7-3-23 Devmani Hotel in Capricho, a suburb of Seville was our next stop
We tried to get a room in Fora, a beach town but the town was sold out, we had lunch at the Cabana Restaurant on the Beach. From there we moved on to the Devmani Hotel, just out of Seville. This hotel was more of a B&B set in a gated neighborhood complete with guard and gate. Huge main house, Spanish style, lodging was in a converted stone barn. The property was huge, very nice rooms, Olympic pool outside the room. A covered dining area with a club house that was used to serve breakfast. Gated parking in the rear (yes, second gate) The owners sent us a traditional Spanish restaurant in town that was interesting getting too, after a few turns down some one way streets that look more like alleys we came to Casa Rugino Restaurant, it was great, the food was good and the waitress, Christina from Romania, gave us Lemoncello’s on the house after dinner. This is the second time that has happened, I like this pattern.

7-4-23 Old town Seville and laundry day. Laundry done by noon and we had a room in town so we hoped on the hop on, hop off bus for a tour of Seville.

7-5-23 We left Seville heading to the Admiral Casino and lodge, just north of Gibraltar which was our next destination. After leaving Seville and stopped in Tarifa, the southernmost point in Spain and centennial Europe. The ferry runs back and forth to Tangiers, a town in Morocco on the continent of Africa. From there we moved on to Gibraltar. What a shock, we found ourselves in a line that we could not turn around in, had no clue that Gibraltar was it’s own country. Border crossing and all, passport was stamped leaving Spain, then entering Gibraltar. Big line going in, bigger line going out but like we have found, moto’s (everything from a Boss Hoss to a Bergman is a moto in Europe) gets special privileges, like their own lane to get out, no line for us. Almost every place we have gone, where there is paid parking for cars, parking is free for moto’s and you have designated parking up front on the sidewalk, on the streets in areas where cars are not allowed. You have lanes in cities that are marked bus, taxi and moto only, now how cool is that. We arrived at the hotel and settled in then went to a little town up the road for dinner at La Tarzana Teo which was very good. After dinner we tried to access the Casino, they demanded our passports, we chose not to spend any money with them, something about a casino needing my passport really bothered me.

7-6 & 7-23 Valencia – Hotel Port Azafata – Rode the Metro to city center, old town Valencia, good food and fun town

7-8 & 9-23 Hotel Royal Barcelona in Old Town – Dinner at Nuria a very interesting Tapas Bar – wildly good. First time for fried artichoke hearts, will try to replicate when we get home. Sheila was blasted on the Sangria. City Café for breakfast on the 9th then went to the beach in down town Barcelona, it was clothing optional. From there, we went back to old town and spent the rest of the day walking around. Barcelona is a big very busy town and not nearly as interesting at Valencia. Given the choice, we would have been better suited to have stayed longer in Valencia but then who knew. Barcelona reminds me of New York City, way too many people for the area.

7-10-23 Le Grande-Motte, France at the St. Clair Hotel, the French Rivera on the Costa Del Sol. A small resort town that was designed to be a beach resort destination, we were lucky to find a room and at a price we could afford. The parking lot had to be secured by electric gates because people flooded to the area for the carnival atmosphere along with the stage shows and restaurants. Everything was a bit pricey but we were able to locate some really good food at not too bad of a price. One of the things we set out to do was to swim at the Costa Del Sol on the French Rivera and we could not have picked a better spot. The beach was a very short walk from the back patio of the hotel. The sand was hot but the water was clear and cool. What fun.

7-11-23 Bodighera, Italy and the Piccolo Paradiso Hotel on the Italian Rivera – gravel beach but not bad, laundry day. Dinner at a place called La Joya, very interesting.

7-12-23 Genoa and the Hotel Mediteranee – The hotel was really bad and the traffic was horrible but how we got there was interesting. Our initial plan was to head through the Maritime Alps to Turin Italy. We started the climb up through the mountains on the narrow two-lane roads that were under construction everywhere. After a number of hours heading up the mountain, we came to a sign that said that “passage to Italy, blocked”. Useless Garmin had nothing on it, so found and area where we could get cell service (sketchy in the mountains) and checked google maps. Sure enough, all roads to Italy closed with no estimate as to when they would be open. It certainly would not be hours or even days. We started back down the mountain and saw a sign, medieval village, you know that has to be investigated. The town we found, Le Brigue, Italy was not very medieval but they had a hotel/restaurant name Auberge St. Matin. We decided to stop for drinks. As we were enjoying our drinks, we could not help but notice a young man in the basement kitchen hand making pasta. With that, we decided to eat. The food was great. We asked about staying the evening. The hotel was booked and to my amazement, everything close by was booked solid. That is how we wound up back in Genoa.

7-13-23 Bologna, Italy Stars Hotel Excelsior – nice hotel, great bar, noticed they had a bottle of Pimms #1 on the shelf. Had the bartender make me a Pimms cup with a little coaching. He did not know that he even had Pimms (if you are not familiar, look up the Napoleon House in New Orleans, their Pimms cup is by far the best, but they do home make their lemonade) We walked into old town and had dinner at the Buca Manzoni restaurant outside on the street. Food was great, old town was really neat. BTW - I am leaving easter eggs all over the place; we have already planned a trip to New Orleans as soon as we get back to Texas and get our affairs back in order. I really could use a Pimms cup and a warm muff. (Muffuletta, Salvatore Lupo, owner of the Central Grocery of New Orleans invented the sandwich in 1906. Central grocery still serves their muff but it is cold, the Napoleon Houses version is served warm which I prefer)

7-14-23 Cortona, Italy – “Under the Tuscan Sun” If you have not seen the movie, consider it, however you may find yourself boarding a plane for Italy. Cortona was one of the locations of the movie, a very small hill top town. It is just as charming as the movie and the people are really nice. The hotel staff recommended dinner at Trattoria Dardano. It was superb. The hotel was very nice even though the air conditioner was not up to snuff. They had a grocery store, probably no more than 250 sq ft if that big. Put on your hiking shoes, everything is either uphill or down. I was struggling. (Agent orange and smoking has really taken it's tole)

7-15 & 16-23 Arezzo, Italy – Still chasing “Under the Tuscan Sun”, just up the road to Arezzo, Italy and the Hotel Continental, since we could not check in yet, our first stop is the city park on the top of the hill next to the cathedral. We just hung out in the park, had a refreshment at the park concession then went and visited the cathedral, simply beautiful. Arezzo is very much bigger than Cortona and does not have quite the charm but is not to be sold short. The modern city surrounds the walled city of old town which in itself is quite large. We finally went to the hotel and checked in. Score, the hotel has no pool but a roof top terrace that is really, really nice overlooking the center of old town. (The hotel is in the walled city but just barely. Dinner was ok but not as good as Cortona. The 16th is laundry day and some down time. Spent time on the roof top terrace, went to dinner in old town at Al Fogher, a real pizza joint, in fact the line under the name says, just pizza.

Staying at hotel El Cid Campeador in Torre Pedrera. Oceanfront balcony room. Room is nice, ac works. Had grilled fish for dinner. Mostly gutted but had no flavor. Shrimp cocktail consisted of shrimp, lettuce and thousand island dressing all served in a bowl

Low tide. Water less than one foot deep before rock jettys. Swimming is out. Strolled the beach. Watched a tour boat come into waist deep water and dock. Staying at the Aquila D'Oro hotel in Sirmione, Italy. Lakefront (largo de garda) w/balcony. Jim taught bartender how to make Tom Collins. Ate at the hotel restaurant

Made it to Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Stopped in little village of Cupolungo La Trinite'. This us a quaint little snow ski village Staying at Hotel Valverde. Balcony room with mountain view. Got some coffee at Bar Favre and an afternoon rain came in, didn't last long.

Raining. Hoping rain will end by checkout time. Yea, blue skies. Staying the night at Villa Schiavi in Sermide, Italy. An agritourism B&B owned by an older couple and sibling. Old farm that was renovated. We started looking at the before/after pics of the renovation. We got the grand tour after and it was beautiful. Dinner homemade and wonderful