On Land - Toledo

Spending the day in Spain's best medieval city. A feast of El Greco for me & shopping for Arti. Hope you are all well.   Dimitri & Arti

(Boat is in a marina at Barcelona)

Barcelona

Hi Guys,

At last we are in Barcelona, the trip up the coast being pretty uneventful since Caleta-de-Velez, outside Malaga.  Most days we motor-sailed, with little wind and at night we anchored, mostly in pretty little places.  We arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday and we are quickly getting into the lifestyle here.   It is getting hot here and now we can understand why everyone closes for lunch and has a siesta.  We are also getting into the Barcelona time routine and last night we left the boat at 10pm to go out for dinner and only got home at 1am.  Everything was still buzzing though - I don't know what time the people here go home!  Even all  the little kids are out at that time of night.

The marina we are at is close to  Las Ramblas.  It reminds me of Lisbon in that there are restaurants just outside and also a bike track.  Unlike Lisbon though, it  is  buzzing here.  The restaurants are full, there are people everywhere, buskers, bike riders and we are just 5 mins. by bike from Las Ramblas an in the opposite direction 5 mins. from the beachfront.

Yesterday we went to La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's gothic cathedral in the making.  It is the most amazing thing. They have been building for 100 years now and it will still take a further 25-30 to finish it and there is still much to be done. It feels like you are in a giant plant or a forest when you are inside! We also went to Park Guell, to see the house Gaudi lived in. Today we are taking a bike ride to the park that overlooks Barcelona.  Apparently there is a great view of the city from there. 

I hope it is not too cold at home now.  I will have a swim for all of you.

Regards

Arti and Dimitri.

Costa Blanca‏

Hi one & all,

Well as you all know Jan & Nick have departed to Sydney to start a series of "theme" parties ie Moroccan, Spanish etc. Nick only managed one mullet, but something very big took his line. I am amazed there are any fish left with the over fishing in the Med. Jan became an excellent sailor, very skill full with mooring and the winches, didn't get sick once, and forgave us for going to sleep on our way to Gibraltar, only to wake off Ceuta in Africa, as favorable winds enabled us to get to this Spanish enclave of Morocco!
We are currently bashing into wind and waves making way to Valencia by motor-sailing! The coast line is magnificent, layer upon layer of green, rugged mountains! Every evening it goes white as a fog descends, with mountain peaks still visible, truly the "white coast".
Our visit to Cartagena was enjoyable. We were heading for our anchorage some miles from the city at 9pm (amazingly still light till 10pm!) when a large Guardia Civil vessel approached, launched a rubber ducky and we were (very politely, after asking permission) boarded by a young policeman. Arti thought he was cute, and sweet talked him out of fining us for not flying our national flag and Spanish curtesy flag, as we are obliged to do. All papers, safety gear, boat skipper licence's etc were checked, the first time on our trip. We now fly all shapes and flags as demanded by maritime law! We anchored off a lovely little village and next day caught a bus to Cartagena, the oldest city in Spain, were Hannibal set of with his elephants for Rome and which Scipio then conquered. Cervantes (he wrote Don Quixote) came from there and we saw his house, the Roman theater the Punic walls of the original city and a Byzantine church burial crypt (with skeletons in situ, to my delight!)We returned to our village to find no restaurants open, but 5 km down the beach an excellent restaurant was recommended -- we planned the dingy there in no time and enjoyed an excellent paella! Last night we had a rocky anchorage in a magnificent setting and hope for more shelter when we reach Valencia. I have just read that Paella was invented there so we shall have to try it.
Sailing in the Med is interesting There is more wind than I expected, and it can change direction and strength very suddenly (resulting in a badly torn gennicker when Jan & Nick were with us) Waves are short and sharp, and can be uncomfortable at times, but overall we need to motor more than usual. 
We are always glad for any news from home, as we feel a little isolated. We were delighted to hear from Marina & Harry, enjoying a well deserved break in the USA, with awesome photos of Hawaii and the Grand Canyon. In a few more days we will reach Barcelona and should have decent internet on our regular email, so will try and send a few Photos!We are looking forward to the break in a marina there.

Dimitri & Arti

Valencia

Hi Guys. 

We have arrived in Valencia and are anchored off the beach. We will check out the sights today and eat some paella as Valencia is the birthplace of paella. We leave for Barcelona tomorrow and should be there in two days. We will leave the boat there, do some maintenance and spend a quiet time in and around Barcelona, maybe rent a car to go to Madrid and Toledo to see the El Grecos etc. Hope everyone is well.

Love, kisses and hugs

A & D

The boat anchored off the beach in Valencia.

Azohia

Hi Everyone, 

We are on our way to El Campello where we will anchor for the night at 38d25'N, 0d23'W We have just left the beautiful anchorage off the little village of Azohia, on the otherside of the mountain from Cartagena. We took a bus into Cartagena - a beautiful 1/2 hour ride through the mountain pass. We saw the roman and byzantine ruins, newly discovered in the 1990's and only opened to public view 6 years ago - just imagine, an intact roman theatre lay buried and was only discovered when they started digging the playing fields of the school next door to build a parking garage! In the area they also found byzantine crypts for the carpenter's guild - this means the Greeks were occupying this area in Byzantime times, well into the period of christianity.

Arti & Dimitri

Almeria

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would write and get you up to date with our travels. Sadly we wished Jan and Nick "Bon Voyage" yesterday as their time with us on the boat has already come to an end. I cannot believe how quickly the five weeks we spent together with them has gone. Anyway, we filled them time with lots of fun, sightseeing, sailing, wine and of course, lots of tapas once we got to Spain. We crossed over to Morocco and spent three days with a very amusing taxi driver who took us to some hillside villages where we immersed ourselves in the medieval way of life that still exists there. It was fun walking through the narrow streets of the villages. We saw women washing clothes in the river, leather workers and weavers making their wares and walked through a tannery where leather was in various states of being tanned, from fresh carcasses to the finished product. Gibraltar was a big surprise. It is very interesting to go up the Rock and see all the tunnels that have been excavated. They are large enough to fit 17,000 troops underground, including a hospital, command centre, supplies etc. The barbary apes that live up there were a highlight. There are still about 200 of them left and they are looked after very carefully.
Spain has been all I expected it to be. We have been enjoying tapas and sangria and have done quite a bit of driving through the small hilltop towns. We went to the Sierra Nevada where there are still a few die-hard skiers on the upper slopes. The ski fields are only about an hour from Grenada and about two hours from the seaside, so they have it all. We enjoyed the Alhramba in Grenada and happened on an annual fare in Cordoba. Many of the women (and their little girls) were wearing traditional flamengo dress in the streets and there were people on horseback and in carriages. They looked quite exquisite. I do not know of any other nation that has such a feminine (and sexy) traditional dress as the Spanish.We are now sailing along the Costa del Sol, making our way to Barcelona. We are planning to make a quick passage, anchoring at night (tonight will be Almeira) with a stop-over in Cartagena and Valencia for a day each. We should be in Barcelona in a week.

Drop us a line and let us know your news. We love news from home.
Hugs and kisses to all
Arti and Dimitri.