Holiday Highlights

If you read the previous post you may have gathered that I am now somewhat sold on the benefits of Spanish and Portuguese holidays. Endless blue skies and a food a wine lover's delight, there is lots to enjoy. Having grown up a country girl and spent much of my time in Bangkok craving wide open spaces, it was something of a surprise to me that the highlights of both Spain and Portugal were exploring the cities. Then again in reflection, it is perhaps not such a great surprise when you think that other than the cities and towns, you are left with Mediterranean and Atlantic coast beaches (dirty and windswept respectively and both Arctic by my standards), or sleepy mountain villages.

During our trip the places that stood out were Ronda and Seville in Spain, and Lisbon in Portugal. These three locations all share some of the same features; great food and drink, narrow cobbled streets, character filled buildings, an abundance of Mediterranean culture and lets not forget that wonderful endless blue sky. As well as all this, each place has its own uniqueness and offers something different.

Seville

The Andalucian capital of Seville swelters in intense heat and is not best placed for any kind of breeze. The mid-day streets, quiet and empty of locals, are left to the tourists who don't know better and swealter. During July and August many locals leave for cooler climates or embrace the siesta experience. Businesses shut down and people retreat indoors for up to five hours. 

Seville has something for everyone. It concentrates all that is good about Andalusia; medieval winding streets, plazas filled with orange trees, is the home of flamenco, has a huge range of historical landmarks and there is high street and boutique shopping galore. 

 

Possibly the best thing about Seville though is the night-life. After snoozing away the hot hours, the streets come alive as the sun descends. The people of Seville really know how to enjoy themselves and as with the day time activities there is something for everyone. Posh restaurants interspersed with old and new tapas bars serving award winning nibbles, bar streets that stretch as far as the eye can see, and this was just our local area. We went to one unassuming little tapas bar that had taken over the church plaza across the road. Vacated tables and chairs here were quickly filled by locals trailing dogs. This is definitely my kind of dog walking.

Lisbon

In stark contrast to Seville, Portugal's understated star attraction is surprisingly cool at this time of year with a constant breeze that travels in from the Atlantic and up the Rio Tejo to keep Lisbon at a refreshing 25-30 degrees in the day and 20-25 degrees at night. This relative chill catches many unawares and clothes shops must do a bustling trade in extra layers sold to unprepared tourists. 

Lisbon has a profound effect on its visitors, with it reportedly found that over 90% of people wish to return. So just what is it about the Portuguese capital that sets it apart from other cities? The first thing that strikes you about Lisbon is the colour. Built partly on hills, the colourful buildings appear to tumble down into the water. The contrast of orange roofed, white washed cottages interspersed with brightly tiled town houses and grand Gothic churches are all complemented by the bright blue sky and the deep blue river. Steep tree lined one way streets are filled with the ringing bells of rickety yellow trams, a visiting driver's nightmare. This is a modern city with a village feel. It has an air of Sydney and what I imagine Rio to be like, but far more laid back.

 

While exploring the town centre it is hard not to get distracted, as we did, very, by the opportunities for Port and wine tasting. It is possible to go from one side of the road to another testing Tawnys and LBV's. All we were doing was walking to a friend's apartment, the 10 minute walk took us about an hour. I now have a new found love of Port. Thankfully it's not just seen as an old man's drink out there. I’ll just have to drink it in private when back home.

As well as the relaxed cafés and restaurants that can be found on every corner (apart from on a certain night where we were looking for a cheap eat and seemed to walk for 40 minutes without spotting anything better than a greasy spoon Café... even classy cities have them), there is the famed Bairro Alta area where you can enjoy fine food, music and pint and a half mojitos for €5. Here beautiful people spill out into the streets until they have drunk too much to remain beautiful, but by that point nobody really cares.

The draw of Lisbon is very acute. Even the fact that the city is rife with pick-pockets was not enough to put us off. Well maybe, just for a short while, after some huge Eastern European thug shouted in our faces that he was going to find us and '**** us up later' when Nick called him out for stealing someone's wallet on the tram. Regardless of all this drama we still found ourselves scouring the internet for possible job opportunities in the area even before we left. Lisbon is a city that takes hold of you. 

Ronda

Saving the best for last? With all that Lisbon offers it might be hard to believe that the small Andalucian mountain town of Ronda could top it as our favourite place to visit. Andalucia’s fastest growing town is full of historical charm, dramatic views and arguably the best tapas bar we've ever visited. These days with us it all eventually boils down to the quality of the food and drink. 

Ronda is the home of modern bullfighting and was the first place where a man got of his horse in order to come face to face with a bull. To be fair I still figure they should have left the bull alone either with a horse or on foot. Perched precariously on the edge of a plateau and divided by a 120 metre canyon, the two parts of the old town are linked by a grand Roman bridge. This bridge is about 220 years old and took forty years to build. It is architecturally stunning and is made up of three tiers of arches. What is perhaps most impressive about the bridge is the fact that it is still used today as a main thoroughfare. 

 

Ernest Hemingway once described Ronda, one of his seemingly endless summer holiday destinations, as 'the perfect place to honeymoon'. With its history, hidden plazas and dramatic views it is undoubtedly a very romantic city. While this wasn't completely lost on us, we arrived there after days in British styled Fuengirola with one thing and one thing only on our minds... tapas bars. It took us about half an hour to park the car and find the hotel before we hit our first tapas bar. While unlike Ceuta and Mellia the tapas are not free, they are the cheapest we have come across in our travels of mainland Spain. Perhaps it was the €1 beer €1 tapas deals that sealed our love of the place. We ate and drank until we could eat and drink no more. It was at that point we turned the corner on the way home to find the holy grail of tapas bars. Set into a brick arch with old barrels as tables outside, Entrevinos is distinct for offering twenty Ronda produced wines by the glass as well as a wide selection of gourmet style dishes. Actually, maybe my love for Ronda comes from the squid ink pasta and calamari or duck breast in Madeira sauce for €1.50. Not sure how we can work it into our travel plans to go back, but we'll try. 

 

With this new love of Europe it is hard to see how we will tear ourselves away from our convenient spot in north Morocco. Anyone know any jobs going in Europe?