SFO->Lisbon->Valencia=Moto3 ...

[SFMCjohn]

Oh man! I knew from my day ride on the outskirts of Barcelona that Spain would make for a killer week long sport touring trip.
Your report so far pretty much confirmed everything that I'd suspected:laughing:laughing

:thumbup

enjoying your Pakistan 2019 Ride Report ... had sort of the same experience with being inspired to finally get and use a passport and travel outside of teh USA ... was out of my comfort zone, until my wife said “you know, you can ride motorcycles there.” :laughing:ride

Islamabad and visas are still a bit out there for me so we’ll see ... :facepalm

we spent two nights in Granada and toured La Alhambra today ... looks like some rain riding for us tomorrow ... mucho frio!

 

[Maddevill]

Is the Grail still guarded by the Knights of "Ni" and an attack Rabbit?

Mad

 

[SFMCjohn]

Is the Grail still guarded by the Knights of "Ni" and an attack Rabbit?

Mad

:laughing:thumbup


youtu.be/zIV4poUZAQo

48 degrees and rain tomorrow ... fortunately only planning on 200 km for the day ...

arty

 

[Chill]

This is so cool John! Way to pull the trigger on a spontaneous adventure!

 

[SFMCjohn]

This is so cool John! Way to pull the trigger on a spontaneous adventure!

Hi Christian! :wave

the trick was to be spontaneous, and then decide to spend three weeks here ... :laughing

in the event, the rain mostly held off and it was much warmer that forecast, so we had a good ride today through the Sierra de las Nieves mountains and down into the town of Ronda where we have an AirB&B for two nights.

Ronda is the town in Chapter 10 of Mr Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” ... we’ll go see the famous gorge tomorrow ... :angel

 

[bikewanker]

Well read and cultured!! I’m sure you know John that the road pictures move Spain up the bucket list. Almost regret not finishing Hemingway.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Well read and cultured!! I’m sure you know John that the road pictures move Spain up the bucket list. Almost regret not finishing Hemingway.

ignorant and unwashed, maybe ... :laughing:thumbup

Fortress of Ronda, by Mr Roberts, 1835.

La Ciudad and El Tajo gorge ...

been loving Spain, think you’d love it too ... never too late to read Mr Hemingway ... :angel

 

[SFMCjohn]

rained pretty good yesterday, so our non-riding day in Ronda was perfectly planned ... weather blew through and today we had a beautiful ride to Seville.

heading into Morón de la Frontera ...

a map of our 300 miler a few days ago when we left Valencia and rode to Granada:

Seville was really hopping this evening ... fun town, lots of young people. arty

 

[matty]

Portugal was already on the short list of wish list trips, Spain has been added. Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Mellowtonin]

The road to Seville looks picturesque and relaxing!

 

[SFMCjohn]

Portugal was already on the short list of wish list trips, Spain has been added. Thanks for taking us along.

:thumbup

I’ve really loved Spain, and think you would, too ... :angel

The road to Seville looks picturesque and relaxing!

yes, especially after the rain the day before ... :ride

here’s a map of our route from Ronda to Seville:

Seville was an important port city back in the day. we took a boat tour on the Rio Guadalquivir through the city:

the Triana Bridge, built in 1852 ...

the Seville Cathedral ... Christopher Columbus is buried here.

one neat thing about Seville (among many) is that more operas have been set in Seville than in any other city of Europe, said to total 153 different operas.

Among the composers who fell in love with Seville are Beethoven (Fidelio), Mozart (The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni), Rossini (The Barber of Seville), Donizetti (La favorite), and Bizet (Carmen).

Fidelio is, of course, Mr Beethoven’s only opera, and “The Prisoners’ Chorus” is one of my favorites:


youtu.be/ReSwAZ8jNyQ

arty

tomorrow we’re heading towards Beja, Portugal.

 

[Cabrito]

Great stuff John!

 

[bikewanker]

John I can appreciate culture and understand about great reads, even though I may not read them, but I think you may be one libretto over the line!
Mo pictures please!

 

[budman]

My Daughter went to visit Spain after getting her Masters in Spanish History and did not come home for 3 years.

She loved living in Seville.

Glad you are having a good time John. Thanks again for taking us along! :ride

 

[SFMCjohn]

Great stuff John!

hi Cabrito! :wave

there’s a tractor-trailer trucking company in Spain with a big “Cabrito” sign over the cab ... :laughing

John I can appreciate culture and understand about great reads, even though I may not read them, but I think you may be one libretto over the line!
Mo pictures please!

don’t make me post more opera YouTube links! :toothless

My Daughter went to visit Spain after getting her Masters in Spanish History and did not come home for 3 years.

She loved living in Seville.

Glad you are having a good time John. Thanks again for taking us along! :ride

:thumbup

we loved Seville ... jealous of your daughter’s three years ... :ride

couple more pics for Chris ... we had good weather yesterday four tourist stuff in Seville, and rain for our ride back into Portugal today:

back in Portugal at the end of the day the weather cleared ... on the way to our farmhouse B&B in Serpa, Portugal.

back to Lisbon tomorrow to return the BMWs ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

well, bikes returned to rental company undropped and undamaged. we may still be on the hook for camera-radar-by-mail-moving violations.

here’s a quick map of our ~3500 km, 14 day motorcycle trip ... we rode nine of those days and left the bikes parked five days ...

think that worked out to 217 miles average, which was nice because we could be on the road at 10:30am and usually be where we were going to spend the night by 4pm, which allowed us to find the place in daylight, and gave time for sightseeing in the evening:

we’d planned and made reservations for a slightly more northern route to Valencia, but had kept our eye on the weather, and canceled a bunch of reservations in order to stay low/stay warmer ...

we’ll get on the airplane tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day) and get off at SFO twelve hours later at around 4pm local ... :ride

 

[bikeama]

Have a good flight back, I have enjoyed your trip. Yes, the rental company will send you the speed camera tickets. Two of my friends got them from France. I was leading and did not get one.

 

[budman]

Safe travels back J & C!

Enjoyed the trip report a lot.

So glad you guys got to enjoy at a way better level! arty