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Portugal, Spain, Morocco and London 2008
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Ready for a three week trip - we packed a little heavier than usual.
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We flew United across the country and across the Atlantic.
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We took the train into the city...
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Here's the huge train station.
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Chinese food available pretty much everywhere except certain parts of Morocco.
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German McDonald's
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A monument to the all powerful Euro.
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And a famous german brand...
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We flew the Portugese airline to Lisbon.
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View of Lisbon from a park, on the evening of our arrival.
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This tropical garden was closed, and we never did get to visit. But we peeked in the gate.
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Our Hotel.
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Lisbon is built on 7 hills, and they have this elevator...
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It carries people up to a higher street.
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They also have these railcars.
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Lisbon subway station.
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On a morning trip to Sintra.
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Fanciful food containers in Sintra Palace.
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These twin smokestacks are right above the palace kitchen.
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This kitchen is no longer used. They do have an oven that can cook a whole cow, though.
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An example of Manuellian style - somewhat moorish, but curvey.
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Antenna farm on the roof of an apartment building.
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We saw a cathedral and a monestary in Lisbon that afternoon.
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This is all part of the cloister.
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This bridge bears a certain resemblance to another famous one. Same builder... much more recent.
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We stopped by a memorial to Portugal's days as a sea power showing their colonies and contacts abroad.
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We left our tour for a while and climbed to the top of the monument.
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That night, we had an organized Fado dinner.
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We stopped the next day in a town called Evora.
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We arrived in Seville in the evening and went for a walk.
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This was our first contact with the Holy Week processions of Southern Spain.
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Each church dresses up kind of like the KKK and parades holy icons of the virgin and christ to the cathedral and back.
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It's a really big event for the city.
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After seeing a procession, we stopped for gelado.
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The next morning, we had a tour of the city.
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Including the Plaza Espana - which might be familiar to some Star Wars fans.
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The most interesting thing is it's actually a goverment office building as well as a monument of sorts.
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We also saw a portion of the old city wall - not too much remains.
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Palm leaf.
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We visited the church of the Macarena.
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They were readying for their procession on Thursday.
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Our tour also visited the Alcazar of Seville - it's still in use as a working palace.
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The style is moorish, the workmen came for all sorts of backgrounds, but it was built by Christians for Christian use.
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It's famous for its beautiful gardens - containing many bitter Seville Orange trees.
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Spain has the most wonderful acorn-fed ham.
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That afternoon, we saw another procession, this one in the daylight.
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The floats in Seville are carried on the necks of the faithful - who are concealed underneath.
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We visited a park and garden in the center of town.
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Spanish McDonald's.
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The bull ring in Seville. Bullfighting is still a big deal in the southern parts of Spain.
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On the riverfront in Seville.
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We had dinner at a flamenco show.
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After dinner, Linda and I walked back to the Plaza Espana to take some more photos at night.
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Windmills on the drive to Granada.
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The rock of Gibraltar.
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View of Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar.
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Apes on Gibraltar. There were quite a few up higher on the rock, but they did not come into town.
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St. Michael's Cave in Gibraltar. Formerly used by the military, and now a theater.
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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.
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Gibraltar has a botanic garden - so of course we had to visit.
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Lantana grows well here.
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Aristolochia.
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Growth patterns on Agave leaves.
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They have a lot of African succulents - being in a mild though rainy climate, and being very close to Africa.
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Gibraltar is definitely part of Great Britain. They use the pound here, and a Schegen visa won't get you in.
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