Spain & Spore

The Mrs. and I recently returned from a tricontinental adventure whose official itinerary looked something like this: DC, Phoenix, DC, Heathrow, Gatwick, Malaga, Gatwick, Heathrow, Singapore, Frankfurt, Chicago, DC. Fortunately, many of those plane rides were spent sprawled out across 3, sometimes 5, seats, and one leg in first class, and two legs aboard Singapore Air where you can watch dozens of current on-demand movies and enjoy several other travel perks, like a cup holder that is attached to the bottom of the pull-down tray so you don't need to pull down the whole tray to access it.

We arrived in Spain on Monday after the wedding in Arizona. Our home base was in Benalmadena (near Malaga) and from there we would venture out to the nearby cities and destinations in our bright orange Kia Picanto rental car. We spent one day in Malaga, one day in Granada, one day in Tarifa, and two days in Sevilla.

The Alhambra in Granada was quite spectacular. It was a Moorish castle conquered by the Spaniards in 1492 and retooled as a Catholic site. The Moores were very anti-ostentatious and designed their palaces such that the outside was an unimpressive block with four plain walls, but the inside was ornate and incredibly colorful and detailed. It would have been nice to see the Alhambra in its heyday. After a long day of walking, we went into the nearby town (Albaicin) and patronized the Arab baths.

Tarifa itself was not a very fun town (a little too dingy and stale for my taste) but driving up and down the coast, and traversing the shoreline were a real treat.

Sevilla was quite a romantic city, and it felt much more bustling and classic European than the other Andalucian cities we visited. We stayed in a really cool hotel with a rooftop terrace right next to the bell tower of La Giralda. It was nice walking the bridge at night, despite the dopers and the drunks that were out in plain sight. We also caught some Flamenco dancing while we were in town. When the male dancer came out in his fancy get-up I predicted, correctly, that his coat wouldn't last more than ten minutes. I was pleased with prophetic satisfaction when he slung it off dramatically in the middle of his routine, but I was displeased when I heard Val B. perk up in admiration of his nice chest and seductive maneuvers. I quickly reassured her that I could do that if I wanted to.

After Spain, we made our way towards Singapore. We were there for about 6 days and much of our time was spent either making preparations for the wedding banquet, taking wedding pictures, or actually banqueting. Fortunately, we were able to do a lot of fun things in between all of that and once it was all over. We went out for delicious food it seemed at least twice a day. I ate lots of spicy noodle dishes, sea food, tropical fruits, rice, frog porridge, curries, you name it. The weather was constantly warm and humid but the abundance of bright-colored flora and foliage made it worth it. The modernization and orderliness of the city were quite impressive. I say orderly, but then again, there were monkeys rummaging the streets. I mean, how orderly can that be?

Mr. and Mrs. Twainfecta - the view of Malaga from the Alcazaba (pronounced: Alcathaba)

The Alhambra in Granada. Surprisingly, the water looks cleaner through the camera than it did in real life.

Mediterranean coast in Tarifa. So close to Africa, yet so far away (80 euros/person)

The Cathedral of Seville and La Giralda

Cool trees in Singapore; these are behind Casuarina Curry--a favorite eating spot for breakfast.