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.