Portugal and Spain trip (The Iberian country)

We recently returned from a trip to Portugal and Spain. We learned how the two countries were conquered by several different countries and cultures. First was some Germanic tribes, then Morocco (the Moors), then came the Romans, and finally the Catholic crusaders for the church, which is still pretty much the culture today.

We landed into Lisbon Portugal where we stayed for 3 days. A very large city of small alleyways and steep hills.

Then off to across the border to Spain, after a brief stop in Évora to learn about those beautiful hand painted tiles. Traveling can be a pain in a bus, but ours had WIFI. Next stop was Carmona and some wonderful Roman ruins with an amphitheater, which is still used today.

Remnants of the Roman structures was everywhere, from the columns to the arched aqueducts crossing over the modern streets.

Then to romantic Seville for a day trip. Visiting and grand plaza built in 1929 for the Pan-American Expo the year the stock market crashed causing it to be a total disaster, but it is gorgeous with its tall spirals, hand craved stone columns and beautiful painted tile mosaics.

Stay a couple nights in a converted Castle fort perched high on a hill overlooking the small town was unbelievable. One of many hotels we would stay in that totally blew our socks off.

Next stop, Ronda, after stops at an olive farm and a 2000 acre ranch that raises bulls for bullfighting. Very controversial topic, even in Spain. If you did not know, Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world. Much of the olive oil marketed by Italy comes from Spain, Read your labels. 

As we drove through the countryside toward U'beda, there was nothing but rolling hills and a sea of olive trees. After a short stop in Cordova to tour a gigantic (250,000 Muslim Mosque built by the Moors, when the Catholic crusaders (Templars) took over the country and built a cathedral in the middle of it. Amazing! The Mosque must have been to beautiful to tear down.

We continued our trip northeast toward Toledo (not Ohio) for the next few nights and finally the long flight back to the states. Toledo is an extremely old city located in a river valley surrounded by very old houses, churches and military armories.

Our trip to Portugal and Spain was amazing, informative and in some aspects eye opening to their history. Both countries were world powers in their day, mainly on the oceans. The people, like other countries we have visited, were over run by countries and forced to change their culture in many ways. Now they are a mixture of all they were. Each invading country left its mark from architecture, to food, to religion and imbedded into the present culture of Portugal and Spain. 

There is so much more I could write and photos I could photo but it would be a blur. We loved the trip and the people on our 16 day trip, but were so glad (as always) to be home and see our bed.

Take care, stay safe.

Oh snap!

 After getting home from a whirlwind 17 days of travel in Portugal and Spain, we realized, "Oh, Thanksgiving is in just a couple days." Jet lag from nearly 20 hours in transient, and washing all the dirty clothes, catching up with all the daily stuff you do when you are home normally, the day has been a little busy and still sleepy. The pilot of our airline announced as we landed in Phoenix, "Welcome to Phoenix, the current temperature is 75 degrees and the current time is 6:45 PM, so now you can enjoy the same evening for the second time." All of us sleepyheads had to thing for a second, oh yeah, we left Europe 7 or 8 hours before. Ah-h-h!

A Mosque that was built in the 1400s and then the Catholic church took it over and built a cathedral in the center of the 250,000 square foot Mosque.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Getting together with family and friends to break bread and over eating (like we haven't already done that on our trip), is a blessing in itself. But that is really why I love Thanksgiving. Nancy and I have been very blessed to go to SO many countries, talk to the native people and hear what their lives are like, eat with them, sing and dance with them, immerse our lives into theirs and learn their cultures, trying to understand them deeply. This trip was no different. And yes, the be able to do these trips is a great blessing in itself.

But our blessings does not stop there. We both are thankful for all of our family members, great friends, our past jobs and the people we worked with and enjoyed. All the great times and sad times we had with them. Life has been VERY good to us both.

With anyone, there are always ups and downs in your life. Some remember just the downs, we think of the ups, and look around to see what we have. Not just 'things' like houses, cars and money, but family and friends and relationships. That is what we ALL should be thankful for. 

All that we have means nothing if you don't have friends, family and relationships in your life. One of the best gifts I had when we got home was a big sloppy lick from our curly haired dog, so glad to see us. We were SO glad to see him too, just like our bed.

So on Thanksgiving Day, say thank you for all you have, not what you want, WHAT YOU HAVE. After you think about all you have, you may feel pretty blessed too.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, share your love, take care and stay safe. God bless.

                             More photos of our trip posted later after I get them sorted.