Last days on the beach

We're nearing the end of our awesome week on the beach near Chiclana, Spain. I have to post and write about a couple things we did recently that were real high points for me.

First was playing tennis on Spanish red clay with Sammie. I had never played tennis on clay before, and prior to coming on this trip it was one of the things I was thinking in the back of my mind that I would like to try. Conveniently, there are several resorts near our beach community and a couple of them have clay courts. It was easy to rent an hour - they even provided racquets, shoes and balls. The fellow who ran the tennis club was from the Czech Republic and his wife was from Germany. Neither spoke great English, and our Spanish is rather weak, but we made it work. Tricia came along just to watch, and Sammie and I had a terrific time. The clay was weird, giving unpredictable bounces and causing the ball to bounce rather high in the air. It took awhile for Sammie and I to get used to it, but by the end we were doing rather well. Afterwards, with a cafe con leche from the club cafe in hand, we could say playing on the clay was a rousing success.

The other fun, but somewhat harrowing, experience was renting and riding mountain bikes on the cliffs overlooking the ocean between Conil and Roche, Spain. Getting to Conil, finding the rental shop, arranging the bikes with a dude who spoke no English, navigating our way out of Conil to to the trails were all very dicey experiences. But, the riding was awesome. We had great mountain bikes, and the trails were just dusty paths through the shrubbery on the cliffs. We often pedaled just feet from the edge of the cliffs with nothing to prevent us from toppling over. The trails were not well-marked, so we got lost a couple of times. But, again, the riding was fun and the view spectacular. We did a little swimming and a little drinking at a beach cove just off the trail before turning back. It wasn't a perfect experience, but I guess I would say all the trouble was worth the couple hours of fun.

Tomorrow we head to Portugal, and the Aragos back to Madrid. We'll reunite in London four days later. For now, I'm going to go and enjoy one last day on the beach and probably some World Cup tonight. Fun stuff!!!

June 25th - Playa de la Barrosa

Life on the beach. What can I say other than we’re mostly relaxing, soaking up the sun and surf, and eating and drinking. Not really a lot of adventures or excursions up to this point, just enjoying staying put and traveling up and down the little street that connects our house with the playa.

Last night was a great meal of octupus, shrimp and some other awesome things. And today we ordered ahead for a big meal of paella at Bar Pepin, one of our favorite little bars just a block away. We’ll be eating the paella for the traditional afternoon meal around 2:00.

The beach is fantastic – lots of endless sand and waves. We’ve bought some toys – boogie boards, balls, paddles, etc… and have been parking ourselves in the sand for hours at a time. Most mornings start with a café con leche and some toast at the Che Bar with our friend, bartender Antonio. We go there so often he wouldn’t even let me pay for our cafes this morning. The wifi’s good there, too, so between the beach and the house and meals other places, we often park ourselves at Che and just chill for a bit.

This morning after Che, we decided to experience churros casero down the boardwalk a bit from our beach. This was a place where they make the churros fresh at the restaurant. I think we all plowed through four plates-full, dipping them in the delicious, thick hot chocolate they are served with. Tricia enjoyed the meal, too, because it was her first time getting fried eggs for breakfast. While in Spain it can be easy to miss traditional American breakfasts. Spaniards don’t eat a lot for breakfast, and what they do eat is small – just some coffee and toast typically. Not sure how they do it because then they wait until around 2:00 to have their lunch. It’s certainly a different eating culture here with lunch a couple hours later than we’re used to back home and dinner about 3-4 hours later than we’re used to.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this morning before breakfast, Tricia, Sammie and me explored some rocky coastline just to the west of our beach. We walked around looking in the tide pools, finding a few hermit crabs along the way.

Today is paella and more beach time. Tonight will probably just be some snacking and maybe some soccer viewing. Then tomorrow Sammie and I have an appointment at a raquet club to play tennis on clay courts. Playing on clay is something I’ve never experienced, so I’m really looking forward to it.

June 23rd at the Beach!

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. As I’m writing this I’m sitting on the patio of our absolutely gorgeous home in Playa de la Barrosa near Chiclana, Spain on the southern Atlantic coast. It’s our first full day at the beach after arriving here from Madrid yesterday afternoon.

We are in heaven. The kids and some of the adults are at the beach, while my mom, Tricia and me are back at the house after grabbing a drink and splitting a plate of fried fish. Our house is everything and more than we expected. It’s just a two block walk to the beach and it sits on a quiet street filled with little bars, restaurants, and shops. The house itself has more than enough room for the nine of us, combined with a beautiful outdoor patio and private pool. It’s really a splurge for us, but well-deserved after sleeping almost literally on top of each other during our week in Madrid. Not that I’m complaining at all about our stay in Madrid. It was wonderful, and free, and provided to us very generously by David’s parents Paco and Carmen.

Our last days in Madrid were good ones. I took my kids to the Reina Sofia art museum on Friday morning. This was a very cool place, a museum I have wanted to visit for a long time, mostly because it holds Picasso’s “Guernica” painting that depicts some of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. The museum also contained other Picassos as well as many works by Salvador Dali. Casey especially enjoyed this museum because of the contrast between the historic pieces we saw in the Prado and the more bizarre modern art pieces we saw here.

The kids and I had a nice, leisurely time hanging out at Reina Sofia before venturing into the center of Madrid for an afternoon meal. We contemplated a few different spots for lunch, but ended up back at the Plaza Mayor. Why not? This is such a nice, comfortable place to hang out and people watch. We had a great menú del dia and some nice chill time before meeting up with the gang once again a bit later.

After exploring the river with the kids that winds around Madrid, all of us gathered for dinner at one of the cuevas (cave) bars that are near Plaza Mayor. This was essentially our last group meal and experience in Madrid before we’d be heading out of the city on Sunday. We had a bunch of raciones and pitchers of sangría, enjoyed the caves, then made the journey back to the apartment.

Saturday proved to be a day of function rather than leisure. Santi came with me to pick up my rental car at the Atocha train station. This turned out to be about a 4-hour experience rather than the hour-long experience I thought it would be. The Hertz office was not at the train station like advertised but rather a 12 block walk into the city. Also, after waiting in an aggravatingly long line at the rental counter we were informed that they didn’t have our car. One of the agents would have to drive us across town to pick up our car at a different office. Holy cow, what a freakin’ fiasco. Santi and I could only shake our heads and laugh at the Spanish inefficiencies. Nada es fácil in España!

But, the car rental experience aside, Saturday was a great day. It was the day Tricia arrived! After finally getting our car and managing the mean streets of Madrid in my new manual transmission Opel, we grabbed David and the kids at the apartment and went to the nearby mall for a McDonald’s lunch and some wifi. We scarfed down some burgers – and I was especially happy of the fact that European fast food joints serve beer – then drove out to the airport. After a little waiting, Tricia walked through the sliding doors and we had ourselves a little reunion. Yippee, Tricia’s now here! The kids and the cousins got very sick of me talking about how happy I was that Tricia was arriving soon. They were happy to see her because then they new I would finally shut up!

Then, Saturday night. It was a fun night. Paco and Carmen came to the apartment and we walked to a great little neighborhood place for dinner. Grandma Nancy and I wanted to treat them to dinner to thank them for all their hospitality. Of course, Paco put up a fight but finally relented. The meal was wonderful. We had some raciones and salads, then the main course. They delivered two of these little tabletop “grills” to our tables along with plates of ox meat. It was up to us to cook the meat on these grills ourselves. It was like fondue but grilling instead of fonduing. And the meat was fantastic. We stuffed ourselves silly, sitting outdoors, enjoying having Tricia with us, and laughing constantly at Paco’s funny comments and funny faces.

To end this post, I’ll just say that yesterday was a slog. We woke up early and then spent a large part of the day driving to the beach. Not necessarily fun, but well worth it to get to this beach, and this house, and this área of Spain. We’ll be here until next Sunday, and right now we’re exactly where we want to be!

June 20th in Madrid

We’re nearing the end of our week in Madrid. Today (Friday) is our last full day of siteseeing. Tomorrow, Tricia arrives, then Sunday we head south for the beach. It’s been a great week but I do admit I’m pretty full-up with the big city and ready to lounge at la playa.

Wednesday was a fun, yet thoroughly disappointing, day. The reason – World Cup. After spending some afternoon time in the city including a stop at a cider bar for some cold, home-brewed apple cider and a menú del dia – OK, I have to stop here. We tried another Rick Steve’s joint for our afternoon meal. Whoa, what a difference. This place rocked. I had a vegetable soup, then some fish stew thing and rice with milk for dessert. Rick, you’re back in my good graces. – we made our way to Bernabeu soccer stadium to view the evening’s game between Spain and Chile. It was a long walk slash metro ride slash bus ride to the stadium, but we were all pumped for the big game. Most of us were dressed in Spain jerseys and David had even draped himself in the Spanish flag. The atmosphere at the stadium was great. They had 3-4 huge screens set up outside the stadium and a pregame concert to keep us entertained before the game. But, oh Lord, once the game got underway things turned sour very quickly. Spain got down 1-0 early, the 2-0 sometime in the middle of the match. They tried desperately to claw their way to victory, but it wasn’t meant to be. When it was clear the match was over, we left, and made our way on the long metro journey back to the apartment. It was a night with so much promise, but it all ended with a devastating result.

Then yesterday, Thursday. This was probably our most low-key day of the trip so far. With all the hoopla from the night before, we all slept soundly until about 11:00 in the morning. Eventually I left to read my book (Salem’s Lot – I’ve never read it.) in a nearby park, then Sammie met me for breakfast at a local bar. Once everyone was awake, Sammie, Casey, Eva and I took the metro to Retiro Park. We had a really nice time there. We did some walking, snapped a bunch of pics, had a really nice sit-down lunch by the boat pond, snagged some WIFI for awhile, rented bikes and toured the beautiful, expansive park, then ended with ice cream and some rest in the shade. We were there for 4-5 hours and it was just what we needed – a break from the hustle and bustle of the big city and a chance to just chill for a day.

Later my mom and I enjoyed some drinks, again at the same local bar, while watching Colombia beat the Ivory Coast in World Cup play then my family and my mom ordered pizza in the apartment because the Aragos had left to have dinner with one of David’s friends. Ordering pizza over the phone was an adventure. I had to use my Spanish as best as I could. All in all, it went just fine with the exception of ordering far too much pizza than the four of us could ever eat. And, unfortunately, the pizza was a bit “sketchy” as the kids would say. There was something off about the cheese – just not what we’re used to in the states. But, we enjoyed it nonetheless while watching Uruguay knock England out of the cup.

Side note – I was excited with the thought of coming to Europe for the World Cup. There was the possibility that I’d be able to watch some exciting matches in three countries that would be playing – Spain, Portugal and England. Well, already, two of those three countries have been eliminated. That sucks! And, the only way Portugal will get to the next round is if they beat the USA tomorrow night, so I don’t really want to see that happen. So, World Cup action has been a bit of a bust so far. I guess my mantra now will just be USA, USA, USA!

Adios for now!

Museos y Parques

Tuesday was a day of museums and parks for Sammie and me. The entire gang did the Prado art museum together in the morning, enjoying all the Goya's, El Greco's and Valazquez's. Highlights were Goya's "Saturn Eating his Son" and his other "dark" paintings from his later years. Creepy stuff!

After the Prado our group split up. Sammie and I headed to the Jardin Botanico while the rest of the gang meandered toward Puerto del Sol. Sammie and I had a great time just casually strolling through the gardens, drinking a big pineapple juice we had purchased at a little grocery store, then wandering to the Retiro park. The park was awesome - big and green and full of huge, shady trees. We stopped at a little outdoor cafe that was positioned next to a large pond where people rent rowboats and float around. Sammie practiced her Spanish and I fended off aggressive birds who were trying to steal our potato chips. Some of them succeeded. It was a pleasant time, and good just to get away from the city hustle and bustle and enjoy some quiet in the park.

After an afternoon siesta the gang again split. The Aragos met David's family for dinner while my mom, the kids and I went back into the center. We started with a nice drink and snack in the Plaza Mayor where we watched and listened to the buzz of activity around us. There were two shiny goats competing for donations, some human statues, and a gentleman playing the accordion. The four of then sought out a place to have dinner and watch the World Cup. We settled on an Irish Pub we had been to a couple days ago. The place was good. It wasn't packed and it had a couple of big screen tvs. It was a great place to just hang for a couple hours, kick back and watch some soccer. Brazil and Mexico played to a 0-0 tie. That's soccer for ya!

After dinner we walked to the Royal Palace. We wanted to see it lit up at night, but we also wanted to see what action was happening around there leading up to the coronation of a new King of Spain this coming Thursday. We're going to get caught up in this big even that hasn't happened in decades. There will be a parade and some other stuff that we're planning to attend.

Tonight the highlight should be watching Spain play Chile on a big screen outside the Bernabeu stadium - the stadium where Spain's Real Madrid soccer team plays. Hopefully Spain will play well and win and we can celebrate with all the Madrilenos!

Yesterday was our first full day in Madrid. As I’m writing the rest of the clan is “doing what the Romans do.” You guessed it, they’re taking a siesta. After many hours of walking the lively streets of the Madrid center and taking in a menu del día, we came back to the apartment and crashed. I imagine our evening will be full as well with a possible large evening meal and then some World Cup watching somewhere.

We started the morning by boarding the Metro for Puerto del Sol around 8:30. Sol is a main hub in the center of Madrid. Our apartment – the apartment in which David grew up – is about 8 Metro stops from Sol. So, it’s a relatively breeze to get from the apartment to the busy main part of Madrid.

Looking to get a little sustenance, we grabbed a light breakfast at the Museo de Jamón in the Plaza Mayor. The sun was shining the temps were still rather cool. Most of us got some sort of Spanish ham sandwich, juice and café con leche. It was a perfect way to start the day. We then ventured to an outdoor street market called “El Rastro” than only functions on Sundays. David had gotten an earlier start than the rest of us, so we met him there. The crowds were rather light when we started walking through the Rastro around 10:00 but things picked up quickly and by the time we were done a couple hours later the place was jammin’. The kids all bought a part of inexpensive – hopefully not too cheap – sunglasses, Grandma Nancy bought a t-shirt and a Spain collar for Jack, and I bought myself some undies and socks because I had failed to pack any whatsoever. Yes, I know. Rookie mistake. Not sure how that happened. In between walks through the vendors we dove into a bar and had some refrescos – Fanta limón, beer, and tinto verano (wine with sugary, fizzy water). Then after getting our fill of the Rastro we enjoyed some caracoles – snails – in the basement of a small restaurant. Santi was the caracoles champ downing about twice as many as the rest of us combined.

After little more walking, a little more shopping, and a couple more refrescos, we settled in for a very nice menú del día – a midday lunch that includes three courses and, yes, more wine. Salads, a thinly cut steak, and flan were the choice of most. But other things ordered were gazpacho, some kind of tasty bean stew, and grilled fish. It was all really good and made me very happy to be back in España!