Riga, Latvia

Today we caught a cab to the airport and boarded a short Baltic Air flight to Riga, the capitol of Latvia. Riga is the largest city of the Baltics at over 700,000 people. Riga actually has more inhabitants of Russian descent than of Latvian. Josh and I instantly noticed a different look than the people of Lithuania. Designer clothes, high fashion and high heels are de rigeur for Rigan women, while many of the men look like they could be cast in a James Bond movie as Russian mafia goons.

The old town has beautiful Art Nouveau architechture, though much of Riga was destroyed in WWII. Josh and I visited the Museum of Occupied Nations, which was an eye-opening lesson on the recent history of the Baltic countries. While most Americans would simply think of the Baltics as "former Soviet republics", these countries are adamant about proclaiming the 45 years of Soviet rule as an occupation. This museum outlined the horrible atrocities of the Red Army in 1940, then the Nazis from 1941-45, and then the Soviets again from 1945 on. When the Nazis forced the Red Army out of the Baltics in 1941, the people hailed them as saviors at first, until they proved to be equally as murderous as the Russians. Once it was clear that the Russians would be storming back in in 1945, and not the Americans, over 200,000 Latvians ran for their lives, many crowding into rowboats and fishing trawlers desperately trying to make it to Sweden. Those who were left behind lost their property to communism, their religion to forced athiesm, and their language to forced Russian teaching. Many received banishment to a Siberian gulag or outright execution.

Vilnius, Lithuania

We awoke late today to walk around beautiful Vilnius. The bell tower and church pictured above are stunningly white in the late afternoon light. Vilnius has a small old town, easily seen within an hour or two. The people here seem to be the friendliest of the Baltics. When we arrived at our hotel, the clerk couldnt make change for us when we wanted to purchase a few beers from their fridge. Instead she said to take whatever we wanted and just pay tomorrow. This would contrast sharply with our hotel in Estonia where the clerk looked us up and down and after evaluating our grubby, unlaundered, backpack-laden appearance; demanded that we pay for our room immediately rather than upon checkout.

Vilnius is quite inexpensive. We found several places serving great Lithuanian beer for $2.60 a pint. Right down the street from our hotel was a rockin club called Prospekto that we visited both nights. Once you get past the massive Lithuanian bouncer at the door, we found a place playing American music, full of expats from all over Europe.

Zurich, Switzerland

This morning I went for a quick run through southern Liechtenstein, then caught a bus to the train station in Buchs, Switzerland. Two hours later I arrived in Zurich. According to Mercer, the people of Zurich enjoy the highest quality of life on earth. That's quite a statement, and from walking around the city, I think it might be true. The city is sparkling clean, sits by a pretty lake, with a river running through it. There is very little traffic, and lots of green space and bike lanes. This is a world capitol of banking, and I saw hundreds of buisnessmen in designer suits walking around town on their lunch break. They must pay these guys well, cause I purchased the most expensive Starbucks Venti frappucino ever at just over $7.
A nice couple from Sri Lanka took a picture for me with Lake Zurich in the backround.

After an enjoyable five hours in Zurich, it was back to the train station, off to the airport, and an Air Baltic flight to Vilnius Lithuania.

Milan to Como, Italy

My time in Italy today was short. I flew into Malpensa Airport in the morning. I quickly boarded a bus to take me into central Milan to the train station. I arrived there just in time to book a ticket on the express train to Zurich, Switzerland. The train crossed the northern part of Italy into the Alps, and past the fantastic Lake Como area. My face was plastered to the train window as we went in and out of tunnels and from one side of the lake to another. This part of Europe, the lakes within the Alps, is defenitely a place to come back to another day.

Milan, Italy then Zurich, Switzerland then Liechtenstein

Whew, what a day. Four countries in one day. Never done that before.

Lindso and I left the hotel via cab at 430am. We parted ways in the Barcelona airport, Lindso heading back to Maui and me heading on to the Baltics. First I would fly to Milan, Italy (country #29). I quickly rode a bus from the airport to the train station where I boarded a train for Zurich, Switzerland (country #30). Once in Zurich I switched to a train to Buchs, Switzerland. Then I rode a bus to Schaan, Liechtenstein (country #31). I checked into the only hostel in Liechtenstein, where for the princely sum of $31 I got a bunk bed in a room with Bernd, a biker from Germany. There ain't much going on in Liechtenstein folks. Picture Switzerland, but more boring. Pretty though. Click on the following link for some recent news about Liechtenstein: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/liechtenstein_successfully_tests

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/liechtenstein_andorra_forced_to?utm_source=a-section

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, the center of the anti-fascist rebels during the Spanish Civil War, the home of the 1992 Olympics, the city with no hotels under $400...
We had booked all our hotels for our trip before we left. All but Barcelona. I couldn't find anything online for under $400, and thought for sure something would open up later on. As it turns out; Formula One was in town, (that's the Euro version of NASCAR), and everything was sold out. After several days of frantic searching on Craigslist by Lindso, she finally secured an apartment 15 miles outside Barcelona in Premia De Mar, for a reasonable $100 a night. This ended up being one of the best experiences of our trip. We stayed in a nice little town right on the Med with great beaches. We spent a whole day there and enjoyed the relaxation after wayyyy too much driving over the previous three days.

The next day we headed into Barcelona by the quick, cheap, and scenic train. Barcelona is a bustling, crowded city! While Madrid seemed somewhat deserted on the Sunday that we were there, Barcelona on a Formula One Saturday is packed! We walked along the tourist trail seeing all the required Gaudi architecture, which is indeed quite pretty and strange. The Sagrada Familia is especially huge and strange, and nowhere near finished. We traversed the length of La Rambla which is kind of like Boulder's Pearl Street except with three times the people and four times the body odor. I still liked it though Lindso was a bit put off by the mass of people packing you in from all sides. The shopping in Barcelona was the best we had found. As it was our last stop in Spain, we grabbed some Spanish fashion to bring home. After a long day of walking we forced ourselves to a trip up the funicular to Montjuic, the home of the Olympic Stadium. Great views were had there, though we were too tired to actually find the stadium. Time to call it a trip!

Ordino, Andorra

Off from Valencia and back onto the highway again today. What should have been a five hour trip, soon turned into six, then seven. A wrong turn near Barcelona, then some white knuckle switchback driving in Andorra had me near the end of my rope. I was ready to run down any Andorran bovine who strayed into my path. Just when the swearing had reached it's apex, our hotel magically appeared before us. Once I shut off all 63 horses of the Citroen, and took a deep breath, I realized we were in a beautiful mountain valley! Andorra is a mini-Colorado, much like Liechtenstein. Lindso and I went for a run on a mountain trail next to a bubbling brook that slowly climed a thousand feet or so. For the first time on the trip we were really out in nature, and it was very nice.
We found a pub that served Spanish beer and olives, and listened to the ringing church bells and watched little Andorran children run around the cobblestone streets. The pub had a bullfight on TV, which I kept popping in to watch, though I do agree in principle with Lindso that they are horrible and should be banned.
We found the one restuarant that was open (Andorra's high season is winter for skiing); and the French couple running it were very friendly and helpful, perhaps because we were their only customers. We both agreed that Andorra was a place that deserved a second look next time we're in town.

Some recent news on Andorra:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/nation_of_andorra_not_in_africa?utm_source=videoembed

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/liechtenstein_andorra_forced_to?utm_source=a-section

Valencia, Spain

Not too much we can tell you about Valencia. We arrived here late in the afternoon after a five hour drive from Granada. We briefly considered just staying in our boring suburban hotel room

for the evening, but we rallied and caught the bus into the city center. Valencia is Spain's third largest city, and is hosting this year's America's Cup, the qualifying trials of which were going on the day we were there. Spain had beaten Sweden to move on in the competition, so everyone was happy about that. We wandered around Valencia, got lost, got tired, and mostly didnt see too much. We did sneak into the cathedral that claims to have The Holy Grail, the actual chalice from the last supper. They must have had it locked away though, cause we couldnt find it. To top it off, we missed the last bus back to our hotel which was at least 10 miles out of town. We caught a cab and prepared ourselves for a pocket emptying fare, but it ended up being not too bad. Bye Bye Valencia.

Granada, Spain

Granada! Fantastic. Our consensus favorite place in Spain. Today we awoke at 7am to get in line for tickets to the Alhambra. Only 7000 tickets are sold each day, and they are all gone by 9am, so we didn't want to get shut out. The Alhambra served as the palace and stronghold of the Muslim leaders of Spain from the 1300's to 1492. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs Isabel and Ferdiand finally defeated the Muslims, and ended their 700 year reign over Spain. As the last Muslim ruler Boabdil reined in his horse and surveyed the Alhambra for last time and the green valley that spread below he burst into tears. "You do well," said his unsympathetic mother, "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man."
Gee thanks Mom.
The Alhambra is a huge place with high walls, stunning views, and magnificent gardens and fountains. We spent a half a day here exploring. We couldnt help but wonder why it is that the Muslim world seems to have accomplished more before 1500 than in the 500 years since? A large percentage of the beautiful architecture in Andalucia is Islamic built. The geometric art shown above is filled with color and intricate detail.

Here we are on a cliff overlooking the Alhambra. This spot is especially popular among the large hippie population of Granada. Just to our left, out of the picture, are a couple dozen shirtless people playing guitar, drinking bottled beer, smoking weed, selling beads and necklaces, and juggling.

The fountains and pools in the Alhambra were the high point for us. The Islamic use of water in their architecture is unparalelled. We decided we wanted to recreate this at our house. Now if we just had the mountain of gold and unlimited slave labor that Boabdil had....

Granada, Spain

Today was a short two hour drive through the beautiful rolling hills of the Andalucian countryside to Granada. We are loving Granada. It has a huge student population, which always gives a city energy and fun bars and shops. The tapas scene here is for real. Every bar serves you a delicious appetizer with every round of drinks. Up til now Ive been annoyed with the Spanish serving size of a standard beer (about 9 ounces). Ive had to request a "Cerveza Grande", (which gets me maybe 14 ounces). Today Lindso made the the discovery of the trip. No matter what size of drink you order you still get the free tapas. So economically, it makes more sense to order the cano (small beer) than the cerveza grande. More free food, for less money. Brilliant!

Everyone knows that mopeds are big in Europe. But most people wouldnt know that even the cops ride mopeds in Spain! I'm not sure how this fellow would go about chasing down a Ferarri, but he had no problem handing out a parking ticket on this occasion.

Ronda and Cordoba, Spain

Today we left Tarifa for a long drive through Andalucia via Ronda to Cordoba. I was excited to see Ronda after reading Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". In his masterpiece about the Spanish civil war he tells a gruesome story about how the nationalists captured the republican held town of Ronda. They gathered all the republican collaborators in one house, then forced them one by one to walk through a gauntlet of their opressed townspeople who would beat them. At the end of the gauntlet they had the choice of jumping or being thrown off this bridge to fall some 400 feet to their death.
Just looking over the side of this bridge was enough to give me the willies knowing that several people had actually been thrown off it.

Ronda is a very cute little town, and we enjoyed a short stop here

On to Cordoba. Above is La Mezquita which is considered the pre-eminent islamic building anywhere outside of the Middle East. It was built in 784, and it is remarkable how well preserved it is.

While we did enjoy visiting the interior, we were not overwhelmed by it as we were by many other buildings in Spain. It is dark inside, and there are catholic naves all around the walls of the complex, with a Catholic mass being held the Sunday morning we were there.

On the whole, we didn't think too much of Cordoba. It struck us as being the "New Jersey Guido" version of Spain. Lots of trashily dressed people yelling in the main square while garbage fluttered in the breeze.

Tangier, Morocco and Tarifa, Spain

Today we made a short drive from Seville heading south to the wind-surfing capitol of Spain, Tarifa. Tarifa is the southernmost tip of Spain, and it marks the mouth of the mediterranean, where it opens to the Atlantic. Just a few miles across the strait lies Morocco and the continent of Africa. I couldnt pass up a chance to add not only another country to my list, but also a new continent, so we boarded the fast ferry to Tangier Morocco. Arriving at noon, we had a full five hours to explore Tangier. We soon realized that we had budgeted about 4 hours too many for our visit. I've heard great things about Morocco, and I'm sure that Marrakech and the Atlas mountains are great, but Tangier doesnt have too much to offer the day tourist. Once we fended off the agressive touts at the port, we made our way to the Medina on foot. I felt safe here, though Lindsey was understandably put off by the agressive marketing strategies of the shop owners, and the unabashed stares of the Moroccan men. Having visited Turkey before, I knew to expect this, and actually it was more low pressure than Istanbul. Tangier is however much dirtier and poorer than cosmopolitan Istanbul. We found little of interest to buy in the stores, and no food that tempted us. Lindsey, being the only un-headscarved Anglo woman in the city, was defenitely the object of attention, and soon we had had enough of walking around. We spent over two hours ensconced in the safety of a tourist class cafe that was devoid of locals due to the prohibitive cost of a $1 cup of coffee or soda. I was looking forward to having a beer after the stress of the Medina, but this being an Islamic country, there was no bud light on the menu.

After a chaotic scene at the port where several "helpers" sent us in different directions in hopes of a tip; we finally got on board our ferry, and were thrilled to be heading back to a First World country.

We had a great evening in Tarifa. We had read that it is considered the "Hawaii of Spain". While it's beaches and scenery can't hold a candle to Maui, the preponderance of surf shops and young, tanned, athletic people did make us feel at home. We had a fun night on the town and appreciated Spain all the more after seeing the other side of the Med.

Seville, Spain

Above is Seville's famous Cathedral, the largest of all Roman Catholic Cathedrals in the world. Construction was begun in 1402 on top of the remnants of the Almohad Mosque. It holds the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

The Alcazar of Seville was built beginning in 1364. We enjoyed the audio tour of this World Heritage Sight.

The "Courtyard of the Maidens" is another example of the Moorish influence on the use of water in architecture and design.

Seville, Spain

We arrived in the afternoon in Seville, our most anticipated stop on the trip. Today Mapquest was omnipotent. We followed every turn in the directions to get precisely to our hotel, which is a minor miracle in a country with one way cobblestone streets and a complete lack of street signs. We waled to the main square of Seville and instantly knew we liked the place. The cathedral is enormous, the larget in Spain, and the nearby Alcazar towers over the square. We attended a free flamenco performance at an underground beer hall called La Carbonera. We arrived at 10 to find the place nearly empty, when the performance was supposed to start at 10. Well, the beer was cheap at $2, so we gave it a go. By 11 it had filled to standing room only. By 1130 the performance began, and wow, were we in for a show! We thought it would be like seeing a band perform, but flamenco is more a work of art. The performers demanded complete silence from the audience. Then the male guitarist commenced strumming and wailing in a strange islamic/spanish/gypsy style. After a few minutes of this, the rythmic clapping joined in, and then the female dancer began a mezmerizing dance of foot stomping, clapping, arm waving, all the while with an unsmiling glare of dead seriousness. When they finished the audience exploded in cheers.

The great flamenco, the cheap beer, and meeting several other americans on vacation or in school in Seville, conspired for a late night which ended with Lindso banging on the glass door of our hotel which resulted in a torrent of admonition from the septuganarian innkeeper. Good times!

Salamanca, Portugal, and Ciudad Rodrigo

We left Avila and headed west to the university town of Salamanca. Salamanca is considered one of the most spectacular Renaissance cities in Europe. Through the centuries the sandstone buildings have gained an exquisite golden glow that has given Salamanca the nickname La Ciudad Dorada, the golden city. This golden glow is unique in Spain and is due to the "Villamayor Stone", a very special type of sandstone coming from a quarry situated in Villamayor, a village close to Salamanca.
The old Romanesque cathedral was founded in the 12th century. The nearby University was founded in 1218. Currently 36,000 students attend what has to be one of the most historic campuses on earth. I had to get a Salamanca U. t-shirt.

After Salamanca we pressed on further West until at last we crossed the border into Portugal. What did we see in Portugal? Oh...ummm...nothing actually. We spent 15 minutes in the border town of Vilar Formoso, snapped this photo at the quaint train station, then back into Espana. Yes, my quest to travel to every country in the world leads us to silly excursions, but the border was so close, I couldnt pass it by. I'm sure Portugal is lovely, and I certainly plan to give it my full attention on a future trip.

After spinning thru Portugal, we backtracked to the tiny Spanish village of Ciudad Rodrigo. Here I had a surprise for Lindso. I had booked us a room in a small castle dating back to 1372.

Rodrigo was a quiet walled town, population 14,000, surrounded by farmland and topped by our castle with sweeping views of the valley and an ancient roman bridge. We had a very quiet evening here, drinking in the castle's dungeon-like pub complete with a suit of armor in the place of a bouncer.