(Before reading this entry, be sure to back-track to Seville and Tarifa.)  Picture a small town, cradled by the mountains.  Since this town was originally the refuge of Muslims and Jews hundreds of years ago, all the wall are covered in a peaceful pale blue.  All the streets are full of wirey cats and playing children.  Down each alley there is a different artisan weaving wool, painting a bowl, or crafting a piece of wood.  If you close y...

Ahhh, a day at the beach.? Just what I need to clear my head after so much sight-seeing, and to prepare myself for the strangest part of our trip--Morocco.In Tarifa, there is winf everywhere, which explains the enormous number of wind turbines we saw on our bus ride south from Seville.? The wind made it a bit tricky to sunbathe, since sand was drizzling on us the whole time, but it did allow us?to watch the incredible sport of kite surfing!? Hundreds of huge colo...

Seville's Feria de Abril was a total bust.  Where Scott and I had expected a Spanish Mardi Gras; we found a prvate party and a rundown amusement park.  It was fun for an hour to watch 10,000 flamenco dresses (each with matching accessories) and 1,000 horses gallivanting around a neighborhood of crowded cafes.  But as soon as we got hungry, we realized that all thedelicious looking food was inaccessible to the public.  At the time, the whol...

Spain just keeps getting better. I thought Madrid was funky? That's because we hadn't yet booked dorm beds at the Funky Hostel in Granada. We entered this place after getting lost for 10 minutes in the twisty streets, hauling our backpacks far too long uphill, and immediately we were rewarded: by caring, competent, English speaking reception; by a dorm room whose window looks down on the nifty tiled lobby; and by a magical roof top terrace complete with h...

We're finally in Spain! I can't believe we actually made it, but after 5 days of travel from Italy, including one 26-hour day we spent completely in trains and train stations, we're finally here! Madrid is definitely worth it. Scott and I decided to go right to Madrid, and I was originally very disappointed to postpone Barcelona.  I thought of Madrid as just a checkoff list list of museums, but it actually turned out to be a pretty funky city.We ...