4 days of riding in Spain was one of the best trips that I’ve ever taken. For my long-time readers, you know that’s saying a lot. It helps to have great scenery and a great route (even if you have to adjust it on the fly), but what was most important was riding with friends. We spent no more than 4 hours each day on the bikes, leaving plenty of time to hang out and socialize. And knowing that I was riding with friends gave me a sense of security and safety that I wouldn’t have had on my own or may not have had if I had been riding with a tour group. But there was a lot more to the ride than just that.
Category: Spain
Motorcycling In The South Of Spain- Part 4
The next few days of riding were fantastic. Gorgeous weather, great roads, and good riding. As I mentioned before, I haven’t done a lot of long rides, but both Glenn and John commented that this was some of the best scenic riding that they’d ever done. Along the route from Cadiz to Ronda on day 3, we stopped in a small town called Algar. It may have been one mile from one end to the other, but it was nothing but bumpy European streets and sharp turns, so we left as quickly as possible.
Motorcycling In The South Of Spain- Part 3
Upon leaving the bike shop, Glenn did a great job of getting us onto the highway without too much trouble. The first thing I noticed about Spanish roads that I hadn’t considered before is that they love their roundabouts. That worried me. I hate roundabouts. I will deliberately reroute myself when driving in DC to avoid roundabouts. But DC has roundabouts with crosswalks and traffic lights, which completely minimizes the point of the roundabout in the first place. Spanish roundabouts are the ‘right’ kind. Cars and trucks, no crosswalks or pedestrians, no traffic lights or signs. Just a roundabout, the way they’re meant to be. That makes them much easier to navigate.
Motorcycling In The South Of Spain- Part 2
When we got to Malaga, after a quick stop for lunch at the train station and knocking out some laundry at a local laundromat, we grabbed a taxi to IMT Bike. Over the previous few months, I’d been emailing them with all kinds of questions and thoughts, and they’d been great about helping plan our trip. Not great about helping to plan our route, since that would compete with their guided tours, but everything else about their service was fantastic. Yeah, I’m plugging their business, but I think they did a great job, so if you want to rent motorcycles in Spain, talk to them. Tell Elisa I sent you. I don’t get any credit for it, but I just like it when people drop my name for no good reason.
Motorcycling In The South Of Spain- Part 1
“This is dumb. This is dumb. This is so freaking dumb. I’m going to die.” The words echoed through my head almost in time with the thrum of the engine. Part of me was excited about the ride. Part of me was terrified. And a small voice in my head was convinced that I was going to die. But that’s why I was here in the first place. Not to die, that is, but to do something outside of my comfort zone. With that thought, I rolled on the throttle and rode out into the rain.
Ronda, Spain
Maybe I got to Ronda at just the right time, both in terms of weather and in terms of where I was in my travels. Maybe I had been in hostels for so long that changing to a hotel for a few nights was an exceptional treat. Or maybe Ronda is an awesome little town that exceeded my expectations in every way.
Spanish Class Part 2
I finished my first week of class and decided to sign up for a second week. I feel like I’m learning a bit, but I’m definitely getting value out of just talking out loud more. It’s one thing to think the words in your head, it’s a whole different thing to make your mouth make the right noises. It’s funny; they use the same alphabet as we do, but since the pronunciation is different, sometimes it’s hard to make the sounds come out right, and I still stumble over big words, like “adolescencia”, “enamoramiento”, and “antidisestablishmentarianism”.
Learning Spanish in Spain
The instructor shut the door and said in Spanish, “Today we’re going to spend some time learning slang. There are some slang phrases that are common throughout Spain and some that are unique to Málaga. To help with the common phrases, we have a guest teacher today.” He turned to the projector, turned it on, and started a video on his laptop. Our surprise guest instructor was a YouTube video of Antonio Banderas teaching us Spanish slang.
Running With The Bulls In Pamplona
Ever since Hemingway wrote about the running of the bulls in The Sun Also Rises, tens of thousands of people from around the world flock to Pamplona, Spain for the festival of San Fermin. Starting at noon on July 6th of every year, this festival is, among other things, in honor of Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona. But I’d bet that 99% of the visitors don’t know that and they don’t care. They’re here for the bulls. More specifically, they’re here to run with the bulls.
We’re not in America anymore, Toto
Recently, I was in the bus station in Granada, Spain, ready to catch a bus to Malaga, and I needed a bottle of water and a candy bar, so I went to the convenience store in the station.