Posted on by Rich Cerick

Winding Down and Wapping Up

After four weeks in Morocco and Spain, it’s time to wrap up this little jaunt and head home. I have had a total blast, met fascinating prople, seen amazing sights, eaten delicious food and in general been in a terrific groove throughout the trip. Having Scott and then Deborah jump aboard made it extra fun, and the past week moving about solo has also been very cool and enjoyable. So, without further ado, here’s what I’ve been up to since my last post. I’m in Granada now, which is an absolutely magical city. In additoin to being home to La Alhambra, which is one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen and visited, Granada has an old world feel and charm, together with all of the modern conveniences. It’s really a wonderful place, and I’m so glad I came through again.

And now, onto los fotos. After A Coruña, I planned to hit Bilbao and San Sebastián, two of my favorite places, but it was absolutely dumping rain in both towns, so I peeled off to the southeast and the Pyrenees, where the skies were forecast to be clear. I was really hoping to revisit both, as they are both really interesting and beautiful towns, l but I had to roll with that punch, so I headed to Ainsa, widely considered to be the most beautiful town in the Pyrenees. Ainsa did not disappoint.

Lots of Guardia Civil having a big get together. All very nice and polite (thinking back to Franco’s days, that was a major relief).

After a night and day kicking around, I left for Andorra and southern France. I got caught in a blinding snow storm high up, but otherwise had a beautiful drive.

Local fauna:

After the snowstorm traversing Andorra, as I descended into southern France, the skies cleared and beautiful weather re-appeared.

That night I pulled into Argelés-sur-Mer on the French coast, a delightful small town with tons of restaurants strung out along the beach, no cars and a great feel.

Next day I shoved off for Barcelona, a rambunctious and very fun city.

La Sagrada Familia Catedral, otherwise known as Gaudi’s vision, dream and folly. It is the tallest church in the world and you really have to see it to believe it. It is so immense and overpowering that it defies comprehension, and so whimsical and stupendous that it feels as though you’ve entered a dream state being close to it. It’s in the process of being cleaned and “finished,” but it will never truly be completed.

I then returned to the Spanish coast, pulling into La Vila Joiosa, a super cool small town close to the French border, What a great place, with seafood restaurants galore and beautiful scenes in every direction. I definitely had lifeguard stand envy seeing this. It was over 40′ high, and the guards could probably see swimmers in Morocco from up there….

Close to the harbor, the houses are all painted different, bold colors. It looked and felt like a giant art palette. Tough shot at night:

Alicante in the distance, where Scott studied junior year in college. A great town that is growing by leaps and bounds due to its popularity. I hope it stays special and cool.

En route to Granada, where I am now, I stopped in Guadix, an incredible place famous for its cave dwellings dating back to the 15th century. Amazingly, people still live in them today. In town, the local Catedrál. Funny how the doors are so huge and the actual ones that people walk through are so small in these magnificent structures.

This fellow was talking so loudly to his wife that I heard him a block away. He looked a bit startled when I greeted him, but we chatted for a minute or two. Very nice hombre. Muy amable…

The cave homes. Incredible to behold:

And then I was off to Granada, one of my favorite places in Spain.

Local kids playing hoops. Check out the chica perched up high, ready for a rebound and dunk…

Granada’s Catedrál, quite incredible inside and out.

So, that’s it. I’m off to Lisbon tomorrow, then San Francisco Tuesday. Since I posted from Lisbon at the start of the trip, I’m gonna skip a repeat take.

This really was an amazing journey in so many ways. No snafus, problems (except for countless speeding tickets in Morocco; I felt as though they were treating me like their own private ATM) and just loads of fun, learning and enjoyment. Looking forward to getting home and planning the next adventure….

Posted on by Rich Cerick

Rockin’ in Spain

It is really great to be back en España. I’ve often thought of spending a month or two a year in Italy because there’s so much to love there, but Spain has made it right to the top of my list over time and during this visit.

Parting shots of Ronda, a true jewel that has stolen my heart over many decades:

Art in my hotel:

Progressively more suggestive….

After Ronda, I moseyed northward to Córdoba, a small medieval city filled with amazing architecture and buildings, including El Alcazar.

Córdoba’s 2,000 year old Roman Bridge. Still looks fantastic…

After Córdobō, I continued north to Caceres. Parking was impossible in the old city when I arrived after 8 pm, so of course I seized the opportunity to move construction barriers to create a space…. Worked like a charm, and my car was there, resting comfortably the next morning. Caceras was pretty much a pit stop for me, and I left the next morning for A Coruña, at the far northwest corner of Spanish Galicia. The coast is incredibly rugged and beautiful in Galicia, and the city pulses with life and excitement – and tapas bars.

Cleared for takeoff approaching La Plaza de Toros…..

This bull was over thirty feet high – as tall as the power lines right next to it. Viva los torros. Those are trees beneath it. Looks like its horns are tangled in the current….

Winter lingering up high:

After Caceres, Salamanca loomed large. There are few cities I have ever visited that are as beautiful as Salamanca. Founded by the Romans (is there anywhere in Europe and elsewhere that wasn’t?), it exploded in population and grandeur in the 11th century. Salamanca is known as the Golden City for its stunning construction material and Romanesque architecture. Most of its buildings are constructed of sandstone, mined from the nearby village of Villamayor, which has a high iron content, making it appear golden and glowing. It’s truly amazing to walk around and see it everywhere. It’s also amazing because it is in perfect structural and cosmetic condition now, over a thousand years after being built. That is just incredible. Photos can’t really capture the magic, but here are some shots of Salamanca’s grandeur:

Salamanca’s beyond stunning Catédral. It took two hundred years to build. Talk about the long game and patience….

Walking around Salamanca, I felt that if I closed my eyes, when I opened them I would be transported back to the 11th century. A super cool feeling. Muchas gracias, Salamanca.

After Salamanca, I drove northwest again until the road ended in A Coruña on the rugged and impossibly beautiful Galician coast. Some quick photos that night:

I celebrated my birthday at a great tapas bar in town Very fun and enjoyable evening with the staff followed (I love practicing my Spanish – and Galician – here). After dinner, the staff kindly brought out a birthday cake, complete with candles. What a surprising and fun evening.

Well, I planned on driving towards Bilbao and San Sebastián yesterday along the northern coast, as I love both special places, but the weather had other plans. Heavy rain was concentrated right there along the coast, so I put Plan B into effect and headed southeast towards the Pyrenees, another favorite of mine. I’m in the high mountain town of Ainsa right now, at a wonderful century old hotel. Ainsa is often said to be the most beautiful town in the Pyrenees, Spanish or French. Today will be a big hiking day followed by a drive to Andorra and then the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona. Should be fun….

Posted on by Rich Cerick · 3 Comments

Espana…

I bade farewell to Morocco yesterday after a terrific three plus week stay. Everything about Morocco enchanted me and I’m so glad I made the trip.

After leaving Marrakech, I hopped over to Malaga, an old favorite. I must say that I’ve missed Spain. I’ve spent a fair amount of time here since I was twenty, and I love the culture, the people, the landscape, the food and the language. It really is great to be back.

After landing in Malaga, I grabbed a car and headed for the hills, traveling northwest towards A Coruna from the Mediterranean. No ressies, just a list of places I’d like to stop in during the next eight days. The landscape from Malaga to Ronda, where I am now, is stunningly beautiful. A little bit of everything. Here are some shots of the day, inluding a hike in Caminito del Rey, thanks to Whip’s recommendation. Stunning.

Lots of wind power here. That tower is over 300′ tall – it’s massive. Very smart.

After arriving in Ronda, a truly magical town. I was last here twenty years ago with Matt and Mark when Matt was studying in Barcelona. It’s even more beautiful now.

The Puento Nueveo Bridge in Ronda, 320′ tall, strutting over the El Tajo gorge and river. It was built in the 18th century to connect the old and (then) new parts of town. It is incredible, and photos simply cannot do it justice. Nonetheless, here goes….

I got tricked into this shot after asking whether a really nice couple from Taiwan I talked with wanted me to take their photo.

Yes – they have bull fights here. Not many, but the tradition proudly lives on…

La Plaza de Torros – beautiful in its simplicity and elegance.

From the rooftop bar of the Hotel Catalonia. Commanding views of the town and landscape beyond.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to hike the Tajo de Ronda trail in the Tajo Gorge. Perfect day – should be fun.

Posted on by Rich Cerick

Whoosh….

Well, then…. I’m sitting in a cafe in Tangier, nous nous (great Moroccan coffee) in hand, after arriving here last night. Yesterday was a big day for me on the trip – I said adios to Scott after his ten day hang and headed northward up the coast. Deborah arrives in Casablanca tomorrow for another ten day jaunt, so Chapter One of the trip has wrapped and Chapter Two is soon to begin. Fantastic all the way around…

Being with Scott was really awesome. Any time I get to spend solo with the kids is really special, and doing it with my caboose made it particularly enjoyable. Scott is so smart, and I felt like we were on a private guided tour. We saw really fascinating places and had a blast together. Thank you, Scott – you made the start of the trip and the journey absolutely terrific.

Reflections one third of the way through this voyage – first of all, I love the country, the people, the culture, the architecture and the overall vibe. Surprisingly, we’ve found much of the local food to be quite mediocre and bland, but we’ve navigated around it, especially when on the water. with excellent seafood

It is incredibly safe here, and people could not be nicer. Super chill all around, except for the police on the roads. They play a nasty two man speed trap game everywhere here that you simply can’t win. Although I’ve talked my way out of three speeding tickets so far, I’ve gotten six plus an improper lane change one.

Here’s how the drill operates – you’re pulled over entering or leaving a town or in the middle of nowhere, and one of the tag team cops walks up to you with a radar gun showing your license plate and the speed you were supposedly going on a very small hand screen. Total bullshit. Every time I was stopped, I was told I was doing 67 in a 60 Km/hr zone. All of the cops were extremely nice, but you have to pay the tickets on the spot – approximately $15 a pop. Rough justice indeed, and I complained bitterly to all of them that the whole drill was a total scam and that they were completely turning tourists off to visiting their country. They smiled and took my Dirham….

Anyway, that truly sucks, and it formed a good part of my decision to hit Spain for nine days after Deborah’s stay here. That and the fact that three weeks in Morocco will be enought time to see pretty much everything I came to check out. Spain will be lots of fun, as I always love visiting it.

Essaouria (pronounced Esswara) was an absolute jewel. Scott said we had to go. Known as a chill surf town, it has a low key but upscale vibe, with great food, views and activities (including Hammam, which is an incredible body treatment dating to the Persians). I’m gonna hit the Hammam regularly going forward. We stayed in a riad (an apartment behind a completely nondescript door, with a beautiful courtyard and total privacy inside) right in the Medina (the walled villages / towns where merchants and restauranteurs have plied their trades and lived safe form invasion for over a thousand years). Superb place and experience.

The town of Mouley Bousselham was next on the northward journey towards Tangier. I stopped there for lunch and a hike and found it very pretty, but poor and dirty. Nice people, though.

Girls just wanna have fun. Too windy for the bikini…

The town of Asila, further north, was a very cool and unexpected find. Beautiful Medina, restaurants and sea breezes abounded.

The cute young girl on the right flashed me the peace sign when she saw that I was photographing her. Very cool….

Mr. Chill. Definitely not a Klan hat….

Well, that’s it for today. Headed to Ceuta, a Spanish holding, on the north / Meditteranean coast opposite Gibraltar, then back to Casablanca to pick up Deborah. After that, we’ll be off on another adventure to places she’d like to see after having visited and fallen in love with Morocco years ago. Ciao for now.