72 Hours with Jimmy

Last week we had the pleasure of hanging out here in Spain with our good amigo Jimmy. Some of you may remember Jimmy from the wedding, he was one of the groomsmen and is one of Will's best friends from school (they were roommates and also went on many adventurous roadtrips together). As a totally awesome and unforgettable wedding gift, Jimmy decided to take us on an overnight surprise trip! Before Jimmy's arrival all we knew was that on Tuesday evening we were flying somewhere (he'd asked for passport information) and that we would be back in time for my first class on Thursday morning at 8:45am.

On Monday night, Jimmy arrived in Spain and drove from Madrid to Ciudad Real to hang out before the start of the adventure. It was fun to show him around, introduce him to some friends and take him him out to our favorite restaurants and bars.

On Tuesday morning I went to class and then the boys came to pick me up in the rental car to make our way to the Madrid airport. We gave ourselves about 5 hours to do the 2-hour drive, which turned out to be just right with the stops we made on the way!

The first stop before leaving CR was at the grocery store to pick up some car snacks. Of course we had to get some jamón! Here are the boys enjoying slices of ham in the parking lot:



On the way we drove through a small town called Urda and came across this crazy quarry. It is hard to fully appreciate how giant this hole is, but as we stood by the edge we could hear machines and tractors working away at the bottom but couldn't see them! 

Our next stop was Consuegra, one of the towns in our region famous for windmills!

For Christmas, Campbell (WP's brother) sent us a kite and we finally had the opportunity to fly it up on this hill with the windmills! In this photo you can see the line of windmills with the castle in the back.

Here's Will doing some excellent flying:

Here's Jimmy and I taking a turn and having some problems. Somehow I don't remember it being this hard when I was a kid...

And of course, we couldn't leave without at least one reenactment of Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho attacking one of the windmill "giants." Oh, and they threw in a little Monty Python too.

After a tasty lunch of Manchegan specialties in Consuegra, we drove to the airport to find out where we were going! After much suspense Jimmy took us aside in the area before check-in to tell us we would be going to... PALMA DE MALLORCA! We were definitely surprised and excited since we wanted to see Mallorca (part of the Balearic Islands group, which also includes Ibiza) and weren't sure if we'd have time to make a trip out there. Such a fun location for a 24-hour trip! 

For those of you who are geographically challenged like me, here's a map where you can see Palma indicated by the red balloon: 

When we got to Palma it was nighttime, but still beautiful. Here's a shot of the canal that runs through the city: 

We stayed at this pretty great hotel called Jaime III. Jimmy booked this hotel because he actually IS Jaime III - his name is James F. Collins III! When we checked in we made sure to tell the front desk person that the "real" Jaime the 3rd had arrived!

Right next door to the hotel there was this bar GINBO specializing in Gin & Tonics. Of course, Jimmy's other nickname is JIMBO. Jaime the 3rd? Ginbo? Could this be any more perfect?

Inside the hotel there was some really funky artwork including a shark and a canoe:

They also gave us each a a free class of cava. Clearly Jimmy was enjoying the royal treatment at his hotel by taking all three glasses:

Since we were in the Balearics we had to at least go down and check out the mega-clubs. This is a famous one called "Tito's" (Frank Sinatra used to play there back in the day apparently). We tried to go but since winter is low season they were closed and doing building repairs. We'll get you next time Tito! 

After checking out the Paseo Marítimo (area where all the clubs/bars are located) we took a stroll down by the water to see all the boats. Here's WP with Cookie III, winner of the "best name" award (according to us). 

On our way back to the hotel we checked out some of the old buildings in town. Here's a photo of the big cathedral. This photo makes it look pretty ominous, but it was actually a really beautiful building. I think when we took this photo it was just after 1am and they had just turned off the lights on the building that allow you to see more of the details. 

This weird olive tree was one of my favorite things we saw in Palma. Its trunk was huge and kind of looks like a troll's face; do you see it? 

After getting a little sleep and enjoying the sauna and hot tub at Hotel Jaime III, we headed back to the big cathedral to check out the inside. 

This area was off to the right of the main alter and had some pretty unusual art. The walls were heavily textured and different scenes including animals and human skulls were depicted all around the huge windows.

Here's a couple of octopi on the wall as part of the underwater scene: 

After the cathedral we continued our wanderings and came across this "stairway to nowhere" sculpture: 

Here's the canal again in daytime:

After a delicious lunch at a Thai restaurant we headed up to the top of a hill to see Castillo de Belver, a round castle overlooking the city and the sea. Here's a shot of the tower and archway that connects the tower to the rest of the castle and spans the (now empty) moat.  

WP in hanging out by a castle wall with forest and ocean in the background: 

Here's Jimmy doing something dangerous (by dangerous I mean standing on a crumbly castle wall with a 40 foot drop to his left) to try to get his Instagram photo of the tower (mothers avert your eyes):

There were several levels to the castle with rooms full of artifacts to explore on each floor. Here's the level just below the rooftop with pretty arches all the way around. 

And here's the castle from the roof looking back toward the city and nearby hills. 

Jimbo having fun on the roof: 

After the castle we headed back to the airport for the quick flight to Madrid. We were lucky enough to have a friend in Madrid to spend Wednesday night with (muchas gracias Lucas!), and then headed back on the early train to Ciudad Real on Thursday morning. After a delicious train station breakfast of tostada con tomate (toast with olive oil and grated tomato), I headed directly to school for a couple of hours of work. 

We are so lucky to have Jimmy as a friend and fellow adventurer! Thank you for the amazing trip and memories! With that, I'll leave you with this photo of Jimmy next to one of his first true loves, the Land Rover Defender 90. 

P.S. I think some of you have heard of the short videos Jimmy and Will have made together over the years. If you're interested in checking out Jimmy's work and their trip to Australia (commissioned by Tourism Australia), the webisodes can be found here: http://vimeo.com/jimcol. I suggest webisode 2, though they're all fun! Check out Jimmy's more recent video work here, and if you're ever looking for a videographer give him a ring: http://www.giantsliceproductions.com/