This is Rob's report on our trip to Spain in July 2006.
It tends to be long and repetitive but the people on the trip will enjoy it.

Once again we traveled with Trafalgar. They always do a good job.
We spent a lot of time on the bus. Spain is a large country. We visited all the major cities - Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.

The history of Spain is roughly -
- Early - native people starting as early as 60k BC
- Phoenicians approximately 1.1k BC
- Romans 200 BC to 409 BC
- Visigoths 409 to 711
- Moslems 711 to 1492. They were gradually pushed out from north to south during the centuries long "reconquista".
- Christians totally in charge starting in 1492.

My friend Johnny drove us to SFO for our flight on Lufthansa. Darn, it turned out the plane was United leased by Lufthansa so things were not as nice as we expected. For one thing the drinks on this flight were not free! We flew to Frankfort and then took a true Lufthansa flight to Madrid. We were picked up and taken to our hotel. It looks like all of Madrid is under construction.
Damn! I forgot my camera so we had to use my old reject which Deb is now using.  We took  a total of 1297 pictures and 44 movie clips.

Day one - Madrid
We stayed at the very nice Hotel Orense. The first night was meeting the group, having a group dinner and taking an evening tour of the city. By then we had been up over 24 hours but seemed to be able to keep going.

Got up the next morning and  took a tour of  Madrid. Every place you go in Spain there seems to be some Don Quixote memorabilia. You'd think The Don and Pancho were real. This was a fountain dedicated to them. The guide said an olive tree fell into the fountain and the next day all the water was gone - sucked up by the tree.
   We then headed out to Toledo on the bus. It's only about an hour away. The old city is spectacularly placed on a hill surrounded on three sides by the river Tajo. We hiked around with a guide. These old medieval cities are so much fun to walk around. The narrow streets, the cobble stones, small shops and all are always beautiful. To think this was here centuries before America was discovered and people are still living in these towns.
   I was very disappointed that we didn't see inside the cathedral. According to Rick Steve's it's the best cathedral in Spain. We never peeked inside. I guess we need to go back to take a look. We did see a synagogue, Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blnca, that was built by the moslems for the jews but was not in use after Queen Isabel had the jews eliminated in 1492.
   We had our first lunch here. There is a special ham (jamone pronounced by ha-Moan) which is not smoked but dried. There is a special version which is supposed to be better. It was ok but had a tough fatty edge and not much flavor. The sandwiches(bocadillas) were on very good bread but served DRY(!), never a bit of mustard or anything in sight. We ate several of the sandwiches on this trip. I bought a couple little beers for us. The beer in Spain, as in all of Europe, was quite good - light and refreshing.
   On the way back to Madrid we stopped at a place selling Toledo steel products. One family bought two nifty swords. I passed. (extra page)

Back in Madrid we didn't take the optional tour of the Prado museum they dropped us off and we went on our own. We took along our new friend Kay. She's quite a fun lady to talk with, very intelligent and curious. We walked until we about dropped but decided to go to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia museum to see the spectacular Picasso painting "Guernica" and Goya's "The Third of May 1808 in Madrid" paintings which were in a special anti war exhibition. Also some Dali's. For some reason it was free.
   We had the great adventure of taking the subway back to our hotel. I love to ride the subways, you see the real people and get places quickly. All subway systems in the world are laid out similarly.

Deb enjoyed the sangrias as often as we could find them. Usually served in pitchers. I usually had beer.

Day two. Up and on the road. It's a LONG drive to Barcelona. The roads are modern and nice. Everyone obeys the laws here since they instituted some tough penalties. They recently introduced the point system and seem to really punish you for minor infractions. In one place you could lose like 4 out or your 12 points for illegal parking! We saw lots of windmills around here.
   On the way we stopped in Zaragoza and took a look at the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar a huge church with a magic Virgin on a pillar(pilar). A spectacular and huge church. We had a few minutes for lunch. We nipped into a place selling tapas but they seemed to be a bit expensive and confusing so we had a small beer and left. We then found a bar where we ran into our friends Malcolm and Anne from South Africa. We had a bite to eat and a beer then back to the bus.
   Finally we made Barcelona. In Barcelona they speak Catalan rather then Spanish, but do understand Spanish. So some things are spelled differently here. We had time for a quickie city tour as we went to a spectacular dinner on the boardwalk area. This was the best meal of the trip. Right near the water, looking out at a boat harbor, good food, good drink and lots of fun people.  Then a quick tour with a beautiful water and light show before going back to our nice hotel and bed.

Next day out touring we saw the Gaudi cathedral Sagrada Familia. Gaudi worked on it from 1883 to 1926 and barely got four spires built. It still only half finished and will take another 50 years.  Newer architects/artists have modified and added their touches as construction continues. We glimpsed the Palau Guell apartment building.
   We also visited the Cathedral de Barcelona another large beautiful cathedral. Deb, Kay and I then proceeded to take the Metro and walk up up up to the Gaudi gardens. Quite interesting but never completed. It was supposed to be a gated community on a high hill for the wealthy but was never successful because it was too far from the center of town. Quite impressive and creative however. (extra page)
   We and Kay went to a small restaurant where Kay bought lunch. Very nice! Deb had a pitcher of strong sangria and got pretty wound up. After some hiking and searching we found the metro and returned to the Cathedral de Barcelona for another look. Unfortunately we didn't have time to return to the Sagrada Familia. (Extra page)
   We had a nice dinner that I can barely remember. We had a fun time in Barcelona, it's a great city.

Today we drove down the Mediterranean coast to Valencia with a stop at Pensicola (pronounced pen-See-kola). The entire coast seems to be under construction. Lots of English and Europeans buy condos here for vacationing.
   In Pensicola there is an old Knight's Templar fort. Later it was used by a pope pretender and named Castell del Papa Luna. For the making of the movie "El Cid" they modified the top ramparts of the castle.
   The sights of the Mediterranean here were fantastic some people went swimming. We had lunch at a place near a bunch of fishing boats. We ordered the small Hake - oops they were like smelt with heads, tails and guts. I ate them but had to think of something else. This looked like a classic European resort town. (extra page) [this needs more pictures]
   Back on the bus and on to Valencia. A very nice bus tour and another fabulous cathedral. [<- this may be wrong] Supposedly the Holy Grail is here. In fact the pope visited recently and used it in his mass. Had Indiana Jones only known. Unfortunately the cathedral was closing but we did have time to nip up 300 winding staircase steps to the top of the bell tower with our friends Malcolm and Anne.
   Our included dinner at the hotel was a giant paella. Most people were disappointed because the meat was chicken instead of seafood. I liked it. Paella is like Italian rosotto only more of a restricted list of spices.
   It's interesting to see that most air conditioners are hanging outside the apartments. It looks like 20-25% of apartments have air conditioners. Also everyplace we went we saw laundry hanging.

This morning we had a tour of Valencia that knocked our socks off. They have built a fabulous set of buildings in a dry river bed which are stunning. I'm not sure if they are to entertain the locals, attract visitors or to make a statement, but whatever, they are amazing. (extra page)
    We then headed out to Granada with a stop in the sweet little town of Alterra(???) near the tour directors house. We nipped into a place and had a lemonade that was to die for, then into the "supermarket". Prices for meat seemed to be similar to what we pay, though it threw me off a bit until I realized the weights were in kilos (2.2lbs).
   Another stop for lunch and another stop to look at a "cave" house in Guadix. People are actually living in these cave houses in the area around
   As we drove to Granada it looked much like California and most of the western US - dry and mountainous.
   This night we had dinner then went on an optional tour to the Albayzin, the old Moslem and now gypsy part of the city to see the gypsy dancers. The dancing was so-so but spirited, Deb liked it. The views of the Alhambra and environs during our walk through the medieval city were spectacular. We took a special small bus to get through the area. The bus ride was heart stopping! The driver went way too fast through these little tiny streets with people dodging out of the way. Whew! The bus ride alone was worth the extra money.
 
Today we toured the Alhambra. Extremely beautiful. Charles V who had kicked the Moslems out of this area built a palace right on the grounds. He didn't live long enough to complete it so it stood without a roof for several centuries. I can't say enough good things about this beautiful place. The Moslems don't have living figures in their art so the artistic decorations are geometric patterns and Arabic script. They use four colors red for blood, green for oasis or heaven, blue for the sky and gold for wealth. The gardens were spectacular.
   We were given some time for lunch and sightseeing. We went to the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) a lavish place for the last resting place of Ferdinand and Isabella as well as their daughter Juana(de loca) and Philip the fair and young Prince Michael. They spent a fourth of their fortune on this chapel. We had lunch with Malcolm and Anne again.
   We then drove on to Sevilla (Seville). Sevilla is considered the most Spanish of cities. Bull fighting is very important, the best Flamenco is here  and it was/is a very wealthy town. Ferdnand and Isabel decreed that all ships returning from the new world would sail up the Guadavier river and unload here to be inventoried and taxes levied.
   Tonight, after dinner we took a horse carriage ride around the city and Maria Luisa park to a Flamenco show. The show was spectacular! The dancing was professional and the guitar playing superb. We were in the front row and had a great time!

Today we are up and touring Sevilla. We stopped by Maria Luisa park for our group picture and a quick trot up a big building built for the 1929 world exhibition. Because of the stock market crash the exhibition was a bust but the city has these beautiful buildings.
   The cigarette factory where Carmen (as in the opera) worked is now a university building.
   The third largest cathedral in Europe Iglesia de la Magdlena is here. In size just behind St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. It is extremely beautiful. Covered with new world gold and silver, and it contains Columbus' body. Seeing there are four places in the world  that claim to have Columbus' body  they did a DNA test and found they could not prove it was not his body so they claim it proves it must be his body (?).  The church has the worlds largest alter piece containing 48 gold panels of the life of Christ. Pretty interesting.
   We were then on our own downtown. We nipped into an Irish pub for lunch. We toured the Alcazar. It was built in the 10th century by the Moors and revamped in the 14th century for king Pedro I. The palace is intentionally confusing to make it more interesting and surprising, and it is. An amazing and beautiful place with more beautiful gardens. We saw a wedding going on here with pictures being taken in the garden. Queen Isabella debriefed Columbus here. It's still used as a royal palace. The temperature was boiling. Deb made good use of her Spanish air conditioner.
   We were told to take bus 23 back to our hotel. The plaza was totally under construction but we found (thanks to a local) the tourist office. They said to take circular bus 1. After much walking around in the deadly heat we jumped on bus 1. It was wrong! The bus driver waved his arms and indicated we needed bus 2 on the other side. We searched around and had a difficult time finding the stop, meanwhile a bus 2 went by so we had to wait for the next one. Deb was sweltering. Finally we got on the bus for a pleasant trip back to the hotel. Don't tell Deb, we could have taken a taxi for 5E.
   After we got back we had time to go for a quick beer and some tapas with Malcolm and Anne. We had olives and baby clams in garlic olive oil.
   Tonight we had a tapas dinner in a quaint nice place with stuffed animal heads on the walls including a bull. Tapas, paella and good wine. We then went for a boat tour on the Guadaquavire. Strangely Seville is a port city even though it's about 100 miles inland. This is because the river is wide and navigable. A very nice boat ride indeed.

Next day we are on our way back to Madrid with a stop in Cordoba. Cordoba has the Mezquita a Moorish mosque and the most important in the western world. It is a forest of 850 columns made from Roman and gothic ruins. Each column is different and different heights so the capitals are all different to give a flat roof. Each has a double arch. Strangely, integrated into the middle of this stunning place is a cathedral. Despite Michener's moaning it seemed to me to blend in ok. Charles V said he had make a mistake allowing the church to be built there. Too bad the sides have been walled up because it's a bit dark and no air moves. Clearly Gaudi had been here and took notes. We had a good guide. (extra page)
   We had some time for lunch so we nipped into a nice little restaurant and had a couple tapas - olives and a small paella. The best paella I had the whole trip. Very nice.
   Back on the bus and on to Madrid with a quick stop at another Don Quixote place.
   Tonight we had our going away dinner in an elegant restaurant near the opera house. A beautiful meal with very good wine generously served. We had a great time with the gang. A quick bus ride to see the city at night then Deb and I took the bus back to the hotel and missed saying good bye to our friends Malcolm and Anne. I hope we see them again sometime.
   We got to our bedroom about 11pm but had to do some packing and preparation for the trip home tomorrow. Up at 3am to catch the 4am drive to the airport. What a drive! People were still out on the streets and some bars open! We saw an accident - a girl on a scooter was laying in the road.
   Finally the airport. Getting on was uneventful but when we got to Frankfort we had one hour to make our gate. Unfortunately it was on a different concourse and we had to go through a German checkpoint. The line was a mile long! We begged for cuts and they let us through. They gave us a THOROUGH search! After literally dashing through the airport we got to the gate and there was a shuttle bus sitting there! We got on the shuttle and finally made it to the airplane. Thank god it was a Lufthansa flight. Once in the air it was quite nice, free drinks(!). We were pretty beat but didn't sleep much. Finally we got to Portland, picked up our luggage and went through customs. We were chosen to have our luggage searched so we left it there for searching and proceeded to our plane. Finally we made it to SFO, our luggage wasn't there. We got a shuttle and after a bunch of waiting we went home. The driver was an interesting guy from Iran. After we got home we had to drive to Johnny's and get our car. By the time we went to bed we'd been up well over 30 hours.

Over all a great trip.
A few observations.

- I never did figure out those low drinking fountains in the rooms. They made brushing your teeth difficult (joke).
- I understand that various dialects are spoken throughout Spain, not just Catalan.
- This group of people were a bit "closed" compared to other trips. Probably because of several groups.
- One group was from Hudson Ohio where my brother Tom graduated from high school.
- Spain had the least concession to English of any country we have visited so far, including Greece.
- Because we like to do things on our own we had to interact with the folks. We found them helpful and friendly but hardly a one knew English. Not a problem.
- Our guide was professional and helpful. She knew more history then any previous guide. I appreciated that.
- We saw some quite nice graffiti.
- I saw a real live bull fight on tv the first night. Sunday is the main bullfight night.
- While it was hot in Spain it turned out it was hotter at home.
- Our credit union has "turned off" Spain so it made getting cash a bit of a problem.
- Sangria (blood) recipes seem to be up to the person mixing them - wine, fruit and perhaps something stronger added in.
- The wine in Spain was good and not expensive with the meal. Usually the good stuff was about 12E.
- We saw these bulls all over Spain. The advertise Osborns sherry and are protected by law.