larameme

The Alhambra. It will be one of the great joys in my life to remember walking past a line of what must have been 500 people and directly in with our reserved tickets. Suckers. Once inside however... well, I can only say that royalty has always lived here. So beautiful is this area, that it was the last bastion of Moorish influence in Spain for nearly 500 years... and yet when it finally fell, the Spanish did not destroy it... they moved in. The tiles, the intricate artwork, the columns and the use of water so important in Moorish culture makes this area truly something that must be seen to be believed.  I have seen the works of many famous architects and artists on this trip, we have visited churches and monuments that both humbled us and put us in awe. The Alhambra stands atop them all as the pinnacle of beauty. It is huge, it is magnificent, it's a damn city. You. Must. See. It. Seriously, you simply haven't lived until you have. After the Alhambra, somewhere around 3pm i...

Lisbon is the birthplace of Fado, and to come here and not experience it is a mistake that will leave you poorer for it. Refreshed and mildly cranky, we trucked out to find a Taxi in the cobblestone square once used to welcome traders from all over the world. Determined, we made the tourist mistake of saying we did not want a tourist experience and wished to enjoy a traditional Fado performance. Naturally, our driver took us immediately to the place that all the tourists who say that go. We sat down at first, amidst what we thought were locals with a sly smile on our faces delighted in our ability to be better than the average tourist. The arched red brick roof distracted us, as did the food, so it took a short while to notice that we were directly beside a very large table of loud and unsurprisingly obnoxious tour-bus group. Suitably amused with ourselves we resolved to ignore them while eyeing their wine for any possibility of heisting it from their table. The lights dim, and we ...

*** Warning, The following posts depicts bullfighting in graphic detail... it may be slightly gory, read at your own peril. *** We walked directly to the bull fighting arena after my last post and since we arrived early we stopped by a lovely (if expensive) bar and got nice and drunk in preparation for our bloody adventure. Emily and I were both very excited about this, it is very difficult not to be... this is an area famous for bullfighting and it is represented EVERYWHERE! We found our seats (eventually) and sat down with Cerveza in hand marveling at the fantastic view we had of the entire arena... we would soon regret this. It must be understood, that bullfighting is a process of many stages that pits Matador against bull in what is advertised as the ultimate test of Machismo.... we soon found however, that the Bull does not really have a fighting chance. This is not a single man vs. a large angry bull, stomping at the ground and such instead it is the sad tail of an exhausted...