Travel Adventures

In the morning Jim and I take a cab to the closest town Estepona. It is evidently known for its 13,000 color coded flower pots. We walk for a couple of hours strolling thru the town before heading back to the resort. At the resort we have had Greek and Italian food, but here was a new option (which we did not try) Once back at the resort we spend the entire afternoon in and around the pool. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our trip. And we finally get to enjoy t

It’s a banner day - and not just because it’s my birthday - more importantly I get to wear a dress I haven’t worn yet. It’s going to be 91 degrees in Ronda, so it calls for an unworn sundress. Doesn’t take much to get me excited. Drive up to Ronda is about 90 minutes. It’s a windy road to the hilltop village. At least there are warning billboards along the way. We are let off at one end of the main road and are given a map to the highlights of Ronda. First stop - views of

And we are getting to the end. End of our trip, end of our adventures and end of our energy. We are now on the coast of Spain in Costa del Sol. It’s a great setting to wind down and we are exhausted. Two hour car trip mid day, a great Greek lunch on the beach and we are calling it a day. We have a driver and trip to Ronda tomorrow. This is a beautiful resort, but it’s a little isolated. I was going to walk to a town after lunch and they said it would take me 2 hours to

Get ready for pictures…this place amazed us. I was diligent before we left home to make sure we had tickets for the Alhambra. From what I deduced it was really the Nasrid Palace that you needed tickets for - the rest of the Alhambra is open to all. I did get 3 tickets for timed entries at 10:00, so we were set. These are some of the ceilings They are in the process of cleaning the walls. You can see how much whiter it is on the left. And the the building with the toilets a

After breakfast, we start down the hill to the city. It’s about 3/4 mile down the hill - which means it’s that far back up too! This is where we are headed. They walk faster than I do, so hard to not get them in my pictures. We go into the Royal Chapel of Granada - and unfortunately no pictures are allowed. I have borrowed some from the web, but nothing can do this justice. It really was spectacular. This captures how gold it is inside You have to use your imagination to e

Today we are going to Granada. But first we have to say goodbye to Mike and Elena. What a great visit we had with them. There are no trains directly from Valencia to Granada. The train travels to Madrid and then back to Granada; and the train station (s) in Madrid where you change trains are far apart. It would take 6-7 hours so we book a private driver. He picks up in Valencia at 9:45 in a very comfortable Tesla SUV. We head out for Granada and make it about 2 hours b

We have an agenda for the day…not that we can stick to it, but we will begin with the right intentions. We book a tour of the aquarium and a 4D penguin movie - penguins are my favorite! Mike and Elena have been to the aquarium plenty of times, so we will meet up with them later. The 3 of us head out on an hour walk to the aquarium. This facility is an architectural masterpiece. We start through the exhibits. Our penguin movie is at 1:30, but it’s 1:20 and we are entrenche

Mike and Elena join Jim, Jordan and myself for breakfast at the hotel. We then head out to the local sights. We cruise through the market. Look at this paella. We next go to the textile museum. Turns out it is an empty building where silk and textiles were traded. I think we could have used a tour guide on this one to bring it alive. You needed a lot of imagination in an empty building Now on to the cathedral, but the main sanctuary is closed today- but the walk to the

We are bidding goodbye to Jay and Carrie today as they return home. But first Carrie and I decide to take another walk through the city. It is packed with tourists. This is one of the lines for the Pantheon. Turns out those umbrellas to protect from the hot sun are about to come in very handy. We pass a restaurant and I ask Carrie if the flowers are real, she says no, but they are pretty. She’s right. We walk for almost 2 hours, but need to get back to catch a taxi for th

After breakfast we retrieve the car and head to Bari for our train back to Rome. Our shuttle back to the parking lot has clearly experienced the narrow Matera streets up close and personal. But before we leave I will post a picture of the map of Matera. Our hotel is the little circle at the bottom left side of the map above one of the S’s in Sasso. All the highlighting are the various steps and narrow roads to navigate thru town. A 5 hour train ride and we are back in Rome.

Not only are we at the bottom of Matera, we are seemingly at the end. Our luggage has exploded and our clothes are bearing the brunt. Jim’s hat has taken on a new shape Jay has done some research on the Sassi area of Matera (which is where we are staying) - it was established in 7000 BC - in 1952 malaria was rampant and the government stepped in and moved everyone out due to the inhumane conditions. In the 80’s tourism resurrected the area. Here is what original cave dwelli

From the beach to the caves Breakfast first After breakfast we check out of the hotel and navigate out the narrow crowded streets once again. We are headed to the hotel’s beach club - but we are inland - so it’s a 45 minute drive to the beach. As an aside - I hate the beach…well actually I hate the sand, The hotel was supposed to put totes and towels in our car, but once we arrived at the beach, we found there were no towels…either packed in our car or available at the bea

30 minutes before checkout, the Wickwares found another pool! What the heck. They named it the Crawford beach - no sand! But also no time to enjoy it. We were chased away by bees twice at the orher pool. And we could have done our own water exercise class here if we had found it sooner! Oh well, our next hotels don’t even have pools. One hour drive south and we have arrived. But oh my…the roads into town to our hotel are not for the faint hearted! Our hotel is Patria Pa

Fun fact - there are 40 million olive trees in the region - and that’s after 20 million died from bacteria. Tuscany only has 14 million - and while they claim dominance in olive oil production- Tuscany actually only produces 2-3% of Italy’s total. Sad fact: we have only had gelato once and we had planned on at least once a day. Today we take you on a tour of Locorotondo- well it’s a fast drive by tour…no parking! But the serendipitous turn is that we pivoted after the driv

We start out for what we assumed would be a short drive to Ostuni- it’s only 13 miles to the hilltop village from our hotel near the beach. But I think it took us close to an hour and when we got to the hilltop, we were stuck in massive traffic and not a parking place in sight. After traversing what seemed liked every possible road, we gave up. We headed to Alberobello to see the Trullis. Another parking challenge, but we made it. And finally a picture to prove Jim was al

We awoke to the sun…yippee. Two of us spent their night watching the 49ers game. It started here at 2:30 a.m. But we all got up early for our morning walk thru Rome. The difference in the Spanish steps in just 12 hours And on to the train for our 5 hour ride to Bari. Pizza in the train station…and yes that’s rain! Beautiful hotel! And finally a dinner at typical Italian time - 9:30. And we ate poolside And finally for the foodies! Risotta Cacio e Pepe Cacio e

Not sure the first day will be our highlight My first Hugo Spritz and they ran out of the proper glasses…but this is elegant compared to the plane Ready to board Champagne on the plane in a paper cup! Headed to thunderstorms, but not until the 13 planes ahead of us clear! And 12 hours later we arrive to very overcast skies. Rome has experienced an inordinate amount of oppressing heat, so they are thrilled to see the rain. Us, not so much. We arrive at the Sofitel, get into

even the fall planter boxes are stunning After breakfast Jim and I take a walk around town while Jay and Carrie go on a bike tour . My...

A one hour ferry ride from Hyannis takes you to the charming island of Martha’s Vineyard. Jim (and Jay) have met hundreds of people on this trip. From the 8 marines Jay shared a shuttle bus with to the Cisco brewery on Nantucket - to any and everyone Jim comes across. Where else can you find… A bus that kneels for you. A store that closes with a piece of tape Time to grab a bite to eat. No we didn’t have lobster, but did sneak a picture of someone else’s lunch. We admire th

First night in Boston, dinner at Amber Rose and a walk through the city. Jay leads us to the Black Rose to enjoy real authentic Irish...

And not a moment too soon. The heat is rising and we are out of clothes! Today we have reservations at Sainte Chapelle at 1 pm (just as...

Actually my title should be today is supposed to be Versailles - HOT! We start out the day in line for the famous croissants. It’s a...

And it’s our 50th wedding anniversary. We start out our day at the Louvre. Armed with a Chat GPT list of “zero-fluff” hit list, we begin...

But before leaving Brugge, Jim and I spend an hour visiting multiple chocolate shops. Then Jordan and I visit a coffee shop (Ilove the...