Spain and the Spartzes

The Family met in Spain this March/April and did some traveling Spartz style. Oh yes. A road trip. From Madrid to San Anderre to San Sebastian to Barcelona where Amy and Madie took their leave (sad!) to Benicassim and back to Madrid. It was fantastic to be with the fam, in Spain, in a car, on holiday.

Pictured is a beautiful walkway that leads from an arch to a huge park entrance in Barcelona. The people holding hands forming a circle are Catlin dancers that were absolute poetry in motion. My dad tried, with limited success, to learn the dance. Ahhh Greg. And of course, a highlight of the trip was the Gaudi Cathedral, also in Barcelona, and not yet completed. I'm fairly certain it is in the top 5 of the most astounding architecture I have ever had the honor of experiencing. Amazing stuff really.
And as ever, I was thrilled to find one of those crazy space invaders on some random wall in Barcelona (or was it Madrid? drat.)

Morocco

Morocco is fantastic. It's dry and dusty and feels like a place with big ideas set in a really old framework, if you know what I mean.

Marrakech is a market city. Filled with tourists and deals to be made. At night the market is dark and smokey and full of food smells and assertive sales people.



McDonald's has got to be in nearly every country in the world. If you ever needed to see how McDonald's is spelled in Arabic, well, there you have it.

This pic is of a wall in a former palace. The row that is all one color is script from the Koran.






My sis and I took a Camel ride on the way to the Atlas Mountains. My camel was a little alpha and from time to time would kick Amy's camel. It made her nervous. I thought it was sort of like poetic justice a long time coming.


This is the oldest masque in Marrakech. We couldn't go inside, but the grounds were beautiful.








A beautiful view from the Atlas Mountains.

The Market in daylight.







Me with a working Donkey. These beauties were all over the city and very clearly used for the transport of stuff too heavy to carry. I'm sure to a local I look like a jackass (haaaaaaaaa ha ha).