Spain Report

Matt demanded a full report of how my Spain trip was... and it seems the happenings of my social life are part of what makes the BC tick [an unrelated, upcoming post: HOW is it possible for people to be at the top of their game professionally and fail at personal relationships, I ask you?]. So here goes nothing.

Compared to last year -- when a massive snowstorm across Europe delayed our flight home for 3 days, and we missed Christmas -- this year's trip went off without a hitch. We spent 3 days in Madrid; 2 days in Seville (love!); one day driving along the Costa del Sol, where we wound up in Gibraltar; drove some more the next day to Granada, where we spent 3 days; and we booked it back to Madrid the last day.

We rented a car, which was neat as far as not having to stick to a pre-determined schedule... but it did make things interesting in Granada. The streets in Granada (and Seville, too, but we didn't have to worry about it there) were constructed hundreds of years ago, pre-car; our GPS took us down streets that were so narrow we had to pull the car's mirrors in to drive.

I've written in the past about Europe's Catholic decline, and what it will mean for the generations to come. When we were at Mass, none of the Spaniards were under 60, which was very sad. Churches have truly become museums. I do have a picture of the Madrid cathedral, a victim of wreckovation... one of the post-Vatican II stained glass windows had a picture of a bird (the Holy Spirit, perhaps?), which actually resembled something from Angry Birds as opposed to a dove.

Gibraltar was really neat -- Gibraltar is still a British territory, and to get there, you drive across the airport landing strip really fast and skid into customs. No joke. In Gibraltar, we took a cable car up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar, where there are monkeys and caves and abandoned military buildings. In Gibraltar, we found a British soccer pub and took in the Packer game, with soccer hooligans screaming in our ear.

Without further ado, pictures below. I will do another post with more pictures later in the week.

Granada cathedral... love.

Of course I'm going to include a picture of myself!:) At the Alhambra in Granada.

Windows of the Alhambra. The Alhambra was originally constructed by the Moors and was overtaken by the Catholics, and much of the original Mulsim architecture remains.

View of Granada from the Alhambra.

This was taken in Cadiz, Spain. That is Morocco across the Mediterranean.