September 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

So this week I am back in San Diego and LA.  I replaced my camera and managed to see quite a few friends.

John, Aine, Avery and me at the best restaurant in the world….Ranchos!!!
John, are you possessed in this one?

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September 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

Simply put, I believe this to be the most beautiful place I’ve been anywhere in the world outside of Rotuma Island, Fiji.

No one described this island to me and I’m thankful for that. No words can do it justice. The cliffs are so much taller than I’d expected. The whole place is magical.

Kristen and I rented a quad and explored the island with the wind in our hair and big smiles. I’m pretty sure, judging from the horns and flury of passers, that we rented the slowest quad on the island.

We watched the sunset on the north-west most point of the island on our second night. Just us and about 2000 other tourists! It’s a famous spot for watching the sunset. It’s just not as spectacular without the san Diego smog to really amplify the oranges and pinks!

Our second day, we took the donkey (read, DUNG) trail down the 500+ steps down to the ferry to the volcano that sits off the west coast of Santorini.

Atop the rim of the crater.

About to BELLY FLOP really badly!

With a mud-hawk from the mud in the volcanic hot prings.

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September 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

3 nights in an amazing hotel. Went out each night to the very small town center on the west side of the island. We missed the high-season by a matter of a few days and so the alleyways were passable. Kristen and I made our way between several of the bars each night, and each night, we wound up at our favorite of the Greek food stands. Chocolate crepes were the call at 5 am!

The days were spent doing various activities. The first day, I rant for a run and explored the western tip of the island. The next day, Kristen took a spa afternoon. I walked a couple miles away and played guitar for nearly 5 hours as the sun set over the small mountain to my back and lit the hillside where our hotel was situated. I found a dilapidated cement pier and played for the fish in the clear green water. It was a magical place and very secluded. 100 meters from the pure was an incredible beach, only about 50 meters long. We would swim there as our last bit of fun on Ios.

The third day, before catching a 4:30 pm super-jet boat to Santorini, we rented a scooter and headed out to a nearly detached bluff at the farthest west point of Ios. Kristen and I hiked out to the very end, about a 40-minute hike with all the stops we made. We were surrounded by green water for 300 degrees at all times. It was an amazing hike with a small climb and a couple small false summits. It was Kristen’s first hike ever and one of my favorites. The end of the bluff allowed us hiking access to the water. We found a rocky, rocky beach and took turns wearing my shoes while swimming. It was truly a magical little cove. We have lots of pictures and I’ll post some soon.

Kristin on the way out to the point and swimming in the clear water at the amazing swim-hole at the point.

The return hike was only 15 minutes. It was off to the aforementioned beach for a quick swim in the calmer water and off to Santorini.

The verdict: much apart from the party scene for which Ios has gained notoriety is the peaceful serenity of the place and its complete affordability. This was an island full of magical spots that can be reached by hiking and exploring. These rugged parts are not to be missed when going to Ios.

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September 17, 2006 by zankbennett.

Mykonos! Arrived sans Kristen, friend from NYC, to Mykonos via a high-speed ferry. Janis -sp?- was waiting for us, well, in this case, me. Kristen lost her luggage and, along with her whole flight from NYC, missed her connection. And the French kept her bag to boot. I hear that Paris is a terrible connection city..note to self…
So it turns out that Janis owns the hotel where we’re staying: Hotel Omiros. He’s a young guy and very amicable. He showed me to the SICK room…sweeping sea views with an unbelievable deck that’s just perfect for taking in a sunset. It was dark when I got in, but stunning none the less.

Finally, Kristen gets in at 11 pm with no bags so we walk into town for some dinner and possibly to go out. Only the former happened, and would be the last we would see of the town of mykonos or any of the bars for that matter.

Got up the next morning and rented a scooter for me and a 4-wheeler for her…good times. We went all over that island and eventually wound up at Elias -sp?- beach. Laying there near the water was liken to standing in front of a stucco-removing sandblaster and asking if “this one goes to eleven”. It was very windy, and every so often a gust would come up and….BLAM…sand in places I didn’t even know existed yet!
Back to the hotel. Janis had asked me to play some guitar around sunset and so with a small crowd of international travelers and Janis I played and sang and we frank some great wine. The sun set and we finished a few bottles of wine. Considering it a special time, Janis brought out a bottle of wine made by his friend from grapes that grow right there at the hotel. Great stuff and soon everyone went for the pre-evening nap…a great Spanish tradition I’m embracing fully over here. Janis invited KrIsten and me to a party somewhere on the other side of the island.

We jump into his Omiros van and we’re off. We get lost like four times but alas arrived…deep into the Mykonos hilly interior. I’m pretty sure Kristen thought we were going to be abducted and so was a little concerned in the back seat. All was fine, and we were warmly welcomed at the party. Come to find out that Janis is very well known and respected on the island; he’s even running for public office. The party was great. Everyone was a Mykonos local. I’m pretty sure it was a party for a baptism. There was this DJ, Hans, who spun the best stuff I’d heard in years. He couldn’t have been a day under 60. I’ll have to post a pic soon.
Over the DJ, there was a parsschutte strung rather taughtly. It was blowing and flapping in the incessant Mykonos wind. Great scene, great people and an experience that I’m so grateful for. Mykonos is known as a party island and we had an experience that was just the opposite of the typical. No clubs, no 8€ drinks…but a great time with locals and homemade food and insane music.

We got home at around 2:30 am and argued about going into town until we fell asleep. Perfect.

Today, Sun, 17 SEP, went exploring on the scooters towards Panorma, on the north, or windward, shore. Found some great beaches, but amazingly, found the rocky, quite rugged, north shore. Picture the home of the cartoon character with the brush-helmet who kept talking about his X-14 space modulator…it was barren and windy and lonely, yet perfectly preserved in its ruggedness. The rocks were damn sharp, but we managed to avoid flats and it was a perfect exploratory end to the Mykonos portion of the trip.

I almost flipped my scotter at 40 mph coasting down this massive hill. The hill ended abruptly, the bike’s front wheel hit it and the shock bottomed out violently, and the bike bucked me so hard my feet rose above the seat in response. I never let go and pulled it. Idiot American on a scooter!

Now on Ios.
Ran (of course) to catch the ferry from Mykonos, bec Janis and I were exchanging music on my MP3 player - I’m loaded with greek goods now. I’ll be sure to pass on any gems I discover in there.

Ios is beautiful. The view from our deck (this is starting to be an unbelievable trend) is breathtaking. There are several island peaks on the near-horizon that merge together in the distance just over the vanishing pool…the floors everywhere are made of cool, translucent marble. This is unequivocally one of the nicest places I’ve stayed in my life. My part is €37/night.

Still having the time of my life. The weather is perfect. The sky is blue and clear. The water is warm and swimable and finally the winds have calmed.

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September 15, 2006 by zankbennett.

So I’m in my Rome hotel room on the phone, waiting for the front desk to answer, holding a cloth. It’s about the size of a medium-large hand towel. It’s about as thick as a T-shirt and it feels like parachute pants. Remember those from the 80’s? So, the guy at the front desk answers and I kindly inform him that my room doesn’t have a regular towel for showering, just this piece of oversized wax paper I’m holding incredulously. He, also kindly, informs me that my room doesn’t come with a regular shower towel. I thank him and in shock accidentally hang up the phone. What am I supposed to do with this thing? I’ve seen a pair of ankle-socks absorb more water than this thing could ever.
So I put off showering as long as possible and finally went for it. When drying off, I actually paused to wring-out this oversized washcloth I was using to wipe the water all over myself. I’d have been better off jumping up and down while shaking myself violently.

So I leave the hotel. Of course, now that I’m finally dry it’s pouring rain. Cats and dogs. I run with my pack about 200 meters and I’m in the train station. Soaked head to toe. Pockets, shoes…everything. …could really use that towel right now!

On the plane now. I’ve discovered where the regular napkins went. (recall my post on the “glossy napkins”). They out them all in my Olympic Airielines bathroom. Yeah, it works like this. You use the restroom, wash your hands, go to dry them off, and perfect; dinner napkins. You know the kind that dissolve into a thousand soggy pieces upon first contact with water? Facial tissue would work better. In fact it did.

In Greece now…hoping that my bag is here to join me…this time. Love the islands here…getting excited!

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September 14, 2006 by zankbennett.

In Rome right now at an internet cafe…no more thumb typing.

 My favorite city in the world.  Went to the Vatican City today and just generally took in the city.  Amazing every time I’m here. 

Tomorrow it’s off to Greece!!! Scooters and Breezers and beaches and…

z

Me at the Trevy fountain, embracing the tradition of tossing a coin over my shoulder for a wish…it was raining heavily that night….about 1 am.

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September 13, 2006 by zankbennett.

Sitting at the train station in Pompei, waiting to go back to Sorrento where Jill and I will catch a train to Rome and George is going back to Positano.

Pompei was a lot bigger than I had thought. The ancient city was covered in lava on Aug 24th 79 AD mount Vesuvius (sp) erupted. The lava covered everything, even burying people alive. Some of the figures have been uncovered and can be seen in some of the displays.
There were two (that we saw) large ampitheaters towards the edge of Pompei. They were equipped with modern sound systems and stage lighting. Could only imaging playing music there.

Rome tonight….pizzas, bruscettas and the Trevy(sp) Fountain!

The weather here is perfect. We had a wonderfull, if brief, thunderstorm last night in Positano, but the days have been sunny, warm and perfect for shorts and a T.

….thanks to everyone who’s leaving comments and sending email…I really enjoy getting the correspondence, advice and insight!

-Z

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September 12, 2006 by zankbennett.

Arrived by private car into Positano, Italy from Naples. The drive here is amazing. The road drops off to the water at amazing heights along the serpentine path. Olive trees line the road in places. Top speed along much of the trek is no more than 20 mph.

To quote the DK guide:

Known for decades as a smart playground for the wealthy, famous and decadent, postiano is an astonishingly vertical town in shades of pink and other faded pastels. Only one street snakes its way down and up…the rest are stairs.

That’s really the truth. The town is built right into the cliff here along the Amalfi coast. The stairs are a workout no matte where you want to go.

I dropped by the deli where I bought all my food the last time I stayed here and the lady slowly remembered me from last year. She happily sold me supplies for making bruscetta, some mozzerella (Jill says that’s how to spell it), some local figs and wine..and a watermellon Breezer.

Me in front of the deli after hours.  Steps are EVERYWHERE in Positano

Our first night we all went out to dinner at a roadside café above town with full views of the sea and town below. My favorite restaurant from the last trip here.
The second night Jill and I cooked for George and ‘Ofa. Jill made roasted fennel, tomatoes, beans and garlic. I made bruscetta and pasta sauce. We started eating at 1 am and finished at 4:30…just a few hours later, after a nightcap of lemoncello, George and I were the only ones awake to watch the morning sun rise and gently illuminate the soft colors of the town…

The days here are are spent leisurely enjoying the small-town atmosphere and sweeping sea views from our huge, grassy deck. We did some kayaking and visited a grotto and jumped off some of the rocks into the warm, salty water.

Jill kayaks like a maniac…she called it her 30-foot radius of danger…the region inside of which, you were sure to collide with her at crazy velocity. Call her the spinner…you could turn back to look at her and she could be facing any direction at all…paddling frantically to get back to the right direction…

I spent all of today on the deck playing guitar and eating amazing cheese, bread and drinking wine…there is something so special about the little town; a magic that surrounds it.

If someone has the time to find a link of a picture of the town, please post it as a comment.
All the best!!!!

-having the time of my life…still.

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September 12, 2006 by zankbennett.

Arrived in Barcelona on Monday night after spending all day in the Madrid train station. There’s an interesting system for buying train tickets there; you grab a number and wait until you’re called. For us, it was about an hour and a half….so we did it twice.
The ticket alone was > my daily budget, at 60€.

I called from the train station and reserved a hotel room at a place that was recommended by a place that was full. MY FIRST BARCELONA MISTAKE…

The train boogied along at like 90 mph. It was an easy metro transfer to get to the center avenue, Las Rambles. I had one night solo before George was to come, and figured that the center of it all would be the spot to be for one night. Peter and Ayo couldn’t find anything else either and booked a room at the same place. How could we have known?

So, I show up an hour earlier at the hotel. I’m standing 50 feet from the front door in the busiest pedestrian walkway I’ve ever seen. I call the hotel and the guy sounds like my differential equations professor and is equally incomprehensible. We spoke for about 5 minutes and during that time, with a thick Indian accent, he referred to the street the hotel is on as three or four different streets while I frantically scoured my map…as quickly as he could make up an English word, I would trace my finger in panic motions across the map, foolishly believing I was looking for something that actually existed.

So I hang up the phone and walk 15 paces to the hotel. The nice man has my name as Dank, and even though 75% of my name is correct and I have a credit card of the correct last four digits…all that is just too much of a coincidence for this man. I clearly am an imposter. So began the interrogation.

What’s your room #
-i forgot

Hmmm. How much are you paying?
-i don’t know. When I agreed, it was an amount that I could afford, so I didn’t make more of a note of it than that.

[snickering obnoxiously] so you don’t keep track of how much € you spend?
-are you my mom?

Anyway, using some rather advanced sign language, I cheched into my room. I’m not sure how to describe the smell, so I won’t. I pulled the sheets back to reveal the furry hairball that was my bed. The pillow was in the same condition, and upon further scrutinization, I found a ball of ear wax with a hair in it. So I leave and go out for some dinner. Obviously, the room is for storing my pack while I stay up all night and wait until the next night to sleep. Peter and Ayo agree when they checked in and so began the evening. I grabben my camera and wallet and hit the town…only one of those possessions would be with me at the end of the night.

After a few Irish car bombs! we made our way to a local club right on Las Ramblas with a few girls who joined us for the ICB’s. Good club. Little bit of dancing, and we left around 5 when they closed down. So the 6 of us go back 400 meters to our hotel and I run up and get my guitar and we sit on the avenue and play and sing and lots of people stop to listen and enjoy it. It gets worse.

Here is a picture at that moment>>>

So, I get up to pee behind a bush. I leave my guitar. This woman walks up to me and pulls a tit out of her shirt and asks me if I want some of that. So I’m trying to find a nice way to tell her that I’m not interested when she takes 3 quick steps and grabs onto the thing in my right hand…you know. I’m shocked and tell at her to get the hell away from me and so she leaves. I finish my business and, with a different expression, walk back to my friends. I reach for my camera. The one with the FULL memory card. Yeah, it’s gone. We ran all around and she was no where to be found. Great.

So, we went back up to our rooms and changed and Peter and I went for a great run, per his suggestion. We went out to the beach and back. Come to find out that he was a high school all-American lacrosse player. By now it’s near 10 am and time to get on to finding a hotel room we can sleep in.

Peter, Ayo and I went to the beach for the day. Later that day, George got into town.

Enter George-great friend from LA, and Jill, recent acquanitence from work.

We all met at the Opera bar for some sangria and to formulate a plan for the evening. A couple Sweedish girls came with peter and Ayo and Jill was with her friend Amber.

Went out that night and danced until all hours…On the way out of the beach-front disco, met a few girls from Germany…Astrid (the fire-diving stunt woman), Judi (the pop-and-locker) and Tina(? Shit, is that her name?).
We dance at the next bar until the sun came up. We all had to force George off the D-floor.

Next day was consumed mostly with sleep. We made our way into a huge Dept store in the center of town. We bought a few things. My Spanish is really coming along well. People are so happy to let me struggle through it. This is much different than anywhere I’ve ever been. Usu, people are just as happy to practice their English, but in Spain, and especially Barcelona, most people will work with you. I learned a ton and really got a lot better! Doing the day-to-day there was really a blast.

That night, we met the Germans for a buffet dinner. My next mistake in Barcelona! The dinner was great…on the way DOWN!!!

Here is a picture at the buffet>>>

So, after dinner we go to a couple clubs and dance until the sun comes up…again. Had to beg the doorman to let me in with rips in my pants. It’s just like home…standing there in front of a 300 lb gorilla trying to convince him that 3 girls should outweigh 2 rips in my pants. Spanish must be getting better, ’cause we eventually made it in. We danced until the lights came on and the blister on my left foot from new shoes was the size of a small walnut.

At home, I got about 30 minutes of sleep and at 9:30 had a nice return visit from that all-you-can-eat meal. Probably some meat in there somewhere……

Get a call that morning from Ayo…scooter crash! Just a fender-bender. He regrouped and scootered up above town and explored the hillside above town. George and I relaxed that day and eventually found our way to the beach for an evening sangria.

The next day, we made our way out of town to Montserrat. We climbed way up to an abandoned house built into the high hillside. The place was amazing. There was graffiti everywhere. Old refrigerators, metal parts, debri. The scene was incredible. George shot some priceless video of the scene. Hopefully I can post some pictures I took with the video camera. To get to where we were exploring, we had to take two trains and a cable-driven train than went seemingly straight up the side of a cliff! It reminded me of the cog railway that takes people up mount Washington in Vermont.

That night, we took a nap and agreed not to go out too late…ha.

We met a group of people at a supermarket and made our way to The Black Sheep, aka, The HOT bar. It must have been 95 degrees in that place. So George and I agreed that we couldn’t stay and left everyone and went searching for a new place…never found one, so se went back in to say goodbye and go home…so 3 hours later we’re playing foosball and yelling and having a great time. German girls can’t play foosball worth a damn! ;). I had a great conversation with a woman from Peru yelling Spanish across a table in a that loud bar for about 45 min. At 4 am -cause we weren’t going out late that night-we grabbed a taxi home…

It was really the end of the Spanish leg of the trip but marked a special point for me; I’ve wanted for at least 10 years to be able to spend time in Spain and learn to communicate in Spanish and gain a better understanding of how the day-to-day works there. I value that experience immensely. My Spanish is still terrible, but it improved and I could definitely see myself getting better.

We woke up and made our way to the produce/meat market in town for some food supplies for Italy. Jill met us near noon and it was on to the airport…

Next stop…Positano, Italy…bring on paradise!

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September 4, 2006 by zankbennett.

Got into Madrid late Friday evening. Hotel I’d booked was a bad scene for about 53 good reasons. The least of which was not the plumbing that ran right next to the bed so that during the entire night when someone walked down the creaky wooden floor to go to the bathroom, if the marching didn’t wake me up, the flushing sound ripping through the pipes running 3 inches from my head made me feel as though I was in a barrel, suspended from the top of Niagara Falls.

Showered and went out to get some food in Madrid. Made my way down to La Latina district. Got a little lost and wound up in the ghetto, but made it out alive. Went to The Retrobar for tapas (average, but good) and a drink, tinto de verano, red wine and soda water. So good. Just sort of hung out there like the weird guy who speaks terrible Spanish and is a little intimidated by the whole experience…this is a frequent phase for me. Some guy kept coming out and telling something into a mehaphone right next to me. Yeah, then everyone would jeer. I bet if I’d understood Spanish slang, at 500 dB, it would have had the same effect on me. Great place.
Wondered the streets for a while. Nightlife seemed nuts. Went back to the wonderful hotel for my nights torture.

First thing Sat, moved to new hotel. Of course. Finally got laundry done…and folded for me. Sweet! It was sure to happen once on this trip.
Went to The Prado museum. Took the English audio tour. Never done that before; type the # of the painting and a voice comes on and tells you about the piece. That was ok. There was a phenomenal piece there that was awe inspiring to see in person: Las meninas by Diego Velázquez, painted in 1656. It stands at least 15 feet tall. Later will post a pic.
Went back at least 5 times to look again and again. The most amazing painting I’ve ever seen.

Went to Chueca region for dinner/drinks. Cool region, if completely gay at night.
Eventually wandered into a Mexican (well, it was an attempt at authenticity) bar. Met about 5 people and we stayed there and talked and drank until they closed the place sometime after 2 am…with all of is in it. We must have stayed until 3, then all walked across town to Sol for some dancing. Some of the pictures on this walk are hilarious….coming soon.
In the crew were some girls from Switzerland and two guys from NYC, Peter and a guy with a first name so difficult that even he can’t spell it!
We stayed out and danced until past 7. Hilarious pictures coming…
I left to walk home and hit breakfast at 8 am. For some reason, a fish (from canned tuna) and onion (I hate onions) omelet sounded like a good call. Those first few bites were tough to endure. Sleep by 9…and the streets were still crawling with people. Unbelievable. Do these people work, or is the siesta just that effective?

Sun. Went to The Thyssen museum. Instead of the audio tour, I fired up the new Gomez album on the MP3 player. Prefect! Saw another piece that absolutely blew my mind. It was: Despedida by Max Beckmann. Just an incredible. From arm’s length it’s hard to even make out a human face, never mind an expression, but at 15 feet the expressions on the central character’s face in unmistakable. How in the world do some artists do that so well? This painting gave me chills. Perhaps a new favorite. I absolutely loved it.

***Update***

—
Thanks to Scott for this link…
http://coleccionctb.museothyssen.org/coleccionctb/upload/obra324/museo_thyssen_p_CTB.1996.42.jpg

I hope it works for everyone…and I hope you all like it.
—

Met up with Peter and E-O. In the park. We had a beer at a small outdoor cafe and I played guitar while some girls danced and we all had a great time. Priceless.

From the cafe we could hear drums…the kind coming from a drum circle…we walked over to this huge monument and there were at least 35 drummers gapperung away. E-O danced. The experience was amazing, and the last thing we’d expected that Sun night.

From there, out to Tapas in Chueca again. Had some drink in a green bottle. It was really popular: kept seeing them go by. I’m convinced was cleaning fluid. Maybe Simple Green mixed with windex. Luckily, the aftertaste, be it entirely debilitating, was quite temporary.

From there, back to Sol, but it was dead.

Made plans to meet and go to Barcelona together…
On a speedy train…5 hrs…
More from Barcelona!

Hopefully pictures coming soon; they’re getting really funny.

(note on typos: this is all done via blackberry and it’s so easy to miss things… combine that with a propensity to misspell nearly everything I write…)
-Z

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September 1, 2006 by zankbennett.

Travel Commentary:

Lines:
Lines here form in exactly the same manner in which they do in the USA. But that’s where it ends. Let’s say you’re next in line and your standing 3 feet from the back of the person currently at the window. Well that’s your first mistake. See, that distance means that you’re not really in line. You might as well be orbiting Mars. People look at that distance as an opportunity to form another line perpendicular to yours and much much closer to the person currently at the window. Then, when that person moves, even slightly, the person who started the new line to your left elbows the person at the window out of the way guaranteeing 2 things: 1 you’re never going to be next and 2 that person IS.
A similar thing works when boarding busses; if the line to get in looks too long, just start a new line right at the door of the bus that runs perpendicular to the first line. That way, if you’re 1st in the new line, you’re a lock on at worst, 2nd in the bus…never mind that “idiot” (usu ME) standing at the end of the original line awaiting his/her turn.
I tried this new-line trick today…and it worked like a charm…no dirty looks, no scowls, just call me Mr 2nd on the bus. I probably looked local!
I still can’t get used to hugging the person in line in front of me from behind in hopes of preventing an 80-year-old, 3-foot-zero lady from jacking my spot when I’m about to miss the last train/bus to some place having a one-night-only festival, and she’s buying a ticket for next week to the next town over, but probably won’t go anyway…yet it about happens to me everywhere I wait in line.

Glossy napkins!
Now what’s up with this? The napkins here are made with some sort of glossy paper. It works really well as a face-food-mover. Like if there’s a bit of food on your cheek and you use one of these glossy things, you can be assured the food is gone from the cheek, but you can also guarantee it’t equally distributed over the rest of your face and that there is absolutely none of it on the napkin. It’s like wiping your face with the cover of one of those Daniel Steel novels.

Phone:
When you really need to get something done, T-Mobile has got the worst cust service…makes even Sprint look good!

Backpack:
This thing is too heavy. No one needs 2 pairs of pants! And 4 T-shirts? Who wears that many shirts? 12 pairs of socks? For real, they’re cleaner after a long hike than the rest of me most of the time… ;). Soap…should have brought this; some hotels don’t have it.

Misconceptions:
1. I would have washed my clothes since the last time I did it about a week before leaving SD - Aug 10th.
2. It wouldn’t be a full time job planning where to stay and what to see and when.
3. George, who’s meeting me in Barcelona, would have called to let me know if/when he’s coming before leaving for Paris yesterday.
4. Trains would be the way to travel…buses have proven faster and cheaper, thusfar.

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September 1, 2006 by zankbennett.

Thurs (31Aug) arrived in the afternoon in Granada, Spain. The food I bought in Sevilla must weigh 20 kg! I could barely walk with the pack on…it was about a half mile from the bus to the hotel…man!…in 42-degree weather too…with a cold…I’m a baby, I know.
Great town. I didn’t do much more than the typical tourist stuff…all of it is easily Googled, so I’ll save it but for a few comments…

The audio tour of the fortress is a must-buy at 3€.

The extent to which there has been Muslim influence here is unimaginable. There seem to be more falafel stands than tapas places.

This town is young and fun and gets a strong rating from me.

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