We have tried to post pics and videos of our more interesting accommodations but some folks have asked for details so we thought we should award a “BEST” to each place and also send direct links in case anyone wants to bookmark them.

Our goal on this trip has been to stay at least a week but preferably 2-3 weeks in each place. Our philosophy on accommodations has been to try and stay in apartments or houses when possible. It is more affordable and gives us a better feel for the culture and community. We can cook for ourselves, seek out the best bakery and grocery shop and tackle laundry like the locals

 *****

Florence, Italy

AWARD: Most Colorful Neighbor

View from our balcony in Florence.

We wrote about “cranky lady” in our blog but this really was a great neighborhood apartment. Three bedrooms, great proximity to all the sites and good value! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/933558

 *****

Oia, Santorini, Greece

AWARD: Best Sea View

When we got up in the morning for coffee, this was the view from the table!

It is hard for me to be objective, because Oia is still one of my favorite places on earth. Staying in a cave house was a dream of mine, so Lydia House was a dream come true! Definitely one of our splurge accommodations but worth every cent and comfortably fit all of us! Plus Manos, the owner, is so gracious and made our stay unforgettable! http://www.vrbo.com/357131

 *****

Athens, Greece

AWARD: Best Amenities For Free

We had a peek-a-boo view of the Acropolis from our balcony!

We picked AVA Hotel from TripAdvisor and we weren’t disappointed! Great location and great service.  Free breakfast, free candy, free movies, free slippers, etc. Definitely a good value for Athens. http://www.avahotel.gr

 *****

Pitsidia, Crete

AWARD: Best Place For Insanity

Wescott rates all accommodations on whether or not it has enough room to do the Insanity Workout indoors…our Villa Potamis in Pitsidia was very spacious and perfect….it also had a pool! Great kitchen too. It was a little too far from Matala but if you want to be off the beaten path, it is a great house for your $$! http://www.vacation-apartments.com/11533.htm

 *****

Barcelona, Spain

AWARD: Best Location

Tons of cool street art in our neighborhood in Barcelona!

Our Barcelona 4th floor walk up apt in the Barri Gotic district was so ubercool we felt like hipper humans simply walking in the front door. The neighborhood was unbeatable with El Salon, one of the best restaurants we have discovered on the whole trip, right across the alleyway…Laura Kelso, you would love it!! http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p970965?flspusage=fl

 *****

Seville, Spain

AWARD: Best Piazza & Worst Wifi

Tuck in courtyard of our apartment, eating a donut and looking for the resident Turtle (Tortuga)

We don’t want to make a habit out of awarding “worsts” but we had to do it here. The apartment was dynamite with a terrific roof deck and adjacent to a quaint piazza with several good restaurants. But the Santa Cruz neighborhood, while ground zero cool in terms of its location next to the cathedral, was also the worst part of the city for wifi. It was so bad we had to get an extra room 10 blocks away at a hostel just to do email and Skype calls….!!! http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1004734

*****

Lisbon, Portugal

AWARD: Best Interior Decor

A machine gun box is in the hallway…the twins used it as a shoe holder

Our apartment in Lisbon was a three bedroom centrally located in the city.  But the best part was the decor! Frederico, the owner, is an interior designer and has created a uniquely eclectic vibe with use of local artists pieces mixed with antiques. It is awesome! We actually had the pleasure of staying in 2 of Frederico’s apartments because our stay in a Lisbon was extended and they were both amazing! Apt1:  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/991682 Apt2: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/823181

 *****

Marrakech, Morocco

AWARD: Best Urban Oasis

Killer lighting in the Riad!

Right in the heart of the old Medina, Riad Sekkat is a wonderfully zen escape in the heart of the Marrakesh chaos. And everyone who takes care of you at the Riad is amazing! We definitely had some of our best meals in Marrakesh at the Riad, and the cook, Raja, taught us some cooking techniques! Siham, the house manager, went above and beyond to make our stay unforgettable. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293734-d1389183-Reviews-Riad_Sekkat-Marrakech_Marrakech_Tensift_El_Haouz_Region.html

 *****

Bwejuu Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania

AWARD: Best Unspoiled Beach To Get Away From It All

Bwejuu is definitely the most “off the beaten path” we have been so far on this trip. Most tourists go to the northern coast of Zanzibar rather than the east. We stayed for 3 weeks in two different hut-type accommodations. The first was Crazy Mzungos which was exactly what it sounds like…. A funky backpacker type place with a great sand floor bar and a good chef! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g616019-d1942330-Reviews-Crazy_Mzungo_s_Flashpackers-Bwejuu_Zanzibar_Zanzibar_Archipelago.html

This is the beach in front of Crazy Mzungos during Christmas week!!

The second was Pakacha run by a local man who has integrated the village into his establishment. More likely to see cows walking by on the beach than people  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g616019-d2374032-Reviews-Pakacha_Bungalows-Bwejuu_Zanzibar_Zanzibar_Archipelago.html

View from the bungalows at Pakacha

Both were fun and funky!

 *****

Arusha, Tanzania (on safari)

AWARD: Most Luxurious Tent & Best Organic Farm

We used safaris.com to book our entire expedition and were lucky enough to get matched up with Kibo…a very cool Tanzanian company! They owned both lodges we stayed in during our safari, Kitela and Lake Masek Tented Camp. Kitela has a gigantic organic farm on the property that grows food, not only for Kitela guests, but many other Kibo lodges. For those of you obsessed with gardening, it is worth the trip to Tanzania just to take a tour of the Kitela organic farm. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g790144-d3421174-Reviews-Kitela_Lodge-Karatu_Arusha_Region.html

Lake Masek is a tented camp right in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the edge of the Serengeti. The tents are the most luxurious tents known to mankind with footed bathtubs, flushing toilets and amazing outside showers. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g317085-d1547561-Reviews-Masek_Tented_Camp-Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area_Arusha_Region.html

 *****

Arusha, Tanzania (rental house)

AWARD: Best Mountain View

Mom and Cliff hang in gout in the Arusha House garden

With a sunset view of Mount Kilamanjaro from the swimming pool, dining room, and master bedroom, this house can not be beat on the Mountain View! Add monkeys swinging in the trees on most nights for an added bonus! Such a cool house and great place to chill after safari! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1669725?guests=7&s=h4cq

 *****

Bagamoyo, Tanzania

AWARD: Best Body Surfing

We changed places in Bagamoyo because the first place we stayed at was a nightmare. The Bagamoyo Country Club is probably the nicest place in Bagamoyo. It is on a spectacular stretch of beach and has a decent restaurant. But all in all, you should not travel to Bagamoyo if you want an outstanding beach experience. There are a ton of awesome reasons to visit Bagamoyo, but a great hotel is not on the list. If we had to do it over again, we would have tried a small guesthouse and skipped trying to be on the beach.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g678704-d1758132-Reviews-Bagamoyo_Country_Club-Bagamoyo_Pwani_Region.html

 *****

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

AWARD: Best hotel room with dining table for 8!

View of Dar Es Salaan from our hotel room balcony

We picked our hotel in Dar based on TripAdvisor reviews and we weren’t disappointed. Tanzanite Suites isn’t the most awesome hotel but it is a good value.  Plus we were able to get a 3 bedroom suite that had a dining room table for 8 which was an awesome hang out for all of us as we regrouped before headings to Asia. We visited some of the more expensive hotels in Dar but decided they weren’t worth the money. http://www.tanzaniteexecutivesuites.com

 *****

Hanoi, Vietnam

AWARD: Best, Best, Best! Value!! Service!!!

Tuck and Jones hanging out with Viet and his son at the front desk playing games on the iPad

Finnegan’s was so outstanding, we can’t decide on only one “BEST.” For $45/ night, we had a great room in a great location with an awesome breakfast included. But the best part was the service! Viet and his whole family took care of us and helped us get the most out of our 2 weeks in Hanoi! He even called Tuck and Jones orphanage on our behalf and set up our visit!!! Thank you Viet and everyone at Finnegan’s for making our visit unforgettable!! http://hanoifinneganshotel.com

 *****

Hoi An, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Home Base

At the Ha An they even put rose petals on your bed for check-in

What does “home base” mean? As we talked about it, we decided it meant a place that makes you feel at home! Ha An had a killer breakfast (included!) free bicycles, a pool table, a fruit basket in your room…everything! The bed and pillows were super comfy too! http://www.haanhotel.com

 *****

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Host…laundry room gets honorable mention

View from our HCMC apartment!

Our apartment in HCMC was gorgeous! Well decorated and had a killer view.  But it was our host who made our stay there so spectacular. Bach is so thoughtful and accommodating, he makes you want to stay and stay!!! He read our blog before our arrival and moved a Wii into the apartment just for our stay. He kept our baggage for us for 5 days while we went to the beach. He put extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, Oreos, coffee, snacks, water, laundry soap, everything in the apartment for us to use. This is the type of service you expect from a good hotel but you never get pampered like that in a rental apartment! It was awesome!!!! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1980685

 *****

Mui Ne, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Pool for Kids

Even though Mui Ne is on the beach in Vietnam, we didn’t spend anytime at the beach…that is because our pool was KILLER! It had a slide that was so fun, I spent as much time on it as the kids Roaming Jones kids and Sharples kids agree that what we will all remember about Mui Ne will be the epic Sea Links pool!!!  The house was decent.  In a golf resort where all the houses look exactly the same but the pool was unforgettable! http://www.agoda.com/sea-links-beach-resort-golf/hotel/phan-thiet-vn.html

*****

In the spirit of trying to keep a journal of accomodatons, restaurants, sites, etc. I have become an uber-reviewer on TripAdvisor.  Feel free to check out my profile and follow along on further details if you want  http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/misopiso88

Last summer, I attended Leadership+Design, an extremely edifying weeklong program centered around leading and, wait for it, designing. Each year, L+D picks one problem pertaining to the local community and pawns it off on the campers. Making it our responsibility to clean up a communal mess in two weeks time: that’s what I call, “the power of delegation!” This year, the camp took place in a full-blown hipster studio called MakerHaus; located in an equally hipster area known as Freemont, Seattle. Accordingly, our assigned problem question was, “how might we improve transportation in the Seattle, Freemont area?” Long story short: we did a lot of research, asked a lot of questions, and came up with the idea of building an app that notifies a bus if your 1-3 minutes late, ultimately helping you catch it! We even got to present our app to the mayor’s assistant, city council, and Seattle Metropolitan Bus Transportation committee. It was pretty cool! (We also came up with the unconventional idea of implementing Google’s Shweeb, but this idea turned out to be unfeasible for a number of reasons.) After a week’s worth of full-indulgence in “transportation” and “city layouts” I came to appreciate the little things: the curbs between bike and car lanes, well built intersections, even the regulated parking distance away from the curb of blabedy blah inches! For this reason, I was absolutely blown away by the awesome urban planning in Spain! However, the illustrious question remains: Between Barcelona and Seville who takes the cake as the URBAN PLANNING KING?

In this corner, we have a bustling modern metropolis! With a prodigious population of 1.621 million, it’s big, with awe-inspiring ocean front property, its premium, and with an iconic radical like Gaudi raising the bar for the whole place, its certainly not resting on its laurels anytime soon, its more than just a bunch of buildings because it is BAR-CA-LONAAAAA!

And in this corner, weighing in with 702,355 citizens, the world’s largest gothic structure, and certainly the most couples making out in public places. We have the archaically sumptuous city of SE-VILLEEEEE!

BIKES ANYONE CAN USE

Bikes in Barcelona can be borrowed at any point and dropped off at any other location.	VS	Bikes in Seville are the same as Barcelona with an added bonus of being able to use a credit card so no need to “join” the system.

WALKING STREETS

Amazing walking streets throughout Barcelona. They are organized in a grid pattern that looks a lot like the tread of a shoe:	VS	Seville’s walking streets were designed to keep pedestrians cool in the heat of summer.

PIAZZAS

Every piazza in Barcelona has a restaurant taking advantage of the outdoor space.	VS	Piazzas in Seville are so beautiful, you feel like you are on a movie set!

BOULEVARDS

This boulevard at sunset in Barcelona was spectacular with the Arc de Triumph in the background.	VS	Seville paved its boulevards so beautifully they looked like they were tiled!

PARKS

This park in Barcelona was super fancy! There were even bubbles the size of Tuck floating around to add to the ambiance!	VS	Every Seville park was gardened beautifully and had at least one fountain!

STREET LIGHTS

Really ornate street lights line all the boulevards in Barcelona.	VS	This streetlight in Seville is ginormous but looks tiny next to the cathedral!

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION

Gondolas take folks to various vistas around Barcelona.	VS	Seville’s main boulevard in the historic downtown makes way for a electric train for commuting.

Seven categories, (come on people) no ties, who wins? You decide! (By the way, if nobody votes five days from now, I will just post my personal opinion and be automatically right! So either way, this is a win-win situation. But seriously, I would love to hear your opinion! There are no right or wrong answers. Again, unless nobody votes. Then I am right by default.

1) ROMANCE! Seville is BY FAR the most romantic city we have visited on our trip to date! With horse drawn carriages waiting on every street corner, huge plazas lit up at night by ornate street lanterns and narrow walking streets twisting and turning around historic buildings, old town Seville almost feels like a Hollywood stage. Yve said it best … “I feel like I am on the set for The Truman Show 2.”

Plaza de Espana located in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), in Seville, Spain. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929

2) SEVILLIANS HAVE MASTERED THE ART OF OUTDOOR ROOMS. While temperatures in the summer time can get well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, people of Seville have figured out how to engineer buildings and outdoor spaces to keep cool rather than resorting to air conditioning. Buildings all have inner courtyards lushly planted to keep them cool and allow cross breezes. Public parks have grandiose fountains and plenty of trees for shade. Rooftops have awnings and more plants…there are gardens everywhere!

One of the many beautiful plantings at the Park de Maria Luisa

3) A CURE FOR HOMESICKNESS. As we enter the holiday season, each of us feels pangs of homesickness…but we found a partial cure….walk into Starbucks Enter Starbucks in any city and you instantly feel like you are on the south end of Mercer Island! Christmas music, your favorite flavor latte and comfy leather chairs are all there for your enjoyment. The only clue that you are in Spain is the sandwich consisting of Iberian ham on a baguette…yum! Friends who work at Starbucks Corporate, can we get that on the menu back in Washington?

One of the comforts for homesickness we found in Seville..Jones loves the mermaid

4) LOCALS KNOW BEST. We have never been to Seville, so other than what we had read in our guide books, we were kinda clueless. We spent the first few days floundering with what to do, wandering around but not really discovering the best the city has to offer. And then we met Julian! Julian showed us more in one day than we had discovered on our own in almost a week. We had such a good time seeing sights with him and his family that we repeated the same activities over again the next day

Metropol Parasol which was one of the coolest modern structures we saw in Seville…thank you Julian!

5) WE TAKE CONNECTIVITY FOR GRANTED…NOT ANYMORE! We arrived at our apartment in Seville and quickly learned that we had a cellular internet connection…yikes! This means no surfing the web, no Instagram, no blogging! How would we survive?! ….Hence why we hung out at Starbucks Trying to do online high school when you can’t get online isn’t easy! We quickly figured out “plan b” once we had our fill of lattes (your Internet connection at Starbucks only lasts 45 minutes unless you get another coffee.) Plan B was getting a cheap room at a pension with unlimited high speed and using it as our office

Cliff at his “office” at the pension doing late night phone calls with with US

Hard to capture the whole building!

Growing up catholic, a great deal of home life centered on our local parish of St. Clair in our hometown of Braintree, and our second parish of St. Joseph at our weekend home in Bridgton, Maine.  Countless hours of sitting in pews, attending catechism class, serving as alter boy, kneeling in confessionals, day dreaming through stained glass, suppressing uncontrollable laughter, contemplating all the rout rituals, imagining the life of the guy gored and nailed to the cross… the collective experience has undoubtedly left an imprint, if not religiously, certainly as a version or facet of home. Walking into the third largest cathedral in the world, located just steps from the door to our building in Seville, I instantly experienced both the familiar and the utter discrepancy from my version of “church” as a child.

The interior is massive, making you feel very small…

This cathedral is absolutely massive in scale, sprawling out so widely that it is difficult to get a sense for it’s whole form. While it is considered the largest Gothic building in the world, you can see the mark of former civilizations, including Muslim and Roman influences. The grand edifice was built on the site of an ancient mosque, taking just over 100 years (1402 – 1506) to complete. The interior is absolutely massive, with the ceiling reaching dizzying heights.  While it is the third largest cathedral in Europe, in sheer volume is outstrips even St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican. Gold is everywhere, especially in the “treasury” rooms, encrusted with jewels brought back from the vast Spanish explorations around the globe.

One of the smaller domes in the church

Indeed, Cristobal Colon, whose monumental tomb is a focal point in the massive cathedral space may well have brought some of that colonial booty back to Sevilla. You know him as Christopher Columbus, and you can read all about the country’s curious fascination with this man and his tomb in Otto’s well-crafted post here!

The tomb of Christopher 

ColumbusLike the church of my childhood home, the community is embraced and permeates beyond the anointed walls. During our stay in Seville, we are watching the massive preparations for Christmas, which centers on the Cathedral. Holiday lights of grand scale and design are being assembled everywhere, though sadly not turned on until December.  The most unique element, however, which brings so many memories of home flooding back, is the 20^th anniversary of a 1-month marketplace of manger and nativity artisans from all over Spain! At least 30 different vendors lined a neatly constructed bazaar in front to the Cathedral, featuring thousands upon thousands of mangers, crèches, wise men, barn animals, the Holy family, Baby Jesus, scale models of Bethlehem… some are animated, lighted, have water features, clothing jewels… It’s just CRAZY! The Nativity scene my family had held a special place in all of our hearts, having been painted by hand by Memere, my maternal grandmother. As a little boy, I played with the cherished figures for hours, especially the 3 Wise Men on camels encrusted in faux jewels. As I wandered the stalls in Seville, cold, snowy Christmases, with an inviting fire smoldering and the Nativity manger glowing warmly in the pale yellow Christmas bulbs washed my soul with nurturing memories of home.

Crazy Nativity market erected every year for Christmas!

The cathedral holds the world’s largest Catholic alter, and while it has been closed for the past couple of years for extensive renovations, just sitting in the pews contemplating mass brought warm feelings of childhood and home. While on an incredibly grand scale, the smells, the confessionals, the tabernacle, the echoes, the stained glass, the carved biblical scenes and omniscient cross all coalesced in a similar manner as the church of my youth. The sheer magnitude of architectural feat and the at times vulgar display of vast wealth were not elements of my boyhood version of Catholic church, but I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the triumph of man and his love of art and God while walking around this holy place.  While I no longer practice an organized religion, Seville Cathedral reminds me that I can always feel at home in many places around the globe.

this is the clapping

this is her lad shos

i like this part

In the morning we see the turtle.  Wen we get clos the turtle puts it hed in its shell.  I wood not want to be a turtle becose my favrit coler is not green.

The lady showing us tortuga

tortuga in his water

He also likes to hide

On top of the mushrooms was a plaza with food and drinks were you can enjoy a spectacular view of the city. There is a walkway on top where you can roam around the tops of the mushrooms.

The history of the mushrooms is pretty interesting. In 1990, the city decided to build an underground parking lot in the area where the mushrooms stand today. They started digging and soon discovered that there was roman city underground.  So now when you go to the elevator you can look at the city.

The project was started in 2005. The amount money it would cost to build it was five million euros. In May, 2007, a engineering firm told the authorities that the building was unstable and poorly designed. The structure was retrofitted, and was finished in 2011.

Metropol Parasol at night!