Europe Spain	Spain Mar 2 - Mar 25 Germany Mar 26 - Apr 4 Netherlands Apr 5 - Apr 8 Germany Apr 9 - Apr 14 Czech Republic Apr 15 - Apr 21

It was a grueling 14 hour flight from Johannesburg to Frankfurt (then a short hop over to Madrid) ...especially since we were in cattle-class. We had the worst seats on the entire plane! Boy, do I miss business class!!!

We spent a few days in Madrid recovering from the Lufthansa economy/medieval torture seats and jet-lag. We stayed in the Puerto del Sol area and did a lot of walking and tapa-hopping. The Plaza Mayor was just a short walk away. The weather was especially cold in Madrid and we were not prepared. So, we went out and bought ourselves some jeans. It was the first time in 12 months that we were wearing jeans again!

We were able to hook up with Emma and Cesar in Madrid. We met them about 8 months ago while we were hiking the Kepler Track in New Zealand. Emma and Cesar have a ceramic workshop in the heart of Madrid. They make beautiful ceramic pieces. They treated us to our first home-cooked meal since New Zealand! We really enjoyed their company and hospitality!

While in Madrid, we did a day trip out to Segovia. It's a beautiful little town with a roman aquaduct and the famous Alcazar castle. Lon is really into castles, so this was a good start for castle touring in Spain. As for me, I liked all the cobblestone streets and narrow walkways.

Our next stop was Barcelona. This city is every bit as beautiful as people say it is. We stayed in the gothic neighborhood of the city. There are plenty of narrow streets and alleys to get lost in ...and what a great way to get lost. There were a lot of street "buskers" along the famous pedestrian street "La Rambla". The biggest attraction (for us, anyhow) were all the Gaudi buildings and designs. We spent half a day just touring around the La Sagrada Familia ...this is a Gaudi work in progress. It was a good place to start for viewing Gaudi's architecture ...the museum below gave you an appreciation for the genius behind the work. The views inside the building were as pretty as views outside.

We headed next to the Parc Guell. This is a large park area designed by Gaudi. It was a very relaxing and peaceful area ...very much candy for the eyes. The designs of the park were almost "Dr. Seus- like". We also strolled by La Pedrera ...another one of Gaudi's buildings. We visited a a few other Gaudi buildings, but were restricted on photos.

We took David Collom's advice (a friend from San Diego ...dontcha love e-mail!) and ate at La Quince Nitz restuarant in the Plaza Mayor. David, Vinka, and their son Jonathon, had been here before and they highly recommended this restaurant. It just had to be good due to the L-O-N-G lines outside the door. During our 1 hour wait, we met Debbi and Dave from England ...they were standing in line in front of us. We ended up eating together ...the food and the ambiance was very good. AND, the prices were very reasonable!

Our next stop along the "Ficke Adventure" in Spain, was the town of Huesca. There really wasn't much to this town, but it was close to the Castillo de Loarre. This castle was built in the 11th century to keep watch over the Muslim raiders. The castle is on a very high hill and overlooks the valleys and fields of almond trees. It's in a state of partial restoration ...perfect skeletons for Lon to roam around in.

We stopped next in Pamplona for one night. We were way too early for the famous running of the bulls (Fiesta de San Fermin on July 6th), but this city was on our way to Santander ...where we were going to meet up with relatives. We didn't stay long enough to get a flavor for Pamplona ...maybe on another trip.

On the way to Santander, we made several stops in varoius small towns. We arrived in Santander just minutes before my parents flew in. We stayed with my mother's cousin's family - Maria Jesus and Gumersindo. Maria Jesus is my mother's cousin (their fathers were brothers). The last time they had seen eachother was almost 36 years ago ...when my parents left Cuba and went to Spain. At that time, Ma. Jesus and Gumersindo were living in Burgos.

This was my first time meeting the relatives and it was a pleasant surprise! Gumersindo has been following our travels this past year. He had printed out most of our website ...it was a shock to see just how much we had written so far. We knew we were in for a great experience that first night when Ma. Jesus, Gumer, Mary Sin (daughter), Rosa Mary (daughter), and Miguel Angel (son in law) gave us a very warm welcome and wonderful dinner. They really opened themselves and their house to us. They took us all over Santander and the surrounding area ... Vega de Pas and Santillana del Mar.

Santander was a very picturesque city along the water. We strolled along the waterfront and lighthouse. There were beautiful, old style bars that were packed with people in the evenings. You can tell this city must be reallybusy in the summer! We were fortunate to meet the rest of the relatives who lived around the Santander area. The evening started off a bit chaotic, but ended with many passionate discussions (tertulios) and new found friends as well as family.

We left Santander with many great memories. Lon, myself, Maria Jesus, Gumersindo, Mami, and Papi drove on to Alfambra (near Valencia). Alfambra was where my mother's father was born ..and there is still family there. We met up with Maruja and her husband Amador . Maruja had a rabbit and shrimp paella waiting for us! We had a quick tour of Alfambra and went through some old family photos ... found lots of photos of my grandfather.

Before we went back into Maruja and Amador's house, Lon decided to take his shoes off and leave them outside ...because they got covered in mud while he was walking around town. About half an hour later, my mother arrived at the apartment and asked why there was only 1 shoe outside the door. We thought she was joking, but when we realized she was serious, Lon and Amador quickly went outside to see what happened to his shoe. Now, keep in mind, Lon's been wearing these shoes for 1 year now ...and they don't just stink, the REEK! Apparently, the smell attracted a dog from the neighborhood and it had run off with his shoe. Luckily, they were able to track it down again. Even the dog couldn't stomach his shoe for long!

We left Alfambra and did a quick tour of Teruel (a lovely medieval town). We ended the day in Valencia ...where we met the rest of the family. Actually, the day really never ended ...it was Las Fallas festival time! We've never seen anything like it. It was several days of non-stop fireworks, paellas, huge structures (fallas) of papier-mache, elaborate costumes, and partying. The big fireworks never got started until well after midnight, so we found ourselves walking around until 4 a.m. every night - and the streets were still packed with people.

Each neighborhood had their own falla. After several days of nonstop fireworks and merry-making, the fallas are burned ...and so ends the festival. It was an impressive event and we were really lucky to have shared those days with family. I'm sure we'll return to Valencia and Santander in the future. Now it's the family's turn to come visit us in the United States (whenever it is that we get back!).

Lon and I drove to Cuenca and my parents went to Mallorca. We planned to meet up again after a few days in Madrid. We found Cuenca to be a a very scenic, small town with narrow cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings. The town is well known for their beautiful "casas colgadas" ...hanging houses. We enjoyed just walking around the old part of the city. We also tried to catch up on some much needed sleep!

After one day in Cuenca, we drove to Toledo ...making a few stops along the way. Toledo was a very pretty town. It's worth taking a few days to see everything here. We spent one day just walking all around the city. Lon knew all about Toledo's sword making history, so he was quite keen to visit some sword factories. While many swords are for "costume" purposes, there are also serious swords made by craftsman in the old tradition. These pieces are for collectors ...and Lon collected one.

This was also Lon's chance to do the "castle route" around the Toledo area (I sat this one out). He spent most of a day driving around to various castles.

We drove back to Madrid and caught up with my parents. We spent the next 2 days walking, eating, and talking. It was great seeing my parents again and meeting all the relatives. There are so many beautiful sights to see in Spain, we'll have to make another trip ...maybe after we get jobs and save money!!??

region	lodging	$US / night	rating	notes
Madrid	Hostal Macarena	$56.07		Nice, but overpriced
	Hostal Riesco	$36.49		Good location, comfortable, nice but small rooms
	Emma & Cesar	$0.0		Beautifully decorated, charming staff
Barcelona	Hostal Levante	$42.72		Good location, clean, comfortable room
Pamplona	Hostal Bearan	$32.48		Very clean, good location
Toledo	Hostal Santo Tomé	$40.04		Great location, very nice room