World Trip 2017-18

June 2017 - January 2018
A 193-day adventure by Mats and Jenna Read more
  • 102footprints
  • 6countries
  • 193days
  • 528photos
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  • 29.2kkilometers
  • 24.3kkilometers
  • Day 14

    Farm animals

    July 13, 2017 ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    The cats and chickens sure had some character. They deserve their very own post!

    Ophelia and Fatima (the chickens) would somehow squeeze through a small gap in their cage and we'd have to chase after them before they got into too much trouble. They would bolt for the cat food and take dust baths in the garden, digging up and knocking over the veggies. They laid eggs consistently, ate ants and any kitchen scraps, so we put up with their shenanigans. But "if they get in the garden one more time", they'd become chicken soup.

    Juno (the cat) was also quite special. If he wasn't lazing around, he'd be wrestling his mom (Branchinia), or disturbing the seeds in the seed bowl. We slept outside, and once Juno realized where we were sleeping, he'd sneak over the bamboo roof and be sleeping on our legs in the morning (outside the mosquito net). Talk about cute!
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  • Day 15

    And other inhabitants

    July 14, 2017 ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    It was fun to explore the Quinta for other animals. There were some interesting bugs around, like a praying mantis, a snake, huge bees that were pollinating the passion fruit, a few types of spiders. There were lots of geckos, but they were too fast to get a good picture.Read more

  • Day 27

    One last walk across the farm

    July 26, 2017 ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    In the time we had been at the Quinta, the vegetables had grown big. The water level in the river had dropped even lower but we felt like we had contributed a bit to this cool project. We got some perspective on permaculture farming, although in a different season we might have been able to do more hands-on learning.

    We had spent 3 weeks at the Quinta. Even though we could easily have stayed for much longer, we were also looking forward to explore Southern Spain. We booked a rental car and made plans to go to Faro to pick it up.
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  • Day 29

    Seville

    July 28, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Our first stop of our Spain road trip was Seville. it is a beautiful, stately city with some impressive history and architecture.
    Some of the highlights included:
    • Street performers singing and dancing Flamenco
    • The massive Seville Cathedral, especially
    — Its beautiful gothic architecture
    — La Giralda, the bell tower, which used to be a minaret to the Moorish mosque
    — The Tomb of Christopher Columbus
    • The Torre del Oro, a defense tower turned historic navy museum by the river
    • Real Fabrica de Tabacos, a fortified factory producing most of Europe's cigars
    • Plaza d'Espanha in Parque de María Luisa, built for the 1929 Expo
    • Triana district, to enjoy a traditional Paella dinner while sipping Sangria and Rebujito
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  • Day 30

    Cordoba

    July 29, 2017 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

    Driving through the rolling hills of Spain's countryside we left Seville to go to Cordoba. On our way we spotted a impressive Moorish castle and watched a beautiful sunset from the hills overlooking the city. The next day before going to Cordoba itself we explored the ancient ruins of Medinat Al-Zahra, which was a capital city built so the Muslim ruler at the time could become a Califa.

    In Cordoba, some of the highlights included:
    • The Judaria, Jewish district, with whitewashed alleys and beautiful flowers
    • Statue of Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher
    • Roman walls and bridge over the Guadalquivir river (same river flowing through Seville)
    • Moorish banos (baths)
    • The Mezquita, the hybrid Great Mosque and Cathedral of Cordoba
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  • Day 31

    Trouble in Paradise...

    July 30, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows, and traveling has it's ups and downs too. Social media often skews our perception of reality because we only share the positives. So we want to share this part of our trip as well.
    When we returned from exploring Cordoba, we found the driver door of our car loose and the backseat down. OMG someone had broken in! And they stole both our packs with most of our gear, including our electronics. Right there in the middle of a public place, along a busy road in broad daylight. They definitely knew what they were doing. Thank goodness we had had our passports and bank cards (and luckily all our photos) with us.
    We checked to see if we had remembered to lock the car and we definitely had, since we couldn't even stick the key in the lock to re-lock the car. We sat down on a bench to process what just happened. Waves of emotions were washing over us, anger, frustration, worry, and the feeling of losing temporary faith in the world.
    But adrenaline kicks in fast and you soon you start to focus on what needs to happen. We immediately went to the police office to file a report, contacted the car rental and insurance companies and found a last-minute hotel for the night. The next day was a long day driving back to Faro (Portugal) to exchange the car and shop for new underwear and charging cords. Know your essentials ;) After that we were able to head back to Spain to make the most of the last few days. Fortunately we had insurance on our gear, once we got to Calgary we worked on declaring our lost items.
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  • Day 33

    Italica - Dragonpit

    August 1, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    In Seville we learned about the nearby Roman city of Italica. Only ruins were left but we were curious to explore its history.
    It wasn't too exciting at first. We walked past crumbled houses and markets in the heat of the day. The mosaics that survived were impressive though. And as we walked along, we found out two Roman emperors were born here: Trajan and Hadrian! We saw remains of massive Roman baths and finally came to the highlight of Italica, the giant amphitheater. It could hold 25,000 people (only half the amount of the Colosseum in Rome) and was the 5th largest in the world. It's enormous!
    To our surprise we saw Italica again the following month, as we were catching up on Game of Thrones! The amphitheater is used as the Dragonpit in King's Landing. So cool!
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  • Day 34

    Cadiz

    August 2, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Cadiz is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities, founded around 1104BC as "Gadir" by the Phoenicians. In their myths the founder was Melqart (aka Hercules).
    When we arrived we were treated by a beautiful sunset. We explored:
    • Museo de Cadiz - incl. Phoenician Sarcophagi and a statue of Emperor Trajan
    • Mercado Central en Cadiz - to forage some fresh paella, polvo ensalada (squid salad) and salmorejo de amondeis (gazpacho)
    • Ayuntamiento de Gadir - Phoenician remains including fish salting basin
    • The old Roman city - including Roman walls, aquaduct and theater
    • Castillo de San Sebastian and Puerta de la Caleta - set of James Bond - Die Another Day
    Christopher Columbus also set sail from Cadiz on two of his four voyages.
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  • Day 35

    Huelva - Los Colombinos 525 Anniversary

    August 3, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    525 years ago on this date (Aug 3, 1492), Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) set sail from Palos de Frontera (near Huelva) with three ships: the Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña. His goal was to try and find a faster route to the far East. Instead he discovered a route to the "New World", the Americas.
    We arrived just in time for the party! Los Colombinos. We went to:
    • La Rabida Monestary - Columbus stayed here for two years, planning his trip
    • Muelle de las Carabelas (Wharf of caravels) - life size models of the Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña.
    • Las Marismas de Odiel (Marshes) - we spotted lots of flamingos and some spoonbills
    • Muelle Rio Tinto - Docks used by the mining company that was founded here, that look like the Eiffel Tower on it's side in the water.
    • Los Colombinos - live flamenco music and dancing, local food (chocos) and a giant fair going late into the night
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  • Day 36

    Lisbon

    August 4, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Santuário de Cristo Rei (Christ the King) welcomed us to Lisbon as our train rolled into the city. And we couldn't think of a better welcome than the one given to us by our AirBnB host. Pedro and his friends were barbecuing 120 fresh Sardines on coals in a brick oven. Daniel, from Cape Verde, made us delicious Cachupa (a stew with meats, maize and other veggies) and let us sip some grogue (sugar cane rum). And another friend made a deadly Madeira Poncha. We contributed pan-fried bananas drizzled in dark chocolate. Great food and great company! They taught us about Biodanza (the dance of life), a dance where you move to relaxing music to develop more self awareness. And they had lots of tips on the best things to see and do in the city. The highlights were:
    • Jeronimos - a great gothic monastery and World Heritage Site symbolizing Portugals Age of Discovery.
    • Pasteis de Belem - delicious egg tart pastries first made by the Order of Jeronimos. Egg whites were used for starching monastery clothes, so egg yolks and imported cane sugar were easily available.
    • The old Trolley up to Castelo de San Jorge
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