!Viva la Espana!

At the end of every summer season my company hosts all of the employees on one of our active travel biking trips.  Last year we were in Crete, which was phenomenal.  This year was in Andalucia, Spain.  I had never been to the country before, and I need to brush up on my Spanish, so all around I was stoked!  And rightfully so...

Pre-Staff Ride: Seville

I arrived on Friday evening, three days before our company Staff Ride began.  I shared a great AirBnB hotel room with a couple Backroads' friends.  A couple friends quickly turns into hundreds as Staff Ride nears, and even a sizeable city like Seville couldn't stop us from meeting someone we knew around every turn.  The first night we went out to see some live Flamenco dancing (WARNING: joining in is NOT encouraged) at a bar.  The dancer was beautiful and the singer had that perfect raspy, wavering Flamenco voice.  Post-performance Backroads leaders poured in from all directions.  I was reunited with friends who had been working in the U.S. and other areas all summer, so it was an overwhelming blast to catch up!

Post-bar badminton in the street?  Right on

 The next morning a couple of us decided to take ourselves on a walking tour of Seville.  What a great city!

Plaza de Espana

 The Plaza de Espana was built in 1928 to host a world's fair the following year.  It was stunning; a humongous arc of Spanish architecture surrounded a moat where people were renting gondolas.  Along the building each region of Spain was represented in alphabetical order with a section of tile artwork.  We each chose our favorite region to take a picture with:

I chose Leon, because I'm a Leo... I like all of Spain, ok?

These people on the tandem have the right idea!

Look closer; there might be two people hiding behind the front pillars.

Plaza de Espana

We noticed a repetitive symbol on the sewer covers and street signs that looked like NO8DO with the 8 begin a tied rope.  It turns out that this is the official symbol of Seville (also appears on the flag).  There are several legends about the origin and meaning of the design, but my favorite is as follows: Seville used to provide many of its citizens as sailors to the important river ports in its surroundings.  The sailor's knot in Spanish is called "madeja".  If you add the "no" to the front and the "do" to the end of "madeja", it sounds like "no me ha dejado", which means "it/he/she hasn't left me".  Loved ones of the Sevillan sailors clung to this symbol to show their loyalty and faith in the fact that the sailor would always return.

Seville's symbol: "No-madeja-do"

View from the top of the cathedral.  You can see the bull fighting ring in the top right.

Hey there, big bull fighter...

 We were strolling down some quiet streets on Saturday night when we heard the sound of footsteps.  A huge crowd of college-aged students ran past us.  Shop owners along the street started locking their doors and pulling down metal gates to close up.  It seemed that an organized riot was taking place.  When we heard what resembled a gun shot noise in the distance, we dived into a shop as the woman pulled down the gate.  I wouldn't have been nervous if the locals didn't look so nervous; we asked the woman what was going on.  Apparently country-wide riots were taking place over the high cost of university.  A moment later the riot had passed and we returned to the street.  There were police officers with intimidating firearms out to maintain order, but based on their conversation they were as clueless as we were.

Keeping the peace...

We took shelter under this mushroom cloud shopping center.

The tail-end of the riot.

 On Sunday we rented bicycles and rode through the city.  YESSSS!  We found an international market and decided to take a world culinary tour: we ate crocodile and drank cannabis beer (nothing special) from South Africa, had kangaroo sandwiches and Victoria Bitters from Australia, and mojitos and free top hats from Cuba.

My first kangaroo!

Salsa dancing outside Cuba.  Check out our sweet rides. 

This little boy fell in love with my friend Stasa.  Adorable!

Staff Ride Day 1!

 Finally, it was time to start our big Backroads party.  We were told to meet in front of a palace in Seville at 10:00 AM.  It was quite a sight watching all 234 of us check the hanging whiteboards for our names, tag our luggage to head to the correct hotel and then get on one of SIX massive tour busses waiting at the curb.  We shuttled to our pack lunch/start of ride.  We were each capable of fitting ourselves to our own bikes, unlike a typical guest, but you could imagine how many supplies had to be set out for us: water jugs were EVERYWHERE, sunscreen, snacks, labeled bikes, trunk bags...  I grabbed a Spanish omelet sandwich (yum!) and gathered my things on the side before joining the gargantuan train that would be our Backroads riding group.

Our set-up location, pre-ride.

 My roommate, Kelsey, and I were very lucky the first night and got a room in the main meeting place/nicest hotel.  We walked into a room with riding maps for the week and our snapshot of information for the following day on our beautiful beds, and a large balcony overlooking the pool outside our window.  Perfecto!

Staff Ride riding maps and info on our beautiful beds.

 The first two nights, we stayed in the town of Ronda, which had a gorge at its backside.  A group of us hiked it together after our short 30 km introductory ride:

Ally, Julie and Katie at an outlook point on the gorge.  Gorgeous!

Night 1 our nine fearless Staff Ride leaders performed regional flamenco dances on stage and introduced us to the area.  Then we moved inside to have dinner and our official company meeting.  Each time I walked into one of our meals I felt like it was middle school lunch all over again; where are my friends, can I find an open seat, should I sit at the cool table?  I sat with different people every time and was always fed, so I think I did okay.

Our 9 Backroads leaders dancing for us.

The beautiful view at our cocktail reception (everyone is facing the stage).

Staff Ride Day 2

 The Day 2 ride was...epic.  I figured this would be my day to do the long option, as everyone said it was the most beautiful, so I geared up for a 100 km (62 mile) ride.  It started out gently, and Kelsey and I cruised together.

Kelsey and myself.

 A quarter-way through the ride, we came across a sign on the side of the road that was pointing all of us Backroadsians into a hotel parking lot.  We entered to find a torrero ring holding the bullfighter and, eventually, a baby bull.  An adult bull can only be part of a bull fight once because they are so smart that they would certainly figure out how to kill the torrero/matador.  This is also why bull fights are kept very short; too much time gives the bull too much time to learn.  Supposedly when the bull is killed it is full of adrenaline and it doesn't even feel the pain.  There was no killing done in the practice we witnessed.  Phew!

Look at the view surrounding our bull ring!

It was really a beautiful, brazen dance the torrero performed.

After the bull fight the real "fun" began.  And by that I mean a mountain pass that climbed 1357 meters.  OUCH!!  I remember the first view I got of the switch-backs climbing up the mountain, I thought; "No way.  There must be another way around."  Alas, there was no other way around.  We just kept climbing.  I really thought I was not going to make it; I wanted to lie on the ground and wait for someone to save me, but I had to be my own prince.  It was a long mediation period for me, letting people pass me from behind and maintaining my slow and steady pace.  Eventually, I did reach that beautiful summit.

At least entertaining things like this happened on the mountain pass.

THE TOP!!!! Thank God!

Myself and Jane; we did it!!

SR Day 3

The Day 3 ride was MUCH more gentle than the previous day.  At least it was until lunch, where I grabbed a shuttle and missed the rest of the climbs in the afternoon.  Aha! Take that, Staff Ride!

Just a man walking his goats.

 In the evening, we met in a beautiful plaza in the town of Antequera.  There were people walking around offering little plates of tapas and plenty of wine and beer.  I thought, "what a wonderful aperitivo!"  The snacks were so little and good.  Then I realized this was our entire dinner.  We had just finished riding 60+ km and we were getting snacks for dinner!  No way, Jose.  I went (with a not-so-small contingency) and got a kebab down the street.

This man was a MASTER at slicing prosciutto.  It only took him two days to slice one plate, but it was very skillful.

They paired the prosciutto with a grappa-like liquor from these barrels.  The pouring was also an art form.  This guy did not spill a drop!

Day 4: Halloween

'Nuff said.  It was hilarious watching the locals' faces as hundreds of us rode past in funny outfits.  Making people smile makes me smile.

Batman and Robin!

The Tuscany crew found superhero bike kits online.  Represent!

My Tuscan co-leaders

 At night, we took a 20-minute shuttle from our hotel in downtown Granada to the Albayzin district.  We ate in a restaurant that was formerly a cave-dwelling in the side of the mountain.  We had a phenomenal night-view of La Alhambra (more on this later) off the terrace.  Everyone wore a costume, and it was hilarious to mingle and see what each person had put on.  After dinner, we shuttled to a dance club which was rented for Backroads until 2:00 AM.  There was a fantastic final flamenco performance for us on the stage, and then we danced our pants off (only literal on occasional).  It was a great way to end the week.

My training group from February.

La Alhambra

Post Staff Ride: Granada

I have to admit, my crotch was thrilled not to get back on a bike when Staff Ride ended.  Instead, I decided to rehab with local food like churros and chocolate:

Chocolate caliente con churros. Nom nom!

Fortunately, my friend Laura had been very proactive in planning our stay in Granada, and we had already purchased tickets to tour La Alhambra.  It was a holiday weekend (All Saint's Day/Dia de Los Muertos) in Spain, so others trying to get last-minute tickets were coming up shorthanded.

La Alhambra was built originally as a Moorish fortress in 889 AD.  It is reputedly the last Muslim stronghold against the conquering Christians in Andalucia.  The architecture and artwork were so different than anything I had seen before; it was mind-blowingly beautiful.

A close-up of a wall.

The ceilings were also extremely detailed. 

So cool!  Court of the Lions

Court of the Lions: each hour one of the 12 lions spurts water out of its mouth. They represent the strength and steadfastness of the Moors.

Another dizzyingly-detailed ceiling.

The gardens

View of Granada.

This plaque described the loose sexual ways of a woman in the court and how she was punished for them. Nice

My final night in Granada, I ate dinner with two of my close friends from training.  We wandered into a nice little restaurant and were greeted by a man wearing a sequined-tuxedo and singing.  It turns out our quiet dinner was taking place in the middle of a bachelor party in which the groom-to-be and his brother were in a band.  We were serenaded all night, and offered champagne for our patience.  We loved it!

Us with the bachelor party chicos.  Spanish men are attractive.

The groom/wedding singer.

Thank you Backroads for finally getting me to Spain.  I can't wait to go back!