August 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Sevilla!
3 days and 2 nights.
Arrived late in the afternoon, Tuesday. Outside the bus station where I arrived, it was 44 C! So I loaded on the pack and, with the help of the very good Let’s Go map, eventually found my way to the Hotel Athena. It was fairly centrally located…meaning that nearly everything was a long walk away! I left right away to find a good place to watch a Flamenco performance. Found a good one for €10 for the next night. Circled the cathedral at dark. The 3rd biggest in the world. I figured that since I’d seen the other two (in Rome and London) I’d settle for the outside view. It was nearly impossible to navigate the narrow streets at night, even with my newly acquired map. I’ve never seen such a labyrinth of streets since playing video games as a kid. Each turn offered up at least 5 options. Someone will say, go 1 block and turn left. Ok, so which of the 3 lefts did he mean? That’s what it’s like here. It felt pretty good to walk without the map in front of my face by the end, though, scoffing at the patent tourists who hadn’t figured it out yet.

Wed. was consumed with finding someone to give me a Flamenco guitat lesson in this, the Flamenco capital. So, in 115+ degree weather I lit out looking for a music store. One thing, no one here speaks English out of desire. They’d rather you struggle than demonstrate to you how much better their English is than your Spanish. That’s great, it makes learning the language that much easier. So, armed with fists full of sign language, I approached a music store…the guy there was very nice as he told me that two days of Flamenco lessons would be about as useful as wet socks and that no one would even waste the time to sit down in front of me. Then when he was done, he sent me another couple blocks away to the Flamenco Keller. Perfect. Went there. Scheduled a lesson for that night at 5:30 and again this morning at 9 am.

Both lessons went very well, even if the were taught 100% in Spanish. Lito was the instructor’s name and he couldn’t have been nicer. The first day - 1.5 hrs each - was spent focused on the Flamenco technique and the second morning on the progressions and various forms. Great overview, but at the and I can’t say I could play much of anything. The technique is so difficult and fast and there are new forms and permutations of chords that will take some practice to get used to. Time. Such a beautiful art. I fully recommend this to anyone with guitar aspirations or abilities.

  Me with Lito and our cutout dancer.

By wed night I had come down with a full-blown cold from all the A/C and no doubt all the cigarette smoke. Sneezes all night and no going out…
I wandered back to the hotel and stopped into a place for tapas. It was a packed spot that looked like a locals hang-out. I’ll post a picture of their address from their napkin, but this was the best food I’ve eaten in 10 years. Unbelievably good tapas. 13€ for a selection of 3 with an olive plate and a bread basket and 3 beers (sm). This is a have-to visit spot..right off the river, and just south of the cathedral.

Here’s the address.   …the BEST!!!

The Flamence show that night was in a small 10 m square room with pillars and ivy surrounding the room. It was a guitarist, a singer and a dancer. The guitar playing was amazing and the rhythm tapped out by the girl’s dancing feet was dizzying in it’s speed and complexity. She could get really quiet with the tapping but still maintain the furious tempo…must be extremely difficult.

Left Sevilla Thurs midday for Granada. Another bus ride…Lenny will be proud!

 Here’s what I look like, all loaded up and ready to go…

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August 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Camera mem card is full with no internet station in site…

The trip to Spain from Albufeira has been a hot one. It’s 37 C here and humid today. Only the ghetto-train went to the border…you know, the one with no A/C that stops at every single station along the way while the sun roasts the big rusty metal toaster of a train like it’s an oven.

There is no information anywhere about how to get to Spain from the final train station in Portugal. Trick is to hike in the baking sun about 1 km to the ferry station, take the ferry 15 minutes across the river, then walk another mile to the bus station in Spain. No signs describe any of this, yet it seems like people must do it all the time. I was part of a 5-person group that managed to make the trek without getting too lost.
The Let’s Go book was useless for tips on doing this.

2.5 hrs to Seville!
……….

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August 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Leaving Albufeira. Had a great time there. The pictures probably will speak more than words. For everyone I’ve met over the last few days, the pictures will be up as soon as I get to a place with a proper computer: this post is being written on a Blackberry so I can’t do anything with the pics.

Sun night…the show went well at Al’Face. Great acoustics in the room made it even easier. Played about 15 songs, split over 2 sets. Very nice people there. The pictures and video shot by James came out well. Will be posted soon.
After the show, we went with some friends to the Kareoke bar downtown. Good times…of course, true to form, pulled out a little George Michael. Hilarious! Pics are classic. Later, walking around and running into familiar faces kept is out until about 5 am, and of course sleeping wasn’t an option until about 8 am! Up at 4:30 pm. That’s about the time I’d been used to at home in CA, with the time change, so it’s not as extreme as it sounds.

Yesterday - Monday - entertained the idea of continuing the journey to Sevilla, but it was not to be, and we booked another night at our ocean-view place. By then we’d discovered how to get up to the 5th-floor terrace with full sweeping views of the town and ocean. Sunset up there was amazing…pics coming.

Last night, played another, shorter set at Al’Face. Good, but not quite as good as the night before. Met a few more people and went to the amazing Caipirinha bar for the best I’ve ever had. It takes so long to make each one that the wait could be > 30 minutes.
Called it an early night and went to bed by 2:30.

More soon…and pictures!

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August 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

learning Dutch!

James borrowing sunglasses…

Night on the balcony

Our favorite waitress…who´s that IDIOT with the closed eyes!?
 
Me and James

What happens when a guy goes to the bathroom and girls grab the camera…!

 
My first one of these in years…great stuff!

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August 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

Arrived in the Algarve:
Took the train from Sintra to Albufeira without a hitch.  Stopped at the train station in Lisbon to retrieve my big bag and guitar from the lockers there where I´d left it.  Had three hours to kill waiting for the train, so I walked a block to the coast of the Atlantic and played some guitar and sat out under the sun and watched the boats go by and even managed a late-morning nap.  Not at all a stressful way to start the day.

The train to Albufeira.  With the addition of a Portuguese phone card, I had made arrangements for an ocean-view cottage and a pick up at the train station.  Once there, I met James, a cook and traveller who had left Canada to come here to do a sailboat delivery back to north-eastern Canada.  He was looking for a place, and I had booked something outside my budget, so it was perfect.  We´ve been doing the day to day here, which consists of going to the beach in the afternoons, going for a swim then getting into town in the evenings for the chaos that is Albufeira night-life.  The town at night reminds me entirely of Mykonos, Greece.   Narrow alleyways twist through the pedestrian part of the town and connect the main square to lots of shops-bars-restaurants and eventually lead to the ªtunnelª to the beach.
The sangria here is amazing and everyone makes it fresh when ordered.  People in general are friendly.  The people-watching is a good 9 out of 10, especially in the later hours. I´m likely the whitest person on the continent!
James, Jessica, me.

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August 25, 2006 by zankbennett.

Amazing CD…discovered this singer in Sintra hotel lounge…

Maria Bethania: romantica

It’s a greatest hits album, apparently. Reminds me a bit of Bebel Gilberto.
So chill!

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August 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

Thanks to the advice of JR, the latter part of today was all about Sintra, the tiny town surrounded by hills just a short train ride West of Lisbon…in theory anyway!

Got into town and eventually found a nice hotel up the hill from the center of the old town. It’s an old spanish-style villa from another time. The window in my room opens like shutters do, and yes, it even has shutters on the inside to keep the morning light out.
From the hotel it’s a decent hike up to the two sites well worth seeing. They are: The Pena Palace and The Moorish Castle. They are a hilly, 20-min walk from each other, but the sights along the way make it worth it. There are a series of lakes between the two that make for picturesque hiking, complete with horse-drawn carriages and swans and geese. It was windy as could be at the top, so it was a good day to avoid the beaches. The pictures should be more telling, but at present it’s impossible to post them.
The Moorish Castle had a wall on the north side resembling a shortened version of the Great Wall of China. Beautiful and quite rugged. The path along parts of it was only about 18 inches wide with 30 foot drops to one side. In america there certainly would have been ropes and danger signs and the like. It’s nice that they let you figure all that out on your own here…I guess as long as no one falls off the edge!

More tomorrow from the train to the southern coast…reserved a room for there nights in … Well I can’t remember and am too tired to reach over and grab the book

Bon noite!

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August 24, 2006 by eatfeijoada.

i got one right now!

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August 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

Well, my main bag didn’t make it to Lisbon from NYC. I had only my mini guitar and MP3 player, passport and wallet for a night. It took a trip back to the airport from town to straighten the mess out. They have this huge collection of lost bags in this smelly back room of the Lisbon airport. After a good 200 yds of looking through bags we gave up and the lady brought me back inside for a final look at yet another pile! Finally there it was, dirty but intact. I can’t imagine a process less organized. It was just unbelievable.

It’s off today to Sintra. I’ve managed to miss my train stop already but using a combination of sign language and raw detectable frustration I was able to get some help with directions. I’m on this damn train right now. Bec of the lost bag and my lost mind, it looks like I’m going to miss the opportunity to get to Lagos today. I’m going to yet to spend the night in Sintra and make a go at it tomorrow. I think. There’s a lighthouse at the most south-west point of Portugal that is supposed to have the greatest sunsets. It’s a 6km run from Lagos. Perfect.

Last night and yesterday were spent in Lisbon. I checked into a €45 hotel and went out adventuring. Being without a camera was difficult. Nothing really outstanding to report, but that’s what I’d heard of Lisbon. Climbed a tower this morning. Good city views but nothing spectacular. The weather has been near perfect and cool enough at night to obviate the need for A/C. Last night was the first full 9 hrs of sleep in about 10 straight weeks, even with the non-stop stream of dreams about packing and selling my car and getting immunizations and all the other little things that needed attention before leaving…must have been all the Indian food before bed!

More from Sintra…

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August 23, 2006 by zankbennett.

…on the plane to Lisbon, Portugal.

Yesterday was a long, very intense day in NYC. The morning started with me sitting in on a prostate removal operation performed by Rob. He asked me to film the procedure. It was just amazing. The whole thing was done by robot, controlled by Rob from the other side of the room. The footage is more difficult to watch than the procedure was as it occurred. What an incredibly powerful experience.

Something terrible then happened. I checked my email after about 3 hrs in the OR. A very good friend, Cathy jumped to her death from the Coronado bridge at about 2 am San Diego time. She was a constant friend and will be missed dearly. This is not the place for further discussion of that terrible event so I will continue, but now more sadly and with loving thoughts of a person who’s friendship I valued immensely.

I took the subway to ground zero (at the former World Trade Tower site) and walked to the “Bodies” exhibit. It was a collection of anatomical sections taken from human subjects soon after death and preserved for observation. It was quite expensive (esp. for a jobless/homeless person). I managed to talk my way into a discount and met a girl, Nufar, in line to share the discount with. This charming girl from Isreal walked through the exhibit with me and we ended up spending the afternoon and evening wandering about SOHO. I learned so many things about a country I will likeky never get to see.
We went to Mamouns (see recommendations in prev entry) for four falafels and sat down to devour them in Washington Square Park, just a one-block walk. Rob met us there and it was off to some various cafés for more food and the best corn on the cob ever at Havannas.

Later, met up with Kristen and Rachel and, of course, went back to Mamouns for the last falafel of the trip….

Barely made it to the plane this pm. Of course I got secondary screening; no one likes my one-way ticket!

Thanks to Rob and Manny for being great hosts.

I’m now on the plane to Lisbon. More to come as the international adventure begins!!!

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August 21, 2006 by zankbennett.

Saturday night…G-bar…Bottom of a nice hotel in the meatpacking region of NYC.  It’s a spa by day and a loungy nightclub by night.  It’s got these tepid baths where people who’ve sufficiently lowered their inhibitions can wade/swim/stand around and just generally get wet while out having drinks with friends.  Very exclusive place…they almost didn’t let me in with my day-pack over my shoulders
I had this pair of “glasses” that I bought that day from a street-vendor…well the glass parts fell out…and they became this great prop for the evening.  Everyone in our group put them on and did a little dance.  Made for great pictures and a thousand laughs!

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August 21, 2006 by zankbennett.

LL Cool J
Foo Fighters
Tom Petty

Ferry ride from Manhatten to another island where the outdoor concert was held.  A little rain wasn’t enough to put a damper on a Great night of live music.  25 feet from the stage for Foo and Petty…then Groll took the stage with Petty for the final encore songs.  Epic stuff.  I was hoping he’d play drums with Petty but no such luck.

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August 21, 2006 by zankbennett.

After a LONG day of cars, planes and trains arrived Fri night in NYC.  Took the path train to Jersey City to stay with Rob for a few nights.  We headed out to meet a couple friends at The Frying Pan; a floating barge with multiple levels of dancing an a live band providing absolutely non-stop music the whole night long.  Of course Rob & I danced as we do for hours until we were soaked and thoroughly tired.  It’s really humid here and A/C is even more essential than in SD.  Took tons of pics.  Some of the best will be poste here shortly.

ESSENTIAL TRAVEL RECOMMENDATION:
WHERE: Mamouns (sp?) NYC, deep SOHO region.
WHAT: The BEST falafel in the world.  Really.
Comments: At $2 each, this is a terrific deal.  The hotsauce is like nothing i’ve experienced.   This stuff could melt the polar ice caps.  The restaurant is small.  112 square feet.  Wins best falafel Zagat award every year.  Duh.

Four slices of pizza at the pizza place right next door work well as an appetizer!

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August 17, 2006 by zankbennett.

Post 1:

15AUG-18AUG 2006 - San Francisco, CA

Let the travels begin….
Left SD on Tue…car was officially sold the NEXT day…now it’s official…no car, no home and for the time being absolutely no commitments whatsoever.  Scary as hell, but at the same time terrifying.

Tue night in SF.  Great times at the Lion’s Den on Sacramento St. with a few friends and a few more ICB’s!

Wed night…Toad the Wet Sprocket (reunion) and Big Head Todd and the Monsters at a winery near Los Gatos.  A group photo is soon to be added.  So great to see everyone and thanks to Sterling for the back-stage passes!

Thurs night (tonight) to Solstice for a blow-out going-away party SF style.  Hats off to LK for setting that one up and for the Wed night show.  Huge!

Pics coming soon.

Heading off for a run over the Golden Gate Bridge…living the dream

-ZB

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August 17, 2006 by zankbennett.

• Aug 23 to Lisbon, Portugal
  From there, I’m traveling by train to Barcelona, Spain.
• Sept 9th to Naples then Positano, Italy
• Sept 14th to Rome
• Sept 15th to Athens, Greece.  3 days on each these islands in this order: Mykonos, Ios, Santorini 
• Sept 24th to Los Angeles
• Oct 1st to Stockholm, Sweden.

From there, I’ll be in various eastern European countries until

• Nov 27th from Croatia to Cairo.
• Dec 1st to Bangkok, Thailand.

From there, I honestly have no plans.  I will certainly keep you updated.

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