The end of Spain: Andorra to Barcelona

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Bryan Keith

Before coming to Spain the place I was most looking forward to visiting was Barcelona.  Everyone seems to rave about the city, sometimes referring to it as “a giant outdoor museum”.  Sadly, of the places we visited in Spain, I liked Barcelona least.  It was probably partly a case of having high expectations.  It didn’t help that the staff at the hotel where we stayed were not accommodating or welcoming.  To me the city felt a bit like a circus.  We came into Barcelona from the hill at Tibidabo with a large modern church and views of Barcelona obscured by amusement park rides.

DSC08636 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Cycling the Pyrenees in March

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Bryan Keith

A little weather research indicates that March may be early for cycling in the Pyrenees.  It’s still ski season, and of course the famous Col du Tourmalet is almost guaranteed to be closed.  Kurt and I were hoping to at least get into the foothills of the Pyrenees on the warmer Spanish side and see what happens from there.  We had rainy and cold weather when we started the trip in Madrid.  However, the weather forecast after that continually showed sunny and surprisingly warm weather for March.

DSC08357 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Fairy tale castles in pig country

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Bryan Keith

Before coming to Spain, I didn’t realize what a pig-crazy country it was.  The variety of pork sausages and salami in the markets is quite amazing.  And if you want, you can simply buy a whole cured leg.  There were dozens of these in every market, making me think there must be a pig leg in every home in Spain.

DSC07512 by bryandkeith on flickr

Before ending up in someone’s kitchen, all these pigs, of course, have to live somewhere.  The rolling land of Castilla y León is apparently a good place.  We actually rarely saw live pigs, but we could smell them as we pedalled by the warehouse-type buildings that must have been full of pigs.
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Treasures near Madrid, or how 100km of cycle touring takes a week

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Bryan Keith

Bicycle touring Spain, finally!  I’ve wanted to go to Spain for years.  I have Kurt to thank for making it happen this year.  When he was in Antalya last fall, he suggested a one-month tour from to Lisbon to Barcelona.  I managed to convince him that going from Madrid to Barcelona in one month was enough.  So we flew to Madrid, met at the airport, and started riding from there.

DSC07570 by bryandkeith on flickr

Third (after Italy and China) in the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Spain is full of treasures.  With so many things to see in and around Madrid, it took us a week to pedal the first 100 kms of our tour!  And that was without visiting Toledo and Ávila, two other nearby cities that are supposed to be great.  In that week we visited Madrid, El Escorial, La Granja, and Segovia.

On our first day in Spain we went to one of the world’s great art museums: Museo del Prado.  We headed straight for Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and spent a good half an hour enjoying his crazy delights.  Antje gave Ferda and me a fun introduction to Bosch (El Bosco in Spanish) when we were in Berlin in January, and Kurt was keen to see some of his works for the first time.  One thing Antje didn’t let us look at in Berlin was Rubens because she’s not a fan so I was sure to check out The Three Graces at the Prado.

The next day we visited another fabulous art museum, Reina Sofia.  There we headed straight for Picasso’s famous Guernica.  After a few more Picassos we got stuck on this surrealist work by Salador Dalí:
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Coast to coast: Guerrero to Veracruz

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Bryan Keith

My family first took a Troncones vacation together in 2000.  I bet we’ve been eight times in 18 years.  We’ve always stayed at the same place, Casa Escondida, and every time we return, we’re always excited to see Inéz and Diojenes who have been taking care of Casa Escondida the whole time.  Troncones is only about an hour by car from the Zihuatanejo airport, making it easily accessible for my parents and sister from Los Angeles and for my brother and his family from Anchorage.  Ferda and I took an overnight bus from Querétaro.

The bodysurfing’s often good in Troncones, and there are surfers out on some days as well.  The sleepy village, the pool, the beach, good food, time with family — it’s a wonderful place to spend a week.  We found Antonio again who put together a fun morning on horses on a mercifully cool day.

DSCN0234 by bryandkeith on flickr
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