Excited that you're back in Andalucia! We want to get on the next flight back there. We loved Seville too and could easily have spent more than the 3 days we had. We saw the same Flamenco show and equally blown away. We approached Seville from the North and had a 10km ride in on the bike paths which was pretty good, though riding through the backstreet of the outer city were a bit of an insight into some fairly desperate living conditions.

Love the street flamenco video! And your description of the performance at La Casa del Flamenco made me feel like I was there with youse! Brilliant capture of the emotion and talent of the performers.

And the photos of the Alcazar made me a little teary (in a good way!). When I went there in 1999 I was so blown away that I left with a strong feeling that "everyone should see this place before they die".

Wonderful to see that the city is bicycle friendly too!

Reading this post was the perfect way to start the day!

Oh, I get it now. I found the original one, on our way to Castellamare on our first tour of Sicily. It was a kapok tree (also a Ceiba). I was confused by the similarity of the names kapok and carob when I dredged it out of my memory. So close!

You’re right. I’ll have to go back to where I first saw this tree - I think in Sicily - but I must have been wrong then too. It’s a silk floss tree (Ceiba speciosa). Its distinguishing feature is its spiky trunk, like a fat rose stem.

In college in AZ, we had a row of big old carob trees. The leaves were compound, so I don't know what this one is.

I considered that of course, but it’s in a natural preserve. I wasn’t sure we could outrace an officer with it in tow.

Scott: "Excuse me, ladies. Could you please move more to the middle so the bench won't tip over?"
Ladies: "tu cucaracha!!!!"
Scott: "Oof!" (Doubles over in pain)

GBO has always loves Andalucia

I hope you picked this up. It will go well with your room in Silverton.

You’re right. Thanks for pointing that out - I hadn’t noticed it before. We should have slowed down and appreciated it more but were getting anxious to arrive.

I'm marvelling at the two-colour bridge! Steel truss bridges (and this looks like an old one, with parts fastened using rivets) require a lot of painting. Doing it with two contrasting colours must add significantly to the cost of maintenance.

We plan for moments like these, and she packs along a diverse wardrobe for out tours So she’ll be prepared. It’s a lot of extra weight, but we’ll worth it.

Nice color coordination between Rachael and the bridge!

Now waitaminute!! My ideas are worth their weight in Bitcoin!

Plus, my rocking chair should fit just fine on your rear rack. You won't even know I'm there.

And if Rachael agrees to wait at the top of the hill with cold beverages, I'm willing to partner with the GBO to help open them. I've been looking for a good thumb workout and that might just do the trick!

Uh, oh. There’s a catch. It’s an unpaid internship, and you’re expected to bike ahead and meet us at the passes with a cold beverage. Will that be a problem?