Spain
Ayamonte (on the Guadalquivir River and borders Portugal)
With warm weather and plenty of fresh water we scrubbed Inishnee free of salt shortly after arriving. We ordered a part for the boat at the chandlery. Explored our first Spanish town. Ayamonte is not a tourist town yet we found the prices much higher for food and beverage than in all of Portugal. Tapas the main food event on every menu. The much anticipated real pa RICE dish a disappointment… No crusty rice on the bottom and seafood so small we needed tweezers to extract the clams from their shells. Gelateria's and pandelarias on every block. The city center had plenty of boutiques; clothes, home goods, shoes, swimsuits and jewelry.
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| fish float |
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| HUGE jelly fish |
Churches and parks circle the main square.
Mazagon (one night)
We ducked into the harbor and dropped the hook for the night. The river is busy with shipping traffic, the beach full of tourist splashing in the water. Peaceful night.
Rota
Our home for few days. We docked into the wind so no harbor cinema for the neighboring boats. A very touristy old town is popular with locals and tourists. The cobblestone streets wind around through the village. Close quarters, narrow alleys. Small shops. Lots of gelaterias (ice cream). The Super Sol grocery a short walk from the boat, once you figure out the streets / alleys. 
A small music festival celebrating Rota history was taking place, the first children’s and started at 10 pm… The Spanish like to stay up late! Restaurants do not open till at least 8:30… orders taken 9 and after. They have not heard of boaters midnight here. Like is Portugal, “The Paseo” takes place after the work day is over. Nightly strolls along the pedestrian streets leading to the main square begin around 8… friends and families meeting up and chatting.
Rota is a great place to holdup for awhile, its proximity to Cadiz (by bus of ferry), busses and trains running to many larger cities. 
Cadiz. We took the ferry to Cadiz several times. The old city has much to offer and explore. Of course there are many cathedrals.
The largest and oldest allowing tours through out from the crypt and tombs to the inner chapels and up the many flights of steps to the bell tower for excellent views of the city and beyond. There are the obligatory street stalls selling local treasures and plenty of food to sample.
The large square was host to a Moroccan display with street performers and Moroccan souvenirs too good to past up…
The city has a small but interesting museum and archaeological site with on going excavation of a colosseum from Roman times. Artist rendering in picture, video and scale models help to interpret the former theater and performance arena.
Seville
We took a day trip by bus north to Sevilla. The country side arid. Low hills and pasture land. Many olive trees and family farms. Sevilla embraces the old and the new. Modern and historical along side each other.
None more so than the Seville Cathedral, Roman Catholic. A World Heritage Site. The largest gothic designed church in the world; construction 1401- 1528. The cathedral has 80 chapels within, each with massive amounts of silver, gold, paintings, statues… Far too gaudy for our taste. So much wealth taken from the poor and displayed for whom? The wealthy. hmmmm .
Christopher Columbus’s final resting place is within the main chapel. The bell tower was fascinating. The views from on top encompass many miles seen from numerous windows placed on every ramp. The roof structure seen from above with its gothic arches were fascinating. Weaving and intersecting, supporting the tremendous weight of the stone walls and ceilings. 
Other sites included the Torre de Oro, a military watch tower c1220. The museo de Arqueologico (museum of archeology). Plaza Nueva, and many, many more. Numerous shady parks intermingle with architecture. A full day of walking in the heat did us in, we were happy to climb aboard the air-conditioned bus for a comfort able 2 hour ride home.
Our final day in Rota / Cadiz took us to the Port Authority so Kathy could get her passport departure stamp before heading to Gibraltar which is part of the EU but NOT the Schengen.
Now for a brief discussion about the Schengen Agreement… The Schengen Agreement was put in place when the EU was formed allowing EU citizens and visitors to pass freely between countries, no boarder checks. *Not all Eu countries signed the agreement. Non EU citizens are entitled to visit for 90 days (within 180) throughout the EU countries. Longer stays require work permits or residency status. The ‘clock’ started ticking for Kathy upon entering the Azores… in hindsight she should have gotten an exit stamp from Azores so the 6 days passage would not count. The nature of traveling by sail is slow and the clock keeps ticking. The clock now reads 67 days…tick, tick, tick… And we have not even entered the Mediterranean! The sailing season ends in late October so we have to find a place for the winter. Choices: Gibraltar. Northern Africa (Morocco), or the east side of the Mediterranean Sea: Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt… Looking at winter weather, safety and logistics we are heading to Cyprus. We will have crew; Jan, Maria and Jon for parts if the passage. Planning to stop in Italy and Greece to change crew, provision and regroup. WE sometimes for get what day it is and our trip to the port authority occurred on a Sunday… the office was closed. But, fortunately 2 port police officers coming duty at precisely the moment we were cursing ourselves for such a silly mistake… One officer spoke english and called the port authority where an off duty officer just happened to have stopped in the office. !!!! He listened to out plea and took Kathy’s passport to his office, stamped it and we “muchas gracias” every one. We could have returned to the office the next day but our next destination was Gibraltar with a one night layover because of distance. The straights of Gibraltar is only 10+/- miles long and 8 miles wide near the Pillars of Hercules… The straights have there own guide book…several shipping traffic lanes, multiple currents, shifting winds and changing tides make it a difficult body of water to navigate if conditions are not favorable. Our ‘window’ is in 2 days…
St. Brendan, Patron Saint of sea travelers is looking out for us! We leave tomorrow
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| campers along river bank |
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| fish farm |
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| public water |
sardines roasting
fish market 
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| the crypt |
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