Peter Paul Rubens. How his name conjures images of hefty women–but this painter is so much more. His painting is luminescent, literally larger than life. And the Prado offered two massive rooms of his work. He is epic, mythic–taking the tales that have inspired mankind and translating them into oil on canvas.     At …[ read more ]

     Our visit turned up some delightful Spanish concepts–ones I think we would do well to adopt here in the U.S. 1.  They do not waste.      After we found the car we hid underground in Spain (see first Spanish blog), I couldn’t get the lights to turn on in my room. With no knowledge of …[ read more ]

Mountains outside Alicante The Calpe W         We left Ronda and traveled six hours to the coast. The scenery changed–often times becoming the bland rolling plains similar to central Spain . At the coast, things changed. Jagged, bare mountains rose to the left of us, the Mediterranean rolled out to the right.                …[ read more ]

     As my ship glided past in the night, I strained to see the mighty British rock guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean. Darkness swallowed it and we sailed on to Cadiz. This time in Spain, I would not only see Gibraltar, or Gib as the locals affectionately call it, I would climb it. Image …[ read more ]

            Set in the heart of Andalucía , in the beautiful Serranía de Ronda mountains. Its gorge—El Tajo—is a 360 foot drop of breathtaking beauty. The New Bridge (Puento Nuevo) was built in 1751 and still supports cars and tourists and still displays the glory of this countryside. View from Puento Nuevo             After walking over the bridge, I …[ read more ]