by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Dec 11, 2024 | Travel
After the hustle and bustle of our 14-day tour, Karen and I spent two extra days in Sevilla to wind down from our Rick Steves adventure. It was time to relax and take in some lesser sights and pleasures. We chose the Hop On – Hop Off bus to take us to parts of...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Dec 6, 2024 | Travel
Savilla was dubbed “Port of the Indies” during its heyday trading with the Americas. Today, our Rick Steves tour group will visit the Real Alcázar and later dine together to celebrate our wonderful 14-day Spanish adventure. Alcázar means a Spanish palace...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Dec 5, 2024 | Travel
Sevilla is Spain’s most walkable city, which is fortunate because most streets are too skinny for vehicle traffic. The everpresent scrape marks on buildings warn drivers to mind their margins. We are staying at the Hotel Amadeus Sevilla in Barrio Santa Cruz,...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 24, 2024 | Travel, Uncategorized
Cádiz is Western Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited city. It was founded by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC, but a severe earthquake in 1755 destroyed many of the city’s Old Town structures, and it appears much newer. However, winding cobblestone...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 22, 2024 | Travel, Uncategorized
Our bus ride meanders through the Andalusian region known as “Pueblo Blanco,” which signifies nineteen whitewashed villages scattered between Ronda and Cadiz. This morning, we will visit the home and ranch of famous bullfighter Rafael Tejada. The...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 19, 2024 | Travel
We bid despedida, or farewell, to Granada and boarded the bus for a 110-mile drive to Ronda in the Sierra de las Nieves National Park. The city of 35,000 is split on one corner by a spectacular gorge separating the old-town quarter from modernization. Near Antequera...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 16, 2024 | Travel
Granada’s 235,000 residents live in tightly packed houses strewn across the Alhambra, Albayzín, and Sacromonte hillsides. The Darro, Genil, Monachil, and Beiro Rivers converge in these foothills at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, explaining why this...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 13, 2024 | Travel
Our Rick Steve’s group travels by bus from Toledo across Spain’s largest plain. La Mancha is Arabic for “land without water.” This vast dry farming region produces cereal crops, sheep, goats, and saffron. European bus drivers are supposed to...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 9, 2024 | Travel
Starting in 542, Toledo was the Capital of the Visigoth Kingdom, then Spain, until Philip II moved Spain’s capital to Madrid in 1560. Toledo is known as the “City of Three Cultures” because Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived there in harmony. The...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 28, 2024 | Travel, Uncategorized
After a fifty-mile day trip by bus from our current home base in Madrid, Segovia greets us with its 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct. Vehicle traffic was allowed to pass through the 100-foot high arches until it was discovered that the rumble was disturbing its 24,000...
