Toledo, Madrid and Toronto

March 8, 2024

Toledo: February 28 – March 1 Toledo was once the capital of Spain and known as the “City of the Three Cultures”. Christians, Muslims, and Jews peacefully coexisted throughout history here. The cultural influences are reflected in the well-preserved synagogues, mosques, and cathedrals. The Toledo Cathedral is considered one of Spain’s most important cathedrals. The… View Article

Seville & Cordoba

February 28, 2024

Seville: February 23 – 26 Seville is the capital and largest city in Andalusia with a population of 701,000 and 1.5 million in the metropolitan area. Seville is approximately 2,200 years old and has a large, well-preserved historical centre. We first visited Seville in December 2014. We had taken in many of the important sites… View Article

Marbella, Ronda and Cádiz

February 25, 2024

Marbella: February 18 – 20 Our tour of the south coast of Spain continues to amaze us! Marbella is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, between Málaga and the Strait of Gibraltar. The city has a population under 200,000 and is one of the most important tourist cities of the Costa del Sol. With its subtropical… View Article

Almeria and Malaga

February 20, 2024

Almeria: February 12 – 14 Almeria has a population of 200,000 and is adjacent to a small desert, which creates an exceptionally dry climate. The coastline borders a Nature Reserve, many long sandy beaches and secluded coves on the warm waters of the Mediterranean. It is so picturesque! Agriculture is 40% of Almería’s GDP as… View Article

Valencia and Murcia SPAIN

February 13, 2024

Our first train ride was on a high speed (almost 300km/hr), non stop route from Madrid to Valencia. Security baggage screening is now mandatory, a big change since our visit in 2015. Definitely necessary but sure sent us scrambling. Our Eurail pass is now electronic – very simplified! Valencia: February 6 – 9 Valencia is… View Article

Toronto and Madrid

February 7, 2024

Toronto: January 31-February 2 And we’re off! Our stop in Toronto for two nights went as planned and we quickly adapted to the first time change of three hours. Both days we hopped on the hotel shuttle back to the airport, where we caught the express train into downtown. This saved us about $50 per… View Article

Where Did 4 Years Go?

January 28, 2024

Hello friends and family – we are back! Where did the last 4 years go? Here’s a quick update – this summer, after 3.5 years of growing the business, we sold our record store, ‘Chilliwax Records’ in Chilliwack and rented out our condo there. Then we moved to Vancouver! We are residing in Jordan and… View Article

Cape Breton, NS

September 30, 2019

Cape Breton NS: September 21 – 25, 2019 Nova Scotia’s Island  – Cape Breton – has a population of 132k. The 10,311 km2 island accounts for 19% of Nova Scotia’s total area. Although the island is physically separated from the Nova Scotia peninsula by the Strait of Canso, it is connected by a 1,385m long rock-filled causeway. The only way in and… View Article

Prince Edward Island

September 27, 2019

Prince Edward Island: September 19 – 21 2019 Prince Edward Island (PEI) is the smallest province of Canada in both land area and population (155K), but it is the most densely populated. Agriculture is PEI’s largest industry, with nearly half of the island’s land being dedicated to farming. Potatoes have been produced on PEI since as early as 1771… View Article

New Brunswick

September 21, 2019

New Brunswick:  Sept 15 – 19, 2019 New Brunswick is Canada’s only (officially) bilingual province, according to the Constitution of Canada. I did not know that! The population is two-thirds anglophones, and one third francophones and then one third of the citizens say they are bilingual. We noticed more prominent French as soon as we arrived in NB, especially… View Article