11.19.08 Madrid

I've been in Madrid in 78, 93, 00, 07 and now 08. Every time it's different and each time I'm getting to like it a little more. It's complex in a way not spoken about.
Park Retiro is my best friend in the whole wide city. Spent the day getting lost, but seeing things I remember from each different visit & then I did a fun show at Basico that evening.

11.20.08 Vigo

A spritely five hour jaunt from Madrid, Vigo was unexpectedly hilly and quite a picturesque piece of work! Durán Vázquez was host of hosts with his great tour of downtown by foot as the evening approached. I had the best dessert of the tour here.

11.21.08 Santiago de Compostela

On route from Vigo to A Coruña I found it crucial to make a stop at Santiago de Compostela & of course it was worth my time.

11.21.08 A Coruña

A Coruña was a blast! After the best show I've ever done I was followed around town later that evening with calls of "KentucKEEEE"!



I was waiting for Alejandro and Antia the next morning at my car and noticed I had parked in front of a second hand store which was open, my luck! It was there I found the green and white Horner melodica you see me with on the rest of this tour. The best twenty euros I spent on the whole tour!

11.22.08 Fragas do Eume

En route to Ferrol we visited the Fragas do Eume park and followed the windy road by the steam that led to a 11th century monestary. I was dumbfounded by the lush beauty.

11.22.08 Ferrol

My host Alejandro and his girlfriend Antia were so gracious and showed me such a fantastic time that I have nothing but lovely memories of Ferrol.

11.23.08 Cabo Ortegal

The northern most tip of Spain was a mere 40 minute drive north from Ferrol, so Alejandro, Antia and I all got to visit it for the 1st time together. The tallest cliffs in Europe besides the fjords of Norway are here. Windy, powerfully picturesque and Anita noticed a group of tiny sheep grazing off one of the most remote fringes leading into the ocean.

11.27.08 Frigiliana with Markus Breuss and Tsukiko Amakawa

The most insane part of my Iberian road trip had to be the Porto -> Frigiliana to visit Markus Breuss. Sometimes you hit-it-off with someone online & quickly fall into a pattern based on a seemingly old and deep friendship. Thus it was my instant comradery with Markus Breuss. Plus knowing that he & Victor Nubla were old friends clued me in to the fact I was dealing with someone special.

It took me forever to leave Porto and by 12:30 Portugese time [1:30 .es time] I was on the road to Sagres at the southwestern tip of Portugal. I high-tailed it down there hoping to catch it at sunset, but missed my deadline by 20 mintues or so, sadly. After an encouter with the surf and sand, and a melodica song up and down a fishing pier I was off to Seville for dinner.

I found a student-age neighbourhood to find, amusingly enough, Tex-Mex/Pizza joint where I had a lovely Spanish take on tex-mex. My advice for leaving town was finding the river and heading south. Easy enough. So I called Markus up & asked him if it was OK that I came to visit him tonight even though I'd arrive late. No problem, says he and he gives me directions to his town, sadly not mentioning the more popular seaside town that would appear on roadsigns, nor to take the Malaga bypass.

I got massively and thoroughly lost in old town Seville with powerfully narrow streets (had to back up 4 blocks out of a ultranarrow dead end at one point), got stuck behind a garbage truck & proceeded to needlessly add a hour to my journey. Stopping through Malaga at night was nice but added another half hour & actually finding Markus' apartment, another half hour making it nearly 4am by the time I arrived.

And much to my surprise and delight both Markus & Tsukiko were awake and active and we stayed up for a few hours talking, Markus trying (and occasionally failing) to restrain himself from playing muted horn. I stayed the nite at my own property that he house-sits for his sister & her ex-bodyfriend. The photos of Frigiliana and this trip are the only ones missing in my collection. So I've procured a photo from the web which captures what it looks like outside Markus' window toward Nerja on the Med.

The recordings the three of us made the next day are documented in the release: Zanstones 141 And I Went To Frigiliana With A Banjo On My Knee.

Leaving Frigiliana, Spain from Zan Hoffman on Vimeo.