Dale,
 
DS> I can add another personal observation about the Mediterranean.  When I
DS> lived in England in the early 1970s, we took a trip to the "Italian
DS> Riviera".  When we got there, we observed that the Med waters were
DS> salty (no surprise) and muddy brown.  We also observed that the water
DS> that came out of the taps in the hotel looked and tasted exactly the
DS> same.
 
You will find that changed now, however I remember that once in the 80-ies
while on a business trip into Valencia I went on a morning beach walk but
quickly returned because the beach was full of human excrement and there were a
 kind of big pooper-scooper trucks running over the beach cleaning the shit out
 of it in the most litteral way. Then it was desinfected and they were ready
for another day.
 
Because of the boost in Mediterranean holiday travel sewage treatment was just
not enough ... they built the hotels, the roads, the airports but never
factored-in all the rest that came with a big load of people. Whole vacation
towns like Benidorm were built with no sewage treatment ... during the day it
was collected in holding facilities and at night the sluices were opened and it
 drained into the sea. The Mediterranean does not have a big tidal system but a
 lot reached the beached anyway during the next high tide in the dark and then
it needed to be cleaned before the tourists hit the beach in the morning. I
agree, it was like putting the cart in front of the horse, but that is how it
worked then ... no forward thinking.
 
Tap-water I consider a nono anyway anywhere ... too much diarhea, even if it
looks pristine. Never drink from the tap when in unfamiliar surroundings.
 
DS> During the same period of time, we made the mistake of booking a two
DS> week vacation in a Gibraltar condo.  Our plan was to rent a car and tour
DS> southern Spain.  Then we discovered that to get from Gibraltar to Spain
DS> one had to go via Morocco since the border was closed due to some spat
DS> that Spain was having with England.
 
That has been a while now but may come back after Brexit because the EU was
what stopped that nonsense.
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR41
 * Origin: Ceci n'est pas un courriel (2:292/854)