I’m about half way between Cadiz and Gibraltar at a beach resort. I rented a apartment for a couple of weeks. I’m taking a holiday from the holiday. Last time I took a break was August of last year with my friends Henrik & Marie north of Hamburg on my way back from Denmark and Sweden.

Spent a week in Malaga and Seville. There’s a really neat Auto museum in Malaga. They were playing Elvis over the PA. Saw a 56 T-bird, DB4 Aston, Caddies with BIG fins, and a bunch of other neat cars.

Seville is drop dead gorgeous. Saw Christopher Columbus’s tomb in the Cathedral, a Spanish Galleon on the River, the Alcazar Palace, Flamenco Dance show, Spanish Square, and a couple of museums. Got lost while on a walk, but who cared, you see some really neat stuff just walking around.

Oh yeah, the mini skirt is alive and well in Spain and they wear it so well. I could watch them all day, oh wait, I did.

I went to the US Naval Station Rota hospital the other day and got all my prescription refilled. I’m good to go for another 4-5 months. That should get me to Le Mans again and back to the Nurburgring before I visit the US hospital at Ramstein to get them topped up again.

Going to Gibraltar tomorrow. I think it’s still British, if it is my insurance should work, it lists 29 countries but it doesn’t specifically list Gibraltar. You have to show a passport when you enter and leave.

No pictures this time, internet is really weak here. I usually have to reload each page a couple of times. If you want to see photos go here:

http://www.flickr.com/people/2010-2011_european_tour/

Later, Don

That's my old stomping grounds. Lived in Sevilla for 3 years as a kid and grew up thinking keyhole shaped doorways and windows were normal. French fries in olive oil...mmmmmm. Potato chips in olive oil...mmmmm Serrano ham and REAL olives, mmmmm.

Sevilla is such a unique blend of Roman, Moorish, and spanish archetecture.

Still have the Sevilliano accent. I figure 6 months in Espana and you won't be able to tell me from a native.

Did you make it to Italica, the roman city about 5 miles north of Sevilla? That's where the emperors Hadrian and Trajan were born.

If you can, the town of Ronda is interesting. The old town started as a roman fort with a huge cliff on 3 sides. It later became a moorish fort. It's where bullfighting started. There are roman ruins in the area, and prehistoric cave paintings a few miles away.

The apartment I rented in Seville had underground parking using a elevator, a very tight elevator. I gulped when I saw it. You needed help to get in and out. The elevator was the right size for a VW Golf, real tight for a RS America. Once I got down I had to get my luggage out before moving into the parking spot then climb out the passenger door to get out. So once I got in, I didn’t take her out until I left Seville.

During this tour I’ve had her parked in some pretty tight and wild parking spots. The wildest one was in Prague, CZ. You drove onto a plate, then it picked up the car, moved it sideways and then down into a storage vault. I took a video of it; it’s in the Prague 2011 file on the Flickr website.

The first thing I look for when I make a reservation is secured parking. Some places will fudge that, but when you look a little closer, they will say Public parking a few hundred meters away, pass. Good rule of thumb is if they charge for parking its secured, but not always and I never know until I get there what the parking is going to look like.

I’ve already got a map for Ronda, but thanks for the suggestion about Italica. I’m going back that way and will check it out. When I was on my way to Scotland I found Hadrians Wall and stood on it.

Here is where I used to live- it's a laser eye place on Ascension. Ascension is on the west side of the river, 1 or 2 streets in.


Easter and the first week of April is when Sevilla gets jumping. At easter, there is the ancient week long religious festival called Semana Santa. All the locals dress up in hooded robes (stolen by the Klu Klux Klan) and do torchlight processions. While marching around, they beg forgiveness.

Once all is forgiven, they PARTY with the Feria De Abril- a week long dancing, drinking, showing off Seniorita's, magnificant horses, etc festival.

If you went to Gibralter, hopefully you got to see the old British gun caves, the real caves, and the monkeys.