Adventures of NaDave: Nadine Germany

So, onto the big solo trip... Spain! I had a lot of cities to conquer, so let's get started.

Map of the trip

Thursday I left early from work, immediately after receiving an interview from New Balance to come back to the USA and work on their team! I skipped out the door and onto my bike for the typical planes/trains/automobiles of getting out of town.

I arrived into Malaga at 9:30 pm, picked up my rental car, and headed towards Ronda. I stayed at a little boutique hotel picked out by Dave. The guy there was really nice (no English) and offered me a free beer at checkin. Cheers!

Friday was a big day. I woke up early and drove to Ronda, a town that used to be a Moorish stronghold. They have a famous bridge where Christian slaves used to carry water up many steps all day from the river below. After checking out the view/town, I got my first spanish coffee and a bit of bread for breakfast and headed to Gibraltar. The drive to Gibraltar was BEAUTIFUL - through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I had music going and the wind in my hair. When I arrived to the border crossing (Gibraltar is a peninsula owned by the United Kingdom), I parked the car and crossed by foot, much like you would on the rainbow bridge to Canada. I took a bus to the base of the rock, and completed a very intense hike to the summit. I had my heart rate monitor on, and my heart rate was over 180 for most of the hike! Whew! But it was worth the view. At the top, I ordered fish and chips and a Beck's beer (British specialties) and enjoyed the view and the Gibraltar apes before hiking back down through the forest. I jumped back into the car and headed to Cadiz, where I walked around the oldest town in Spain (and possibly Europe), then enjoyed sunset on the beach. I continued on my journey to Jerez, where I returned the rental car and then was able to check out the Good Friday procession going on in the main square. It was mostly locals, which was really a treat! I ate some tapas for dinner and 2 glasses of Sherry (Jerez is #1 for Sherry trade) before walking back to my AirBnB. My hostess was half Spanish, half Russian, and didn't speak a word of English, but we stayed up an extra hour talking through my rusty Spanish and hand signals.

I woke up Saturday very tired. I had planned to go to bed early Friday night. Not in Spain! I took a 1 hour train to Sevilla, where I was able to see the Seville Cathedral (3rd largest Church in Europe) and the Alcazar (Old Moorish Royal Palace). Isabel and Ferdinand are buried in the Cathedral (they financed Christopher Columbus' trip to America). The Alcazar really knocked me out with its beauty, so I decided to stay there a full 5 hours to enjoy the palace, the gardens, the cafe, and even hang out with some peacocks living on the premises. In the afternoon, I had just enough time to get a tour at the Seville Bullring and museum. I can't believe Bullfighting is still politically correct in Andalucia! Saturday night I had plans to go to Flamenco, but the Parade crowds were impossible to penetrate. So, I gave up the fight and ended up having another late night chatting up a French couple I met at a restaurant near the parade.

Sunday was also a big travel day. I woke up and traveled by high-speed train to Cordoba, which was the first Moorish capital of Spain. The pace in Cordoba was refreshingly slow, so I rented a bike and traveled leisurely all over the city. I found old Roman ruins, a beautiful historical bridge, and other treasures. I also saw more religious processions and went to the top attraction, La Mezquita (the Mosque). What's special about this mosque was that it was built when the rest of Europe was in the Dark Ages and nobody else was building anything. The math necessary to build this mosque would have made the Christians' heads spin, but the Moors were in their prime. However, when Cordoba was conquered by the Christian reconquista, the Christians built a beautiful huge cathedral right in the middle of the mosque! It was so cool to see the styles side by side. After all this history, I returned my bike and hopped on a bus at the end of the day to sleep in Granada.

Monday was a Granada day with no travel! I spent most of the day at the very-famous Alhambra palace & grounds, since Granada was the second Moorish capital after Cordoba fell to the Christians during the reconquista. It was amazing, and I even ate dinner at a nearby lookout which had a beautiful view of the premises. I ended my night redeeming myself by finally going to a riveting Flamenco show. I really connected with the Spanish intense emotions!! Those Spanish girls make all of us powerful American women look quite demure in comparison!

Tuesday I slept in, packed up, and shipped out back to Germany. It was smooth sailing home, and I was able to really reflect on a trip I'll never forget: the last major trip before I see all of YOU back in the United States!