If anyone cares...
Greetings all,
You all seem to have the same questions, so I'm going to do
the group email thing.
Here goes: I hadn't originally planned on going to Spain
for this trip, and so when I found myself that far west, I decided to just keep
going. Pretty soon, I found myself in Portugal. Three nights in Porto, where
I met five other lost travelers with no idea where they were heading either.
A perfect match. One Canadian, two Aussies, an Italian who spoke fluent Spanish,
and a Braziallian who spoke Spanish, english, and fluent Portuguese. He became
our tour guide...briefly.
The five of us (the Brazillian had his own plans) wandered
around Porto for two days, taking in the sights, the Port wine, and the commeraderie
of finding others who spoke English...except for the italian. And somehow, I
became the interepreter, with my extremley limited knowledge of the Spanish language. Apparently,
I knew enough to keep him in the conversations and we all had a fine time.
The
Canadian and I headed to Lisboa on Tuesday(?) and were there for two days before
we split up and went our seperate ways. Having gone as far west as possible,
it was time for me to start back towards the relaxing oasis that is Riomaggiorre,
Italy for another week of recouperation. Two nights in Portimao which had not
much to offer but some Gorgeous beaches, and a 45 minute wait for a taxi (the
busses don't run after 8 pm), and I headed back to Spain.
So, here I sit in
the beautiful city of Sevilla, with a lawyer I met on the bus from Portimao.
Tomorrow we're heading off to Cadiz where we will look into finding a fast boat
to Morocco. Just to say I've been there. Then a day trip to Gibraltar for a
picture of that rock thing, and then back to Sevilla to catch a fast train to
Madrid. So, after not being terribly impressed with the northern coast of Spain,
the Southern portion seems to be fast redeeming the image of the pictures of
Spain I had in my head.
And as I keep trying to take my time and see everyhting
there is to see, I find that I have so much more on my list of things to do.
And if I don't start moving, it may be winter before I make it to the original,
final destination of Ireland, where geneaology research and a Guiness with my
name on it await. Another two months or so and I should be there!
So that's
the news from abroad...if anyone cares.
...and just for old times sake: Props
to my Peeps, and Peace on the Mothership,
Chris