Granada impressions

As we begin our second week in Granada, there are some images that come to mind and that I hope will give you a sense of our experience here. We live in the Albaycin, the old, old Moorish area of Granada. It is on, and down, the hill facing the Alhambra. We live about half way down. The streets are like a maze, none going in a straight line, all widening and then narrowing. Sometimes I can almost touch both sides at once, so they are occasionally only 6 feet wide. There are steps, none very great but seemingly infinite in number, that take you up and down the streets. Sometimes the alleys open into small squares, like the one near us with a fountain and huge bougainvillea in partial bloom that maybe 2 dozen people a day see and enjoy. The streets curve and change names frequently. All are made of rocks; some are like river rocks that have been set 2/3 of the way in cement. Others are narrow rectangles that make a pattern or design. Sometimes the two are mixed in the same street.

If we go down toward Plaza Nueva, the Moroccan shops start about half way down, with their open displays of clothing, jewelry, odds and ends and the scent of incense. Mixed with them are the food places, serving tea, coffee, Moroccan meals or maybe crepes, or they are places to buy food, like pastry shops with baklava etc. This is beginning to feel like home now and we sometimes smile and greet the shop keepers. There is one place where twice now we have stopped and had lasagne for lunch, sitting at a table outside, enjoying the sun with the other, much younger folks who populate that area. Rick Steves claims that the area is populates with hippies who have come from well-to-do families in the north and are rebelling in groups here. They have what I think of as "rasta" hair, lots of piercing and tatoos, and lots of dogs. Dog poop is everywhere and we are used now to watching where we step. It's just part of this place.

Where we are is not particularly dangerous and it is well lit at night. We make it a point not to be out late (after midnight) because we do look very much like tourists. Violent crime is very rare here.

The house we live in is 400 years old and is itself a kind of twisted structure. When you come in the entry door, there is a rented apartment on each side. As you walk toward the back, you realize that the space above you is open to the sky. When you reach the opposite wall, you are facing a third apartment. To get to ours, you need to go left and up a spiral staircase that has big, solid steps and is painted a bright blue. About 3/4 of the way up is our door. If you continue up, you reach Rafa and Maya's apartment. They are the landlords. Their door is off a small patio. You can continue up wrought iron stairs to a deck with a table and chairs and a beautiful view of the Alhambra and a partial view of greater Granada. The houses are joined together at the outside walls on each side and it looks like a jumble when you look out over the rooftops from the deck. For living so close together, it is very quiet here. There is an occasional motorcycle that goes by or voices that seep in, but those are the exception.

Living here is being in a different world. It is old, exotic, curious and beautiful. I would like to return when it is summer; I think it would be even more wonderful when everything is in full bloom!

Photos: starting from the top: the view from our terrace of the Alhambra, the narrow streets and bougainvillea, walking down to the Moroccan shops on the rock streets, and our little fountain near the apartment.

Barcelona, Madrid and Granada - oh my!

Hola from Granada! We have been here now for 5 days and have been in Spain for 2 weeks. My Spanish has improved a "poco" and today we finally bought a Spanish/English dictionary, pocket size. We first went from Cairo to Barcelona and were there for 4 nights. Then we took the high speed AVE train to Madrid (the train trip was wonderful - comfortable and very scenic) and were there for 6 nights. On Monday we picked up our leased car outside Madrid and started south to Granada. The car has a GPS system which, of course, we needed right away! It really does help in and around the cities! Even the GPS couldn't help with the SNOW we encountered! We watched flakes flutter down as we had breakfast in Madrid and began to worry a bit but we weren't really prepared for the 6 inches we found! Madrid is fairly high and so cold weather isn't unusual but, like Seattle, folks here don't do well in the snow. At one point, we were stopped on the freeway for 45 minutes. People got out of their cars and walked around a bit and smoked and tried to figure out what was going on. When I asked "que pasa?" the man from the car in front of ours just shrugged. When we finally moved, about a mile down the road we saw a snowman that someone had made as they waited! Currently, we have rain. On Tuesday it was sunny, Wednesday it rained, yesterday it was nice in the afternoon, and today it has rained off and on all day. BUT - we're from Seattle and the rain didn't stop us! Actually, we waited until it stopped and then went out with our Gore Tex on!

Barcelona (pronounced bar-the-low-na) was glorious! If it weren't for all the warnings about pickpockets and car jackings, we would be eager to go back. Gaudi is amazing and although I had seen pictures ( his stuff looked "weird") and thought "this guy can't be that impressive", I was wrong! His "Sagrada Familia" is pretty indescribable. I'll include one photo of one part of the exterior. He believed in using the shapes found in nature, particularly vegetation, in architecture and his cathedral has tree trunks, flowers etc all over. Besides seeing Gaudi, we ate great tapas, walked La Rambla, saw some great markets, did a bit of shopping and rested.

When we got to Madrid, we got a taxi and headed to our hotel which was right on the Puerto del Sol - a perfect spot! We had an excellent room. It was on the third floor and on the corner so we looked directly out onto the square and also onto Calle del Carmen which is filled with shops. We arrived on a national holiday and people were everywhere! There is a metro station on the square as well as buses and more and more people kept finding their way there. We spent our first full day there at the Prado and the Reina Sophia museum which has Picasso's "Guernica" (his forceful black and white anti war painting which was done after the civil war in Spain). The Prado was every bit as good as we were told it would be. Spanish artists such as Goya, El Greco and Velaquez are featured but many others are there as well. We spent hours and then hurried over to see "Guernica" before we were totally exhausted. The next two days we had a "hop on, hop off" bus ticket and we used it to see both the historical and the newer parts of Madrid. We also took it back to the Prado area to see the Naval Museum. That was very interesting because of Spain's great navy in the past - remember the Spanish Armada? Also, Christopher Columbus is part of that history and much was made of his "discovery" of the new world. Part of our time was spent with housekeeping chores; we did laundry, got a cable for the laptop etc. We ate great paella. Another night we met a cute young couple who were seated at the table next to us. She had spent time in England and so her English was very good. At the end of the meal, we found out that it was her birthday! Her boyfriend had taken her out for a special dinner and we had talked to them all the way through it! We took two tours out of town with an agency recommended by Rick Steves called Julia Tours. One was a full day tour to Toledo and the other was a half day to El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen. Toledo was the capital of early Spain and has a wonderful cathedral. We could have spent more time than the tour allowed but we were pleased to have a well done tour at all. The day that we were there it was very foggy which spoiled the views, but we still enjoyed seeing the ancient city that at one time was the peaceful home of Muslims, Jews and Christians. The half day tour was the next day, which was bright and sunny. We were up early to go to El Escorial, a palace/cathedral/burial place built by Philip II to house the Spanish kings and queens. It has an ancient library which includes a book written by St. Augustine in the 6th. century, among others! The palace rooms were impressive as was the mausoleum. The Valley of the Fallen is a monument Frano built to honor those who died in the Civil War. There is a church, which is closed for renovations, and a very impressive exterior which includes a gigantic cross - 150 meters tall I believe. Happily the weather allowed us good views from both sites that day. That was last Sunday and Monday we drove down here.

Andalucia is the name of the southern region of Spain. It includes Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba as well as the Costa del Sol. Granada is probably best known for the Alhambra, the great Moorish castle that was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain. We visited it on Wednesday, one of the sunny days. It is absolutely beautiful, even though the paint has faded, the walls need repair and there is constant work and scaffolding in the way. We were actually in the room where Queen Isabel gave Columbus her support to explore in 1492! I love the intricate designs, both in tile and plasterwork. Granada is all about the Reyes Catolica - Ferdinand and Isabel. The streets, fountains, shops are all named after them. Because they drove out the Moors, they united Spain for the first time and established the Catholic church as the national religion. They are also responsible for the Spanish Inquisition. (That is not mentioned much here.) Our apartment, which we have until the 28th., is in the old Moorish quarter with very narrow (about 6 feet wide!) and winding streets. It is very easy to get lost here! We try to be home by 9 or so but the streets mostly are well lit. Our building is about 500 years old and has 5 apartments. One is the landlord's and he rents the other 4. We have the largest, with a living room, bedroom, L shaped kitchen and dining area, and bathroom. There is a terrace on the roof which would be wonderful in the summer heat and which even now gives us beautiful night views of the Alhambra which is just across the gorge.

We are taking the train to Cordoba on Monday for two nights and then will be back here for Christmas Eve and Christmas. We'll leave on the 28th for the seaside town of Nerja for two nights and then on to Tarifa, again on the coast. Maybe we'll see some sun there! Thank you to all of you who have sent suggestions and recommendations on places to stay, sites etc. We are rereading them and they are guiding our path. Special thanks to all who recommended Ronda; we will spend two nights there. And Marcy, we are staying at the Hurricane Hotel in Tarifa! Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year!

The photos are: Gaudi's cathedral, Madrid prepares for Christmas in the Puerto del Sol, Leticia and her young man - the couple we met at dinner in Madrid, the huge cross at the Valley of the Fallen, and the archways leading into a room at the Alhambra.

Christmas letter 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! Or rather Feliz Navidad! We are in Spain for Christmas this year, living our dream trip. Since you are reading this blog, we know that you are aware of this trip of ours and have probably been following our progress through Finland, Norway, Paris, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and now Spain. We have met so many wonderful people, had our prospectives broadened and our senses sharpened. The small bits that we are able to share with you via the blog can only begin to let you know what this experience has been like. We have learned a lot about ourselves and each other too which will help us to become better people.

Our family news is a blend of happy and sad times, as it is every year. In July, our new grandson Antonio came into the world. He is Jessica and Albert's first baby and was a whopping 9 pounds, 15 oz! He is now 5 months old and continues to be in the 90+ percentiles for both weight and height. He is a happy, curious little boy who delights all of us. In August we lost my mother to cancer. She was 90 years old and was "herself" to the end; bright, good humored and kind. We were able to say goodbye to her before we left on the trip and that was a blessing. A week after we left, she passed. We went home for 6 days in September for her memorial service and then returned to Paris. In October our newest grandson was born, Jonathan Hosea, to Peter and Tammy! He joins big sister Claire to make them a family of four. He is a doll; we have been able to skype with them a couple of times and will continue to do so. What a great invention skype is! We can see the babies and talk to the parents in real time as if we were in the same room, and all of it for free! Just today, Kris and Randy and their boys left for their first assignment in Tonga through YWAM! They will be ministering to the people there as much as possible and will be having some adventures themselves. Jo and Rich and their family have had a big change; their oldest, Caleb, is now a college student in California! Hannah, the second oldest, is taking Running Start classes as she finishes high school, so they feel as if they have two college students! Andrew and Michele and their two boys have added a beautiful little girl to their family. She is part of the fostering to adopt program and although the adoption process is not over, they are optimistic that she will legally be part of their family in the next few months.

We miss all of you. Being away is hardest during the holidays. We hope that you will have a wonderful Christmas season and a very happy New Year! May the God of all of us bless you in 2010.

Jon and Beth

PS We love getting emails!

Jordan

Our post trip in Jordan was a tale of two cities - of Amman and Petra. Amman is a big city with a mix of people. There are Jordanians, Palestinians and Saudis, just to name a few. It seemed to be more conservative than Cairo, or maybe that was just our guide. Eyad is a Bedouin man who speaks English very well and knows a lot about his country and it's history. Almost all of the women we saw wore scarves and we saw a lot of burqas.

We went to several Roman ruins, a Crusades era castle, several museums, the Dead Sea, an olive press factory, several restaurants and to a Jordanian family's home for lunch. All this in 3 days! On our way to Petra we stopped at a town named Madaba where there is a Greek Orthodox church with wonderful mosiacs. We also went to Mount Nebo where Moses looked across to the Promised Land. We visited a Grand Circle Foundation site, a mosaic training facility that helps handicapped people learn skills to support themselves. We didn't buy anything but they had beautiful things for sale!

Petra was at the end of the day long journey and our room in the hotel was a welcome sight. We stayed right outside the gates into the ruins which was very convenient. We got up early the next day and began our tour. Eyad led us from the gate to the restaurant at the end of the ruins, about 4 hours, and then we had the rest of the day to explore on our own. For those who don't know, the ruins of Petra are number 2 on the list of the new seven wonders of the world. Ancient people from the time before Christ lived in this canyon/wadi. They carved out caves to live in and wonderful structures, such as the famous treasury that was featured in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". This is another place where you truly walk around with your mouth hanging open and wonder how this ever came to be! The day after we were there, the King of Jordan came with Turkey's head of state to visit the ruins!

On our last day in Jordan, most of us took an optional morning tour into the desert of south Jordan to a place called Wadi Rum. There were magnificent rock formations, sand in all colors, stops at Bedouin camps, Bedouin tea, and finally I rode a camel! We picked up the rest of the group back at the hotel and headed to a restaurant for a lunch stop. All was well until our plane was delayed in Amman. We finally took off at 11 pm and reached our hotel in Cairo at about 12:45 am. It was a very short night (some just stayed up) and then it was back to the airport in Cairo for morning flights. Ours to Barcelona left at 10:35, a bit late; most of the others had flights to JFK at 10:10. It was sad to say goodbye to friends with whom we had spent a month, but everyone was ready to rest and slow down a bit! We are so glad that we spent the time and took the risk that is inherent in travel in the Middle East. We have learned and experienced so much and are so much better for it! I'll include a few pictures. The first is Jon with a lovely Jordanian policewoman, next is the mosaic of Mary and Jesus from the Greek Orthodox church in Madaba, then the Treasury from Petra (note the tiny people), and last but not least, me on a camel!

Egypt

We have just left Egypt and arrived in Jordan after 2 wonderful weeks. We learned so much from our fantastic guide Fawsey (rhymes with lousy) and from observing this country. Some impressions: Cairo - huge, teeming with people and cars, dirty with garbage and smog, a mix of old and new, minarets everywhere, the call to prayer 5 times a day, BMWs and donkey carts on the same freeways, safe (except to drive in), friendly, international; the Nile - lifeblood of Egypt for thousands of years, farmers working their fields as they have for hundreds of years, fishermen, garbage floating by, at the water's edge can be deserts or fields or caves or cities, pump stations, cattle, water buffalo, peaceful.

We were struck by the security measures that the Egyptian government has taken to make tourists feel safe. Our hotel had a gate where every vehicle entering was stopped and inspected by a guard and a dog. Once we disembarked from the bus, to enter the hotel we had to go through a security station with an x ray machine for bags and a walk through for people. Our bus was accompanied everywhere by someone from the "tourist police", always armed. Our cruise ship was guarded by the tourist police also with armed guards stationed at the stairs to the gangplank. You may recall that some tourists were killed in 1997 at the pyramids and since then these measures have been in force. There was also a peacefulness to Egypt that we did not feel in Israel; a kind of harmony that was missing before.

Egypt is about 88% Muslim and 12% Christian. The Coptic Christian church is very interesting; they broke away from Roman and the Eastern Orthodox church early on. St. Mark is honored as their founder. Much is made of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus' flight to Egypt right after His birth and we visited the church where the Holy family is supposed to have been sheltered (St. Sergus' church in Cairo). As with the Russian Orthodox church and others, the Coptic church has its saints and relics, many of which we saw. We took an interesting tour one morning called Spiritual Cairo. It took us to 2 Coptic churches, a synagogue and a mosque. Fawsey did a great job of presenting each site. At the Mohammed Aly mosque, we went inside and he explained the basics of Islam to us. As a Moslem man, he was able to answer questions clearly and dispel our various misconceptions. The Moslems and Jews have so much in common in their faiths! Too bad that the political situation hasn't been resolved among these people who are so alike in so many ways.

We saw many temples, tombs and museums. Our favorites would have to include Giza (the pyramids and sphinx), the Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel. Each site seemed to be more impressive than the last; the carving and painting were consistently precise and beautiful and thousands of years old! Thank goodness the sand often buried and thus preserved these amazing structures. Luxor was a great first stop on our cruise portion of the trip. The museum was relatively small but had some great treasures in it, one of which was the original plan for construction of a pyramid! The temple ruins were jaw dropping, especially at sunset when we were there. Karnack was another impressive sight. We went first on an optional tour which included a sound and light show and a walk through the softly lit columns at night as well as a half hour carriage ride back to the boat. We went in two person horse buggies and went through the back streets of Luxor where the townspeople live. It was a lively scene, with markets open and people out and about. A day later, we went through the ruins with our guide and he pointed out the things we could not see at night at this great temple built in honor of Amun Ra. At Sakara, we saw the oldest pyramid, built 4700 years ago by a brilliant man named Imhotep who was an architect, physician and scientist.

I loved Egypt! I still speak little Arabic and so I'm glad we were with a tour. We experienced a culture so different than our own but also very inviting. I would recommend visiting Egypt to anyone willing to step out of their comfort zone a bit. It is a rich and rewarding experience! And lying in the sun next to the pool on the upper deck in 80 + degree temperatures in November isn't bad either!

Photos: Mohammed Aly mosque, Cairo; school kids on a field trip, traditional Nile boat called a felucca, Jon and Fawsey, Ramses II statue outside temple at Abu Simbel.

Photos from Israel

These photos were taken during our five days in Israel! The first is the view from our car as we drove north through the West Bank - the desert has been reclaimed in many areas but the hills remain; the second is Jerusalem from a distance and the golden Dome of the Rock which for Moslems is the third holiest shrine after Mecca and Medina; next is our pita bread and coke lunch in the Old Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem; and the last is of the two symbols of modern day Israel.

Israel

Greetings from the land of the Pharaohs, Egypt! Since I last posted a message, we have spent five days in Israel on the "pre trip" to the Grand Circle Travel tour "Ancient Egypt and the Nile River". We have just started the basic tour, having arrived in Cairo last Monday. It has been interesting to be in the Middle East and to see for ourselves the history and current situations in which these nations find themselves.

Israel is a nation that bustles with energy. Jerusalem in particular is full of building projects, modern shops, and lots of traffic! It also has a mix of cultures with the city divided into four quarters - the Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim. Because we had an Israeli guide, we did not go into the Muslim quarter. The national government has strict rules about where it's citizens can go and not go within it's borders. When we went to Bethlehem, which is in a Palestinian territory, we had to leave our guide on one side of the border, travel with our Muslim driver over the border and then pick up an Arab guide. We also could not visit Jericho which is in a Palestinian territory. Jerusalem has it's historical core also, with winding, narrow streets, closely packed shops and vendors anxious to get one's attention. We saw several museums (Dead Sea Scrolls, models of Jerusalem in Christ's time etc), Israel's holocaust museum, many Biblical sites (Garden of Gethsemane, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Palm Sunday route) as well as the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock (only from a distance) and the Tower of David.

Outside Jerusalem, we visited Nazareth, Capernaum, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River, and Bethlehem. We walked in the river and floated in the sea! We also went to Bet Shean, a famous Roman ruin and spent a good half day there. We ate lots of good food, including pitas with falafel and dates and lamb. Our hotel was kosher which was interesting and fun. No milk at dinner and no meat for breakfast, and of course no pork at all!

We discovered that (no surprise!) the whole Israeli/Palestinian situation is more complicated that our media would have us believe. We had a wonderful discussion with a young Israeli man who was our guide to Bet Shean. The six of us who had hired him for the day asked him question after question during the entire drive to and from Jerusalem. He was very articulate and his English was very good because he had come to Israel from England as a teenager. He made the case for his country very well with clear logic and also much passion. Most of the Israelis we met had many Arab/Muslim friends and so feel animosity only for the Arab leaders, fanatics, and political processes involved. All want peace but not at any price. Not if it means Israel doesn't exist.

We felt safe during our time in Israel. Maybe that was because the security at the borders was so tight. There were two check points from the West Bank into Jerusalem and the whole West Bank border is patrolled and has high tech devices monitoring every intrusion. But the fact remains that at any time, violence could break out.

I will post a new message in the next few days as we enjoy our time in Egypt!