España!

Woops! Time flies by, doesn't it? Well, Camille and I have travelled far and seen a lot. I'll try and be brief and let the pictures speak for themselves. 

On the southern coast of Portugal we went on a boat tour of all of the caves in the area. Albeit touristy, it was a fun excursion. The coastline is so beautiful.  

This is the most famous cave that draws all of the tourists to the area. 

Here's the view of the cave from above. Sweet!

After our cave tour we made our way into Spain. Our first stop was Sevilla. The city is beautiful and full of historical buildings and open parks. 

I forced Camille to pose for a touristy photo. 

After Sevilla we headed into the countryside. We stopped at Grazalema. A serine and quaint village nestled in the mountains of Andalucia. There was climbing nearby but some rain stopped us from trying it out. 

Next stop was Ronda, a city built on a hilltop on either side of a massive canyon. Super cool!

After Ronda we made it to El Chorro, a village in a valley completely surrounded by mountains. And there's climbing everywhere!

It rained the entire first day but we still managed to hike around and look at the limestone cliffs. 

Our camping spot for the 5 days we spent in El Chorro was nice. Neighbors came and went but it was peaceful and relaxing the entire time. It felt good to have campfires again as well. 

I don't have any photos of us climbing the rocks but you can trust me when I say that the climbing is excellent. Great variety of styles and grades with a lifetimes worth of routes to choose from. 

One day was spent hiking the Caminito del Rey which is a stunning hike through the canyon which provides the area with hydro-electric power. Lots of amazing views as you wind through the canyon on a newly renovated boardwalk. 

We then continued east making a quick stop at this place with cool rock formations. 

We spent last night in Granada, another beautiful city. Lots to see and eat and drink. Spain has been really amazing so far (and I might even be improving my Spanish.... A little).  Looking forward to seeing even more! Tonight we'll start making our way towards Barcelona as we'll be picking up Greg from the airport there on Sunday. 

Portugal!

Bom dia! Long time no chat. The flight to Lisbon was smooth and painless. Upon arrival Camille was waiting for me. She booked a hostel for the night since I didn't land until midnight. 

The next day we explored Lisbon. Quite touristy right now but it was fun seeing all of the architecture and history as well as beginning to practice our Portuguese.

The next night we stayed with a friend of hers that was living in Lisbon. She took us out for drinks and showed us the Lisbon nightlife which was fun. 

Lisbon has its own version of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

These trams are popular amongst all of the people that hate walking up hills. 

The colorful tiled walls (azulejos) are popular in Portugal​. 

Sardines are also very popular. 

Here's Camille showing off her handy work. She built out the bed and storage all on her own and it came out better than anything I could ever do. 

Out of the city and into the neighboring town of Sintra. Quite touristy, but it has climbing so it was a worthy stop. Also, we've been really successful at finding beautiful and secluded places to eat and relax. 

Remains of a castle with climbing just below! The granite was rather void of holds and felt quite difficult for the grades but it was worth the stop. 

Another beautiful place to make dinner and spend the night. So much of the coastline is full of stunning limestone cliffs and caves. 

And again... Another beautiful place to spend the night. Portugal has certainly treated us nicely so far. 

Another breathtaking beach. 

The Western most point of all of Europe is in southern Portugal. It was obligatory that we at least stopped for a quick visit. 

We are now making our way East, along the southern coast. In a day or two we'll be in Spain and my mind will be thinking about all of the amazing climbing the country has to offer. 

Easter, Dead Goats And Knee-Bars

So the Easter weekend has just passed. And the Greek take it very seriously. They close down restaurants, go to church, hang Judas in effigy and blow up absurd amounts of dynamite and other explosives. Being so close to Turkey, it took me a couple of days to adjust to the constant explosions and consequent rumblings and echoes off the walls which I was climbing (seriously, the explosions went on for at least 5 days). 

On Friday Susanne, Liam and I rented some scooters and rode over to Pothia, the capital of the island. We were told there would be a big procession that night where they would be carrying coffins through the streets. When we got there, the town was very alive and busy. While walking around, we were scared out of our pants every 30 seconds from nearby children lighting off firecrackers. 

We ended up grabbing dinner by the port and saw the procession from a distance. It was underwhelming to say the least, mostly just religious figures walking down the road. Either way it was worth getting out of our small town of Masouri and witnessing a festival from another country. 

On Saturday we had a short day climbing so I decided to take my scooter for a cruise around the island before needing to return it. I almost made it up the first large hill before running out of gas (I wish the guy told me that the gas gague was broken and stuck at a quarter tank). Luckily I was at the top of a hill! Before coasting back down I took an opportunity to snap a sweet shot of me and my rad 50cc scooter. 

On Monday Susanne, Liam and I decided to take the ferry over to Telendos, the beautiful island situated in the background of so many of my photos. 

The climbing was great and the change of scenery and seclusion was even better. 

The goats are very brave and can scale steep cliffs with ease. But sometimes they slip and fall. And sometimes their horns get stuck in bushes and they perish. 

This route involved some rad tufa wrestling and stemming. Definitely going to miss all of this fun tufa climbing when I return to the states. 

Credit: Susanne

Credit: Susanne

The following series of photographs will serve as a guide to resting your arms when climbing on tufa-laden, overhung limestone walls. 

All credit for these sweet photos goes to Aly, with whom I was climbing the 2 weeks prior. 

Level 1: Heel hook, heel toe cam and drop knee. Basic moves for making it easier to clip a draw or get a quick rest in the middle of a sequence. 

Level 2: The knee bar. An old standby, and a serious favorite of mine. In these cave-like situations you can find amazing knee bars at least every other move. It allows you to magically transform a 5.12a into a 5.11c. 

Level 3: The cowboy saddle (I made that name up). Find yourself nearing the top of a large tufa blob?? Just sit right on top and squeeze with the thighs! I like to then yell "yippie ki-yay" for added affect. 

Level 4: The hanging double knee bar. The best rest. The most badass looking rest. And the only way to get a rush of blood to your head so great that you forget what you're doing.

Thanks again Aly for the sweet photos. 

Today was my last day climbing in Kalymnos. It was a nice mellow day with Susanne and Liam. And afterwards we sat on the beach and watched the sun set behind Telendos. A fitting farewell. 

This place has blown me away. Definitely one of my favorite climbing locations to date and plan on coming back here in the future for sure. With that said, I'm excited to move on and see more of this beautiful planet. Tomorrow I take an overnight ferry back to Athens. Then on Thursday I fly to Lisbon Portugal where I'll be meeting up with Camille and we'll drive across Portugal and Spain together!