Head West and Escape from Rainy Lisbon Portugal

Posted on March 17, 2015 by David Cross

Apparently it has not rained in a long time in Portugal, but it sure dumped today. Probably due to the fact that someone leaked that people from Seattle were visiting and they wanted us to feel at home…

IMG_5847

We did tour around town a little. We were able to stop and capture a few photos of the old tower by the river

IMG_5852

And also the famous war monument. It was pouring so sorry for the bad shots…

Lisbon is where we started to encounter the gypsy crowd who tried to aggressively sell umbrellas and other trinkets to tourists. No thanks, but you have to be prepared here as pickpockets are also plentiful in this town (as we have been warned).

We also stopped by the Jeronimo monastery for a few minutes to admire the design and architecture.

I found the most interesting part to be the tomb of Vasco da Gama – the famous explorer and navigator.

IMG_5864  IMG_5865

Kind of cool to see some of the famous sites based on people we learned about when we were just kids.

FullSizeRender

In the afternoon, we headed for the Atlantic coast to escape the rain and cloudy skies. The weather tuned gorgeous.  The coastline scenery and homes along the western coast were quite enviable.

IMG_5875

Also was the amazing biking and running trails along the coast. Almost as good as Iceland’s.

IMG_5871

We stopped and had a nice lunch in Cascais, a small fishing village.  Nice low cost shopping if you need some low cost port or even a warm sweater to fight off the cool weather. Very friendly environment and getaway from the big city.

SONY DSC

The highlight of the day was the village of Sintra in the mountains.  I only wish we had the time to hike up to the top of the mountain to explore the Moorish castle. Can you see it at the top of this pic?  😦

SONY DSC

What an amazing place to walk around the steep walkways and explore some of the shops, pubs, wine tasting and craft stores.

IMG_5877

Great views and many hidden gems to find and take great shots of the countryside.  The amazing 3 euro glasses of wine in the wine shops made us feel better when we could not spend 2 hours climbing the mountain 🙂

Posted in International, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Travelling to Portugal

Posted on March 16, 2015 by David Cross

Today we spent most of our time driving/riding west to Portugal across the beautiful countryside in Spain and Portugal.  Our goal was to reach Lisbon by dinnertime.

We made one nice lunch stop in Fatima (Portugal) which is famous religious Catholic site where vision and appearance occurred in the past from the virgin Mary.

IMG_5842

Pretty impressive site from a build out perspective.  It almost felt like we were standing in a smaller (modern) square in Rome…

IMG_5836

Our real highlight was a run down the fancy shopping street from our hotel to the waterfront in Lisbon.

Lisbon

It almost felt like San Francisco with the replica golden gate bridge in the distance 🙂

WP_20150316_004

Except San Francisco does not have as big of a square and statue compared to Lisbon.  Time for some local seafood (cod specialty) and port!

WP_20150316_006

The next day, we listened to some local music which was fun which I captured in this blog post.  and then the third day’s blog post when we headed west towards the coast.

In addition, running around the world is always fun.  Some of my other favorite spots:

 

Posted in International, Running, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Toledo, Avila and Salamanca

Posted on March 16, 2015 by David Cross

Today we drove to Toledo to get an early morning scenic view of the city amongst the $5 million euro homes on the outside hills overlooking the river and ancient city walls…

SONY DSC

Apparently this is where El Greco painted one of his most famous works many years ago, but unfortunately the actual work in in a New York city museum.  Good excuse to go visit later this year!

IMG_5808

Since it was an early morning Sunday, we had an opportunity to walk through the central area of Toledo with the famous cathedral and landmarks without mass crowds, tourists or locals…

IMG_5812

After enjoying a nice cappuccino, we took a stroll through the Jewish quarter, which is now only occupied by two Jewish families that were banished many years ago by the previous religious government(s).

IMG_5816  IMG_5820

What was of special interest was the MOST famous El Greco painting in a church in the former community. When explained, his work of art was quite an  amazing story to hear and understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burial_of_the_Count_of_Orgaz

With a good guide, I must admit it was one of the best historical explanations I have ever heard of a work of art in my lifetime. Definitely worth visiting Toledo to see.

SONY DSC

We of course left Toledo by walking out along the St Martin bridge to enjoy the quiet Sunday morning along the river.

SONY DSC

Since it was a quiet day, we continued to head west to Avila to take a peek at the well preserved castle walls…and grab a little lunch since most restaurants are closed on Sundays.

WP_20150315_001

We spent the night in Salamanca to sneak in a little running with the locals and enjoy some of their famous graffiti artistry in the central park area.

WP_20150315_003  WP_20150315_002

Always having fun burning some calories so we can enjoy Spanish food and wine!

Posted in International, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Madrid and Segovia Spain

Posted on March 14, 2015 by David Cross

Our hotel was right next to the national library and also not far away from the Spanish naval museum.

IMG_5754

The naval museum was quite impressive for only being 3 euros and full of history.

IMG_5768

The city of Madrid is full of history, museums and art galleries.

IMG_5765

Quite amazing – it seems there are more museums than you see in St. Petersburg like we did a few years earlier in this trip report.

SONY DSC

Our hotel was in a somewhat expensive shopping area where most apartments (flats) are almost $11,000 per square meter! It was also nice walking to and hanging out at Puerto del Sol…very popular shopping and dining district for locals and tourists.

IMG_5753

We were able to buy a pre-paid SIM for our mobile phone while traveling in Spain…too bad we are missing the 40th anniversary KISS concert in Spain though…

SONY DSC

We then visited the Royal Palace since the King was out and the palace not being used. Although the palace was very similar to most European castles, several rooms were very unique and special. It was quite a sight to see, although they don’t let you take pictures inside. Worth a visit.

For the afternoon, we went north for about 50 miles to visit Segovia which is full of twisting alleyways and the highest concentration of Romanesque churches in all of Europe.

SONY DSC

The city is very popular for its giant Roman aqueduct And its popular open square which is very similar to Venice…without the water and canals.

IMG_5793

The small city is surrounded by the city’s medieval wall with the famous Alcázar castle, source of inspiration to Walt Disney, and where Queen Isabel promised Columbus the financial backing he needed to discover America at the north end of the city.

IMG_5797

The castle is all original and you could feel how it was uses to defend the royalty and block out the unwanted intruders.

Next, check out my next posting about running in Madrid!

  1. or our visit to Seville
  2. or running in Seville
  3. Granada
  4. Costa Del Sol
  5. and of course, Toledo!

 

Posted in International, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Running in Madrid

Posted on March 13, 2015 by David Cross

Madrid is a fun place to visit! We stayed at the Westin Place Hotel (great hotel and great location) that is very near parks, shopping and many attractions.

For our first dinner, we chose the famous Restarante Botin – which was founded in 1725 and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest restaurant still serving to this today. It is small, crowded and opens up very late…but great local food and a fun way to start our visit. The local suckling pig is the most popular dish along with the garlic soup.

Of course, we started out our trip with a run around Retiro park!

WP_20150313_004

Hanging out with the rest of the local runners 🙂

WP_20150313_001

Surprisingly, being ~ 50 degrees Fahrenheit, most of the locals preferred to run with long pants, hats and gloves.

WP_20150313_002

It was a great set of trails and scenery to enjoy a morning run and introduction into the culture of Madrid.

Running around the world is always fun.  Some of my other favorite spots:

Posted in International, Running, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 54 Comments

Landed in Madrid!

Posted on March 12, 2015 by David Cross

Our Spanish adventure with food, drink, music and culture is beginning!

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone 8!

Posted in International, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Headed Out for a New Adventure!

Posted on March 11, 2015 by David Cross

All packed to cover some distance and multiple countries.

Headed east…stay tuned!

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone 8!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Northwest of Israel – Acre

Posted on January 25, 2015 by David Cross

On a recent business trip I had a few hours off to escape and go to the northwest of Israel to visit some of the coastal views where there is no sand, only rocks and cliffs (unusual for Israel which is mostly sand)

IMG_5591

First, I visited the caves of Rosh haNikra which were beautiful and almost like something you would see in the movies

IMG_5617

The water was so blue, it almost seemed magical.

IMG_5649

There was originally a railway built here by the British during WWII, but it is now blocked and controlled due to the conflicts of the Middle East.  The railway is right at the border of Israel and Lebanon.

IMG_5655

And the military do not let you take pictures around their outpost.

IMG_5656

The UN soldiers monitoring the area were nice, they were from Sweden.

IMG_5705

 

Then I headed back south a little to visit Acre which is famous for the Crusaders and the foundation of the Bahai faith/religion.

IMG_5659

They are still excavating areas of the city and the historical findings are quite amazing and breathtaking in some places.

IMG_5735

There were so many things to see, I cannot post all the pictures!

IMG_5717

You can walk through the tunnels of the Templars

IMG_5731

And have an amazing lunch near the water at the famous Uri Buri restaurant

IMG_5715

Although many people do not come this far north in Israel as tourists, I found it to be a very pleasant and friendly mixed population city of both Jewish, Muslims and Christians. Definitely worth a visit that many wish to get a different view of the history of Israel.

You can also check out my other entries from Israel:

Posted in International, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

The Caesarea Running Club

Posted on January 23, 2015 by David Cross

Today was not a working day in the Middle East (Israel), so I took the opportunity to take a long run using one of my favorite routes in the world (Caesarea, Israel).

Caesarea beach

I like to start out by running between the northern part of Caesarea and the poor Arab village of Jisr_az-Zarqa (which is always safe)

WP_20150122_004

But they now definitely have cameras watching all your moves near the borders of the city

WP_20150122_003

It is an amazing experience when you can run along the Mediterranean ocean all by yourself and have the entire beach as your personal training route

WP_20150122_008

When the sun is just rising above the sand dunes

WP_20150122_013

And ancient Roman aqueduct

WP_20150122_002

The one thing I was really surprised to find today…is there was a running club this morning with fuel and water and dozens of people running routes along the main road.

WP_20150122_014

You have to love running with others in other countries with this much history and landmarks 🙂

You can also check out my other entries from Israel:

Posted in International, Running, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 64 Comments

Last Day in Seoul

Posted on August 22, 2014 by David Cross

Some great weather today…especially if you can guess what we did this morning?

WP_20140115_002

Run of course!

Seoul

It was a little foggy, but the cool mist was great to run with all the local runners and bikers along the river.

WP_20140115_003

One of the best set of fitness trails we have seen since Iceland.  Lots of room and distance to meet all needs.

WP_20140115_006

And a nice collection of birds for those that love nature.  Only got one heron in this pic I think.

WP_20140115_004

I did not cross the river, but I was tempted to go across to see the famous crashed UFO where Samsung gets a lot of their innovative technology from.  If you look carefully, you can see it in the distance.

WP_20140115_010

For those that travel here for business, you can go down to the river for some early morning wakeboarding.  It was nice water this morning…almost like glass in some places.

WP_20140822_002

Wrapping it up, we walked down to the Hyundai Mall (yes, they own the shopping malls too).  Had to watch the kids with bike stunts to wet our appetite for some Korean fare.  What a great city and great people.  Hope to come again.  The Park Hyatt was an excellent hotel in a great location.

Posted in International, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments