Ready for a three week trip - we packed a little heavier than usual.
We flew United across the country and across the Atlantic.
We took the train into the city...
Here's the huge train station.
Chinese food available pretty much everywhere except certain parts of Morocco.
German McDonald's
A monument to the all powerful Euro.
And a famous german brand...
We flew the Portugese airline to Lisbon.
View of Lisbon from a park, on the evening of our arrival.
This tropical garden was closed, and we never did get to visit. But we peeked in the gate.
Our Hotel.
Lisbon is built on 7 hills, and they have this elevator...
It carries people up to a higher street.
They also have these railcars.
Lisbon subway station.
On a morning trip to Sintra.
Fanciful food containers in Sintra Palace.
These twin smokestacks are right above the palace kitchen.
This kitchen is no longer used. They do have an oven that can cook a whole cow, though.
An example of Manuellian style - somewhat moorish, but curvey.
Antenna farm on the roof of an apartment building.
We saw a cathedral and a monestary in Lisbon that afternoon.
This is all part of the cloister.
This bridge bears a certain resemblance to another famous one. Same builder... much more recent.
We stopped by a memorial to Portugal's days as a sea power showing their colonies and contacts abroad.
We left our tour for a while and climbed to the top of the monument.
That night, we had an organized Fado dinner.
We stopped the next day in a town called Evora.
We arrived in Seville in the evening and went for a walk.
This was our first contact with the Holy Week processions of Southern Spain.
Each church dresses up kind of like the KKK and parades holy icons of the virgin and christ to the cathedral and back.
It's a really big event for the city.
After seeing a procession, we stopped for gelado.
The next morning, we had a tour of the city.
Including the Plaza Espana - which might be familiar to some Star Wars fans.
The most interesting thing is it's actually a goverment office building as well as a monument of sorts.
We also saw a portion of the old city wall - not too much remains.
Palm leaf.
We visited the church of the Macarena.
They were readying for their procession on Thursday.
Our tour also visited the Alcazar of Seville - it's still in use as a working palace.
The style is moorish, the workmen came for all sorts of backgrounds, but it was built by Christians for Christian use.
It's famous for its beautiful gardens - containing many bitter Seville Orange trees.
Spain has the most wonderful acorn-fed ham.
That afternoon, we saw another procession, this one in the daylight.
The floats in Seville are carried on the necks of the faithful - who are concealed underneath.
We visited a park and garden in the center of town.
Spanish McDonald's.
The bull ring in Seville. Bullfighting is still a big deal in the southern parts of Spain.
On the riverfront in Seville.
We had dinner at a flamenco show.
After dinner, Linda and I walked back to the Plaza Espana to take some more photos at night.
Windmills on the drive to Granada.
The rock of Gibraltar.
View of Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Apes on Gibraltar. There were quite a few up higher on the rock, but they did not come into town.
St. Michael's Cave in Gibraltar. Formerly used by the military, and now a theater.
Tourism is really big in Gibraltar. This line of tourist vans takes you up near the top - they stop to show off a monkey feeding station.
Gibraltar has a botanic garden - so of course we had to visit.
Lantana grows well here.
Aristolochia.
Growth patterns on Agave leaves.
They have a lot of African succulents - being in a mild though rainy climate, and being very close to Africa.
Gibraltar is definitely part of Great Britain. They use the pound here, and a Schegen visa won't get you in.
