We're back ~ and dazzled!

We are back! Not very willingly, though - we could have stayed there for another month, or maybe a year...

I am not even sure where to start, these almost 2 weeks have been fully packed with tons and tons of amazing moments. Billions of them.

Sunrise - on the way to the airport, Spain trip

Bye-bye, Toronto!

Hello, Philly!
~ or making the best of an unfortunate wait of almost 9 hours

Sunset in Philly!

Growing up in Europe I know North America is different, but having been away from Europe for so long I forgot the feeling of Europe. When we got off the plain in Madrid we had a very long walk back to the airport, through those glass-walled 'tunnels'. At first I saw airplanes: Lufthansa, British Air, and a KLM (if memory serves me well) and I smiled. Yes, we are in Europe. Then we caught a glimpse of the airport outside area and I felt the same huge (almost stupid) smile growing from one corner of my mouth to the others. Oh, yes, indeed - we *are* in Europe! The streets are not as wide, the cars are smaller, the vegetation is greener and lush.

It took a little bit until we were finally seating in our manual car (which only my brave hubby would drive for the next 12 days - if I'm asked to move to Spain I will either take the public transportation or buy a scooter :) ) but we finally started our long way to Andalucia, Granada, Las Gabias. At this point we were already bone-tired, by North-American time it's 8:00 am on Friday and we were on the road since 7:00 am the day before (through some incredible delays in Philadelphia). My job is to keep Florin awake - which means I need to be awake. It is a gray day, and the drive will be through miles and miles of hills and mountains. Perfect for a quick nap. However, I found myself fascinated by many things: the incredible roads (absolutely perfect), the memories of signs (European street and driving signs are slightly different from the North-American ones, and at once I am transported in my youth, when I learned them), and the infinite rows of olive trees. Four full hours of driving through olive trees - that's remarkable!

El Torro (The Bull, everywhere)

The tunnels ~ an impressive work

The tunnels ~ an impressive work

Rows and rows of olive trees... 4 hours of driving

Mountains, real mountains! Sierra Nevada

More nice highways :)

More nice highways through real mountains

And then - the roundabouts! Man... it took us (me as the navigator and Florin as the driver) a good number of intersections to fully understand what the idea is. We both know what a roundabout is, of course, but we rarely see one in Canada! In contrast, in our 10 days in Spain we rarely saw a street light - they keep the flow by using roundabouts... in every single intersection... each and every one... including highways!

We have survived both the roundabouts and a combination of one-way streets with a wrong GPS map right through the heart of Granada and we soon found ourselves at the gates of the Olympic Center.

CEAR "Juan Carlos I" - Olympic clay target training centre
Las Gabias, Granada, Andalucia, Spain

CEAR "Juan Carlos I" - Olympic clay target training centre
Las Gabias, Granada, Andalucia, Spain

Yet another way Europeans (in general) are quite different from North Americans: they truly know how to build a range :) There are handful of bunkers in US and less than a handful here in Canada - so you'll understand how incredible this sight has been for us: a lovely hotel (restaurant, about 20 lovely rooms, recreation area, even a store!) built right on the range. Which range has 6 bunkers, 4 or 5 skeet ranges (over imposed on the trap ranges) and an infinite numbers of pistol and rifle ranges. All on the splendid background of Sierra Nevada mountains and Granada (the city). Pictures don't do justice to reality. If we weren't so tired, I would have shot a round of two right there and then :)

CEAR "Juan Carlos I" - Olympic clay target training centre
Las Gabias, Granada, Andalucia, Spain
~ here we will train for a week, with Sierra Nevada in the background!

CEAR "Juan Carlos I" - Olympic clay target training centre
Las Gabias, Granada, Andalucia, Spain
~ here we will train for a week, with Sierra Nevada in the background!

CEAR "Juan Carlos I" - Olympic clay target training centre
Las Gabias, Granada, Andalucia, Spain
~ here we will train for a week, with Sierra Nevada in the background!

I'll continue our adventure in the days to come.