Cabo de Gata

Last weekend we took a road trip down to the coast with some of our friends from Ciudad Real. We went down to Cabo de Gata (Cape of the Cat), a big national park in the south of Spain near Almería. We had perfect weather (80+ degrees Fahrenheit everyday) and we were traveling with such a fun crew. Some highlights include Wii Just Dance marathons two nights in a row, screaming every time the sea came into view (except for Will, who was driving at the time), and lots of Spanglish. 

Will found us an awesome Airbnb house to stay in with four bedrooms and three bathrooms for the six of us; it was great! The back door didn't exactly lock, but we kept the irrational ax-murderer fears to a minimum. Plus the four girls we were with were sleeping upstairs and WP and I were downstairs, so they figured Will could fight off intruders! But actually, the landlord lived right next door to our house and Níjar is a sleepy little town, so we felt pretty safe.  

Here's our house as seen from across a small canyon in the town of Níjar with Jenna, Jessica, Marie and Mariana:  

In addition to all those bedrooms and bathrooms, the house had a cute mini-pool. It was pretty cold in there, but that didn't stop us from using it! 

While hanging out in our pool we got to see a herd of goats and sheep! The old goat herder was a little taken aback by us, I don't think Níjar sees a lot of tourists come through. 

In order to get to the house we had to drive through some pretty tiny streets in our "minivan" (one seat was a pop-up in the trunk). Since it was so hot outside, many people had their doors open with just the small curtains covering the entryway. Kind of makes you feel like you're driving through someone's living room... especially when everyone stops what they're doing to stare with a confused expression as you go past: 

View through the front windshield (these are all two-way streets, amazingly enough): 

This part got particularly gnarly, with cacti sticking out, stray dogs in the road who were too hot to move, and people's front steps jutting out into the road. WP did all the tiny road driving up to the house and successfully got us in and out many times! 

We also got to see this little pile of cuteness every time we came back to the house and had to slowly drive by her domain so as not to scrape the car. She was one of the neighboring houses' pets we think: 

Here's a view of the town Níjar, looking almost Moroccan instead of Spanish with its white houses surrounded by desert and mountains: 

In the three days we were in Cabo de Gata we went to five different beaches. They were all pretty different from one another, and for the sake of remembering where we went so we can go back someday (which we would love to do), I'm going to attempt to remember the names. 

On the 15-minute drive to the beach we had to go through a bunch of extremely arid land with a sea of greenhouses. See all those shiny white buildings? All greenhouses! This one's for you Papa Barham: 

The first day we went to the beautiful Playa de los Genoveses. It was pretty windy at this almost completely unpopulated beach and I think it made us feel cool enough that we forgot to reapply sunscreen. Oops!  

Will and Jenna went on a short hike from this beach up to this cliff: 

Here's Jenna lying down to take a look over the edge: 

From their hike they got a pretty good view of the beach where we were hanging out (as you can see, it's a far cry from the overdeveloped miles and miles of resorts on much of the Spanish coast): 

In the afternoon we went to eat lunch and ice cream in San José and stopped by the beach there called Cala Higuera: 

On day two of the trip we started out in Agua Amarga, where we were lucky enough to find this free umbrella to huddle beneath. We all got at least some part of us sunburned on the first day, so the shade was welcome relief! Agua Amarga is a really cute beachside town, and is definitely a place to come back to! 

This beach was a fun one for swimming, though it wasn't until after this photo was taken that we realized there was a sign that said "No Swimming: Detachments", meaning that pieces of these rocks fall off frequently. Good thing that didn't happen to us! The four people in this picture actually jumped off this rock into the water several times, brave souls. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue color at this beach and even I got over the coldness of the water to take a dip! 

After lunch on the second day we went down the coast a little to another beach located next to some campsites, Las Negras. Part of our group did a hike up this hill, and Will was able to take this photo of the beach:

Later on the hike they found these bright white rocks, reminding us of some of the eroded rock formations in the Grand Canyon:

On our last day of our beach weekend, we stopped at this vista point to get stunning views of the rocky desert terrain and the blue Mediterranean Sea. The desert in this area looks so much like Arizona or New Mexico, and a few miles inland from Níjar over the mountains is where they filmed a bunch of the old Westerns that are supposed to be set in the US (most famously the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone series including "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"). This area is also the driest and sunniest place in all of Europe!

From the mirador we made our way to Playa del Playazo, where Jessica ended up with pieces of sea urchin in her foot (after a long swim out to the end of that big point on the left of the picture below with Will and Jenna) but still claims that it was the best beach day ever. That's saying something: 

On Sunday we drove the four hours back to Ciudad Real and when we arrived it was 11pm and 80 degrees outside. I think CR skipped spring this year and went straight to summer! This week and weekend we're expecting sunny, hot weather and have no real plans. We'll probably be eating a lot of frozen yogurt and hanging out with friends before we all part ways in a couple weeks. Next weekend WP and I will be flying up to Bilbao and San Sebastián to check out Basque country! 

Switzerland: Four Paynes in the Alps

Last weekend we went to visit Josh (Will's cousin) and his wife Davnah who are living in Zurich, Switzerland. For such a small country, Switzerland has a lot going on. For example, did you know they have four national languages? They speak German (Swiss German in addition to High German), Italian, French and Romansh (a language spoken now by only about 30,000 people in Switzerland). We got to visit the German, Romansh and French areas in the few days that we were in town. We wanted to make it down to the part near Italy too, but decided we have to save something for the next trip. The whole country is breathtakingly beautiful, and I basically couldn't stop taking pictures the whole time. And I haven't even mentioned the cheese yet! But just wait... we'll get there. 

On our first morning in town, Josh made us French toast with a delicious brioche-style local bread. The weather predictions for our trip kept telling us it would be rainy, but we lucked out and had beautiful, sunny, 75-degree days almost the entire time. Take that, weather forecasters! It was so refreshing to be outside in the sun that we started our day with breakfast in the backyard: 

Also, it's pretty much impossible to keep me away from tulips that are this happy; so that was another good thing about us hanging out in the garden. Seriously, look how beautiful these are, and there were yellow ones too! 

Josh and Davnah's neighborhood is up on a hill above Zurich, with easy access to hiking, biking and running trails. Here's Josh and WP as we set out on our first day to check out Zurich: 

This photo of the forest was taken about a four-minute walk away from Javnah's (Josh + Davnah) front door. There are all sorts of goodies growing in the forest like nettles and wild garlic (which is more of a leaf than a bulb) that they use sometimes to make soups and salads. Of course, some of the things growing out there can be dangerous if ingested, so you have to have a real Swiss person around like Davnah to help you figure it out. One night she collected nettles and made an amazing quiche with them for us! 

Walking around Zurich was great. Josh was able to take off work to be our tour guide, and we got to see some pretty neat things in the city. One highlight was walking up to the high towers of the Grossmünster church. From the top, we were able to see the river, and looked across to another church with a very narrow pointed steeple. Here's the view from the top:

And here's the twisty, narrow staircase we had to use to get up and down:

After the church, we walked along Lake Zurich and the boys stopped to get bratwurst. You can tell it was a beautiful day by all the people hanging out lakeside in the background. Here's me and WP on the bridge crossing the lake:

Of course, no visit to a German-speaking country would be complete without some beer! I think we definitely checked it off the list...several times:

We only got through about two-thirds of the tour Josh had planned; I blame it on the fact that we were having a great time catching up with him! And that we're just a bunch of chatter-boxes. We did make it to a chocolate shop, a cocktail bar, a market to buy stuff for dinner, through a hip young neighborhood, and eventually ended up having a beer sitting outside on the riverbank. Apparently during summer everyone swims in this river, and they even have ladders built into the side walls to help you get back out. Only in Switzerland would a big city's river be clean enough to swim in!

That evening after getting home from work, Davnah made us some delicious fondue. This was the first moment (of many) that I realized I should have been born in Switzerland for the cheese. Such good bread, fondue and pickles! 

The next day we set out to do some wine tasting in a little town called Fläsch, about an hour and a half drive from Zurich. It was amazing how quickly we left the city behind and entered the movie-backdrop world otherwise known as the Swiss Alps. In Fläsch we were surrounded by beautiful snowy peaks, quaint country houses, and vineyards: 

Our first winery tasting appointment was at a winery called Adank. We all loved their wines and after trying a bunch of different bottles (and some grappa, in the case of Will and Josh), we ended up purchasing some to take home. Unfortunately the bottle of Chardonnay we bought there didn't make it back to Ciudad Real, exploding in our checked bag. Even after a wash, some Will's clothes still have that Chardon-tastic wine smell. Such is life - we're just glad we got to taste it while on the trip!  Here's a photo of the crew with our loot from the winery and of the cat with the world's most beautiful view:

Before our next wine tasting appointment we ate lunch, had some time to explore the town, and then had a mini photo session at this vineyard. The town was adorable, picturesque and the type of place where little old ladies peek out from their windows when they hear outsiders walking past.  Davnah and Josh did all the research to find the wineries and make appointments for us; we were definitely thankful to have such knowledgeable guides!

The next tasting we did included a tour of how they age, bottle, and label the wine. It was pretty interesting to check out the facilities, and Davnah and Will did an awesome job translating for me and Josh.  Josh is learning German, but from what they tell me, the Swiss-German they speak in Switzerland is difficult if you know (or are learning) standard German. I, of course, was totally lost, but it left me plenty of time to be the group photographer.  Not understanding also might have been a blessing in disguise at this winery. This winemaker was making some crude (but mostly harmless) jokes about women and wine along the lines of "after three years with these barrels we throw them away for a younger model, just like women." Some of these got translated for me and sounded pretty awkward.  Here we are with some of the gigantic oval barrels that the interns apparently have to climb inside to clean!

This winery did get major points for their outdoor tasting table. It was the perfect warm afternoon to sit outside and enjoy some wine: 

After this tasting, we left Fläsch and made our way up to Langwies (in the Romansh part of the country) to stay the night at a bed and breakfast that is also a dairy farm. The woman who runs the B&B is English, and married a Swiss man who grew up in the centuries-old house they live in now. They have three adorable kids who we got to meet, and were just an all around awesome (and very busy) family. In addition to the B&B, they have around 30 dairy cows to take care of, and all the kids are competitive downhill skiers. The mom seems like she spends a lot of time being a "race-mother," waxing the skis and constantly looking out for used ski gear for her growing kids. When we arrived the kids' ski season had just ended, so they were all enjoying their first slower-paced weekend of making smoothies and jumping off the balcony with tarps and umbrellas to try to fly in the wind! Here's a picture of the house: 

After an awesome dinner at the farm we woke up to an even more amazing breakfast spread! The homemade Swiss style müesli (yogurt, berries, grated apple, banana) was a big hit in our group. 

The breads they provided were also very tasty. Their was one hearty seeded wheat bread and then the lighter challah/brioche-style Swiss bread called Zopf (on the left). Both were excellent! 

We also had the pleasure of trying some cheese, butter and milk that all came from the cows out in the barn. The cheese and butter were from last season, since typically the cows make the good stuff later in the season when they are up on higher in the Alps eating the fresh grass. It was so tasty, and was my second oh-man-the-cheese-here-rules moment after the fondue:  

The family's house was very cozy, and seemed almost like we were in a fairy tale. It was really easy to imagine how good life would be even with snow covering everything outside, as long as you could curl up with a blanket in the cottage. One hilarious thing about this old house was how small a lot of the dimensions were, especially the door frames! This one even makes petite Davnah look like a giant: 

The view from our room was incredible. It was like looking into a postcard! Here's the view looking to the right: 

And the view looking to the left:

After breakfast we went outside to play a little bit; here's WP on the swing set; can you imagine growing up here? Lucky kids!

We decided the only decent thing to do would be to go in and see the cows after eating their milk and cheese. Right now they are just hanging out in the barn, but when the snow up higher on the Alps (or "the Alp" as the locals call their particular mountain where they summer their cows) melts a little, they get taken up there to graze on the grass:

They definitely have a different look from the cows at home, and each one is wearing a big Swiss cowbell: 

Will and I went up to the second floor of the barn to check out the hay supply. There was so much stored up there, even by this point in spring! 

Maybe we're just city-folk, but we were impressed with the way they get the hay down to the cows. There is this hole in the ground in the upstairs part and they just shove some hay down so it lands right in front of the cows. Simple, yet genius:  

Here are some of the old-fashioned cow bells on display in the house; some are quite heavy and made of silver. The owner of the B&B was telling us that you can tell how wealthy a dairy farmer is by the bells on his cows. If you see some cows out on the Alp with big bells and fancy leather straps, then you know their owners are probably doing ok for themselves. 

After saying our goodbyes we headed out for a short hike down to the river in this valley. Here's WP and Josh with the B&B sign (if you're planning a trip to Switzerland, I'd highly recommend staying here!): 

The entire time we were in this area I was just in awe of the beautiful mountains. I know it is a cliché, but I had to work hard to restrain myself from breaking into "Sound of Music" songs. If only I had remembered to bring a guitar and an old-fashioned suitcase (and maybe a dress made of curtains?), we could have reenacted the movie here on the Swiss side of the Alps! 

After getting a little more into the forest there was still snow along the side of the path. A lot of snow had just melted due to the fabulous weather, so the river was flowing pretty fast. Here are the boys on the bridge over the river: 

On our way back up to the car we got to see the train go by and over the bridge in the distance. I'm still amazed that they figured out how to lay tracks to get people through these mountains. Josh was telling us that the train is actually really easy to use to get to snowboarding and skiing mountains, and that during winter weekends it is crowded with people on their way up the mountain wearing all their gear. The train is red, you can see it on the left: 

On our way back to Zurich, we stopped in Chur to have some lunch. Chur was a cute little place with a few cool clock towers and surrounded by mountains. We chose our lunch restaurant largely based on its outdoor seating availability, and were surprised that they only served Mexican and American food and had recently stopped serving the Swiss specialities that were on the menu. Let's just say Europe still has a ways to go with nachos and buffalo wings.

We also got to stop in a little candy shop and buy some goodies to take home. My favorite were the little hard candy raspberries:  

All the way home the scenery was beautiful. As we got close to Zurich I managed to snap this photo from the car: 

On Monday we decided to go to Bern to visit Davnah's brother and his husband Trevor for a night. But before the hour train ride we had to get some snacks. We went to the train station and picked up several types of pretzels; the pumpkin seed and salt pretzel was a favorite, as was the hot dog inside a pretzel bun. 

We also decided to get some train beers from a convenience store in the train station whose in-house brand is called "OK." Being the dorks that we are, this prompted a bunch of corny jokes. "Hey Josh, how's your beer?" "Oh, well, it's OK." Hahaha: 

Bern is the country's capital, but compared to Zurich has a more relaxed atmosphere. Even though all the official political decisions are made in Bern, Zurich is the financial capital, so it tends to be a little more fast-paced. We enjoyed walking around Bern, and even got to see some bears that they keep around for tourists. In German the word for "bear" is similar to "Bern" and they have a bear on their city flag, so of course that means they keep some bears on hand as mascots. On the left is a photo of the river going through town and on the right is the big papa bear hanging out on a log: 

When we got to town, we met up with Trevor, Davnah's brother-in-law, and he showed us around. Trevor is an all around nice guy, and is originally from South Africa, so he speaks English and after only a couple years in Switzerland now speaks fluent German too! 

Trevor was a great tour guide, and even set up a visit to the parliament building for us. They didn't let me take my camera along for the tour, but the building was very pretty inside. They modeled some of their government after the American system of having a two-chamber legislature, so we got to see the equivalent of the Senate meeting room and the House of Representative room. I have to say, they might have done a better job decorating than we did. There were bright murals of the Alps and awesome stained glass in the dome on the top. Here's the building from the outside: 

After some more Bern wanderings, we headed to David (Davnah's brother) and Trevor's house for dinner. Davnah and David both work in Zurich, so they took the train together after work to meet us in Bern. After a whole weekend of beautiful weather, the clouds started rolling in that evening and made for a nice sunset seen from the window of David and Trevor's apartment: 

David and Trevor knew that I don't usually eat much meat, so they planned a cheese dinner for us! They had several types of local hard cheeses, and soft cheeses, and even one stinkier cheese that got its own plate with a cover. They were all so delicious! Now, I've eaten cheese for dinner plenty of times in my day, but I have seldom met so many other people who find cheese dinner to be a perfectly acceptable meal. In Switzerland it seems that people grow up with this as a fairly normal custom. Incredible! And did I mention the delicious green salad and boiled red potatoes that we had on the side? It was the best ever: 

The next morning we set off once again to visit Davnah's mom in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, over by Lake Geneva. Davnah's mom lives in a little town called Vevey that is near Lausanne. It was a little cloudy the day we were in Vevey, so we couldn't see the very top of the Alps that are across the lake, but it was still just perfect. Even the flowers along the promenade were perfect!   

After seeing most of downtown Vevey, we headed up a hill in a funicular (cable car tram): 

Towards the top of the hill the tracks got pretty steep: 

From the top of the hill the views were incredible. Here's a photo of a church and Lake Geneva. The opposite lakeshore to the left is part of France! 

We decided to make our way back down the hill on foot, and set off walking through vineyards and on the road. Since Davnah lived in Vevey as a kid, she knows her way around very well. She led us to a place to get a special pastry that is local to only the tiny town that we were in. It was kind of like a big doughy pancake with sugar on top, and it was delicious. Here we are chowing down in a vineyard:   

From Vevey we had to get back to Lausanne (a larger town nearby) to take the train back to Zurich. Instead of taking the train between Vevey and Lausanne, we got to take a boat! Here's our boat pulling up: 

Davnah's mom was so sweet and sent us off with some cheeses and dried meat as well as a bottle of wine to snack on during the boat ride.

After dinner in Lausanne, we caught a two-hour train back to Zurich. Javnah had work the next morning and we had to get back on a plane to Spain. It would have been difficult not to enjoy Switzerland, but we were really lucky to get to spend our time there with Josh and Davnah. They showed us all the highlights, and even put up with us stopping all the time to look at old maps and books. Josh and Davnah and their Swiss family were all so hospitable; we couldn't have asked for a better host group. Thanks for all you guys did to set up fun things for us to do and see. We'll definitely be back someday!