Costa del Sol

Costa del Sol was not on my bucket list, but hey, we were in the neighborhood! Been staying for the last several days at the Kempinski Hotel Bahia near Estepona. Very nice, 5 start resort. Great service of course. 

When we left Seville, we got a BMW 1 series from Hertz. Always wanted to try one. Not bad although it has the smaller engine. 5 speed. Very nice to be driving a car I am comfortable with. 

Amazing the speeds that folks drive here. We were doing 90+ today and a medium sized truck passed us! 

We drove up to Malaga today, just to check it out. Some great old architecture, kind of reminded me of older New Orleans. 

Tomorrow, we head to the hacienda we have rented in the Andelusian countryside. On the way, we are going to drive the Ruta De Los Pueblos Blancos which I found in the "1,000 Places" app. Should be beautiful. 

More later...

D

ln the footsteps of Columbus

OK, so I got busy this week and did not post. But now that the I-COM conference is over, I have some time to catch up over the next several posts. 

The I-COM conference started on Monday afternoon. Went over for an early meet up but my friend was late, and I was to late for the group meal. Since I was at the Hotel Alfonso XIII, a very fine establishment, I decided to eat there. I had one of the best duck dishes I have ever had. Roasted breast, sliced and a mango chutney on top with a side of asparagus. Heavenly.

The hotel was the site of many of the shots for Lawrence of Arabia which was shot all over Seville. Seville is the place to go if you want to see Moorish architecture. 

The conference was a resounding success. Lots of connectivity to metrics and research people from all over the world. To many, the topics would be arcane. But to those interested in cross media attribution, mobile metrics, the business impact of social media, new targeting available in programmatic buying (my topic, video to come on the I-COM site) and a lot of other relatively geeky topics surrounding the world of digital and traditional media, this was THE place. The world's best were there and updates on adoption of viewability as a monetization metric (we are pretty much there), standardization of the digital GRP and others were outlined extensively.

As with many conferences, meeting with old friends in the industry and hooking up with new ones was a great side benefit. It was amazing how many new important conversations were started, beginning with the first afternoon when optional roundtables were overflowing with high level discussion on topics such as first party targeting, tranparency in data and more. 

This was followed by a series of one minute match ups where we moved around the room at the ring of the bell to meet those we did not know, exchange cards and discuss next steps together. I have a bunch of new work to do on LinkedIn now!

Tuesday night, was a major highlight. Through much work (including the avoidance of last minute talent snafus caused by Spanish bureaucracy), Andreas and Shokat Cohen pulled off a grandiose dinner at the Real Alcazar, the palace where Queen Isabella gave Columbus his funding. Talk about the ultimate VC venue in the world! As we walked around the palace, it was amazing to feel that we were truly walking in the footsteps of Columbus. Everyone from the tour guide on were in character too.

While I was at the conference for 3 1/2 days, Karen toured Seville. An easy city to walk around. Not so easy to navigate with a lot of small, winding alleys. Thanks to Google and Apple for their mapping programs on our cell phones! 

Wednesday night we went to Michela for dinner. A small, highly rated place that was just fabulous. Michela is highly recommended. In Spain, few restaurants open for dinner before 8:30. Some not until 9 or 9:30. We did not have a reservation at Michela's and it is a small place. But we snagged two seats at the counter. Our favorite. Of course there were tapas tours, etc. with the I-COM folks and those were all great. Followed each night by Flamenco. 

On Friday, some of us who stayed over took a walking tour arranged by Andreas and Shokat. It started with the tobacco factory. This is the place where the Opera Carmen is written about. It takes up a huge block and is surrounded by a moat so that the women who were working there could not escape! 

We saw many great sites on the tour, including many of the pavilions for the 1929 World's Fair in Seville. The Spanish Pavilion is classic.

Also used in Lawrence and many other movies. It's more than a pavilion. It is one of the most impressive "squares" in the world. Around the square are niches for each Spanish province (state) with history, a wonderful mural and more.

Other highlights of the walk were the Archives of The Indies which is 2nd only to the Vatican in historical documents. We actually saw the document from the pope and co-signed by the Spanish and Portuguese kings in 1493 which divided the world in half for the two countries. (commonly known as the line of demarcation).

Last on the tour was the Cathedral of Seville, 2nd largest in the world only to the Vatican.
Lunch that day at another tapas place Bodega Morales. Dinner was at a more modern tapas restaurant, Ovejas Negras, which along with Mechela, rank as the best two meals in Seville. 

Early Saturday morning, I got our rental from Hertz and we proceeded south to Cadiz, on the Strait of Gibraltar. We passed by Jerez where Sherry comes from but decided not to stop. Glad we did not as it was still after six when we got to our hotel. 

Cadiz is classic. Old Moorish architecture on the seacoast. Old harbor with wonderful buildings around it. An area almost like Miami Beach too but a little older. We took a long walk down Sacramento street (starting to discover where some place names in CA came from) and had a delightful lunch at Cafe Royalty. If this is not the best restaurant in Cadiz, I can't imagine what is. Karen had a steak and me another wonderful duck dish. The decor in this restaurant is historic, being hundreds of years old.

On the drive to our hotel, which is on the Mediterranean Sea, we passed by Gibraltar. Hold on. We could check off another country! This is one huge rock!

From there, we proceeded to Hotel Bahia Kempinski on the Mediterranean where we are now ensconced for three nights. 

More pictures to come, probably on Karen and my Facebook pages, but some on here too.

Day 3-relaxing before the Summit (and some photos, finally)

It was a nice Sunday yesterday. The weather was good and we decided to take it easy, walking around Seville (Sevilla) and having a leisurely day. After breakfast at the hotel, we walked over to Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla. In front of the Museum, there are many local artists displaying their wares. The exhibitions were largely Goya and other traditional Spanish painters of note. And also a more "modern" cubist exhibition. But the building is as much or more of an attraction than the art itself. t

From there we went in search of lunch. There are so many good Tapas bars. In fact, sometimes it seems like that's all there is to eat here. But the definitions change from place to place so a look at the menus is important.

We settled on a place that looked like it had a lot of locals, El Atun. And had a decent meal, highlighted by Langostinas (prawns) in the shell cooked with salt. This is very similar to the Hakka dish called salt baked prawns and the dish we had in Borneo called garlic prawns. Very interesting that different cuisines have almost exactly the same dish. With all of them, I prefer to eat them shell and all. Karen likes to take the shell off. No, I don't eat the heads. 

After walking some more, we returned to the hotel. Prior to dinner, we went to a local bar for a drink, then to El Burladero, located in our hotel, the Gran Melia. Burladero is a Michelin star restaurant where you have a choice of Tapas or the full menu. We wanted a sit down full on meal and were not disappointed. We had a nice bottle of Duero (we have found the Dueros heartier than the Riojas and prefer them), accompanying another prawn/shrimp appetizer (this one even fresher and better) and main courses. Highly recommend this restaurant. 

Below are some additional pictures from our trip.

Old Sevilla

The Bull fighting venue

Dave and Fabio Castaneda who showed us around

Seville Cathedral, one of the largest in the world

Seville Cathedral from a rooftop bar

Great view across rooftops

Dave and Karen in front of the Seville Cathedral. The tower was built by the Moors, with a top put on later by Christians. 

Day 2-Tapas experiences abound

On Friday night, we joined Andreas and ShuShu for a Tapas dinner. We walked about 15 minutes through the rain to get to their hotel, The Hotel Alfonso XIII. What a grand place! Te walk in the rain was great. As a boy raised in Seattle, I have no issues with rain. And the walk reminded me that oygen is one of the elements in rain. It was invigorating. 

We had a drink at the Americano bar in the Alfonso. Very grand. Andreas and ShuShu joined us and we headed to La Sal. La Sal is not a typical tapas restaurant. It was later described as Tapas Fusion. A little overlay of Japanese with a deep fried seaweed tapas and other delicacies. The food was delicious. And we had two Spanish wines that were gorgeous. I am tracking my wines these days on Vivino, a great app that permits me to post to Twitter and Facebook. Dinner did not start until after 9 and it was 1 before we got to bed. After the long trip, we slept very well.

Nice breakfast (the kind of buffet that you would expect at a top place) and then we headed out into the day. This is definitely a walking town. Many small streets, some of which accomodate cars and some too small. Old cobblestones on streets, great old architecture blending rennaissance and Moorish. Lots of people on the streets, some of which we would call allys. 

Tapas lunch today (Saturday) was at Las Teresas, a very old, legit Tapas place. Andrea was our guest along with Fabio Castaneda who is a local Google oriented Internet guy. Light lunch, trying local sherry, cheese, thinly sliced ham, fried small fish almost like mini calimari and another more like smelt. Tasty all around. 

Walked around after lunch and saw many sights, including the Seville Cathedral, one of the several largest in the world. Interesting architecture with a massive tower build by the Moors, topped with a renaissance treatment. Also saw the nearbye Bishop's Mansion and a number of other sights. Fabio showed us some great places for cocktails, all of which I checked in on Foursquare for sharing and future use. 

Tonight, looking for something different, we had some good pasta and a pizza at La Mafia se siente a la mesa. Good pasta, average pizza, good wine. 

Back at hotel now and looking for another great night's sleep. Getting to like Seville a lot. 

Day 1

As mentioned, we left home at zero dark hundred Thursday to make a 6:45 plane to JFK. Business class to JFK and from JFK to Madrid. Delta. They have new seats and they almost stretch out far enough but are a little narrow if you are a side sleeper. But good service and good food. 

Got to Madrid early morning but were slated for a noon train to Seville. Next time, we don't buy the tickets ahead of time. We could have made a 9 or 10 O'Clock train. The train was fast and smooth, with really nice seats and comp beverages and snacks, at least for the more expensive cars. Very nice scenery but at this point, I was lagging and slept part of the way. I think Karen got some pix we will try to post.

25 hours door to door. We could get to Asia easier!

I-COM sent a car to meet us at the Seville station, taking us to the Gran Melia Colon, a Leading Hotel of the World property. Very nice. But like A LOT of hotels, their wifi is not strong enough for iOS devices. Works fine on my laptop though.

Dinner tonight with Andreas Cohen and ShuShu. Looking forward to seeing them and seeing what restaurant they have up their sleeve.

Day 0-On our way!

Still dark outside at SFO. Today we travel from SFO-JFK where we change planes to Madrid. 

Some excitement getting out the door. Car broken into where like a fool I had left my iPod fully loaded for the trip. Minus one window and one big iPod. I have a back up. Karen misplaced her phone but we found it in the luggage.

Flying Delta Business Class to JFK which we have found to be pretty good of late...

Day -1 (almost ready)

Down to the final check list. Wheels up Thursday morning for Madrid via JFK. From Madrid we take the train down to Seville where we will be doing I-COM for a week, then traveling around southern Spain. 

We'll post travel notes and pix on this blog.

"Watch this space"

Karen and I are wheels up on Thursday for Spain. We'll be blogging and posting pictures of our trip here.