there is a very interesting story about the Jewish quarter in Toledo indicating how powerful these people were in the Gothic and Moorish periods of Spanish history before the people took it back from the Moors. It seems the Islamic groups lived peacefully and with tolerance with the different religious groups but that was not to continue after the Christians took the territory from the Moors. The result was the inquisition in which non-Christians were obligated to convert or leave or worse. This area of the city is expensive and an extremely interesting and intricate part of Toledo. Visiting here is an absolute must if you come to the city.
Inside one of the synagogues This is a map of the city high on a hill. There is almost no flat area in the city so you’re either walking uphill or downhill. The Jewish people who came to this area are called the Sephardic people. During the inquisition and after they moved out of Spain in large groups to the east and some all the way to Russia. Next to my accommodations at Grecco Rooms (very reasonably priced) was a gelato shop. If I remember correctly this one was coffee on top of chocolate mint.
last year I bought a ticket for the Rod Stewart concert Köln, Germany on December 2 so I had to plan my travels accordingly. I had originally planned a month in Ireland but my friend was visiting France for a week and asked me to join so I cut my trip to Ireland short. Then I made it down to Spain and then back up to Germany for the concert.
when I first got to Cornell in 1971 I was of course studying in the room when the fellow across the hallway, Steve, had his door open and he was blasting “Maggie May“ which was a new song from the up-and-coming Rod Stewart. I asked Steve to close the door and turn the music down so I could study. He did nothing. So I went out and closed his door after asking him to turn down the music again which he did not do. So for a whole week he opened up his door and blasted “Maggie May“ I came to hate that song and I won’t tell you what I thought of Steve. But over the years the Song did nothing but bring back memories and they became increasingly good memories of my college days back in the middle of Iowa on the hilltop at a small school in a small town where people became something close to family and at least close friends. After 54 years I really needed to see this concert and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
““we are sailing” needs an explanation. It was back in about 1998 when we went out on a boat with the famous underwater videographer Prasong who we worked for on the dive boats. He went with one of the TV channel crew to do a special on diving in the Similan islands off the West Coast of Thailand. On the second day we were up at 6 AM, got some breakfast and Marianne, a famous Danish photographer and videographer and one of our diving crew in Bubbles, decided to take a dive far off Christmas point which was a little deep but we had never explored that area. Since we didn’t have diving customers with us we were able to do some experimental dives in areas that were not really suitable for guiding customers. So the boat dropped us off and as we came up we had manta rays all around us. We came to the surface and the current was pulling us slightly away from Christmas point. We waved to the dive boat but since it was about 7:30 we were in between the boat and the rising Sun so the boat couldn’t see us with the sun glare. we were calling to the boat but we were too far away for them to hear. So we just relaxed, inflated our BCD’s and knew they would come and look for us anyway. After having a few discussions and jokes about nothing a Thai squid fishing boat came to us and asked us if we wanted to board the boat which we did. On these fishing boats they have Burmese (Myanmar people) on as crew because they’re cheap but also illegally on the boats as crew so they were hiding in the cabin. As we walked past the cabin these heads popped up with yellow powder on their face (prickly powder is used to reduce the effects of heat from sweat. the Myanmar people use a yellow powder as the Thai people use a white powder. So that’s how you can tell the Myanmar people from the Thai people especially early in the morning when the powder is most used.We told the captain about our dive and where our boat was. he was very happy to take us back to our boat. We asked him how his fishing was and he explained, “we haven’t caught much squid yet but we did catch a few foreigners“. We all broke out laughing. The whole situation was just so hilarious. As we got close to our dive boat Marianne and I stood on the front of the boat and we started singing “we are sailing“. I guess it was so entertaining the TV crew on our dive boat decided to film it and two weeks later we wound up on Thai TV coming back to our boat singing “we are sailing“ and explaining we saw a lot of manta rays, the first of this dive trip. So that’s the story of the song. After that we showed the TV crew where the manta’s were so we did a number of dives with mantas which became an extra episode on the four part TV series “diving in the Similan islands”.
when you go to Spain make sure you go to Cuenca. It is a world heritage site for a reason. You go up by bus to the castle uphill or you can walk though it is quite a distance and could be tiring depending upon your degree of fitness. Walking back down to the town is a piece of cake and a very interesting stroll. There are also a few ways to go down through the narrow streets which you should probably try. By bus by train from Madrid it will take about an hour and a half so if you leave early in the morning you can spend the day there and then come back in the afternoon or evening but it’s a nice little town to stay overnight. I didn’t find a bunch else except for the journey up to the castle and the churches to visit up there. There are quite a few restaurants in coffee shops along the way but they seem to be mostly catering to the tourist crowd so they be judged as tourist restaurants. As you visit this area you will see a beautiful landscape and buildings right on cliff sides that will definitely be worth a few photos.
The beautiful cliff sidesWalking across the bridge to the museum I thought the colors here looking down into the town were very interestingThe monastery in the middle of the valley which is now a museum There are many different trails off the roadside that you can take to see the beautiful scenery from different points of view The main gate and entranceway into the cathedral and Castle area Some of the road up there is very narrow so they have a traffic light to allow cars one way and then stop to wait for cars coming the opposite way This door to the building must’ve been made a long time ago, for very short people Monumento al Sagrado Corazón de JesusYou can see how the water washed away the land to create a beautiful canyon These stores to the cathedral are very old The entranceway to the cathedral I just thought this was interesting that the Vespa service shop is offering an Aperol spritz for €5.9. This is the first motorcycle service shop I have seen that serves alcohol.Buildings on the cliffside What I learned in Bologna, Italy was that these long steps were created for people on horsebackThis nun is obviously giving directions to the kids You can probably find a place to stay that is right on the edge of the cliff Even though it was cold there were quite a few tourists mailing aroundJust a nice view of the cliffs and the valley and the tall trees that look like bushes It was kind of like a Spanish version of the Chinese “egg drop soup”. The wine was very tasty and the bread was fresh. The food looks good but the meat was raw on the inside and way too chewy to eatbut I had them cook it a second time. It’s probably best to eat down in the town in a place that is not so touristyA nice old restaurant façade Are you looking up towards the canyon And of course you have to be able to see a Ferrari It’s more interesting on the way down to follow the narrow paths rather than the main road I just thought this window was a very interesting shape The name of the shop does not exactly make me feel comfortable with the food Everything I own is in these bags and I am without a home. But recently I decided to get a small suitcase with wheels. There is a limit to carrying 14 kg every other day.
