We clean up in Seville.

Friday 8/3/13

Last night was much quieter, or I just didn't notice the noise as much. This morning I was a man on a mission. I couldn't stand the smell any more, so I searched the web for a coin laundry. Luckily there was one only about fifteen minutes ride away. It also incorporated a service station and a cafe, and offered free WiFi. So off we went.

Here we had reinforced a another couple of reasons we love Spain. We rolled into the service station and were met by a Repsol poster featuring Nicky Hayden on his Repsol HRC Honda.

Huge Nicky Hayden Repsol poster.

Reason number one: Motorcycles are used in advertising, and they're not all Harley "Bad Boy" type ads.

Where shall we park?

Right outside the door of course.

Reason number two: You can pretty much park where ever you like. Come to think of it, you can pretty much ride where ever you like as well. No one cares. They accept motorcycles and scooters as a beneficial way of easing traffic congestion and encourage them in any way they can. They even have a motorcycle "box" at the front of the traffic lights so after you filter through the cars you have somewhere clear to wait for the lights to go green.

We managed to remove the dirt from our clothes, along with most of the smell. Yeeechhh!!!!! Then we fuelled up the bike and it was back through the narrow streets to the hotel for our daily exploration walk.

The streets really are very narrow.

Our first stop was a small (Tiny) museum that covered the history of the Jewish quarter in Seville. A young girl gave us a thorough run down on the history of the area and was interesting. I don't think it was worth the six euros (each) they charged us to get in though.

We did learn a bit about Susona, who was around during the Spanish Inquisition. (Yes, I know, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.) There is a little bit of info here: 

http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilleconcierge/2013/01/20/the-spanish-inquisition/

Susona. They're everywhere.

I definitely wouldn't have wanted one of these,

but I'm pretty sure I would have gotten one

if I was around in those times.. 

Later on that night we felt like something a little different for dinner, so we found a Mexican restaurant...and it was deluxe.

This was the place, Iguanas Ranas.

Decor was OK, for a Mexican restaurant in Spain...

... but the Margaritas were the best

Suzanne has ever tasted...

...and the food was pretty close behind.

We left Iguanas Ranas Cantina a very happy couple. Would we recommend it? Oh yeah!

We banged of a few photos of the cathedral on the way home. 

Obviously we had to stop for a night cap on the way home. Here we met a very funny dog. You didn't think you'd get through today's blog without a dog story did you? We were sitting having a chat when we saw a rather "round" dog running toward us, with, wait for it, a rubber chicken in her mouth.

Waiting for me to throw the chicken.

I had to get up and play with her. It turns out that (I feel really bad because I can't remember her name) she has a thyroid problem. How many of you use that excuse? She's only six, is really active, and LOVES it when you throw her rubber chicken for her. So we played for a while, until her owner got bored and wanted to go home.

For us it was that was the sign that it was time we went home as well. It was the perfect end to a pretty good day.

Welcome to Seville.

Thursday 7/3/13

We were very comfortable in our room last night. The beds are great, and a soothing warm bath made me very relaxed.

I can now give you a run down of Seville's night life. It's pretty quiet 'til about twelve. At twelve the restaurants pack up their outside tables and chairs. Twelve thirty the rubbish is brought out to the bins. At about one am the staff leave to go home, obviously after a few staffies drinks. Then at two am, the rubbish trucks pick up the rubbish. At around three am the early finish party goers head home, followed from then 'til five am by the late stayer party goers. At about six am you go to sleep. I must admit I did lay in bed laughing at the singers making their way home at about four thirty. They weren't bad.

HINT: If you ever stay in Seville, get a room away from the street if you can.

We woke up late to a very grey, rainy day. We can't complain though because they've been few and very far in between. We can't work out the church bell across the road. It chimes fifty seven times, yes, fifty seven, followed by another one, two, or three times for the quarter hour. It only does this about six times a day. What the?

So it was time for a walk. Our initial feel about Seville was confirmed. It's a wonderful place.

Typical courtyard inside the front doors to apartments.

How narrow? The tyres squealed on the curb when the cars went through here. Footpath  No, wait 'til there's a gap between cars and go or it.

There is certainly no shortage of good places to eat here, so we choose where to eat by the staff's approach. We were approached by a waiter as we walked down the street and he did it with a smile and a bit of humour, so he won our business. We ended up with way too much food, but that's OK because we had a doggy bag to take way for later. La Sacristia on Mateos Gago serve good food and cold beer. Excellent.

La Sacristia, our lunch stop, complete with great waiter.

We were treated to a superb display of parking while we enjoyed our lunch. A woman stopped outside the restaurant and decided she was going to park her medium sized car in the space in front of the restaurant. She performed a perfect reverse parallel park. No biggie you're thinking? She ended up about four inches from the curb, with about six inches clearance at the front and the back of the car. Amazing. Even the French couple next to us commented on her skill.

I love the architecture here. It is exactly what I expected Spain to be like. All the old buildings have been retained. I'm sure they are modernised inside, but the feel remains  I'm very comfortable here.

We walked into a five sided plaza and each side displayed a different and equally stunning style of architecture.

And, of course, there was a Cathedral...

There are plazas everywhere, and each one is surrounded by little restaurants and cafes, and they are frequented by hundreds of people. The lifestyle here is so different. I love it. This outside living way of life also means all the kids and dogs are out enjoying life as well, not shut up at home.

The big plus side to this of course is that we get to meet lots of dogs...

Say hello to Luna the Lab, and her friend Martha. (Sorry Marth, the photo of you isn't so good). They were very nice people. How nice? After a five minute chat, Martha offered us her phone number and said "If there's anything you need while you're here, give us a call." Like I said, nice people. I did ask if they had a 4WD and would travel to Morocco?

Luna was such a well behaved puppy.

Luna sent me another photo after she got home...

She said it was nice meeting us. She was very tired after her walk and was having a big sleep.

We continued on our walk and after completing a big circle, ended up at the bar next to the hotel for a few glasses of wine. Then it was across the road for a feed, which was followed by bed time.

Seville is such nice place.I think we'll stay a while...

Something has been bugging me in La Linea.

Monday 4/3/13 and Tuesday 5/3/13

Sorry guys, three photo free days. You wouldn't want to see photos from Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday didn't lend itself to photography. On with the story...

Absolutely nothing happened on Monday and Tuesday. Not for me anyway. I picked up a bug somewhere and wasn't going more than ten feet away from the bathroom for anyone. Suzanne played mum and looked after me (thanks Suzette), and did a little shopping for supplies. It wasn't food poisoning so I don't know what it was. I just lay around sweating, shivering, and cramping up like there was no tomorrow. The other symptoms don't need describing. I just tried to sleep, and watched a lot of Spanish TV. I will say that the Imodium we have in the first aid kit is amazing stuff.

Wednesday 6/2/13

I was feeling a lot better today, probably about 70%, so we decided to make a run (pun not intended) for it to Seville, find an upmarket hotel, and recover in comfort.

We checked out of Hostal Carlos 1 and the guys were very kind, checking on how I was. They are a great crew there, and if you're ever down that way and after a budget hotel, I'd happily recommend it. The rooms are clean and cheap, but they are budget remember, and they are smoking rooms. The food downstairs in the restaurant is authentic Spanish, excellent, and very cheap. if you're crook, the soup is a real lifesaver.

We were on our way to Seville, but first we had to make a quick stop at La Jarra Helada to see Jesus. It was closed, again! Suzanne did a bit of detective work and discovered Jesus has slipped down some stairs at home, hurt his back, and was home in bed. Get well soon mate, your alcoholic pommy customers Tony, Steve, and Peter need you. Who knows, the way this trip is going, we might be back there again.

We made a quick lunch stop at that big American hamburger company for a bite. I needed something bland in my "delicate" condition. While we were ordering we noticed a guy standing at the counter, waiting for his order, drinking a beer. Yes they sell beer at McD here. 

With that out of the way we pointed our bike down the familiar road toward Jerez, which is on the way to Seville. It had been a wet start to the day but we were doing OK dodging the rain. In fact the wettest I got all day was when we were loading the bike.

My nemesis, the wind, however was present again. Initially it wasn't too bad, then it played it's old trick of gusting badly from one side. It was annoying  but not a real problem. Then it showed me a new trick. It blew at just the right angle so that when a truck went passed in the opposite direction we were belted. Hard. There was a loud "crack" as the wind hit us, the the bike shook and wobbled all over the place. It was hard to hold onto and scared Suzanne each time it happened...and that takes a lot. Passing four trucks close together was, I suppose you could say, exciting. The rest of the ride was just a free way run through farmland and not a very exciting at all.

Late in the afternoon our wheels were rolling on the cobble stoned streets of Seville. The ride in was stunning. We were weaving through all these little back roads that twisted and turned between typical Spanish architecture. The roads were just wide enough to fit cars through, and it was a real squeeze in some spots. Within minutes I had totally lost my sense of direction. I can see the camera getting a real workout here, and I can certainly see us staying longer than intended.

Seville on first impression appears to be what I expected "the real Spain" to be. The buildings and architecture are just perfect. Everything just feels right.

We found our hotel without any problems. The Hotel Rey Alfonso X is a very nice hotel. It has quality bedding, toiletries, lots of room, a bar fridge, and Suzanne's number one priority, a bath. It's funny how little thing like nice soap can make you feel so good when every thing you own is dirty and smelly. Luxury. I need a good rest for a few days to recover from the bug. Next thing I'll want scented candles as well.

A cafe opposite the hotel provided a Tapas dinner. Prices are a bit high here, but we are in the middle of the tourist trap so you would expect that.

Tomorrow we'll get out and explore. I have a feeling it's going to be a good day.

We get the gossip on the Gibraltar International Face & Body Painting Festival.

Sunday 3/3/13

Today we crossed the border into Gibraltar again. 

The rock was a bit spooky today, shrouded in cloud.

We went there to catch up with Hamish, another painty friend, and organiser of Gibraltar's first Face and Body Painting Festival. We didn't quite manage to catch up last time. Apparently Hamish had "more important" things to do while we were there. 

Yes he did. Hamish is now a proud, first time dad, and Hamish Junior arrived right around the same time we did. I had no problem accepting that we didn't rate that weekend. Congratulations Hamish and Gemma. Your life is about to change a lot, but in a great way.

We caught up with Hamish for a coffee and spent some time chatting. He now has his hands well and truly full. He's putting together the festival which will be held over four days from April twelfth to April fifteenth, and has a lot of work to do. From what he told us it's going to be a really good, fun, weekend, with lots of things happening. We've also heard about the trophies for the competition, and they will be very desirable. I won't say any more because I don't want to steal Hamish's thunder, but if your a F&B Painter, you'd be stoked to put one of these on your mantle. Unfortunately it's a case of bad timing for us as we'll be too far north to make the festival. Best of luck Hamish. If the festival is half as good as your enthusiasm, it will be brilliant. Have fun.

Hamish is only a little bloke...about six foot four.

With our painty update completed we made our way back to the bike, but not without a bit of action.

We were walking down the road and noticed a lot of police around, outside Parliament house. There were also a lot of police vehicles, and the side roads were blocked off. This aroused the sticky beak in me, so I asked the closest copper:

"What's going on?"

"Sorry Sir, I can't say."

"Oh, go on. You can tell me."

But he didn't.

I looked down the road and saw a bunch of coppers behind parked cars, one with a large black firearm, up to his shoulder, ready to fire. With my very limited experience in these things, my guess was it was a tear gas RPG launcher.

Then I heard...

"I'm sorry Sir, I'll have to ask you to move along."

What was going on? I have no idea. I checked the media when we got back to the hotel, but couldn't find a thing. Was it a Spanish protest thing? Or maybe just training? I still haven't found out.

Back on the bike we rode across the main airstrip again (it still makes me shake me head) and into the border crossing. We're old hands at this now and just rode past all the cars lined up, down the motorcycle lane, and up to the empty office. The cars were being checked, but obviously on a Sunday it's a free for all for bikes. The whole crossing took around three minutes, and that's only because I was riding slowly.

After freshening up at he hotel we headed out for some food and fun. In usual Spanish style all the food places were closed because we were too early, so we had a few drinks.

We found an Irish pub (it's funny hearing Guinness said with a Spanish accent) that had a U2 tribute band playing so we stopped in for a pint, or two.

My creative Guinness shot.

I'm not a huge U2 fan, but these guys were pretty good.

Before we knew it, it was food o'clock time again, so we made a bee line to the Argentinian place across the road again. When you're on a good thing...

So that was our day. Two Ausssies, on a German bike, in Spain, visiting an English colony, drinking Irish drinks, and eating Argentine food. Nothing like a bit of variety.

Our work here is done. Seville is our next port of call and it's only a couple of hours away. So it will be dinner in Seville tomorrow night. See you there?

Goodbye Tangier.

Saturday 2/3/13

I had a cunning plan. I booked the ferry from Tangier Med to Algeciras. The other option was from Tangier to Tarifa, which is known as the wind surfing capital of Spain. I hate wind, so, no thank you. My idea was a much better option.

It was about a forty kilometre ride to Tangier Med, and guess what. It was unbelievably windy. It was so windy, that my head was being blown around so much that my vision was blurred. I kid you not. To add to the excitement, we rode across two mountains on skinny little roads. It was like Morocco was giving me the finger after being so nice to me. At least when we're on the ferry we can relax.

This is one of only a few sharp photo from the morning.

Suzanne battled the wind to try and get a few pics.

The few glimpses I got of the scenery looked pretty good.

When we arrived at the dock we experienced something new. The truck on the left with "SMITHS" on it, drives along and  x-rays all the vehicles. It covers the top and both sides. Once that's done, you get back in your vehicle, wait for the OK, then drive off.

I thought an x-ray of me sitting on the bike

would be a cool souvenir.

After a clear run through customs and immigration we rode into the car park area and waited to board the ferry. I ran around trying to catch cats while Suzanne rested on the bike. 

While we were in the car park we had an interesting chat with a couple of geological guys who had been in Fes. They have been searching for the remains of King Muhammad XII of Granada, and they think they have found him. This is big news. King Muhammad was the last Moorish ruler in Grenada and was exiled from Spain by Isabel and Ferdinand in 1492. History is so much more interesting when you are where it happened that when you are sitting in a class room. I told them how fantastic their discovery was and they said "No, if it's not about a football player, no one in Spain is interested." Oh well, I though it was something special. Well done guys.

Then it was time to board. I managed to ride on board without hitting anything this time, much to Suzanne's relief. Upstairs we found a comfy couple of lounge seats and dozed on and off for the trip. I thought it was pretty calm til I got up to go and get something to eat and realised I couldn't walk without hanging onto something. A look out one side of the ferry showed only sky, while the other showed mainly water and a little bit of sky. Hmm, that's not right. A look out the back explained why. Even while wallowing up and down over the swell, the boat was keeled over to one side, a long way. I'm glad Suzanne was asleep most of the way as she doesn't cope well with rough seas.

Once we were back on land we found our way back to Hostel Carlos 1 in La Linea and were welcomed back with a big, warm smile. Once we'd settled in we headed down to the little bar in town to catch up with Jesus, Peter, Steve, and Tony, but were very disappointed to find the bar is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Oh well, back to the Argentinian steakhouse across the road from the hotel for a big feed and a few drinks. We had so much food that we took some home to have leftovers for breakfast.

It felt good to be "home" in Spain again.

Tangier, our last night in Morocco.

Friday 1/3/13

It was nice to have a very comfy bed for the night, so we made very good use of it and slept in for a while.

This was an interesting feature in our hotel room.

It was stuck on the ceiling.

When we got up and went outside I was surprised to find a sheet of clear plastic tied over my bike. The parking attendant had done it to protect the bike. It was more for show that actual protection but, but I appreciated the thought.

Improvised bike cover.

We grabbed a taxi to the Medina to have some lunch, and do a little souvenir shopping. You'll be pleased to know that Suzanne and I are now the proud owners of our own Djellabas, as well as a few other goodies.

We found a stall selling our favourite deep fried mashed potatoes, so we ordered a few, along with some other tasty morsels.

Lunch time!

Deeeeeeeeeeliscious.

While we were having lunch three girls from the US sat down at the next table. Joanna, Erin, and Jonny are studying in Italy and are having a little travel break. We picked up a few more tips for Portugal from them while we chatted over lunch. Thanks girls.

We went looking for a post office to send our stuff home and came across this brilliant shop near the Medina. I think it was just a second hand shop, but it had heaps of interesting things in it. Were they genuine, old, Moroccan items? I don't know, but we could have shopped up a storm here. We only bought one thing though.

This shop was chock-a-block full of interesting things.

Are they real tusks on the right?

Who knows?

We found the post office. It was in a bank which was a little unusual, but hey, we're in a another country and they may do things differently here. We took a number and patiently sat waiting (which I'm not very good at). After about fifteen minutes I went over to the security guard and asked if this was the post office, and he said yes. Obviously he didn't understand me because it turned out to be a bank. The post office was around the corner.

Once we were in the post office we were treated like old friends. The staff were amazing. They packed our stuff for us, helped us complete the paperwork for export and postage, and basically took care of everything for us. Friendly, helpful, and professional, just as a business should be.

The only down side was that the post cost more than the items we bought. Oh well, Australia is a long way away.

The last girl we were talking too in the post office was wearing a very glittery ring and Suzanne commented on it, thinking it was an engagement ring. The woman took it off and handed it to Suzanne to try on, then insisted that Suzanne keep it. It was a very embarrassing moment. Initially Suzanne refused, but I think it is impolite to not take a gift that is offered here. So Suzanne has a new ring, and a memory to cherish from Tangier.

That action sort of sums up the people in Morocco  They are generally friendly, kind, helpful, and mainly, very happy. Their smiles are a mile wide and they have time to talk to you, but they are also efficient at work. It's a rare combination. I hope they don't lose it.

This will be our last night in Morocco. We crossed the border sixteen days days ago (We were going to visit for about four or five days) and experiencing a bit of culture shock. Once we were past that we met some great people, rode some amazing roads, enjoyed some tasty food, spent a night in the snow, met more great people, and had a wonderful time.

I'm sure there's lots more to see...

Thank you Morocco.

Kenitra to Tangier.

Southern Spain and northern Africa must be the windiest places on earth.

Thursday 28/2/13

Today was a photo free day. It was a motorway running from Kenitra to Tangiers, and to be honest, it was a quick, two hundred k ride that was bloody boring.

It was like Morocco was having a final poke at us. We rode the whole way to Tangiers in horrible, constant side winds. I was leaning into the wind and thought I was leaning in just a little bit. Suzanne said after a while she realised I was leaning out from the bike at about a thirty degree angle. I was having trouble staying on the road, let alone in my lane. It was bloody hard going.

When we got to Tangiers Suzanne and I had a navigational disagreement. To be honest, we've been riding for over nine months now, in atrocious conditions sometimes, and we haven't had many disagreements at all. I'm so lucky that Suzanne accepts that I am always right. Luckily she's been trained well by her dad. (Send all your comments to malechauvinistpig@idon'tgiveadamn.com.au). 

We finally found our hotel and settled in. Settled into the bar that is. We finally fell into bed, happy that the day was over.