Europe Tour Ends

 My European tour is coming to an end, so this is my last post for this trip. It has been everything i wished for and then some.. My high school friends have all showed up and we had an amazing time. Special thanks to my good friend Abdelhak and his family for hosting me both in Grenada and in Geneva.. it was special to reunite and talk about the old days, today and our future retirement plans.. we all hope to be in the same area of the world, Spain! Special thanks go also to Said and his family from Le Mans, who hosted me for two nights. I will be seeing them in Huntsville in two weeks so more fun time is still ahead. My nephew and his family from Paris also hosted me for three nights… they were special since I watched his kids compete both in soccer and swimming. Special thanks go to Ramdane who joined us at Said’s place in Le Mans after driving for two hours from his place west of Le Mans. He then flew to Geneva and then Malaga to be with me and Abdelhak for few days. We had amazing days catching up on everything.. we have not seen each other for 45 years!!! In addition to all these happy reunions, we did have a sad visit with our friend Mourad, who is fighting cancer. Rabah from Besancon joined us for this road trip from Geneva to Aix en Provence! We have not seen Mourad for over 40 years. We all wished him well and hope he will be around for much much longer. By all measures, this was a great trip thanks in a big part to Abdelhak, who was a corner stone for its success. We all hoped that we will

 

I loved this rocky place, it was cooled by a strong breeze on a hot day

Beautiful beaches

From high above Malaga

A section of Malaga from the fort

Malaga from high above

View of the fort high above Malaga

View of downtown and the port from high above

strengthen our friendships as well as organize more reunions as we all head into retirement. 

On my last full day in Spain, I took the train into Malaga from Torimollinos for a final sightseeing day. I headed straight to Alcazaba; a Moorish fortress built during the Islamic rule of Andalusia. The fortress surrounds the old city of Malaga. It was a nice climb to the top especially given the heat in the middle of the day. 

I leave this beautiful country; Spain, with more conviction that I will be spending a lot more time here after retirement. Abdelhak is already in Grenada so being in the neighborhood will be great. Other friends are thinking the same as well so stay tuned… One advice for those of you thinking to visit Spain: be careful where you walk as there are lanes for bikers, rollerbladers, segway riders, scooters….. plus cars, buses, tramways… I was nearly rundown by a biker, he was mad as hell as i was on his lane … I apologized off course and told him I was a stupid tourist!! Also stop lights for pedestrians crossings are observed religiously.. they stare at you if you cross without the light being green, they did at me once! 

The end… 

Map of the various places I visited

 

Using Apple Tags to track luggage is awesome: two bags

One in Spain and one in France !!!

Torremolinos - Benalmadena

 The last two days of my trip will be spent relaxing on the beaches of Malaga in particular Torremolinos, Benalmadena and Fuengirola !! This serves as a good introduction to just chilling on the beach doing nothing but walking and sitting in the strong Mediterranean sun drinking beer or coffee depending on the time of the day… there is also ice cream and yes it is great… I am not worried about calories because i will walk them off almost immediately. I have to mention that I have not seen any excessively fat person yet or even just fat …. Everyone here walks miles per day and live pretty much outdoors. Business is booming for restaurants, coffee shops and bars! I have averaged over 15,000 steps per day for the whole month including the low days of Geneva, Le Mans and Paris! Grenada, Seville and now the beaches are the high steps places. In any case, here are some pics from yesterday and today…

Some amazing big homes near Torremolinos

Looking east from Torremolinos

More amazing homes between Benalmadena and Torremolinos

Palm trees lining the sidewalk

My salmon feast for dinner

Tiramisu for disertt

More palm trees

Seville/Ishbeelya (3)

 I ventured way out of the tourist section of Seville just to see how other areas are… first I felt safe everywhere! Never for a second did I feel in danger! Off course the residential streets I walked were not as pretty as the tourist areas but that is to be expected. I stumbled on a plaza with a giant structure that looked like a bridge but i did not see where it went so … After asking, I learned it is known as the mushroom of Seville or Setas of Seville oh well just another attraction in a square… I then walked along the Oued El Kabir, the big river crossing Seville. The name comes from Arabic and it means « the big river »!! I ate dinner at 11 pm, yes that is not a typo, restaurants are open very late even on Sunday night!!!

Here are some final pics from a different part of Seville… A city that combines the old and the new very well. 

A beautiful street in Seville 

An interesting bridge over Oued El Kebir

Another bridge over Oued El Kebir

A picture with « I love Seville » under the Mushroom!!

From Setas of Seville known also as the Mushroom

Another plaza buzzing with activity near Setas de Seville

A big picture of Setas de Seville otherwise known as « the mushroom »

Seville/Ishbeelya (2)

 After yesterday introduction, i woke up today to explore more and enter into buildings of significant historic value. Bull fighting is a huge Spanish pastime and they have huge arenas where they perform that. Seville is one city with a bullfighting arena so i decided to visit it and see how it looks. Grenada has a bullfighting arena but i could not get in the day I tried to.. here are some pics from the arena.

Bullfighting arena

The stands of the arena

Top floor of the arena

After the bullfighting arena, I went to another huge Seville attraction called Plaza de Espagna, where many activities take place such as concerts and others. Here are some pics from that..

Plaza de Espagna where various activities are held including concerts

A tower at Plaza de Espagna

More about Plaza de Espagna

From Seville Plaza de Espagna, I went to the Cathedral to visit inside, i also went to the top floor of the tall tower (~40 floors)…  here are the pics to speak for themselves.

Picture taken from the top of the Cathedral tower

Picture taken from the tower

Another picture from the tower with a protective mesh so I don’t jump

Inside the cathedral, just amazing 

Some details inside the Cathedral

… same as above

…. Same as above

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More details inside the Cathedral

Seville/Ishbeelya (1)

 The fast moving part of my trip has started.. I have only few days left in Spain so i decided to visit Seville and Cordoba to close my vacation. Both cities are well known in history. They are part of the state of Andalusia which used to be controlled by the Moores, who were Muslim off course. The cathedral of Seville and its beautiful historic downtown is what made me decide to come here. I bought a train ticket to Seville but when I arrived at the station our train was delayed and after waiting for over an hour, the trains “gods” decided to put us on a train to Madrid that passes through Cordoba. The deal was to change trains in Cordoba for Seville.. complicated but manageable.  I was lucky to run into a Spanish teacher who spoke english well and who was going the same direction so she helped me with the Spanish announcements! The train to Madrid was fast so we got to Cordoba within roughly an hour. The train change was smooth and we were off to Seville right away. My hotel is located in the old section of the city smack in the middle of everything so I started walking right away … It was hot so I tried to walk in shaded streets as much as possible. When i got to the old city the views were just stunning … My hotel’s web address sent to the wrong street so I panicked for a minute, but all was in order when I asked someone on the street… I just mentioned the hotel name, Simon Hotel, and the guy was so sweet, he showed me where to go… As it turned out, the web address was pointing to the back side not the front, oh well… Once inside the hotel, I was very impressed by the decor and the antique look of the hotel. My room was small and the bed was a single bed, but that was fine with me given the awesome location!! After a shower and a brief rest, i started exploring my neighborhood,,, 

Train station in Seville

The big famous tower of the cathedral of Seville (which used to be a mosque minaret)

A plaza in the old city buzzing with activity

More stunning view of the cathedral

The huge imposing tower

A huge open plaza

A view of the cathedral through an arch 

The Cathedral at sun set, stunning !!!

The big tower at sunset, wow!!!

Streets are full of activity at night… and very safe