Our "official" honeymoon was originally
to be a week in the south of Spain, in the city of Malaga. While booking the
trip, I was offered a great deal on a week on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. If you don't know where they are, they're off the North-West coast of Africa and are part of Spain, or click
here
to see a map.
Malaga: The birthplace of Pablo Picasso, the southern coast of Spain has a lot of history.
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Malaga: Lily is waiting at the entrance to the to the Alcazaba, the fortress built on the top of the hill overlooking the city, with a view of the coast.
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Malaga: And there's me climbing the steep hill.
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Malaga: This model shows how large the fortress is.
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Malaga: Inside the Alcazaba is a museum of artifacts from as far back as the 11th century, when the fortress was built.
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Malaga: Another room full of cool old pottery.
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Malaga: I have no idea what this is, but I'm sure it's important. And there's Lily looking oh so cool in her bright red cap.
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Malaga: Although it's a fortress, it doesn't mean it can't be nice.
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Malaga: The fortress is large, and has many walkways between sections which were probably built at different times.
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Malaga: In the middle of this fortress is this really nice garden.
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Malaga: Since it's high up on a hill, the view of the harbor and sea is breathtaking.
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Malaga: Next to the fortress is this awesome old amphitheatre.
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Malaga: Near the Alcazaba was this government building with some great architecture.
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Malaga: This art museum is in the old part of town, supposedly near Pablo Picasso's place of birth. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside.
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Córdoba: Lily stands on the Roman Bridge over the Guadalquivir River into Cordoba
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Córdoba: This old water wheel seems out of place since the river has silted up. Hundreds of years ago it was a much larger river than now.
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Córdoba: Unfortunately the tower over the Mosque of Córdoba was being renovated, but you can still get an idea how amazing it is.
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Córdoba: A nice example of local Spanish architecture.
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Córdoba: One of the many monuments around the city.
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Córdoba: A street scene.
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Córdoba: This is the detail of the entrance to the Mosque-Cathedral.
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Córdoba: Nice arched hallway into the Mosque-Cathedral.
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Córdoba: Known as the Mosque of a 1000 columns, there are obviously a LOT of columns in there.
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Córdoba: And here is a closeup of one of the columns.
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Ronda: Ronda is a small town in the south of Spain. Its claim to fame is a huge bridge over a deep gorge that was an architecture marvel in its day.
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Ronda: The bridge is still quite amazing, especially when watching workers hanging over the side restoring it.
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Ronda: Since we got there just as siesta started, we managed to get some bread, pastries and Fanta and sat at one of these cutouts in the bridge wall and enjoyed the view over lunch.
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Gibraltar: We're on the rock of Gibraltar. True to it's name, it's just that, a big rock.
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Gibraltar: Another view of the rock. On the right is the Mediterranean, and you can almost make out Africa.
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Gibraltar: Gibraltar used to be a English fortress. Here we are at the top where checking out the canons. In the background you can see Spain.
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Gibraltar: Here is one of the famous monkeys of Gibraltar. As long as the Barberry Apes are still on the rock, the British will still rule Gibraltar. When the monkeys were dying off, they had fresh ones imported from Africa.
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Gibraltar: The monkeys are quite used to people.
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Gibraltar: Watch that monkey, he's eyeing Lily's hat.
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Spain: On the way back from Gibraltar, we saw large fields of windmills for generating power.
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Tangier: Our visit to Tangier, Morocco begins by meeting our guide.
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Tangier: We first tour the city and take in the architecture.
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Tangier: We then arrive in the center of town and head for the Kasbah.
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Tangier: The center of town has all the shops you expect in a large city.
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Tangier: Yes, even including this one where we picked up a couple rugs.
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Tangier: Kasbah is Moroccan for Castle, this one overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. You can see Spain across the Straight of Gibraltar.
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Tangier: The Kasbah is filled with touristy things to see, including this snake charmer.
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Tangier: Yes boys and girls, that's a real Cobra. And there is no glass between us and the snake!
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Tangier: Nothing to worry about, this snake isn't poisonous.
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Tangier: Where there are tourists, there are the inevitable people selling trinkets.
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Tangier: After the Kasbah we sit down for an authentic Moroccan lunch. A whole lot more than couscous! Yummy!
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Tangier: We were entertained by musicians playing traditional Moroccan tunes. These guys rock the Kasbah! (Sorry, had to get that in somehow!)
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Tangier: No meal would be complete without a belly dancer!
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Tangier: After lunch we explored some more. These is a side street in what looks like a residential area.
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Tangier: But before we go, Lily had to pose with this Camel. We also picked up a couple Fezes from his friend.
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Tenerife: By the time we got to Tenerife, we were pretty tired so we spent most of the time just kicking back and relaxing on our balcony.
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Tenerife: Since it's a fairly young volcanic island, there are eruptions every few years. For some reason, this tree was spared an estimated 3000 years of lava flows.
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Tenerife: There was a nice wine & cheese shop near the big tree, so guess what we had for dinner that night.
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Tenerife: We took an all day trip to the crater of the volcano and for a catamaran trip to see some whales.
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Tenerife: One of the more interesting lava flows on the island. This one formed somewhat in the shape of a rose.
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Tenerife: The higher up the mountain the less vegetation. Here we took a break with Mount Teide, the highest peak on Tenerife in the background.
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Tenerife: As we get closer to the top, the landscape becomes rockier. The crater has been used for movies and TV shows as a moonscape.
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Tenerife: Once inside the crater, there are cool lava formations like this.
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Tenerife: The rest of the crater is flat plain of cooled lava.
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Tenerife: The only picture I've been able to find (so far) of our trip a few miles off the coast where a family of Sperm Whales lives year round. These whales eventually go right up to the boat where we could almost pet them.
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Tenerife: After we visit the crater we go to the coast and board a catamaran to visit the local family of Sperm Whales. That's Lily hiding under the towel.
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Tenerife: Once we get a couple miles out we spot the whales in the distance.
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Tenerife: As they get closer to us, we see there is a large family of them.
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Tenerife: The whales frequently popped out of the water to get a better look at us. Sometimes they would swim upside down at the surface so their eyes would be out of the water.
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Tenerife: They made repeated passes past and under the boat.
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Tenerife: Afterwards we sailed into a cove and swam in the warm and incredibly clear water.
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Tenerife: On the way back to port we take in some of the cliffs that make up the coast on that part of the island. Any beaches on the island are made from sand imported from the Sahara Desert.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: The major tourist attraction on the island is Loro Parque (Parrot Park). They made us take this goofy train from town to the park.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: The park is a small zoo, mostly birds. These were the most interesting, but I don't know what they are yet.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: My favorite part was the Dolphin show.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: More Dolphin tricks.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: And still more...
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: Oh yeah, there were some parrots here too.
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Loro Parque, Tenerife: Another colorful parrot.
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