Under the Matterhorn - Nov 28, 2013

On Tuesday the 19^th I left for my final opportunity to ski the Italian Alps before our move back to the States on December 7^th.  I suppose I could regale you with the horrors I encountered using the Italian train system Trenitalia, but it’s off topic and in the end just proved to be a distraction. Let’s just say that it took 5 trains, 2 buses, a subway, and 11 hours to return to that place where I could again ski under the Matterhorn.  

Cervinia hadn’t been my first choice for my final run at the Italian Alps; having previously skied there in March I had hoped to explore the western edge of the Dolomiti near Bolzano. Unfortunately, the snow has been late to the Alps this year and the slopes around Bolzano were dry

and barren.  The “big” Alps of northwestern Italy have a reputation for early snow; I guessed that the town of Cervinia, close to the eastern border of France and adjacent to the southwest border of Switzerland, would be my best bet for skiing before Thanksgiving.  
I guessed right. 

They had been getting occasional snow squalls for a couple of weeks, enough to open a small part of the mountain.  Then the day before I traveled they got a foot of snow, and were slammed with another foot the day I arrived.  It snowed steadily most of the time that I was there.  Game on.

On Wednesday I grabbed my rental skis and poles and trudged the 15 minutes up to the Plan Maison tram.  The lower Cretaz lift, like the lower part of the mountain, was still not open for operations yet, but the snow was good from mid-mountain starting point at Plan Maison to the summit at Plateau Rosa, and that was what made the trip worth it.  

The visibility was limited due to the continual snowfall, and due to patches of fog at the higher altitudes; still the snow was fresh, dry, and fast. I kept riding the series of linked chairs up from mid-mountain, getting off wherever visibility seemed best before charging back down.  By afternoon I skied myself into a state of exhaustion, or rather, oxygen deprivation.   Plan Maison starts at 8,300 feet above sea level and goes up from there, up to 11,300 feet at Plateau Rosa.  Because of my asthma I normally plan my ski runs to end below 7,500 feet, so I can re-oxygenize on the way back up, however, because the lower half of the mountain was not open yet due to the early season, that was not an option here.

By the afternoon my head was hammering, I was nauseous and well into the onset of altitude sickness, so I boarded the tram for the ride back down to town where at 6,600 feet the air actually had some oxygen in it.  That night I had an excellent steak at Jour et Nuit (Day and Night) before returning to the Hotel Mignon for a good night’s sleep. 

Thursday morning it was still snowing hard when I caught the tram back up the mountain.  The snow was dry and fluffy, but the heavy snowfall was mixed with fog and the visibility had dropped from limited to almost zero.  Click the link to see the video on snow fall:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LIr_rr83LE  It was slow going, certainly well off my normal pace, but it simply made for a different kind of adventure.  At noon I rode the tram back down to town to catch my breath and take an extended lunch before heading back up to finish out the day.

My original plans had been to ski a few hours Friday morning before catching the afternoon bus to the train station, but given the complete chaos of the Trenitalia clown rodeo, I figured it was a safer bet to leave first thing in the morning and catch an earliest available train.  Sadly, I was right; it took almost as long and almost as many trains to get to get home as it did to get to Cervinia.  It cost me a morning of skiing, but at least I didn’t get kicked off a train at a closed, abandoned train station in the middle of the night.  My return to Cervinia had been different than I had anticipated, but I was grateful for a final opportunity to ski the Alps once more before leaving Italy.

Southern Spain - Nov 25, 2013

On Tuesday the Nov 12^th Angie and I caught the Ryan Air flight from Pisa to visit our friend Nancy who had just moved to Almunecar Spain.  

We met Nancy earlier this year when both she and we were living in Florence, and she graciously invited us to come be her first house guests in new apartment overlooking the Mediterranean coast.

Our Ryan Air flight required us landing in Seville, picking up a rental car and driving 3+ hours to Almunecar.  Finding her apartment in the dark proved to be a bit of an adventure, but it was well worth it to see her again!  And the next morning our wake-up call of the sun rising over the Mediterranean Sea was awe inspiring!

Nov-13 Our first day we elected for an excursion to the Cueva de Nerja, the Caves of Nerja.  This labyrinth of beautiful cave chambers is well organized and routed, and is truly amazing to behold.  Unfortunately the pictures simply don’t do justice to how remarkable this place is.

Later in the afternoon we took a drive up the coast exploring new sights that ended at the lighthouse.

That evening we went to an excellent, inexpensive restaurant that featured Flamenco dancing.  

The next day we drove the hour up over the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Spain and into the city of Granada. There are just SO many fascinating sights to see in the historic old city of Granada, but today our focus was the ancient Moorish palace of the Alhambra. 

 Originally built in the mid-11th century, Alhambra was taken over and rebuilt into an elaborate royal palace by Sultan Yusaf in 1333.  It represents the pinnacle of ruling power and authority that the Islamic Moors exerted over the northern African continent and in southern Europe, particularly Spain, during this time.

Nov 15 – Our return to Granada gave us opportunity to explore the city center, take in the flavor of the town, and most importantly see the Catedral de Granada, the stupendous cathedral of Granada.

The foundation of this indescribable

church was laid in 1518; it was completed 181 years later.

It was great to see Nancy again, and although our visit was brief we have already discussed the three of us getting together again the next time she is Stateside from all her world traveling.  

It was also great so see what a wonderful, new corner of the world she has found for herself.  Almunecar’s palate is the beautiful country side that surrounds it.  But the truth is the sun doesn't always shine in Almunecar; 

sometimes it’s only double rainbows.