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...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 25, 2024 | Travel
The Spanish high-speed AVE trains zips across the 386 miles of arid plains and hillsides from Barcelona’s perch between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees to Madrid on a plateau in the heart of Spain. A monitor showing our progress clocked speeds up to 193...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 21, 2024 | Travel
When Antoni Gaudí graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture, the director proclaimed, “I do not know if we have awarded this degree to a madman or to a genius; only time will tell.” Gaudí’s nature-based designs were void of straight lines....
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 16, 2024 | boats, Travel
Chris and Sid, our dear friends from Heath, Texas, just happened to end their cruise in Barcelona, Spain, while we were there. We got together Saturday, September 14th, to check out the beginning of America’s Cup elimination racing at Port Vell. Port Vell was...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 13, 2024 | Travel
For days two and three of our Spain adventure in Barcelona, we opted for the City Tour by Hop-on, Hop-off Bus. The double-decker buses deliver a running commentary via earbuds as they whisk around the City, providing splendid views from the upper seats. 44€ buys...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Oct 8, 2024 | Travel
Karen and I explored Spain from September 10 through October 2. Like the savory dishes Spaniards serve with drinks in bars and restaurants, I’ll be dishing out small portions of the treats we discovered in a series of posts to avoid overindulgence. We left...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Aug 23, 2024 | Tennessee, Travel
On August 4, 2024, Karen and I set out for a Sunday drive on Lookout Mountain just 20 minutes from home. Our first stop would be “The World’s Longest Yard Sale. Dubbed “The Highway 27 Yard Sale” the event occurs each year around the first...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | May 2, 2024 | Hiking, Tennessee, Travel, Water Falls
My brother Jon and his wife Brenda came to visit us in Chattanooga for a week in April. We took them north to the Tennessee/Kentucky border to hike the 600-feet deep gorge carved into the Cumberland Plateau by the Big South Fork River and its tributaries. We rented an...
