May 21:  Morocco (Algiers)
What an adventure!  We boarded a ferry after riding a bus with tons of other resort folks.  A nice tour bus.
Many of the people were of college age.  We had a full day that moved very fast.  We crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into Algiers and were boarded on yet another bus to take us around the very rich part of the city.
Amazing huge white (mostly) houses on hillsides with big estates.  Only a small percentage of the people are rich there.  We were entertained by a snake charmer and a few others that played drums to have the snake (cobra) do its dance.  Pictures were taken with a different snake wrapped around a neck.  Mine included!
Yikes!!!!!  There was a stop to be able to get on a camel's back and have a photo taken.  This made me sad.  The poor camels. Up and down and up and down and up and down at the command and insistence
of the trainer.  There was a baby camel, too.  It kept bawling for his mama.  I went back into the bus.
The exploitation of these poor animals was too much to take.  And.............there were men there with junkie jewelry and whatever else one could call junk looking for a handout.  Every few minutes we were accosted with one person or another wanting to shove this stuff in our faces.  We were taken then to a place where they make hand knotted wool Moroccan rugs.  Absolutely gorgeous! These folks were on the level as they are inspected and controlled by the government there.  It was a treat to see these amazing products.  We ate a Mediterranean meal and were entertained by a belly dancer and Moroccan musicians ( with red box hats) just like you see in the movies!  And then the tour through the Kazbah.  You'll have to have the full story by voice.  It was an education, and truly worth the effort to go there.  Everyone put a hand out for a tip, no matter what.   A day to remember for sure.

Friday  May 23. A travel day to Madrid.  Olive groves.  Miles and miles ( or kilometers if you prefer) of olive groves.  All over!  up and down hillsides, over valleys and plains.  Olives!  some grain, and hay, but mostly the olive trees.  Even saw a huge tanker truck hauling olive oil. Small villages dotted the farm land. We figured those working in the olive business lived and worked there.
We arrived in Madrid during what seemed rush hour and the traffic was heavy.  Motorcycles rule! Madrid is a beautiful city with lovely old buildings with lots of ornate trim.  The GPS took us to the door of the building where we would be staying, but with no parking, we wondered just what to do.  Finally after making connection with Richard, our contact, we were taken up three flights of stairs of an 200 year old building to our flat for the 3 days.  He took Dan to a place to park and we left the car in that garage for the duration of our stay.  The flat was small, but charming.  A bit noisy, it was located down a street from a gathering area of the neighborhood.  A way of life, it seems here.  Our window opened up so we could view the busyness of the street below.  There is a way of living that we found unusual, but folks know how to deal with all of the noise.  We discovered a lovely bread bakery just two blocks from our flat, so we had a good time buying what we fancied there.

Sat. May 24. We took the Metro to Puerto del Sol and did a walk suggested by Rick Steves.  We experienced a lot of downtown Madrid and ate at The Dixie Cafe.  A lovely day showed us folk dancers in one of the city's squares called Plaza de Mayor and also saw a Yoga convention of some kind with hundreds of yoga enthusiasts in an outside arena.  We took in sights of a gorgeous cathedral with an amazing organ with 5000 pipes!  Then we had a tour of the Royal Palace.  What an absolutely astounding place that is still used at times when royalty entertains government higher up from other countries.  The city if full of monuments of one person or another for remembrance sake.  Madrid is a lovely city.

Sunday  May 25.  We walked around Retiro Park on a lovely sunny afternoon.  It is gigantic with a little lake in the middle where boats can be rented to row around.  Lots of folks had children out rowing and it was fun to see interaction with how a row boat works with a team effort.  Another gigantic monument took up much of our time because it was so astounding.  I could visualize weddings at this place that would seem like royalty itself.  We viewed a garden area with sculptured trees and bushes.  In this garden lived many peacocks...male and female.  While watching one, all of the sudden a loud hissing sound occurred  and a huge swish and viola! this male fanned his feathers and pranced around and showed us his gorgeous feathers.  What a show!!!!!  I kept telling him how beautiful he was and he came real close to us.  It was unbelievable!
The female nearby rejected him, but he still kept up his feathers for a good amount of time.
Before leaving the area, we took in a Botanical Garden that has great potential for blooms, but we did not hit it at the proper time.  Some irises had bloomed and some peonies, also, but had died out.  We did pick up some good ideas for our own garden, however.  Also, we did enjoy the quiet and serenity of this beautiful place amid the bustle of the big city life.