Author: John

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Weekend in Seville

After a couple of weeks in the Algarve, primarily the Carvoeiro region, we drove east to Seville, Spain, about two hours away. The old town of Seville is quite something, like a maze that at first can be quite intimidating as the streets are so narrow and windy that it is difficult to know where you are or if you are going in the direction you want to be. I highly recommend using GPS at first, as a map doesn’t help much as not all the streets are labelled. And, they seem to change their name every few hundred yards!

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Carvoeiro Coastal Walk

In the Algarve, our favorite area is around Carvoeiro, a bench of high land between the towns of Albufeira and Portomao, which offers rolling hills on a an elevated coastline, and an amazing oceanfront with spectacular cliffs, grottos, caves and picturesque beaches. In between the town of Carvoeiro and the beach of Marinha, there is a coastal path one could never tire from walking. We did it in stages, so that we could walk back to our car each time. The walk is posted as medium-difficult, stretches just under 12 km and to walk it all at once would take about six hours.

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Back to the Cote d’Azur…

After an amazing winter season in Mexico, (one of the best weather seasons we can remember), we are back in the south of France and quickly acquainting ourselves with the venues and activities we most enjoy here. For me it means getting back into biking, with trips to places like La Turbie, Roquebrune (which I’ve previously written about so won’t mention anymore about them), the Monte Carlo golf club up and above Monaco, and a new trip to La Revere.

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Paddling and Crocs

When in Puerto Vallarta I like to start the day with a paddle, and the closest place to do so is in the development we live in, Marina Vallarta, which runs along the shoreline of Banderas Bay. It is a short drive for me to the beach where I can easily launch and go east in front of Marina Vallarta and the hotels and condos, or west in front of the airport and over to the Ameca River. Where I launch my board, the road parallels a golf course, which has a lot of water hazards populated with crocodiles, especially the holes close to the beach. But I’ve always been told they don’t like salt water and stay around the golf course.

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Puerto Vallarta

The weather in Puerto Vallarta has been spectacular this year, one of the best that I can remember. Back when the real estate market was booming (2002-2010), I would have to take aerial images of the coastline of the region once a year, because there were so many changes with new project being built. Because of the slowdown, I haven’t had to do aerials in about five years, but probably will need to next year.

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Reminiscing in Shangrila

About 20 years ago a very good friend of ours (Sylvie) obtained a concession for some land just south of Puerto Vallarta, near Las Animas. It was right on the beach, with a primary home that was more like a tree house, and a few other thatched roof homes that were used when friends visited. Power lines ran close by so there was electricity, water was obtained by running a hose up a nearby creek, and the home itself was completely open to the elements; no doors (except for the bathroom) and no windows. You could only get there by boat, or walk in for about an hour along a coastal path from Boca de Tomatlán.

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Weekend in Alba, Piemonte

Someone once described Piemonte to me as being “Tuscany without the Tourists“. And, to a degree, that is true, they are similar in many ways and there are less tourists. But what people really enjoy about Tuscany – the rolling landscape, the meandering country roads, the wine, the food and the medieval villages – can be also be found in Piemonte, especially the region around Alba, and for a lot less money.

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