Author Archives: lydia

Day 1 Sunday, May 24th On the plane… All the final preparations kept us hopping. Julie came over to help. She was the calm port in the storm of activity. No criticisms from her, she just kept us focused on … Continue reading →

Finally prepared, I think, and we’re off in our lovely hired limo to the airport. Plenty of time, just how Joe likes it. Get to the gate and we’re told, “I think your seats have been changed.” This happened on … Continue reading →

Maybe we’ll have more opinions on the above after this journey to Turkey, France/Spain, Ireland and England. It won’t be a fair assessment, though, because Turkey will be totally new to us and the other countries are familiar and comfortable. … Continue reading →

We’re home after a wonderful trip! The flight was fine, but long. We were reassigned to bulkhead seats after we were told at the airport that Joe’s assigned seat was broken and we would not be able to sit together. … Continue reading →

We got our boat and tour tickets for Tangier with a mix of excitement and a little hesitation at the port in Tarifa. Rick Steves, my favorite travel writer, had described Tangier as the “Tijuana of Morrocco”. Having experienced Tijuana … Continue reading →

Dear faithful bloggers, and I know there are a few (Hi, Joanie!), We’ve been in Ireland for 4 sleeps (as I used to explain time to Erin) and I haven’t even described our Malaga and environs adventures. First of all, … Continue reading →

I’m sitting on my terrace at the Eden Roc hotel in San Filieu, Spain on the Costa Brava trying to keep my eyes on this paper to write while the deep blue Mediterranean crashes against the rocks just a few … Continue reading →

We met our Banales “cousins” in Cognac and toured the town with them. A little discreet cognac purchasing may have taken place! After another pleasant dinner (fish in a gazpacho sauce, a shrimp starter, and another round of the delicious … Continue reading →

chart rolls out to 9 meters long While Lydia was volunteering at Lourdes, I continued to search my Bañales family roots in the “Pais Vasco”, the Basque Country in an area near Bilbao, Spain. This is where the Bañales surname … Continue reading →

First of all, typing on a French keyboard is challenging. Secondly, just finding a computer is challenging in some places. Like in Congac, for instance, there are no cyber cafes so the hotel is letting me use theirs. I wonder … Continue reading →