April 30- May 4th

April 30 Dodie arrives in Madrid
David and I picked up Dodie from the airport - "OLE!!" -- and drove to Toledo. We had lunch with Luis and David from .University of Castile de La Mancha. Dodie took a long-needed nap and Judy did her last presentation to some Ph.D. students and a few teachers. We then picked up Dodie and saw a bit of Toledo, with David as our guide, and Dodie had her first creveza with tapas (this time it was olives). Later we met up with two teachers (friends of David's) for some more tapas (shrimp, cheese, stuffed red peppers) -- One bar had a glass floor with an underground limestone cave exposed...very cool...we went to another bar for more tapas, before heading back to the hotel...which by the way was very old, castle like, with a beautiful garden.

May 1 -- We met David at 9:30 for a walk around Toledo -- so much quieter than the evening before, when there were literally hundreds of people walking through the streets -- about 11am more people came out -- there was a festival and holiday and everyone was out.Some were camping just outside Toledo, up on a mountain -- After going to an overlook for a final look at Toledo, we headed to Ciudad Real. On the way we went to see some windmills -- like those slain by Don Quixote -- had lunch with Cruces, David, and Elena. In the evening we went to a 'Natural' park to see some birds -- most water birds -- and many different types of ducks...then went back to David and Cruces' for dinner...and some laundry

May 2 David and Cruces took us to a winery for a tour and of course a taste test -- emmmmmm -- They took us to lunch at a vegeterian restaurant -- YUM -- Later we went to a handball game..Ciudad Real (the home team) against a German team -- close match and the home team won!!We then went for tapas (of course), before calling it a day.

May 3 Traveled to Granada by train -- very different landscape, mountains and thousands of olive trees. Train was easy, but we had to wait 45 minutes for a taxi when we arrived -- Festival of Crosses (Cruses) was in full force and not many taxi's -- but we got to our hotel (which used to be a convent) -- very cool -- old Spanish style hotel in the middle of Albaicin -- the heart of old Granada. Of course, we headed out with thousands of others to enjoy the Festival -- Visited flowered crosses along the way and spent most of our time walking around the Cathedral Iglesia Del Sagrario Capilla Real -- very old and beautiful, but the highlight was the concert (see photo) -- where we heard many traditional songs, sung by singers in traditional dress -- and walked among many families with children dressed in traditional dressas well...wow, what an experience.

May 4We started the day by walking around the narrow streets in our hotel's neighborhood. It was authentic old Spain, with churches,cats lounging in the shade, the smell of mock orange blossoms and Spanish cooking, old ladies in cotton dresses, slowly walking the steep cobblestone streets, aided with double canes. We had tickets for a guided tour of the palace of Alhambra, a huge ancient moorish, then catholic fortress. It takes several hours to see the entire fortress, and we had been warned to be at the palace on or before 6, and we had a feeling that something dreadful would befall us, if we didn't make it. Perhaps it was our fear of hanging, our our shameful knowledge of Spanish, or our general daft natures, but our trip to Alahandra, looked more like an episode of the three stooges. We got on the bus with plenty of time to spare, but as the bus neared the fortress, we realized our tickets were still in our room, so we stayed on the bus until it went all the way around to our hotel again. After getting our tickets, we caught the bus again, this time arriving at Alhambra with a little time to spare. We showed our tickets to a couple of ticket takers who assured us were headed in the right direction to eventually reach the palacio. So we wandered about the gardens, admiring the roses, the perfumed air, and the water fountains and flowing aqua ducts everywhere, which was a sign of power for the sultans. To us, it was a sign of our lunchtime beers and aging bladders, and we soon found ourselves looking not at the views, but for a bathroom. There were none. Eventually, that problem was resoved, but we wondered why nobody was gathering at the palace, so we found yet another guard, who told us we were on the opposite side, away from the Palacio. Okay, so I don't run any more, but I am sure my walking pace was much faster than my old jogging pace, or perhaps the 80 degree weather made it seem so. We arrived at the palacio in plenty of time, as there were at least 75 visitors, half who hadn't arrived yet. Then we were let into the opulent, exquiste building, with guides here in there, all explaing the place in languages we didn't understand. So we just admired the intricate carvings and awesome views, and thought of the hundreds of lives long gone who created the masterpiece. It wasn' a totally successful day, but our mantra is que sera, sera. We just go with the flow.

May 5 Tales of a walking tour ... w/photos...hasta manana!