Well, it finally happened. We finally went on the trip that I had been planning for years. And it was fabulous! Well, okay, not all of it was fabulous. I actually caught a cold and felt like crap the day before and the day of my birthday. But, I soldiered on anyway and had a fabulous time overall.
A little background...I had spent my junior year of college in Madrid and have wanted to go back ever since. We saved and planned and finally got to Spain, even tho ash clouds hovered over Spain the week before we got there...and a last minute health issue threatened to cancel the trip.
We spent time in Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Málaga and Granada. I’ve decided to create a photo diary of the trip so this won’t be a very detailed trip report. It will cover all the places we went and an occasional story or two. Please follow me over the fold for fun pics of our two weeks in Spain and a temporary distraction from all the misery in the world right now.
We started our trip in Barcelona. I had only been to the train station before so this was quite an adventure already to start our trip in an unfamiliar city. But, we had maps and we have brains and we got around pretty good in the few short days we were there. Since we slept until 1:00 the day after we arrived, we missed seeing the Sardana, a regional dance performed every Sunday at noon in front of the cathedral. While that was disappointing, we got ourselves up, brushed ourselves off and headed for the Picasso museum since that was second on our list. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed in that museum. So, I’ll start with a pic of the courtyard within the building that is now the Picasso museum. It used to be a palace and it’s a really cool building:
Street in La Ribera where Picasso museum is:
We ventured into Església de Santa María del Mar which had some very pretty stained glass windows. Lookie:
The next day we set the alarm to make the best of our last day in Barcelona. We walked to La Pedrera since it was fairly close to our hotel. But we decided against waiting in the long line since we had several other things to see that day. Here’s a couple of pics of the exterior of some of Gaudi’s architecture:
Then on to Sagrada Familia, another Gaudi work, where we saw our first human statue:
And....a few pics of Sagrada Familia.
A close-up of the front:
Some beautiful windows:
Amazing ceilings:
From the park across the street:
More human statues on La Rambla:
La Boquería where we had expensive, but delicious chocolates! These ones:
Miss M liked the huge lollypops at this stand:
Hams like these are a common sight all over Spain:
Part of an old Roman wall that surrounded old Barcelona:
and something that shows what it used to look like:
and a map of the walls around the city. we're up at the top where you can almost make out #12.
On to the Barcelona cathedral:
We had great views from the terrace of the Barcelona cathedral:
Sagrada Familia:
the sea and statue of Christopher Columbus:
I think that might be the Olympic stadium in the distance?
snack time!
anchoa y aceitunas (anchovies and olives):
crepe con chocolate, oh yum!
THE best dessert I had the entire trip, crema catalana:
One more stop before we crash at the hotel, Palau de la Música Catalana:
Then it's on to Madrid. We spent 5 days in Madrid with one day trip to Toledo. Our first day was spent at two of the "big three" art museums, the Thyssen and the Prado. Here are some pics from that day.
Dos de mayo monumento por los caidos por España - Paseo del Prado
This is the 2nd of May monument for the fallen of Spain. The 2nd of May was the day of the Spanish uprising against French troops occupying the city in 1808. The next day many Madrileños were executed. There are two Goya paintings in the Prado that depict these two days, and they are pictured below. I found these on the web as there is no photography allowed in the Prado.
Museo del Prado:
Outside the Prado:
We also visited the Jardín Botánico which contained some very lovely flowers. Lookie ;)
Rhododendrons of many colors:
Lovely iris:
There were these cool plant sculptures:
Next we spent a day in Toledo, previously my favorite city in Spain. I had been so enchanted by it as a student 30 years ago. It still holds some charm, but, alas, one can never "go home" again. Naturally it wasn't the same, but it was a day where many things went wrong which made for a very long day. There were also lots and lots of tourists which I hadn't anticipated. That too has changed! But I'm happy that Spain has so many tourists. We made the best of it and it wasn't all bad :) Here are some pics from our day in Toledo.
Beautiful train station:
Inside station, window detail:
Typical street, tho not all the streets had those cool shades. We saw those in many of the cities we visited in Spain, to which my husband commented "they sure know how to keep cool in Spain!":
Fun shop tiles:
A most excellent lunch, one of the highlights of the day :) Ending with our waiter bringing us some cool liquor that tasted a bit like anise. It was gratis(free) and a lovely gesture:
The alcazar, which was closed :(
Cool architecture:
Museo de Santa Cruz, which had just closed! and the rude woman who closed that gate on me :(
cool mudejar architecture:
catedral:
Back to Madrid before we head to southern Spain. Here we are toasting my 50 years at El Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world, so they say ;)
Mercado de San Miguel, right next to the Plaza Mayor and a fun place filled with all kinds of stuff to eat and drink:
Meat shop window:
Jamón, chorizo, queso, vino - another shop window with ham, sausage, cheese and wine:
Madrid emblem in the sidewalk:
Palacio Real:
Museo de jamón, lots of ham and lots of customers!
More jamón in Las Cuevas where we stopped for a drink while we waited for other restaurants to open. We spotted a pic of Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter on the wall and the bartender told us they had visited in 2000.
Sculpture garden - Reina Sofía museum:
Reina Sofía museum:
Lunch at El Brillante on the square with Reina Sofía museum. Excellent tortilla española and yes, that is anchoa y aceitunas again :)
fun band that set up and played for us while we ate - great timing! we saw/heard them again our last night in Madrid outside our hotel a week later:
Atocha train station atrium (which was not there 30 years ago) - and on to Sevilla in southern Spain:
The street our hotel was on in Sevilla, that's it there with the red sign:
Typical street in Barrio Santa Cruz:
Catedral and La Giralda:
La Giralda, close-up:
One entrance to the cathedral, I think there were more:
Some pics from inside:
Tomb of Christopher Columbus - there is debate as to whether he's really in there:
So ornate everywhere you look! Gold, silver, marble.....
Up into La Giralda, which was ALOT easier when I was 20 ;)
View of Sevilla from La Giralda:
Sevilla bull ring from La Giralda:
Sevilla and alcazar from La Giralda:
The bells at the top!
Mudejar architecture outside of cathedral:
Cool courtyard down the street from our hotel:
And beyond the gate:
Our second day in Sevilla we visited the alcazar. After researching for this trip, I realized that I missed a true gem when I was there as a student. It is highly recommended and I couldn't stop thinking about why we didn't manage to see it on our visit as a group of students all those years ago, especially since it's very close to the cathedral. My memory told me that we stayed one night in Sevilla and we only saw the cathedral, La Giralda and the Plaza de España. When we returned home, Miss M and I were looking at the scrapbook I made of my year abroad and I happened upon a receipt for the hostel we stayed at in Granada....for TWO nights! So, what must have happened was that we only stopped in Sevilla for a couple of hours (if that) then headed to Granada the same day. It was a sight-seeing trip combined with dropping off the handful of students who were going to study in Granada that year. Oh yea, also during my research I had thought that the alcazar was closed our only day there so I had planned to see it first thing the next day before heading off to Málaga. Instead, I found what looked like an official Sevilla city website that said it was indeed open our one day in Sevilla. Not believing it, we walked over to it after our visit to the cathedral just to make sure it was open the next day. It was!!! So, here are some pics of my favorite site this trip. It's a wonderful and immense place with many beautiful things. And a garden that I'm quite sure we never saw its entirety. I was so happy to be able to take our time here.
The entrance:
That wall is over 1000 years old!
Same wall, from the other side:
more cool mudejar architecture:
Room after room after room of beauty!
Looking through a window grate:
more beauty:
Out into the gardens:
there was bougainvillea everywhere!
I've never seen such large bougainvillea plants!!
a close-up:
Royal crest tiles in the sidewalk:
Look! A peacock!
A couple of pics from Plaza de España where there are these beautiful tiled scenes from every region in Spain:
Next, we rented a car and with only turning around three times, we found our way out of Sevilla and were on our way through the mountains to Málaga. The ride through the mountains was beautiful as was the ride along the coast towards Málaga. Once we got to Málaga it was another challenge getting to our hotel due to many one way streets and all I had was a google map printout. I think we drove back and forth a few times before we hit on the right combination of turns to end up on the street the hotel's parking lot was on. We parked the car and left it there until we left two days later.
We absolutely loved Málaga. What a charming, warm and fun place! And the people are warm and friendly as well. We were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go and started our only full day there at the Atarazanas market which is filled with fresh meats, seafood, fruits and veggies. I bought some cherries for Miss M and took a few pics.
Then on to the Picasso museum, another fabulous museum in another cool building. Alas, there was no photography allowed again. In fact, they kept my camera and I was given a number to redeem it when I was done. Sort of like a coat check. Guess they wanted to be absolutely sure nobody would take pictures! On our way we walked through Larios street, a pedestrian only shopping area:
We walked by the catedral and passed on going inside. By this point in the trip, we had seen enough cathedrals. But it was still lovely on the outside and later on we had dinner on the square facing the cathedral, which was quite nice.
Catedral and bougainvillea:
Bougainvillea close-up. Can you tell how much I love bougainvillea? :)
And, to end our day in Málaga, we climbed up into the alcazaba, another Moorish castle:
An old Roman theater just below the alcazaba that is more than 1,000 years old:
Up into the alcazaba:
More bougainvillea!
More cool mudejar architecture:
Great views from up there!
Málaga's bull ring:
The entire place in miniature. We were only in that lower portion in the front:
Cool stonework:
Then it was on to Granada, our last city before heading back to Madrid to go home. On our way we stopped to put our feet in the Mediterranean sea. We had hoped to spend more time at the beach but it was very windy that day, not the best for being at the beach.
This is Nerja on the Costa del Sol:
We made it to Granada, dropped the rental car at the train station and took a taxi to our hotel. Here's the Alhambra(which we will visit the next day) from our hotel's terrace:
Close-up:
The cathedral from our hotel's terrace. We didn't go into the cathedral again, instead we chose to pay our respects to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who are buried in the Capilla, a separate entrance (and fee) from the cathedral.
We had afternoon tickets for the Alhambra for our full day in Granada. So, we slept in and took our time getting something to eat. And then we boarded a city bus that took us up the hill, found the ticket machines and printed them easily. Finally it was time to go in!! A small story again. There are four main sites at the enormous Alhambra grounds. We started with the 20 minute walk toward three of those main sites. One is the alcazaba that we could see from our hotel and we headed there first as we had to be in the vicinity for our 3:30 entrance to the Nasrid palace. All the while climbing up and into the alcazaba I kept thinking "why doesn't this look familiar?" I mean, I had gone to the Alhambra with my group from Cal State who were studying abroad. Surely I went to the alcazaba yes? No! In the scrapbook that Miss M and I were perusing from my year abroad we found my ticket stub. Back then they had four tear-off pieces for each of the sites(now they scan your ticket). Well, lo and behold, but my Alcazaba stub was not torn off which means I never went there! We only had time for the Generalife (the gardens that we didn't have the energy for this time after all that climbing in the heat, so we skipped it) and the Nasrid Palace. So, that's why the alcazaba didn't look familiar! But, now I've seen it all with the two visits combined. I'm disappointed we didn't get to the gardens but I guess you just cannot do everything. We thoroughly enjoyed all that we did see at this wondrous place. I think that everyone should see both the Alhambra and the alcazar in Sevilla. Such enormity and such beauty, one should really see them in person. Because, to me, the pics do not do them justice. You really only get a vague idea of these places. I will share with you some of the better pics we took and hope you can catch a glimpse of what we experienced.
On our way to the alcazaba:
The alcazaba:
Carlos V palace from the alcazaba:
Flags:
Down into the dungeons:
Up some more into the alcazaba:
From the top where we had great views of Granada and we could see the cathedral and our hotel!
Flags, close-up. The red and yellow one is for Spain. We were wondering what the other three represented. Maybe one for Granada, another for the region of Andalucia? What would the third one be for?
Lovely gardens(not the Generalife tho):
There were lots of lovely roses everywhere:
Carlos V Palace, definitely not Moorish:
Finally it was time to enter the Nasrid Palace, the jewel of the Alhambra. It is very similar to the alcazar in Sevilla and after seeing them both, I prefer the alcazar in Sevilla. Perhaps because there weren't parts of it being restored. The court of the lions was being redone at the Alhambra, which I already knew about having read about it on one of the travel forums I was frequenting. I remember that it was quite lovely 30 years ago and even tho I knew I wouldn't see them, I was still disappointed. We got to walk through that courtyard and I guess I should have taken a pic of it just to show what it looked like. Perhaps I was in a hurry to get past it, I don't know. But, I don't have any pics of it. But, I did take pics of many beautiful things in the palace to share. Please come along and look, won't you? :)
Look up, always something interesting up there:
one of my favorite shots:
all those beautiful arches:
don't forget to look up, such beauty:
still in Nasrid palace....
room after room after room of beauty:
more amazing ceilings:
And back to our hotel that evening with yet another patio dining experience. The weather was so nice the entire time we were there that we ate outside about 90% of the time, it was sooooooo nice!! These are mantillas(shawls from Andalucía) hung from the windows in the building next to our hotel. Aren't they pretty?
One last look at the mountains from our terrace where it had snowed while we were there:
A last look at the cathedral the morning we left Granada:
Then it's back to Madrid for our last day in Spain. We stayed at the NH Paseo del Prado and it was so nice!! I took pics of the staircase and hallway because I thought the carpets were so pretty:
Madrid has beautiful street signs that are attached to buildings (and sometimes hard to find):
Our last souvenir shop and we got a pic of a street sign and some interesting figures in the windows:
Neptune fountain in front of our hotel:
Our last tapas at the sidewalk cafe outside our hotel, yet another beautiful al fresco dining experience:
We had such a marvelous time travelling around Spain and seeing so many beautiful things. España, me encanta todavía y espero que regresaré más pronto que 30 años la próxima vez(Spain, you still enchant me and I hope that I will return sooner than 30 years next time).