Bla Bla Bla

I'm now in Seville. That's Sevila on the Portuguese signs on the way here and Sevilla (sayVIya) now that were here. We're now down to two having parted company with our four travelling companions this morning. We'd spent 7 weeks in each others pockets and it was surprisingly fantastic. Maybe it was because we're all adults and know how to keep our insta-thoughts to ourselves or maybe it was the copious quanties of wine but we not only survived we flourished. The most challenging setting was six people on a boat and while we each had our own tiny bedroom the common area was less than a studio apartment. Much less. And yet for two weeks we danced around one another with the closeness overpowered by the joy of the company and the scenery that floated by. Having six people meant we could rent much larger places than the two of us could afford so when we weren't on the boat we were in a mansion (with pool), a penthouse suite (with pool) and a hilltop villa (with pool).

But now we've embarked on the last leg of this epic journey and will spend the next two weeks in southern Spain. Ever heard of Blahblah Car? You're going to. It's a new app that hooks up people going on road trips with people who need transportation. So if you're going up to Kelowna and want someone to pay for the gas, you put yourself on their list and they hook you up with someone else that wants to get to Kelowna. We met Mariana this morning, a young woman who's from Faro - our starting point - but now lives and works in Seville. She's often back to see family and routinely drives the 2+ hours alone. She picked us up at the train station as well as another young woman who needed a ride. The four of us chatted down the highway in a mix of Portuguese, Spanish and English and paid 12E each for the pleasure. Uber wanted 200.

Faro is the capital of the Algarve but even the taped voice in the PutPut train said it's not a tourist destination. There are some distant beaches accessible by ferry and a 13th century cathedral but not accessible to tourists because it was being used for mass. So we passed the time waiting for our ride lingering over lunch and discovering the 'Distinguished Gentleman's Ride'. I was curious why I kept seeing well-dressed guys walking about and Deb said they were waiters. "That's a lot of waiters for a small town", I thought. As we entered the plaza in front of the cathedral we saw them congregating with a wide range of two wheeled noisemakers. There were scooters and Harleys, rice rockets and sidecars and everything in between. We sat on the steps and watched the crowd grow to several hundred. I asked a young guy in a bow tie to explain but got a shoulder shrug. His dad came over to explain that this was an event that takes place the last Sunday of September in 600 cities around the world and is a fundraiser for men's health. I'm always the last to know. They gathered for a foto on the cathedral steps and then, led by a police escort, roared there way through town and out onto the highway.

Our week in Algarve was again divided into "Let's sit around the pool" and "Let's go to...". There was a Saturday market to visit where clothes and such from South America were on offer so we indulged and I came away with new shoes (Oh Lord, help me find room in my luggage) and another collarless shirt (they always look so good on holidays and gather dust at home). Across town on the same day was the farmer's market and as it was Deb and I's turn to cook, my tiny town driving skills got a go and we managed to maneuver streets small and narrow to secure lamb, chicken and meatballs for our couscous. We also got in two beach days; one at Albufeira and the other at the most beautiful beach I have ever been to - Praia do Barril. The Portuguese have been working hard to protect the salt marshes that line their southern coast, they're key breeding grounds for storks, herons, flamingos and a few million other things but they lie between the mainland and some very impressive beaches. To get to Barril there's a small train transporting beach enthusiasts from the parking lot through the marshes out to the ocean. Or you can walk the 3' wide trail for 15 minutes. The reward for the effort is a beach with the softest sand, a gentle breeze and not a sound but the pounding surf. This is where the violence of the Atlantic meets the warmth of the Mediteranian so wave jumping was the sport of the day. There's no hotels but it's very well-serviced with several restaurants, showers and change rooms - everything I needed and wanted for the perfect beach day.

We got to Algarve the same way we got to Lisbon only this time our driver was Rui. We were expecting Antonio but Rui said he was his replacement and it could have been a scam but he had a nice car so we piled in. Rui knew the roads, was prepared to give us his entire day and drove real fast. So fast we had time to stop and explore Evora and Monsarraz. Evora was a sizeable medeaval town but large enough now to be a bedroom community and enough of its claims to fame intact to be worth the visit. There was the usual beautiful cathedral and church museum claiming to have a small piece of Christ's cross (I swear if they put all the claimants together there'd be enough lumber to build a cathedral) but the most interesting and creepiest thing I've ever seen was also there, the bone chapel. Apparently there was a graveyard where they wanted to build a chapel so all the graves were exhumed and the bones were used to decorate the walls, ceiling and arches of the chapel. Rows of skulls with femurs and humerus (it wasn't that funny) arranged in symmetric patterns. Honestly, how could you focus on your worship with mom and dad literally hanging around? I asked Rui "What the f!@k?", he responded with a shrug. We also stopped at Monsarraz, a moorish castle from around 800AD but it had been a key military site since prehistoric times. It occupies some impressive real estate so with the help of the Knights Templar it was returned to Spanish control around 1100AD. There's gorgeous views, important if you want to see the enemy coming, and a bull ring still in active service - we apparently just missed the bull killing season - but today's occupants mostly just meet the needs of the tourists.

But now Algarve and Portugal are behind us. We just spent a full day walking the streets of Seville and I'm more than a little impressed. It's Spain's fourth largest city and seems to have achieved that perfect mix of history and modernization. Dinner here is even later than Portugal. It's now 9:10 so I'm going to put on my big boy pants and head out to further test the tapas they're famous for.