|
orn_ry
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Ornan
Birthday: 4/17/1986
Gender: Male
Interests: traveling, friends, airports, creation, sunrises, sunsets, tigers, wifi, languages, people that live with purpose, Christ and furthering His kingdom
Expertise: Chop Chop Chop
Industry: Agriculture
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
6/16/2005
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| All good things come to an end. Monday the flights home went very well. We were able to leave Madrid in the morning and be standing outside O'hare within 13 hours! Saturday and Sunday were very full days. Saturday Mr. Tice showed us around Almeria. We visited the Almeria Alcazaba, a Moorish fortification that was built in the 10th century. It is currently being excavated and restored. It was huge and very ornate. We also visited some of the places that Mr. Tice works and we ended our stay in Vicar with lunch with the Tice's. Then we travelled up to Madrid. It took us about eight hours after stopping at a huge mall for supper. Sunday we drove to Segovia and toured the city in the morning. A Roman aquaduct built during the first century is the main attraction and the Segovia Alcazar was a close second. The aquaduct was huge and in very good condition (some of it had been restored). The castle (alcazar) was incredible. It is most famously used by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the royal couple Christopher Columbus convinced to finance his "route to India". The rest is history! The peaked roofs and pointed towers may have been an inspiration for Walt Disney as well. Following Segovia we drove back to Madrid, dropped the car off and walked to the Palacio de Real - which is larger than Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately most of the places we wanted to go into had extremely long lines and we just didn't have the time to see the inside. On our walk we went through the Plaza de Mayor and past several other sites like museums and Cathedrals. (I forget the name of the church directly behind the palace but it was HUGE). That was about all the time we had in Madrid. Monday we woke way to early but our flights were very good. Here are some more pictures. I've included some more from the entire trip. 
Big Ben through the fog 
Inside the London Eye 
Another picture of the Tintern Abbey 
English street 
A house on the edge of a cliff in Ronda 
Statue in Ronda 
Entrance to the Alcazaba 
Roman Aquaduct 
Serious Horspower 
The Segovia Alcazar 
Palacio de Real | | |
| Friday This morning we visited an old spanish town about 50 Km from the Mediterranean. It was a really neat town situated at the top of a high cliff. We visited an old bullfighting ring which was quite interesting. Sorry for the lack of descriptive terms, but it was very nice. After driving for couple hours on some of the more scenic routes I've ever been on, we arrived in Vicar at the Tice family. They have been very hospitable and it will remain a highlight of the trip. 
Scenic 
Plaza de Toros 
Mediterranean | | |
| Wednesday Wednesday our flight for Gibraltar left at 7:30. The runway at Gibraltar runs across the only road running toward the tip of the island. The hotel was in Algeciras so we caught a bus to the other side of the harbor, dropped our luggage and came back to Gibraltar to tour the rock. We took the cable car to the top of the rock and walked around up there for a while. After coming back down we ate at the "Angry Friar's". He was a little testy but we tolerated him. Thursday Tangier, Morroco. The docks were right outside the hotel so we walked over to the ferry in the morning. Our guide Ali was pretty good. He spoke english very well and took us to the best places in the old city. We went to a large shop and an all natural pharmacy. The restaurant we ate at "with music" was pretty cool. When we got back to Spain we picked up the car. Finally some freedom! We picked up some food at a grocery store and went back to the hotel to rest and get a full nights sleep for once. 
Gibraltar 
Big Boats! 
Ferry 
Gate to Old Medina | | |
| Christmas Day! Hope everyone had - is having - a Merry Christmas! We are about ready to turn in for some much needed sleep after a long Christmas day. This morning we started with a breakfast of porridge. We spent the night at Mr. and Mrs. Peters house (friends of Sylvia's). They were very hospitable and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. We were very tempted to stay for Christmas dinner. However, we decided to press on and are not sorry we did. Our original destination was Brecon, Wales, however, some jolly fellows told us of the ruins of the Tintern Abbey, a ruined castle in Abergavenny and the large castle in Cardiff. So after crossing the bridge into Wales we made a loop and visited each of these sites. Each one was interesting, but we had the most fun climbing around in Abergavenny. Following that we drove through Oxford on our way back to London Gatwick which is where we are now. Tomorrow we fly at 7:30 local time to Gibraltar. We may do some sightseeing in the afternoon but mostly will be relaxing since tomorrow is "Boxing Day". Evidently the English wanted a reason to take two days of for Christmas and couldn't think of any other name! Merry Christmas! 
Tintern Abbey - destroyed by Henry VIII when he created the Church of England 
Abergavenny Ruins 
A Welsh king killed his adversary here on Christmas Day 1175 
Cardiff Castle - originally a Roman outpost 
Taken by a budding photographer - the park bench 
Our sleigh 
Christmas Feast 2007 | | |
| Tonight must have been the most memorable Christmas Eve ever. It is hard to put words to the experience. Who but an Almighty, All-Knowing, Ever-Loving, Ever-Caring God could have arranged that we spend this evening with Christian people in SouthWest England? It was amazing. We got a late start in the morning. But after finding a bus and after paying through our noses we were on our way to pick up our rental car. The bus ride took over an hour. After picking up our car, we drove to Chilworth where we met Sylvia. It was a few more hours from Chilworth to Tiverton where we ended up for the night. We had just a little bit of daylight left when we drove past Stonehenge or "The Stones" as Sylvia liked to call them. English countryside is beautiful. Grass is green. Roads are narrow. Buildings are picturesque. Driving is fun. (unless you go around the turnaround the wrong way) 
Mike & Edika Jenkins 
Stonehenge 
Les & Meir Peters 
Gran & Jill Peters | | |
|
