Day 8+9 Zafra via Cordoba back to Malaga

The last 2 days of our Christopher Columbus Tour!

This means back into the twisty Andalusian mountain roads !!

Good Morning view of the Zafra fortress!

And you bet we found them all those twisty roads

The coffee stop in Llerena came in just right...

...Jim, Jörk, Linda, James and Mark enjoyed relaxing in this charming town.

Hey Jim, we can't stay here forever...! The road is calling 

Looking for some new ideas concerning efficient motorcycle equipment...?

When we arrived in Cordoba, there was still enough time to stroll through the streets of this ancient city's centre. Of course, the Mesquita - a Mosque that has a Christian church built inside - is one of the must-see places in Cordoba.

Julio says: "Hey guys, follow me! I'll show you more

nice places!"

Here is the "street of flowers"...

...which offers one of the most beautiful views of the Mesquita!

Sorry, no comment possible here... this is an in-joke ... mas o menos ! 

The next morning we were heading back for Malaga. Except for the highway there is actually no other way to go there but over the amazing Malaga mountain range! Amazing were the roads as well as the landscape!!

I think, you agree, Mark and David?

The white streak in the background are definitely no clouds. This is the Sierra Nevada! You could still go skiing there!

Guess what and who was awaiting us in the Malaga Mountains???

Look at this spot! Hey Julio, your picnic was fantastic!!! Yummy, yummy!!!

Hehe, do as they do in the land of plenty...! ;-D

On the way down to Malaga...

...we enjoyed a last view over the city.

Hey guys, your tour guides, Angela and Julio, say a big thank you to all riders in this group! It was a blast! We thoroughly enjoyed having a great time with you! The only thing we had a hard time with (mas o menos) was NOT bubbling over with laughter

A special thank you to Jörk, our "shadow" tour guide! You were definitely an enrichment to the group and we look forward to working together with you in the future!

Ride safely & always rubber side down!

Day 4-7 Faro-Santiago do Cacem-Lisbon-Zafra

So many impressions during the past few days kept us from uptdating this blog, but here we are again now !

By the way... this tour has been renamed meanwhile into the "mas o menos" Tour! Why??? Oh please, go and ask my Spanish tour guide colleague

The roads up to the mountains of Monchique led us to the most south-western point you can go to in Europe - the Cabo Sao Vincente at the Portuguese Algarve coast.

Hungry as they were, all riders followed the bread crumbs that I had laid out to the wild but wonderful picnic place at the Atlantic coast... yummy yummy 

Buon Apetit James, Linda and Mark

Views of the Antlantic ocean! Very relaxing!

The weather on the following day didn't look very promising in the beginning.

But finally turned out to be only a rain shower.

Julio and Dave and Jörk... three tough bikers on the slick(y) ferry boat from Foia peninsula to Setubal.

On the way to the beach of Setubal...

...which everybody did enjoy very much, same as the outstanding lunch!

Here is what every tour member thinks about the place

Oh no, we couldn't just spend our first night in Lisbon sitting in the hotel! No way! The Hard Rock Cafe there awaited us with a pretty good local cover band for entertainment!

On our restday we toured the quaters Barrio Alto, Belem and Alfama. Just enjoy the pictures:

Topless church

Have you already been here before, Dave???

Happy riders...

...happy tour guides!

Magnificent views of Lissabon from the Castelo Sao Jorge!

Cutting this tree in the centre of Lissabon would definitely take a while...

Our restday here in Portugal's capital ended with an unexpectedly outstanding dinner with Fado music! Everyone in our group was absolutely fascinated by the powerful and beautiful typical Portuguese music!

Did you think the rain could keep us from having fun in the Kartodrom of Evora? Here are Brad, Dave and Angela chasing each other the wet track

You think I am driving the wrong direction?? I'd rather say I was Kartdancing!!

The track was so wet and difficult to ride that all of us did a few extra spin-outs

Day 3 - Sevilla to Faro/Portugal

First thing today – I have a quiz for you:

Same picture but what’s missing in the second one? Find the difference…

Correct!!

The clutch lever and the shift lever are missing on the new Honda Crosstourer!

First, I thought it might be tricky, but you’ll get used to riding a bike with an automatic gearbox within no time! Despite being heavier than the 1200 GS, a very nice and smooth riding!

Our route from Sevilla took us into the mountainous area around Aracena and finally over to Faro in Portugal.

Together with Jörk, part of the group visited the Aracena fortress-like church on top of the village’s hill.

Some of the tour members arrived earlier in Faro to enjoy a sundowner on the roof top terrace and the great view of Faro’s laguna area.

Also, the old town of Faro has some really beautiful buildings!

If you sign up for the Flamenco & Portwine tour (the German name for the Christopher Columbus Tour) in spring, you are lucky to see the storks building their nests after they have arrived back from Africa.

They build the nests in all kinds of strange places, like these two on top of a street lamp!

A nice experience for the rest of the group before they arrived at the hotel today:Aat the gas station we met a member of the Faro motoclub. The guy very proudly showed us around the new and huge club house where they were busy preparing tomorrow’s presentation of the new water-cooled BMW 1200 GS!!!

Unfortunately, we will already be back on the road by the time they start their event L

Anyways, it was a very nice finish of a fantastic riding day!!

Dave and Brad in front of the Faro Motoclub building together with the hospitable guy from the club.

They have a really outstanding interior decoration…

…same as outside around the building.

Hey Wendy, this bike is a very economical one, don’t you think?

Come back tomorrow and hear about our adventures to the Cabo de Sao Vincente…we’ll be on our way to the south-western most point of Europe then!

Day 2 - Restday in Sevilla

We picked out the best of Sevilla's sights today. There are too many good things to see, anyways. But we took it easy and relaxed every now and then at one of the local coffee places to have a "Cortado" or a "Cafe con leche". Here is Jörk, our new shadow tour guide, in front of the "Parasol" structure.

Siesta time!!!

A nice walk along the river Guadalquivir took us to the Plaza de Espana.

Paseo relajante, David???

The Plaza de Espana - one of my favourite places here in Sevilla!

The different pictures which decorate the building are like a storybook! They each show a scene about an important historical event the Andalusian provinces experienced in the past.

Day 1 - Malaga to Sevilla

Hola todo el mundo!!!

For a couple of motocyclistas the biking season 2013 has started with our Christopher Columbus Motorcycle Tour of Spain and Portugal!!

Although in Malaga the weather didn't look nice on the pre-departure day we were lucky to have a sunny but chilly first riding day through the Andalusian mountains.

The city of Ronda, the cradle of the modern bullfighting, is located on a massive piece of rock and allows for some fantastic views of the surrounding country!

Here are some of the motorcycle heroes who were fighting the strong winds up there

From left to right: David from California, Wendy and Brad from Florida.

Here are James from Atlanta  and his mate James from Georgia.

Man, I can tell you - this wind was strong!!

This is Brad, Wendy and David making sure that the bridge which spans the gap between the two rocks is not falling apart

The breathtaking landscape around Zahara de la Sierra is definitely worth a picture stop! Grazalema in the background is one of the countless "pueblos blancos" which are typical for Spain.

Just the week before our tour, the south of Spain was having heavy rainfalls. Some of the rivers still carry a lot of water!

Hey guys, lift up your visor! This way, we can't see the smiles in your faces after the fun ride down these mountain roads to the lake of Zahara de la Sierra!

You think this is no decent parking??? Well, have a look at the next picture...

The rains have washed too much dirt onto the road to Moron. And since David and the two James didn't eat enough spinach for lunch to lift our bikes over the heap of stones, we had to turn around to dance back the twisty roads that finally brought us into Sevilla.