Day one: Rota in the rain   We had dinner in a family-run Italian restaurant located about a minute from our apartment. The little grocery was closed, but we were able to get a bottle of vino blanco for the apartment at a cheerful bar (La Silla Azul or “The Blue Chair”) across from that […]

The 03112 to Madrid    We stopped for coffee and croissants just around the corner from our apartment the morning of our departure from Barcelona. Then we walked the five minutes or so to the city’s main train station, where we sauntered through baggage check, and then immediately onto our first class carriage for our […]

  So here’s the thing. The main part of this Spain trip was to be two weeks in the Atlantic coastal city of Cadiz. That meant our three nights in Barcelona and then two more in Madrid were just a holding pattern awaiting the beginning of the real trip. Barcelona and Madrid, Spain as mere […]

  A couple of things were left out of my last blog. When we landed early in Barcelona and then cleared customs in a breathless matter of minutes, it wasn’t even 8:00 a.m. yet. Our apartment would not be available until 3:00 p.m. What we could do with eight hours to kill while schlepping luggage […]

DL 194 to Barcelona    The original plan to fly to Atlanta and then connect to Barcelona shriveled on the vine, so we made a quick Plan B to fly to Minneapolis and connect with a wide open (seating-wise) flight to Paris. That would get us over the pond, and from there we could refigure […]

  We were looking out over the famous Cliffs of Moher outside of Galway, when I happened to observe they reminded me of a similar coastal view we had visited in Dyrholaey, Iceland looking for puffins. The ocean sculpting of the cliffs themselves, the height, the variegated layers of rock and the complete lack of […]

  In the fall of 1971, having completed my summer studies program at Oxford University, I managed to land a job working on a fishing trawler out of Galway, Ireland. More than 50 years later, Carol and I arrived in Galway, me to find some evidence of that trawler, and Carol to find proof that […]

  Don’t let the title fool you. You won’t be jotting down any “must sees” or “must do’s” on this ensuing list. That’s not how Carol and I roll. Or at least how I do. We’ve been to Paris several times since we’ve been together, for example, and have yet to set foot in the […]

  I wanted no part of driving on the wrong side of the road (several of which were glorified pedestrian walkways), in pouring rain and learning to shift with my left arm. (I never did consider which feet went with the brake and accelerator pedals.) Carol was afraid we’d be missing some stunning Irish views […]

  My first drink order in my first pub on my first night  in Dublin was for a “Black and Tan.” The very first pint order. I might just as well have been in Belfast and ordered a Car Bomb. The thing is, I knew better. I knew “Black and Tan” referred to a Protestant […]