Final Post - The Statistics

As always, here are the quick numbers for the trip

• Countries visited:            8

                                                Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, 

                                                Monaco, France, Andorra, Spain

• Distance traveled:           2,010 miles (3,200 kms)

• Highest temperature:      90 Fahrenheit (Monte Carlo)

• Lowest temperature:      35 Fahrenheit (Splugen Pass)

• Highest altitude:             7,000 ft (Splugen Pass)

• Lowest altitude:              0   (Cote d'Azur, Costa del Sol)

• Languages spoken:          5 

                                                German, Italian, French, Catalan, and Spanish

• Currencies:                      2 (Euro, Swiss Francs)

• Motorcycle problems:      2 - Rear wheel ABS intermittent failure and total power failure

• Flat Tires:                        0

• Traffic tickets:                 0

All in all, an amazing European tour!

Day 10 - Collectors and the Last Day in Spain

Today is my last day in Europe ... my flight to Dallas leaves at 4pm.  

So, decided to go for a morning stroll in the neighborhood close to the hotel ... breakfast at a neighborhood joint ... Madrid is largely empty in Sunday mornings ... garbage everywhere on the streets from last night's fun ... garage collectors are out in force ... including people washing streets with long water hoses coming from pump trucks.

Made it the Plaza Mayor and found the largest pop up market for coins, stamps, pens, books, postcards, even bottle caps all under the arches surrounding the plaza.  Very interesting.  Lots of collectors out perusing the goods and dealing.

Interesting how old cities maintain this connection through generations and time.  Feels more settled, stable, permanent.

After checking out, made it to airport for my flight to Dallas on Iberia.  This is the end of a great exploration of areas of Europe I had never been to before ... and I collected plenty of pins!

Breakfast in the neighborhood joint. close to the hotel

Apparently every Sunday there is a market for collectors ... coins, stamps, pens, pins, postcards, etc.

Even bottle caps!

A whole store for rubber ducks??!?

The Barajas Airport in Madrid

Waiting for my flight to Dallas at the Iberia Lounge

Day 9 - Madrid and a Day to Rest

Today was my first non-riding day in 8 days so I slept in a bit and went for a leisurely stroll around the center of Madrid through the Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, and the streets around as the city was beginning to wake up and the tourists began to flock the streets.  

El Prado Museum does not disappoint ... what an incredible collection of paintings and sculptures ... all those windows into the past makes me wonder how long days must have seem back then ... life today seems to have too many options, too much information, too many choices.

Just sitting there watching life is becoming a new hobby of mine : )

Interesting also to see how religion has played such an important part on how we got here .... why are men so susceptible to believe made up stories by other men that want power and control?

They say art has a unique power to make us be present ... we are drawn into it, we observe, we engage, we get absorbed.  Art is indeed powerful.

I did see Las Meninas (Velazquez), La Maja Desnuda y la Maja Vestida (Goya), and Da Vinci's Gioconda. 

The visit to the "Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena" and Palacio Real de Madrid were a good reminder of how powerful and rich this country was in the XVI-XVIII centuries.

Stopped a the Mercado de San Miguel for some tapas and empanadas, and sat at an outdoor cafe for incredible churros and Iberian ham.

A good day for being just tourist.  Did not miss the motorcycle ... OK, maybe a little : )

La Plaza Mayor in the morning

The main building in the Plaza Mayor with murals all over the front

One of the many arched tunnels out of the Plaza Mayor

The famous Mercado de San Miguel 

A view into the Plaza Mayor from one of the arched entrances

A good way to start the day

"World Bread Day" celebration ... people making break in the Plaza Mayor

The statue of Philip III in the Plaza Mayor

The bear climbing the tree ... the Coat of Arms for the city of Madrid

People from Madrid are called "gatos" (cats)

My hotel in Madrid ... perfect location in the middle of everything

The Museo del Prado old entrance

And the fun begins ...

Blasphemy!

The piercing eyes

Just like the Louvre but more focused on paintings and sculptures ... and way less crowded

A good time for a snack from the different stall inside the market

My first glimpse of the cathedral of Madrid

The view of the Palacio Real de Madrid from the frontt steps of the cathedral

So tall!

So much art

Inside a section in the cathedral devoted to Juan Pablo II ... this is a drop of his blood

Street performers

A good all fashion fabric store ... amazing patterns, weaves, tapestries

A good way to end the day

"An when everything in the universe ends forever, the silence will be a silence of love"

Day 8 - Sevilla and the Case of the Universe Aligning

 Today, I decided to leave Ubeda as early as possible to get to the BMW dealership in Sevilla before noon.  You never know if they close from noon to four like so many businesses.

Up until this point I have been unable to coordinate anything with them.  Their phones have been down and the few WhatsApp messages I have exchanged with the head of the shop have not yielded anything concrete.  Except that they were unlikely to be able to store my motorcycle for 3 months.  So I figured, I needed to be there to sort it all out.

I also contacted some YPO friends from Sevilla to see if, as a last resort, they could store my motorcycle for 3 months. Luckily one of them graciously offered the underground garage at his office which has plenty of spaces.  Lucky me!

Rode for an hour and half and stopped in Cordoba for my first cappuccino and breakfast.

Once I arrived to the BMW in Sevilla, met Pedro, the head of the shop and, amazingly, he committed to getting it all done for me in 2-3 hours ... again, lucky me!

The universe is conspiring again to make my life easy ... I wonder to what purpose : )  

So while the shop set out to put new tires on, new brake pads on, and new oil, I went out for a walk to explore the neighborhood around.

A very cool experience ... the Parque Amate was right in front ... a great and vast natural setting in the middle of the city ... ponds, trees, benches, people walking, dogs, children ... very peaceful ... very zen.

While walking around the neighborhood around the park, I found a nice passage with lots of "bars" serving tapas and lunch.  I had forgotten how nice it is to be able to strike a conversation with anybody anytime and how much fun it is ... interesting how languages are both a barrier and a uniter of people.

Everything after that went smoothly.  Picked up the motorcycle around 4pm, took it my friend's garage (which was only 5 minutes away), and grabbed an Uber to the train station to head to Madrid.

The Sevilla train station is very modern ... lots of high-speed long distance trains ... like in France.  Bought my ticket and headed to platform 5 ... these trains are so smooth that, literally, I did not feel or noticed the train leaving the station ... wow.

In Madrid, I worked my way to the subway and took a quick 2-stop subway ride to my hotel for the night ... a great walk and ride ... it was around 9pm ... on a Friday ... so the whole city was alive with people eating, walking, laughing, playing music ... a good welcome after a long long day ... with so many uncertainties and unknowns ... but with a best-in-class solution to all the unknowns.

So I will have a whole day to tomorrow to explore a bit of Madrid while I wait for my flight back to Dallas on Sunday.

The view at dawn from where my bike spent the night in Ubeda ... early departure today

Coffee stop in Cordoba ... half way to Sevilla!

Made it! ... BMW Motorrad of Sevilla

Went to explore Parque Amate in Sevilla while my motorcycle was being worked on

The entrance to the Sevilla train station ... Santa Justa

The lobby of the train station in Sevilla

A view of the high-speed trains from above

A quick look of where I was from onboard the high-speed train to Madrid

The party car

I feel like in the movies with the world whizzing by outside

Arrived in Madrid at 9pm ... just in time for  he city to wake up for dinner and fun

Day 7 - The Sea of Olives in Andalucia

 Had a gourmet breakfast at the same place as last night's dinner ... the best orange juice ever.  Today, was a long day.  Headed south to Valencia through some nice secondary roads with little traffic.

It is interesting that you can still find remote unpopulated areas in these old countries in Europe ... they tend to have dense population centers with public transportation limited sprawl.  It feels more organic ... settled ... less hectic.

Stopped for a quick bite in Requena still in the province of Valencia where there is an old moorish fort.

The afternoon was spend traversing the heart of Valencia and into Andalusia on secondary roads that were full of great views ... wide sweepers ... twists here and there as the road went up and down and in and out of valleys ... almost empty roads ... a few towns ... an absolute zen ride most of the afternoon.

Towards the end as I approached Ubeda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and where I planned to spend the night, everything around me was olive trees ... all the way to the horizon ... the call this area the Sea of Olives because of the undulating nature of the terrain.  A jaw dropping sight at times.

Most of these farms, I found out, are owned by small farmer families that have been in these area for centuries ... and they collectively produce 20% of the world's olive oil!

Ubeda is a nice historical town with a lot of churches, plazas, cobblestone pedestrian streets, a wall that surrounds the city (partially) ... took a long walk all around ... found the seniors center with music and art classes ... had dinner on an outdoor table in an alley full of restaurants ... restaurants in Spain do not open until 8pm ... nice!

Tomorrow, is the last day of riding.  I hope to get to Sevilla around noon.  I still have not confirmed or figure out how or where I am going to leave my motorcycle.  I also need to arrange for new tires, oil change, and new brake pads to get the bike ready for Africa.

Mid-day snack stop at Requena (Valencia) with its Moorish fortress

The view from my sidewalk cafe in Requena (Valencia)

The famous "Sea of Olives" in Andalucia

My hotel in Ubeda ... the town if a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ubeda 

Basilica de Santa Maria de os Reales Alcazares

La Plaza Vazquez de Molina and the Sacra Capilla del Salvador 

Inside the Sacra Capilla 

The view of the Sea of Olives as the sun was setting down

Apparently every night is party night at the city's gathering place for seniors

Ubeda ... La Plaza de Andalucia at dusk