The Rain in Spain…Does It Really Fall Mainly on the Plain?

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WE’RE BAAA AACK!!

 

Yes, it’s true, after a multi-year COVID induced travel hiatus, we are once again venturing forth to the “Old World” and Spain to try again  to answer the question originally posed by Learner and Loewe (the first time we attempted to answer this query was in an October, 2017 post on a trip to Barcelona…link below) .

 

https://peregrinationswithrichardandjill.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/bilbao-spain-the-basques-the-guggenheim-and-the-unanswered-question-part-1 

 

Our trip to Spain involves a flight from LA to Madrid.

It appears a much shorter trip at this scale (just a couple of inches), but my original idea of using a one to one ratio to give you an idea of the magnatude of the distance took up thousands of blog pages- mostly showing a red line on a blue background

All the pages looked like this

 

except the parts going over the United States which had a green background).

 

Although we have visited Spain (Bilbao and Barcelona) on previous journeys (see link above), this adventure will take us to the hinterlands of Spain and the little know cities of Madrid, Sevilla, and Toledo,  

 

where we will explore some of the more unusual and rarely seen sites such as the Prado Museum in Madrid (I believe that Prado is the Spanish word for “parade”).  Neither of us have ever been to an museum dedicated entirely to marching bands and floats.

 

I confess that I am especially looking forward to getting my hair cut by the famous Barber of Seville

As parodied in the famous Bugs Bunny cartoon

and singing the praise of their wonderful fruit and cookie combination: the FigOreo*

 

* WARNING: you may have to try saying this several times, very fast in order to understand the pun.  If not, here’s a very short musical link to help you understand the FigOreo:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlzOC-DC9yM

 

As you can tell we’ve already done some serious planning in the preparation for our trip which is the reason that we included Toledo on our itinerary.  As you can probably imagine, both of us are very, very excited to see “The Glass City” which I’m sure will be one of the highlights of our trip.

It’s amazing what sites you can find by googling “Toledo”

I hope that this short prelude to our trip will pique your interest in what will be coming  starting in a couple of weeks.

Until then…we remain,

Jill and Richard (both pictured at the very top of this post)

 

Jill proof read this and found multiple errors

 

PUGLIA: EXPLORING THE HEEL (PART 2)

Hi All,

We spent our first night in Puglia at our new Palazzo in the picturesque, sleepy village of Minervino di Lecce,  in the heel of the Italian boot.

The Minervino di Lecce Town Square (which is really more of a Town Rectangle)

 

The village consists of several homes, a church,

The Church-more about the church a bit later

Puglia: Exploring the Heel (Part 1)

Hi All,

We left Bernalda and Basilicata behind and drove east toward the Puglia region located in the heel of Italy’s boot.

Our route from Bernalda to Minervino di Lecce in Puglia

As we approached the Adriatic Sea, our first stop was at the second UNESCO
World Heritage Sites that we would visit, Alberobello, a “must see” if you like little Hobbit houses.

These small, cylindrical whitewashed homes with cone-shapped roofs are called Trulli (pronounced like “truly”) and they are very cute.  I mean like kitten or puppy cute.

Basilicata Italy: Stepping out in the Instep (Part 2)

Hi All

We have been in Italy for almost 48 hours, and I thought it was probably time to reset my watch to Italian time (8 or 9 hours later or earlier-I wasn’t entirely sure),

I wasn’t even sure of the month

so on the morning of our second day we visited the most accurate timepiece in the area:

The sundial at Metaponto beach

Basilicata, Italy: Stepping out in the Instep

Hi All,

After a fantastic dinner at the Palazzo Margherita (Francis’ place), the next morning, though jet lagged and exhausted, we decided to visit the environs of Bernalda. Our first excursion was to a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Matera, a cave city that has existed for 10,000 years, give or take,

which was around the time the elder members of our group were in grammar school.  

Italy: The Instep and Bernalda

Hi All,

First, I have to apologize for not sending this out earlier.  I generally try to write these blogs contemporaneously with our travels, but on this trip I spent most of our free time reading about current events. Riveting!

There was one upside to this: we have decided to cancel our scheduled trip to the Ukraine next year (we were already booked at the Trump Towers in Kiev — so sad).

Many of you may remember that Jill and I were married in Italy just over five years ago.

June 19, 2014                Our Wedding (Calanzano,  Italy)

Back in Amsterdam: The Nordic Travelers Return

Hi All,

After a short 90 minute flight from Bergen, Norway,

Windmills can be seen in the bottom right of the photo taken from the plane

we arrived back in The Netherlands.   Over half the land in Holland has been reclaimed and used to be under the sea.  It was easier to visualize from the air.

One third of the Netherlands, including the airport, is below sea level

Most of these fields were once under water

Our Bergen Binge: Seven Norse Course(s)

Hi All,

We were in Bergen for less than 24 hours, and we spent nearly 20% of our time eating (and drinking) dinner.

It turns out that there was a restaurant in Bergen that was written up in the NY Times called Lysverket

Not much from the outside

which serves “Neo-Fjordic” cuisine.

When was that last time you had “Neo-Fjordic” cuisine.  We generally dine only at the “Paleo-Nordic” restaurants, as I’m sure you do.

B to B: Balestrand to Bergen

Hi All,

We left Balestrand for our final stop in Norway, Bergen which is the second most populated city in Norway.

Not our ferry, in fact, not a ferry at all, but my only picture of a boat on the fjord.

It was our longest and last chance to be captivated by the glorious scenery of the fjords.

Visiting Vik

Hi All,

Before I describe the next days agenda I want to pause for a moment and, as promised, say a word about the stave architectural style