While we were away it changed seasons.

We interrupt our trip stories for a moment.  We actually still do (sometimes) live in England.  And it is autumn here.  I love fall, but my English co-workers have informed me that the season is acutally called ‘autumn’ and since they will keep making fun of me if I call it ‘fall’ I have switched.  But I digress…

When we got home from Greece it hit us square in the face that the seasons have changed and we have had some beautiful crisp days…and some miserable wet gray ones too.

Here is a photo of our house – the green vine that covers the west wall had turned a fabulous red while we were away.

I loved this vine and took a picture of it turning color at Blenheim Palace on our 2004 vacation to Engand.  Funny that four years later I have my very own wall full of it.

Steve the giant

As mentioned before we were not particularly well organized for this trip.  While we were packing the morning of our flight we realized Steve’s sneakers were in his gym bag at the office, so he planned to pick up a new pair in Spain.

After arriving in Granada we met up with our friend Brian, a colleague of Sarah’s from Seattle.  We asked him for a recommendation on where to find shoes and he sent us to El Corte Ingles.  Good choice, I thought, as that is where I had found my fabulous pumps in Portugal.  Anyway, we headed in, with a plan to meet Brian and a couple other of his friends outside the store after we had purchased the shoes.

They had a huge selection (Spaniardd love their shoes) and we found several styles that would work.  I dusted off what little Spanish I know to talk with the shop girls.  I asked for a couple different pairs, but both times she came back empty handed.  I finally caught on that a 44 was the largest size they had in both styles.  And Steve needed a 46.  So, I started looking at the display models for a 45 or 46, and finally found a Nike in a 46.  The clerk brought out the mate and they fit!  Steve asked ‘do they look OK?’  For probably the only time in our married life I said ‘I don’t care how they look as long as they fit’ and we got in line to pay.

Well – almost an hour after he dropped us off, Brian called my mobile wondering where we were.  I explained that we were just now paying.  We had found what seemed to be the only pair in his size and would be out soon.  ‘Doh, I could have told you that.’  Brian is also taller than 6 foot and knows the difficulty of finding clothes and shoes that fit in Spain.

Off to Granada

After being waved through the Gibraltar border to Spain we grabbed a bus and then a train en route to Granada.  There were many beautiful little train stations, towns, houses and ruins along the line.

More Gibraltar

A few more pictures from Gibraltar

This shows a medieval tower on the rock – at various times controlled by the moors.

There were cannons everywhere – evidence of the long history of the rock being a strategic fortress.  A little boy hopped on this one for a warm nap at sunset.

One of the really funny things there is that they call the border with Spain the ‘frontier.’  The ‘frontier’ is just about 50 metres past the airport. 

We bravely ventured out past the ‘frontier’ and were waved into Spain…

Gibraltar

Waking up with the sun on the water in Gibraltar is just what we needed to jolt us into vacation mode.

We took the bus over to town and walked about to check it out.  It was Sunday, so the shops were closed, but since they were mostly tourist aimed (electronics, jewelery and bric-a-brac) that was just as well.  We walked down to the furnicular and rode up to the top of the rock.  The view from the top is really amazing.  In this picture you can see our hotel and all the ships anchored off the coast.

You can also see all the way over to Africa.  (wonder if we’ll ever go there)

One problem with the rock is the monkeys.  They are all well and good until they started screaming.  Yikes.  Evil little things.

 

We stomped around the rock for several hours during the afternoon, covering it from end to end and walking all the way down.  We learned real quick that it is smart to stay out of the afternoon sun. (Can we say ’siesta’?)  Tired, I rested in one of the caves while Steve looked around.

We eventually made it all the way down, and rewarded ourself with a sangria.  A low key dinner on the quay at sunset and back to the hotel.  A good start to our holiday.

Arriving in Gibraltar

We spent the first day of our holiday in Gibraltar.  Why?  Two reasons: 1) I’ve always been fascinated by the rock and 2) it is a lot cheaper to fly there then to fly to Granada or Sevilla.

The airport at Gibraltar is very funny, in that its runway runs right across the one road into town.  Everyone just drives or walks across the runway as they go about their daily business, and each time a flight lands or takes off they have to shut the road down.

We almost didn’t make it to Gibraltar.  After packing on Saturday morning and getting ready to head to the train station a last minute check of our tickets told us that we were leaving earlier than we thought.  Taking the train would have been cutting it very close so we called a cab.  Well, the cab never showed up and when we finally bailed we realized we didn’t really have enough time to park at the airport, so we drove to my boss’s house and got a cab from her place (she lives in town at a location cabbies can actually find).  The cab driver was great and we were the second to last party to check in before they closed the counter.  Way too close for my liking.  We sort of skidded sideways into this vacation with too much going on the month before we left and not enough planning.  We used to have our Europe vacations really well planned, guess now that we moved here we’ve gotten sloppy.  Note to self – better planning for next holiday.

We’re back.

In case you hadn’t figured out we were on holiday.  We spent two weeks in Spain and Greece.  Fabulous.  Saw our first sun of 2008.  Well, not really, but almost!  (Summer just never happened here in England this year)

So, sorry for the blog silence.  I’ve got 1500 holiday photos to work through, and lots of funny stories, so here we go.