and they wanted/needed to shop! I was very hot and tired after yesterday so we and two other couples came back to the Hotel. Also the Italian gent who has a bad knee so cannot walk far. His wife (Rosa) however, stayed to shop!
I am going to have my shower soon. Later, at 7pm, we go back in the bus to Santa Cruz for dinner. There is a big game between Barcelona & Manchester United on TV tonight so we are hoping to see at least some of it. Gerard (Philippino) in particular, is very keen on football. For that game, so am I.
My feet and hands are swollen a bit this morning. My rings are still rather tight so I’m hoping I’ll ‘de-swell’ when I have a cool shower!??!
29 May Sunday – Seville to Lisbon
7:15am. Packing our cases as they are due out the door at 7:30am. We are heading to Lisbon today or “Lishboa” as Pedro pronounces it – and he should know as he was born there.
Tapas dinner last night was very good. The large green olives were extra good. We sat with Mel (American) & Cecilia (Columba) but they now live in Florida. Mel is either a bit deaf or doesn’t really listen. When I tell him something about NZ ,a bit later he asks about the same thing again!
We walked through the streets of old Seville around the Santa Cruz area until we came to the old ‘Inn’. The writer of the original play of “Barber of Seville” Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais stayed there for a time during 1772-3 when he was writing this. Amazing that an Inn can have been here for that long and still in service!
After dinner, it was still quite light even though it was after 9:00pm. Gerard wanted us to speed back to the bus so he could get to see the Game, but Pedro purposely went very sloooooww. We came through one narrow street out into a Moorish courtyard beside the Alcazar. We were to visit this as one of our options but not enough people signed up for it. As it happens, that would have been yesterday afternoon and I feel a lot better having a slow afternoon. Anyway, in this courtyard was a young wedding couple having photos taken and they looked very ‘old world’ in this setting. Gorgeous!
We finally got back to see the second half of the Game. It was good! We watched on Spanish TV as we couldn’t find a channel with English commentary. Barcelona won 3 -1. Great excitement & celebrations in Barcelona and from the Spaniards watching in the Hotel.
2:30pm In Lisbon. Cooler than Seville and when we stopped for lunch about an hour’s drive from Lisbon, we had a 15 minute downpour of rain!
We are in a Marriott Hotel and we have a large double bed! Also a clothesline in the bathroom and an ironing board and iron in the cupboard.
We found out that TV programmes not made in Portugal are not dubbed as they are in Spain and Italy. All Portuguese learn English plus another language at school – sensible people!!
The land looks different. Smaller holdings and they grow rice – we saw paddy fields all awash as we were travelling along. We came into Lisbon from the south over a bridge that is a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, over a wide river – the Tagus. There are about 1.5 million people here on both sides of the river, 11 million in all of Portugal, in an area the size of the South Island of New Zealand. It doesn’t feel too crowded however, so all good.
At 4pm we are taking the bus to the centre of town for a look around and perhaps some shopping, although as its Sunday only some of the shops will be open. Then we take a ferry across the river to the South side for a fish dinner. Hopefully the rain doesn’t return but it’s still very cloudy and grey. It’s about 10°C cooler than Seville so still around 25° - it only feels cool in comparison and I love feeling cooler.
Monday 30 May – Marriott Hotel, Lisbon
We had a walk around the city centre yesterday afternoon. Reminded me a little of Prague. Then we went on the Ferry across water to a restaurant on the other side. Very delicious fish cakes, shrimps, prawns, a risotto, and I drank a very nice white wine – nicest I’ve tasted on this trip! Then when we thought we had finished they brought out fruit salad and crème fraiche – and then a Port! I tried a bit of it but not as good as the Adelaide Port we bought home with us a few years ago, nor the Villagrad’s one that they gave us as a gift for our Anniversary!
Everyone was very happy, and there was Oz/kiwi banter going on. We sang ‘Waltzing Matilda’ in the bus coming back and ‘show me the way to go Home’. One of the Ozzie’s sang ‘I’ll be loving ..you(!) always...’ saying it was the Kiwi National Anthem! Pedro didn’t get it at first. He was across the aisle from me and whispered “That’s not really your anthem, is it?” “No, they are joking about us & our sheep – Ewe”- I explained. Then he got it! One of the kiwis retorted “But you Ozzie’s have to tie your kangaroo down.(for)..sport!” It was a fun evening.
The bed is softer than Spanish ones and I woke around midnight with aching hip and leg. Woke several times after that too. When we did finally wake in the morning I thought the noise I was hearing was the air conditioning, or people having showers, but my fears were realised when I looked out the window just now – rain!! Steady, solid rain! And we are supposed to be going to the fishing villages/beach resort today. Oh dear...
Later- 5:30pm What a day! First a walk around the very old part of the town – the Alfama District, the Jewish quarter – small, narrow streets, tiny, tiny shops and flats above. The rain, thankfully eased off, but we had to wear our rainbird jackets until we were out of Lisbon.
We visited the Monument of the Discoveries & Henry the Navigator, on the river side and the Belem Tower,which was at one time, several centuries ago, in the middle of the river. There was also a replica of the first plane to fly the South Atlantic – a few years before Lindberg flew across the North Atlantic.
We then drove along the coast and had lunch and later a real Italian gelato at Santini’s – been there since 1949. This was a fishing village but also became a beach resort of the Rich and Important eg Juan Carlos of Spain’s parents were in exile there when Franco was in power. The place is named Cascais but pronounced as Cashkai as words with an S in them are pronounced ‘sh’, and they obviously don’t pronounce the final S.
Along the coast we stopped at a windswept rocky area and looked at the waves crashing on the volcanic rocks, and out to the vast Atlantic Ocean. In the distance we saw the cape (Roca) with castle/lighthouse that is the Western-most point of all of Europe!
We continued through a forested area and into the old town of Sintra (Mount of the Moon). Originally Celtic Cynthia = Moon! A beautiful, quaint area where I bought a nice pottery dish, a hand-painted tile of an old ship in blue & white and keyrings for our son and one of our daughters. Her keyring has a rooster on it which means ‘faith, justice and good luck’. A good choice for her we thought. Also, at Cascais, at a market on the beach front, we bought our eldest grandson a nice sailing T-shirt, and a beautiful traditional blue & white tablecloth for us. There was lots of beautiful artisan pottery which we love, but didn’t have the room to take any home.
Later: 10:55pm we are back from the Fado singing/music plus dinner. Not too much food but very good. Had traditional red bean soup that also had carrots, cabbage and onions in it. The singing and the costumes reminded me of Eastern Europe – Poland or even Czech Republic, although a couple of songs toward the end of the evening also sounded French. Very different from Flamenco – more true folk dance and folk music. I loved the sound of the Portuguese guitar (guitarra) with 12 strings and is plucked rather than strummed. It was like a balalaika or the Greek Bouzouki, and the singers all had very fine voices. I especially liked the slower, ‘sad’ songs – very moving.
On the way out Paula, one of our solo travellers, who had gone to the toilet- so she said –was waiting near the exit and gave each woman in our group a white rose! A very nice end to a very special evening.
When we got back from Sintra, Pedro was waiting for us. Four people had not done this optional so he had bought them back to the Hotel – and he has had his hair cut! No.2 all over so all his curls are gone! He does not look the same – before, we could always pick him out in a crowd if you got left behind a bit, but now....??!
Eddie’s already asleep – and snoring! I’m going to have to poke him soon – I also need to turn up or tone down the air conditioning as it’s too blowy and cool. I’d better try to sleep as we have a wake-up call for 6am tomorrow! That’s because we ‘lose’ an hour when we cross back into Spain. I would really have liked another day, at least, in Portugal – I love it!