GRANADA AND BEYOND

We had wonderful hosts to stay with near Granada who not only welcomed us into their home but also took us out to give us a taste of the famous Granada culture of free tapas with every drink. Though it wasn't a filling meal like we're accustomed to eating after a hard day of cycling, and in hindsight we perhaps should have snacked a little more before heading out to drink beer with people who live in a country that LOVES beer, the mini sandwiches and side orders were delicious and a very fun tradition which, we were told, is unique to their city.

Mike, Cari, Maria and Antonio

The hazy skies that consumed the greater Granada area during our visit were a huge disappointment as they made all of our photos appear to be ugly and gray rather than the beautiful landscapes that they actually were and the towering, snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range that loomed over the city appeared faint at best during the brief periods we could actually see them at all. Though we couldn't enjoy the natural beauty of the area we took a day to stroll around the city to the unmistakable sound of hard soled shoes on cobblestone streets echoing throughout the narrow alleyways and let our minds be blown away, as has been the case since our arrival in Europe, by how much older this world is than the world we know in the US.

We then decided to check out a major tourist attraction which we typically avoid due to having to leave our bikes unattended, but since we had a place to store them and took the bus into the city, we figured we might as well take advantage. The Alhambra, we were told, is the most visited tourist attraction in Spain, which, after seeing it for ourselves, can understand why. This mighty fortress was built on the hill overlooking the city between the 11^th and 13^th centuries and housed Granada's Muslim rulers between the 13^th and 15^th centuries. Although it's apparent that there's been substantial renovations done over the years, it's easy to imagine how grand it was back in those days if it can still leave visitors astounded today.

We arrived somewhat late in the evening, so didn't have a ton of time to explore, but what we did see left us in awe. The immaculate gardens were beautifully landscaped and the countless nooks you could escape into were peaceful with fountains, reflection pools and towering trees to somewhat hide you from the masses of visitors. The Nasrid Palace, where the rulers actually lived, was by far one of the most intricately decorated and amazing buildings either of us have ever seen. The floors were made of perfectly placed stones and bricks to create beautiful patterns, the domed ceilings and door frames were decorated with amazingly ornate woodwork and the walls, both inside and out, were covered in ceramic mosaics and stunningly carved plaster tiles whose designs looked as intricate and delicate as lace. It seems as though it would take a single person a lifetime to complete a dozen of these tiles and then you look at the size of the place and the amount of manpower it must have taken to create it is unfathomable.

The Alhambra 

Intricate walls of the Alhambra 

One of the reflection pools within the Nasrid Palace 

A nice, quiet corner after all of the school kids went away.

When the time came for us to leave Granada we had a major challenge on our hands. We had dropped ourselves into a big hole and the only road leading out in the direction we wanted to go was a freeway. Our map and the route planning program on our computer showed a few smaller roads that all appeared to lead to a town via a mountain pass but then dead ended. After significantly studying Google maps for a while, Mike eventually devised a route for us, sketched a handful of maps in his notebook and we set off knowing it was likely that we'd get lost several times before we hit a road that was actually on our map. It turned out to be an adventure indeed as we spent a day bouncing along no-named gravel roads, unmaintained frontage roads, through fields, tiny villages, getting lost and ending up pushing our bikes through sandy washes. Just when we thought we were too far off course, we spotted a farmer working on the hill above us so we asked him which way it was to the next town on Mike's sketched map. The directions were simple; turn left out of the sand, lift our bikes over the fence, climb up a ginormous hill and keep going until you get to a gate. Pass through the gate, turn right until you hit a paved road, turn right again and it'll eventually take you to the town you're looking for. Oh, of course! It's so simple, how could we ever have gotten lost? Not knowing if this would only get us more lost, we took the farmer's word and when we finally made it to our destination were happy we hadn't turned back and started again.

Mike lost in a sandy wash 

 Cari

Cari on our day of being lost

The weather in southern Spain has gotten rather hot so we've decided to turn north and head for the Pyrenees, figuring by the time we get there the weather should be good enough for cycling. We thought we'd give our knees a break and take a less grueling route up the coast instead of working our way through the mountains of central Spain, but when we reached the Mediterranean coast, a few hours was all we could handle. The cliffs, white sandy beaches and turquoise water had potential for beautiful riding but rather than nice quiet roads that we're constantly searching for, we found ourselves surrounded by hotels sprawling as far up and down the coastline as we could see, heavy traffic, major road construction and hordes of over-tanned senior citizens walking around and lounging on the beaches half naked. After a full afternoon of having to stop and pull out the computer every 5 minutes to navigate our way through 20 miles of sprawling urban retirement communities, we'd had enough, found a road that headed inland and re-routed our course to the Pyrenees.

It has turned out to be an excellent decision. The roads have been spectacular, the desert mountain scenery is beautiful, there's little traffic and best of all, there's no need to continuously consult our map because we get long stretches on a single highway where we can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Just some more beautiful Spanish countryside

WANDERING AIMLESSLY IN SEE-THROUGH CLOTHES

It's a strange existence when you have no direction. We have never had a plan on this bike tour, but there was always a specific location or people to visit that somewhat dictated our route. In the US it was a goal to ride coast to coast and our tour was designed to stop and see our friends and families scattered across the country. In South America the goal was always Ushuaia, the southern tip of the continent and there were very few roads to choose from. We never had to think about where we should go as there was really only one option. But now things are different. We don't have many friends or family to visit nor is our goal to simply reach a specific city or traverse a given country or all of Europe for that matter. I'm not sure what our goal is other than to see a huge portion of Europe, which, with no direction, is proving to be a more difficult goal than it sounds.

We open our travel guide book and all it mentions are museums, cathedrals and attractions in the cities. We're not big fans of museums or cathedrals as they lose our attention quickly, and it's especially difficult when we have to also worry about our bikes and possessions sitting out on the street. Cities are nothing more than congested, traffic-heavy nightmares to navigate on a touring bike and we try to avoid them as much as possible and therefore have found our guide book worthless in helping direct us. We've talked to plenty of people, but most people who travel, travel to the cities. That's where things are happening; most travelers wouldn't be perfectly content, as we are, spending an evening in the endless grids of olive groves covering the mountains of southern Spain. Thus, we have also learned that travelers, unless they too are on fully loaded touring bikes, are generally useless in giving us helpful suggestions. So we have been left to wander aimlessly. Every few nights we open our map and assess the billions of options we have. “Where should we go next” is always the question. “I don't care” is always our response. I generally despise that as an answer but we really don't care as we have no expectations or any idea of what we'll find down any road we take.

We've started to use the “Natural Parks” as well any green colored areas on our map as our points of interest and it's been working well for us. We're still unsure what exactly a “Natural Park” is as there's still houses, towns and farming and there's no notable difference with the surrounding areas other than everything is fenced, which can make finding camp a little difficult at times. It has, however, generally put us on quiet mountain roads where we are alone to enjoy the oak tree scattered hills, ancient moss-covered stone walls, giant granite boulders, rivers and wildflowers which neither of us will ever complain about. The terrain has been challenging as all of southern Spain appears to be mountainous, but belting out the songs playing on our iPods at the top of our lungs without a care in the world helps us forget about the burning muscles and instead shifts our focus to the beautiful landscapes surrounding us. Music has a wonderful way of making great things even better.

Spanish countryside

We have learned a couple of lessons from our first week in Spain. Number one is that they are the ultimate lovers of siestas and number two is do NOT eat Spanish mushrooms. We thought it inconvenient in South America where towns shut down for an hour or two every afternoon, but here it's more like 4-5 hours and literally the streets of every small town are deserted from 2pm until as late as 7pm. We have learned to do all of our days' shopping before noon if we want anything other than chips, soda, coffee or beer during siesta which can be purchased from the bars that remain open at all hours and have saved us from collapsing of afternoon thirst or hunger on more than one occasion.

And then there are the mushrooms that we love in our dinners. It was virtually impossible to find good mushrooms in South America so we were ecstatic when we arrived in Europe to find them abundant. Although they are plentiful, we found out the hard way that they're also full of sand and rocks, even the packaged, pre-cut, clean-looking ones. We typically make a veggie stir fry with noodles for dinner and there's nothing more disappointing than digging into a delicious smelling meal after a long day but immediately losing your appetite when you end up with a mouthful of gritty veggies and then have to spit out a big rock that nearly busted a tooth. Where all of the sand was hiding when we inspected the mushrooms is beyond us but we both have too much dental work to risk breaking by chewing on rocks. We've donated a few of our recent dinners to the trash cans, had to resort to good old egg sandwiches for dinner and sadly give up eating mushrooms in Spain.

Yesterday marked our 10^th month on the road and the daily wear and tear on our gear has really started to show, especially in our clothes. I guess when you wear the same two outfits everyday for that long you have to expect they'll eventually wear out. Our t-shirts are literally threadbare and when we hold them up to our faces we can see through both layers of the shirt better than we can see through the horribly scratched up lenses of our sunglasses. We found a thrift shop yesterday in Granada and bought Mike a new shirt as the formerly white one he had been riding in since we left Minnesota in September had turned a nasty shade of brown, even after being laundered in a machine (with soap) and it was beginning to be embarrassing to wear in public. Then there are our poor cycling shorts of which we each have two pair. They have been worn all day, everyday, washed in rivers or gas station sinks, wrung out and hung to dry nearly 150 times each on top of all of the wear they got before we left on this trip. The material around our legs have slowly been deteriorating over the past month losing their elasticity and becoming thin enough to see through. The transparency in the legs doesn't concern us at all but last week when Mike doubled over laughing about the thinness of my shorts in the rear, we realized it might be time for some new shorts. I wouldn't say I'm fully mooning all of the people we pass, yet, but it's definitely a rapidly waxing crescent moon that needs to be addressed soon before we really have a problem.