Sangria by the Sea

Wow, we have been in Spain for 5 weeks now, and yet, we are still not sailing the deep blue waters of Yemaya. What we are doing is enjoying Sangria in it's many splendored ways... by the sea, just not on the sea...here, there, and everywhere. It is not the watered down version we thought it was. At least here in the southern part of Spain it is a serious drink comprised of wine, whiskey, brandy, cointreau, and various other liquors mixed in. And it is seriously great tasting and great for us as we "be with what is". And "what is"... is that Ecstasea has been having some major work done. We had commissioned to have her Raymarine (radar, charts, etc.) upgraded when we arrived, but were not anticipating the bow thruster breaking. Soooo, as i said, we are indulging on sangria in it's many various forms.

Ecstasea had loving attention and care in the small port of Aquadulce (sweet water) for the winter. We picked her up there and sailed just 3 hours down the coast to the port of Almerimar for the work to be done. We have great guys to attend to her needs and still we are reminded that "boat" is a four letter word! Why is it that we forget that repairs almost always are more challenging and take more time than ever expected??? And we know that we have been here with the Brits too long as Richard is calling everyone "mate" and saying things like "tickety boo" -- and i am cussing even more like a sailor and saying "bloody hell"  to everything!

The second day that we were in port awaiting her work to begin,  we witnessed one of the all time biggest drug busts here in Almerimar. The pictures below attest to the quantity that was taken from a sailing vessel along with the two disheartened men aboard it. It was quite the excitement for a while!!!

This is the boat behind the official Aduanas boat...

You can see the drugs being unloaded with a crane...

There's tons of drugs of some kind, neatly packaged....

Okay, enough of that...

So Ecstasea had to be hauled out of the water again for the bow thruster repair. And there is nothing quite so wrong as living on a boat out of the water. So we took ourselves on  a road trip to do a little sightseeing. What we didn't anticipate was a nasty cold-flu crud that we picked up somewhere along the way. But we made the most of it by doing just a little touristy sightseeing each day with lots of sleep and rest otherwise.
We first went to Seville as we had heard how beautiful it was. It has the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. It was first a mosque in 1184 and then consecrated as a Cathedral in 1248. It was truly impressive and houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Altar of gold...

Tomb of Christopher Columbus...

What we enjoyed even more was the Real Alcazar of Seville. It is similar to the Alhambra in Granada  in that it was built during the times that the Moors, Christians and Jews all lived in harmony in this area. The royal palace was built by Moorish Muslim kings. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. The current royal family still uses the upper levels today when they come to Seville. It was built during the 11th-16th centuries.
It's right in the heart of the city and is stunning in it's architecture and gardens.

Seville is truly a beautiful city and worthy of much exploration. Unfortunately we did not do her justice but enjoyed what we did see. We began our love affair with sangria and tapas here and did do that great justice!!! Look at the size of those sangrias -- an no, i did not drink both of them -- one was for the Captain...

Moving on we arrived in the little mountain town of Ronda. It's claim to fame is the oldest bull ring in the world. The first bull fight took place in 1785. It was impressive and we could learn all about it's history with the tour and museum without having to witness a bull fight.

Richard and the bull...

Inside the bull ring...

And this is where the bullfighter could get away from the bull if need be. Chicken....

The bridge and gorge of the town of Ronda is stunning and is the symbol of the city. The bridge was completed in 1793 and it is 360 feet down to the bottom of the ravine.

Yeah, that's a lot of pictures of the bridge, but it was mighty impressive, it took us back in time with it's wonder.


And this is the beautiful valley down below...

Ernest Hemingway went to Ronda every year during his life and his ashes are buried here.

Growing weary of hotels and travel, we decided to come back to Almerimar and check on Ecstasea and her progress. All was going well, just going slowly as the parts took time to arrive, etc. So we rented a little apartment close to the boatyard and continued to wait. Aaaahhhh, patience!!!
And while we waited we continued to explore the world of sangria at every little restaurant in the area. Now the good news is this: tapas are free with drinks and since we were well into mucho sangria, we ate a lot for free.
And finally Ecstasea was dunked back in the water just a few days ago and we are home once again. We are home in our own bed that rocks us gently to sleep every night.

We don't expect anyone to feel sorry for us as we can't even begin to feel sorry for ourselves. Life is a grand mystery and adventure no matter where we are. Once again, life aboard a moving vessel is one of our greatest teachers and we are thankful. This "down time" has offered us the opportunity to dig a little deeper and find the peace and joy regardless of the circumstances. We have had time to explore the conversation in our minds that says "it shouldn't be this way". And of course, we know it should be this way, because "it is"...
And of course, as long as the Captain and first Mate are together, all is as it should be, all is well, all is perfect.

Now the only question is where do we sail off to--where is that perfect cove to anchor in and just "be"? And actually, there is another important question--can we make really good sangria to sustain our savage lust for it??????????? Another new exploration..........