Summer Vacation III--Spain Wieder

Valencia and Barcelona were the last planned stops of our Sommerurlaub. Unfortunately, our stop in Valencia was not a pleasant one. Not because Valencia is an awful place. On the contrary, it has everything I like in a city--an old and gritty center, great museums, and restaurants facing clean Mediterranean beaches.

Our stop in Valencia was unpleasant because our car broke down. The car's battery died in an underground parking garage. If there is one thing I truly fear, it is car troubles. Maybe it is because I once owned an old Saab that was constantly breaking down and leaving me stranded. Luckily, Bob joined ADAC, Germany's version of AAA. They were great! First of all, their phones are manned by people who speak English, and when we're stressed, neither one of us can remember a word of Deutsch. Secondly, they took care of everything. They asked to speak to a Valencia native, which was not hard to find since we were next to the Mercado Central. The woman told them our exact location, and they sent a local mechanic to jump the battery. It took him about an hour and a half to get to us, so during that time the kids and I went shopping in the Mercado.


Since our car decided to die on us on the day we were to leave for Barcelona, we couldn't wait for car garages to reopen after lunch. Everything in Valencia closes down from about 1 or 2 until 4 PM. Since Bob couldn't turn the car off, because the battery would die again, we drove straight to Barcelona. Bob didn't even turn the car off when he added gas. The bartender at our hotel in Sant Cugat, a suburb of Barcelona, told Bob how to find a garage and we had a new battery within the time it took the kids to finish their swim in the hotel's pool.

While we were in Valencia, we tried paella, which wasn't very good, but we ate at one of the restaurants along Valencia's immaculate city beaches. Supposedly, Hemingway ate his paella at La Pepica, a couple of doors down. Too bad it was closed that day.


We also saw the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a modern museum complex with an arts center, science museum, IMAX theatre, planetarium and aquarium. The science museum had an exhibit about the Titanic, but we didn't have time to see it. Schade!

Last stop Barcelona! I used to think Paris and Prague were the most beautiful European cities. Now, I'm going to have to add Barcelona to this list. In fact, Paris has been bumped down. After my second visit to Prague (possibly in December), I'll decide which one tops my list. The architecture was mesmerizing, and the locals were very patient with the tourists, almost too patient.



Our first stop, of course, was La Sagrada Família. All I can say is "Hmmm?" I don't know if I liked it. It was not as impressive as I thought it would be, but I didn't hate it. I am glad that we viewed a few of Gaudí's other architectural gems; otherwise, I would have left Barcelona without a positive impression of Gaudí. We saw Palau Güell, which was under scaffolds but the rooftop sculptures were visible, Casa Batlló, and La Pedrera. La Pedrera was especially breathtaking--flowing concrete and metal is the only way I can think of to describe it.



After taking photos of La Sagrada, we stopped at a café across the street for dinner. The food on the menu seemed reasonably priced, and we assumed that beer and Fanta would be only a Euro or two more than in Valencia. We ended up paying almost 7 Euros per beer and almost 5 Euros per Fanta. The waiters said, "It's not us, it's the church."

The next morning, we visited the Barcelona Zoo, home to the only know albino gorilla, Snowflake. What their website neglects to tell you is that he died three years ago. We were all disappointed, but we knew that he was old--he was brought to the zoo in 1966--and he hadn't been in good health since 1996, so we weren't completely surprised. They did have some of the largest pythons we had ever seen, and during our visit we came across a cage of about 50 nutrias. Bob said, "This is why the pythons are so big." I told him to keep his voice down, because Alex was going on about how the nutrias looked like his favorite stuffed animal, Bibery, which is actually a marmot but looks like a beaver.

We spent the afternoon walking through Barri Gótic and along La Rambla. We found a great restaurant in the Barri Gótic called 4 Gats (4 Cats)--Art Nouveau décor and three course meals, including water and wine, for 15 Euros a person. There were too many mimes along the Rambla, in my opinion, but the boys found them interesting, as did the British tourists.

Bob and I will remember the architecture and the food in Barcelona. The boys, on the other hand, will remember the completely naked, old man riding his bike down a busy street. Too bad we didn't get a photo.

Originally, we had planned on camping one more night in either Lyon or Dijon, about half way between Barcelona and Erlangen. But, Bob was anxious to get home, so we drove 14.5 hours home.

Summer Vacation II--Portugal

After five days on the road, we arrived in Portugal. Our first stop was Porto, and when in Porto, one must buy Port wine. Unfortunately, Bob and I know nothing about Ports, so Bob called his friend Mike in Chicago. He told us to look for Churchill or Sandeman Vintage 1995 Ports. Interestingly, the shops we visited recommended the Portuguese Port houses over the British. A little competition? We ended up buying a Borges Vintage 1995 and a Sandeman Founders Reserve. We have yet to try either one.



After Porto, we stopped in Óbidos en route to Lisbon. Touristy, but charming, here we saw our first and best impression of azulejos, decorative tiles often depicting landscapes, historic scenes or the holy family.

That same evening, we arrived in Lisbon. We stayed at the Novotel, a hotel chain belonging to the French Accor hotel group. This may become our default hotel in Europe, because they all allow dogs. Even the Holiday Inns, which allow dogs in Germany and France, don't allow dogs in Portugal or Spain. In six days we had seen so much that we decided to stay in and call room service.


Normally, our first stop when visiting a new city is the historic center, the old city. But in Lisbon, we decided to go to the Oceanário first. It's a modern aquarium somewhat similar in design to the New England Aquarium in Boston with a large central tank and smaller tanks circling the walls. It had your usual collection of sharks, rays, eels plus a huge Ocean Sunfish, which I thought looked prehistoric. The Lisbon Oceanarium is the second largest in Europe, but which is the first? When I did an Internet search, the aquariums in Barcelona, Valencia and Genoa all claim the title.

Before going to the Oceanário, Oscar's leash ripped opened Bob's left index finger at the second knuckle. Oscar lunged at another dog, and since Bob was holding the clasp, which allows you to lengthen or shorten the leash, it somehow snagged the skin on the inside of his index finger and cut it deeply. Because it was still bleeding that morning, we couldn't tell how deep the wound was. But, when we returned to the hotel and took the bandage off, we realized Bob needed stitches. I thought I was going to faint, because I could see the cartilage of his knuckle.

I had seen a sign for a clinic near the hotel, so I told the guy at the desk, who seemed to speak perfect English, that my husband needed a doctor and how do I get to the clinic. He said he was new to this hotel, so he went to ask the manager. I didn't hear their conversation, which was probably in Portuguese anyway, but I think they thought I wanted to buy Clinique cosmetics, because they sent us to El Corte Inglés department store. He said the clinic would be right in front. Later, I realized that cosmetics are usually sold in the front of department stores. Nevertheless, the security guard and the department store nurse helped us by sending us in a taxi to the closest hospital. Luckily, almost everyone in Portugal speaks English, unlike Spain or France. Both the receptionist and doctor who stitched Bob up spoke English.



That evening after Bob returned from the hospital, we decided to see historic Lisbon. The guy at the desk (same one) suggested we take a taxi up to the Castelo de São Jorge and then walk through Alfama. Great idea, because the castle sits on top of a hill overlooking Lisbon, and if we had walked up the hill, we would have heard a lot of whining from Alex. The views from the castle were great--Lisbon has its own versions of SF's Golden Gate Bridge and Rio's Christ the Redeemer. And walking through the winding streets of Alfama was fun, although my outdated guidebook made the Alfama sound like a working class neighborhood with lots of family-friendly restaurants. Instead, it reminded me of Wicker Park during the early stages of gentrification. Finally, we did find a family restaurant that served Cape Verdean food.




The next morning, we drove to the suburb of Belém to see Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. I had read that this monastery had the most beautiful cloisters in Europe, and this time the guidebooks were right on target. The architecture is Manueline Gothic, which is unique to Portugal. Even though I couldn't fine a source confirming a Moorish influence on Manueline architecture, the monastery and its cloisters reminded me of the Alhambra. After the monastery, we were going to walk to the Torre de Belem, which according to Rick Steves is right across the street. Across the street and a kilometer away, which is not far unless it's a hot day and one has two kids in tow. It might as well have been 10 kilometers away. We decided to drive. Since the line to get in was long, we just took photos from the banks of the Tejo River. Besides, the kids were more interested in some jellyfish that had washed ashore.


That evening we drove to Cabo da Roca, Europe's westernmost point. In my mind, I had always pictured Ireland and Great Britain as being much further west than continental Europe, but after this trip and a glance at a globe, I realized that the western coasts of Portugal and Ireland fall approximately on the same longitudinal coordinates. It was beautiful, but very windy and cold.

From Cabo, we drove to Sintra. Originally, I wasn't too excited about visiting Sintra, because it sounded too touristy, but now I regret not seeing more. First of all, the road to Sintra wound, or should I say spiraled, through quaint villages and beautiful mountain forests. The pines don't look like traditional Christmas trees, i.e., triangular. They look like most deciduous trees, with a long trunk and full canopy. We drove past numerous Quintas, or estates, some of which doubled as hotels. I had hoped to see the Castelo dos Mouros, which overlooks Sintra. All we saw was a glimpse of the walls between the trees before the fog rolled in. We never saw any part of Pena Palace, which from the description in the guidebooks sounds like it rivals Neuschwanstein.


After three nights in Lisbon, we spent a week on the Algarve, Portugal's southern coast. We rented an apartment in a house with a swimming pool. We ended up using the swimming pool more often than the beaches, which were about two kilometers away, and like I said before, on a hot day with two kids…



As it turned out, the beaches in our area near the town of Albufeira were very crowded. I had assumed with British and German tourists, but the owner of the neighboring house told us that all of Lisbon comes to Albufeira in August. But we managed to find a less crowded beach in Salema, in the western part of the Algarve. Part of the beach allows dogs, which is not true for Falésia, the beach near our house, and there is a great seafood restaurant, Atlântico, on the beach. This is the beach popular with British and German tourists. We rented kayaks, and Philip paddled quite well. Alex, on the other hand, just wanted to enjoy the ride.

On August 15, we celebrated Alex's 6th birthday. All he wanted to do was swim in the pool and eat Chinese. Luckily, we noticed a Chinese Restaurant near Falésia.




We spent most of the week relaxing by the swimming pool, but we did a little sightseeing. We saw the rock formations of Ponta da Piedade near Lagos, the Moorish fortress in Silves, and the beaches along the barrier islands of Tavira.

First Day of School

I'm interrupting my summer vacation series to announce that yesterday Alex Kozan began first grade at Adalbert Stifter Schule. This is a big deal in Germany. Parents take the day off and grandparents drive in from all over Germany. The first graders arrive at school one hour later than the upper grades and are greeted by the second graders with songs. It's a big deal, because unlike the US, kids don't learn to read and write in kindergarten. Here, kindergarten is like what I remember kindergarten being 40 years ago--a place to learn how to socialize with other children.

The best part of the first day is the Schultüte. This is a cone filled with candy, school supplies and toys. It is meant to make the transition from Kindergarten to Grundshule easier. The children take their Schultüte with them to school, but don't open them until they get home. On the way to school, Alex complained about how heavy his backpack and Schultüte were, but on the way home, he was so excited about being a first grader that neither one seemed heavy anymore.

Summer Vacation I--France and Spain

August is the month when all of Europe goes on vacation and so did we. But unlike most Europeans, we decided to make a "Grand Tour."

Our first stop was in Tours (no pun intended), France. Here, we visited only two of the Loire Valley's countless chateaux--Chambord and Chenonceau. Chenonceau is the more interesting of the two, in my opinion, because its great hall is actually a bridge over the River Cher. We also stopped briefly at Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. Clearly, my guidebook was written before "The Da Vinci Code" was published, because it said that not many people know about Leonardo's last home. But, by the number of people lining up to get in, it was obvious that everything about his life has become popular.

I also had my first great French dinner in Tours. We've been to Paris several times, but I've never had a great French meal--African and Italian, yes, but not good French food. If you're ever in Tours, you have to eat at L'Devalière.

The second night of our tour was spent camping at Dune de Pyla, on the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux. I thought I had seen some big dunes at the Indiana Dunes and Warren Dunes in Michigan, but this dune makes those dunes look like babies. Dune de Pyla is three kilometers long! That's almost two miles. And the top of the dune was desolate. With the sand blowing against our legs, I felt like I was in the Sahara. The kids thought it was the end of the world as depicted in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3."


Our third night was spent in a new country, Spain. We camped at Covadanga, at the foot of the Picos de Europa. We had planned to drive up to Lake Enol, but only made it as far as the Mirador de la Reina, because we were low on gas. We thought we would go back into town for fuel, and then finish the drive. Unfortunately, we learned that they close the road from 10 AM to 8 PM to reduce traffic up to the lake. Only bus tours are allowed during the day. Smart! Not only does it reduce car traffic, but crowds too. I'm sure many people are like us, and say, "I'm not paying to take a bus when I have my own car." Instead, we visited a shrine to the Virgin of Covadanga built into the side of a cliff.

The next two nights were spent in Santiago de Compostela. This time we stayed in a hotel, one of the few on the Iberian Peninsula that allows dogs. Many German and French hotels welcome dogs, but Spanish and Portuguese hotels are not so pet-friendly.

In Santiago, we visited the pilgrimage church of St. James the Apostle, who supposedly is buried under the altar. Of course, Bob bought the boys walking sticks from the surrounding souvenir vendors, just to pretend that they walked the Camino de Santiago. We also found a great restaurant, Meia Pataca Meson, away from the touristy parts of Santiago, where Bob tried something that looked like tube worms, and before they were cooked, they would move in and out of their shells. They tasted great!

We made a side trip, while in Santiago, to the Rias Baixas, the Galician estuaries west of Santiago. Specifically, we visited Porto do Son, a fishing village on the Ria de Muros e Noia, and Castro de Baroña, a 2000- or 4000-year old (depending on the source) Celtic ruin. We noticed that the price of food and beer in the Rias was about half that of Santiago.

Coming Soon! Part II--Portugal