Safari!

For my birthday, we drove 4 hours southwest to the coast of southern Spain. Since we were west of Gibraltar, the water was the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean. We had signed up for a tour of the Parque Nacional de Donana. The park is huge and comprised of several ecosystems which are home to a number of wild animals. There are a few visitors centers on the edges of the park, but the best (only) way to see the interior of the park is on a guided tour. These tours are given from 21 seat buses with 4 wheel drive and 5ft tall tires; all terrain buses.

Our trip began on the beach where we drove in the surf a what felt like a dangerous angle – I was anxious the whole time. The land for the park was rescued in 1969 , but a few fisherman lived on the beach in very simple huts, they were allowed to stay, and 7 remain to this day. But as we drove past the first hut, our driver abruptly turned the bus and raced toward the hut. A spark had ignited the thatched roof and the two inhabitants were trying hard to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the huts have no running water, so they were drawn bucketfuls from their well to combat the flames. Our driver grabbed the bus’s fire extinguisher, climbed onto the roof and sprayed it down. Thatch is very flammable though and the fire was underneath it, so they were having to tear off chucks of the thatch to make sure it was fully out. Between our bus driver and the two residents, they were able to stop the fire before too much damaged occurred; it was lucky we were driving by.

After this exciting beginning we continued the tour inland at the shifting dunes. The dunes are constantly changing and growing in size. They readily form hills and valleys with pine trees growing in the valleys. As the sand moves, the pine trees are covered and die, but new trees crop up in the new valleys. It is an ecosystem constantly in flux. From the dunes we entered the forest; the trees are more permanent and diverse here. This area is bordered by the marshland and is inhabited by several species of deer, wild boars, and lynxes.

During our visit the marsh was dry and cracked. As winter progresses the rains will fill it back up and it will become a breeding ground for dozens of species of birds-including flamingos. We didn’t see many birds, though we did see the wild marsh cows. Yes, wild cows sounds like an oxymoron, but there is a herd that roams this area along with marsh ponies. Their population is controlled as they aren’t strictly native species.

Our tour ended with a long drive on the beach as the sun set over the waves. It was gorgeous, and if we hadn’t visited in the off season, we wouldn’t have seen it or hardly anyh of the animals.

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Information about the National Park
Ordering Tickets for Park Tours

The Alhambra

Our 2nd day in Granada we visited the Alhambra palace/fortress. It sits on a hill above the city and offers spectacular views for miles in all directions. For 700 years the Moors ruled in Spain, and the Alhambra is one of their most spectacular creations.

The Moors were a group of Muslims who arrive in Spain in 711. They were focused on enhancing their knowledge, and rescued the texts of ancient Greece and Rome. They understood geometry and the Alahambra palace reflects their knowledge. Every aspect of the palace was designed on a single set of ratios so each room flows cohesively. The architecture is decidedly Eastern; a far cry form the styles of Europe at the time.

In 1492, the Catholic monarchs of Spain, Isabel and Ferdinand, waged a campaign to expel the Moors from their last stronghold. They succeeded in driving out the Moors, in taking over their palace, and in starting the Inquisition.

Much of the Alhambra is original, somehow it survived the genocidal tendencies of the Catholic Monarchs. I have to wonder if they didn’t know they were surrounded by Koran teachings. All of the beautiful carvings that decorate almost every inch of the palace are Arab script. There are excerpts from the Koran and poetry from the official court scribes of the Muslim kings.

In addition to poetry as decorative art, the Moors also understood how infusing a space with light and water can elicit different emotions. There are fountains and small waterways throughout the palace, contributing the sound of moving water to the ambiance. There are also sufficient windows and plazas allowing sunlight to stream in, quite a contrast from the contemporary thick walled Romanesque structures in Europe.

When we checked into our hotel, the lady at the front desk was adamant about seeing sunset over the Alhambra. So after our visit, we climbed a neighboring hill and sat in the gardens of the mosque to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful end to the day.

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Alhambra Homepage

Book Alhambra Tickets Online

UNESCO Alhambra Page

Interesting Documentary about the Moors in Spain

The Olive Oil Tour

The aged olive tree

I love olive oil. You probably already know that. But it bears repeating because everyone should love olive oil. Spain is actually the largest olive oil producer in the world. Like wine, the flavor of olive oil depends on growing conditions; each country, each region, even each farm produces different tasting oils. I wanted to taste Spanish olive oil, so I signed us up for a tasting to be followed by tapas and a wine tasting.

We were picked up in downtown Granada and whisked off to a small town called Nigüelas in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We stopped first in an olive grove where the trees were 300 years old. Olive trees grow slowly, so these trees are much smaller than a 300 year old maple, oak, or elm tree would be. They didn’t even seem taller than younger olive trees, just bushier. Amongst the olive trees were almond and pomegranate trees. In Andalusia they have a saying, plant an almond tree for your children and an olive tree for your grandchildren.

Joe trying the water from the "fountain of youth" in Nigüelas. 

We left the fields and drove into the town square where there is a fountain fed by the Sierra Nevada. It is rumored that drinking the water will make you younger. It was tasty and not as cold as I thought it would be, but it didn’t stop my birthday from coming. I like the concept of potable water in public fountains as it’s very easy to satisfy your thirst. From the square we walked to an ancient olive mill, Las Laerillas, from the 15th century.

 The mill fell out of use in the 1920s and it was boarded up and forgotten. In the 1990s the town realized what a treasure they had and they reopened the mill as a museum. It is the oldest olive mill in Spain. Outside the mill are stone cells which served as bins for sorting picked olives—each family had their own cell. These were weighed (so each family received their proper share) and then brought to the Molino de Sangre or Mill of Blood. This type of mill earned its name in Roman times when slaves were used to turn the millstones; the slaves were later replaced with donkeys, but the name remained.

The giant pressing lever at the Las Laerillas Mill

After milling, the olives were pressed. This was achieved by use of giant levers. The pressed oil/water mixture flowed into underground chambers and gravity separated the oil from the water. The finished product was stored in giant terracotta pots from which manageable quantities could be labeled.

Large terracotta pots used for storing the pressed oil.

The final stop on the tour was a small shop where we had our tasting. We tasted 3 local oils with different tastes and 2 flavored oils. There are 2 methods of flavoring oil: the flavoring (herbs, fruits, or spices) can be added to the oil during bottling; or the flavoring can be added during milling. In the first method, the flavoring will sit in the bottle, slowing imparting flavor over time. In the latter, the flavoring and the olives are ground together and then pressed. The flavored oils we tried were lemon and basil, and they were flavored with the second method. The basil oil was delicious and would be an excellent way to impart basil flavor when basil leaves are out of season. I’m really excited to try it in some recipes. The lemon oil was very different; we ate it like a dessert. We poured the oil over bread and then sprinkled a little bit of sugar on top. This combination transformed the bread into an enchanting dessert.

After the oil we had our wine tasting, and among the samples was a dry, white sherry. It smelled like it would be potent, a little like whisky. But, since old sherry casks are used to age whisky, it is the whisky that smells like sherry. Despite its strong smell though, it was a smooth drink—very tasty. We bought a bottle. We also tried another sherry; it was red and much sweeter. It was made from raisins; the grapes are dried in the sun before pressing. While interesting to try, I think was too sweet.

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The Olive Oil Tour

European Food Crops

Orange Tree!

Outside the cities, European landscape quickly becomes farm land. Each country grows plants that are integral to their national products; vineyards lace across France, hops towers in the German fields, and apple orchards dot the English countryside. When we were driving around southern Portugal and Spain, I knew the plants growing in the fields adjacent to the highway were commercial, but it took me some time to identify them.

The easiest trees were the citrus trees—their branches were bulging with oranges and lemons. Next came the olive trees; they too were easy to pick out thanks to our earlier trips to Italy, and like the citrus trees, their boughs were covered in the fruit. I realized somewhat belatedly that the pine trees were cultivated for their pine nuts; I should have remembered them from Italy as well. There were two more difficult to identify species in the fields. The tall leafy trees came into my mind abruptly when I remembered seeing their picture on a pack of cough drops—eucalyptus. The last tree involved more observation to identify. I noticed the bark had been stripped off the trunks and I recalled reading about cork oaks; every 9 years the bark is carefully cut away and turned into bottle stoppers.

If you look at the bark carefully, you can see it's two different colors.
The darker color is where the cork was stripped off.

Near Granada there were also almond and pomegranate trees growing. Pomegranates are actually the symbol of Granada; they are featured in sculpture and mosaics all over the city. This should come as no surprise when you learn the Spanish word for pomegranate is granada. Unfortunately during our visit it wasn’t quite pomegranate season yet, so we didn’t eat them at every meal.

Dublin Literary Pub Crawl

When we finished our pints in the Gravity Bar we headed out the Temple Bar area of Dublin for a literary pub crawl. I was nervous about this tour; the description sounded a little cheesy, and I’ve been on enough cheesy tours. Luckily for me, it wasn’t.

Dublin Literary Pub Crawl
Dublin, Ireland

There were 2 men conducting the tour, and periodically they would act out little vignettes of Irish authors and their works. These I found quite funny, but I’m not sure everyone on the tour got all the jokes—only a few of us were laughing. I particularly enjoyed their interpretation of some of Oscar Wilde’s personal correspondence. Our guides also sang during the tour, and that was a lovely taste of Irish musical culture.

We toured 4 pubs that night, just a fraction of the over 800 pubs in Dublin. Since the tour cannot possibly cover this many, there is an accompanying book that gives the history of more famous pubs in Dublin, as well as background information on Irish authors and poets. We bought the book and had it signed by the author, one of the stars of the tour that night.

The tour concluded with a little trivia quiz about Dublin and her authors—there was even a prize! It was a close race, but in the end, only one person could win: me! I won a free Pub Crawl t-shirt! WOO!! I had a lot of fun on this tour (even before I won the t-shirt) and I would definitely take it again.

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Dublin Literary Pub Crawl

Temple Bar

My Goodness, My Guinness

The Guinness Storehouses
Dublin, Ireland

Our first stop in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse. The center is located in a 7-storey building though which you guide yourself. Each entry ticket comes with a pint voucher. There are several places to redeem the voucher, but the best place is probably the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor; it provides unimpeded vistas of Dublin. The visitor center might be the tallest building in Dublin.

Gravity Bar Views
Dublin, Ireland

This visit was fun and informative, but I thought it was a bit expensive. I also would have liked to see the brewery process in action. The exhibits featured museum-worthy pieces of machinery and videos of the historic brewing process. Still, we had a good time and it’s a fun place to spend an afternoon.
There are 3 cafes at the storehouse, and their menus all feature dishes that are made with Guinness—a tasty theme. Even more interesting . . . there are recipes for some of these delicious dishes on their website.

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Guinness Storehouse

Guinness RecipesWebcam Views from Gravity Bar

The Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher
County Clare, Ireland

We stopped for lunch at the Roadside Tavern brewpub before we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. There aren’t many microbreweries in Ireland—Guinness has a pretty dominant market share—but we sought them out. When we walked in, we were immediately brought into conversation with a couple of regulars. Ireland has the friendliest people of any country we’ve visited; the Irish are always happy to shoot the breeze over a pint. On our way out of the bar we noticed a Great Lakes Brewing sticker; I was not the first Ohioan to visit this pub.

Don't climb over the wall and fall off the cliffs to your death
Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Sated, we drove to the Cliffs of Moher. It was like being on the edge of the world; the cliffs rise above the sea some 700 feet, with thousands of miles of ocean on the horizon. The visuals are so dramatic they’ve been featured in several films, including The Princess Bride (the Cliffs of Insanity) and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Voldemort’s Horcrux Cave).

There are tour options that include boat trips around the cliffs and to the nearby Aran Islands. However, there was an epic storm blowing in with hurricane strength winds, so we decided to stay safely on land, and out of the rough seas.

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Roadside Tavern Brewpub

Cliffs of Moher

Movies featuring the Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher Cruises

Great Lakes Brewing