Alright, another great trip is down for the books, this time, to Spain! It was a slight whirlwind trip but that's how we do things. We get bored being in one place for too long and such at wandering. A few notes about Spain first: one is that I never realized how Spanish I look (minus that part that I was a giant amongst shorties)! I totally fit in which meant that everybody assumed that I spoke Spanish! Luckily, I took 6 years of Spanish (4 in high school and two in college) so a lot of it came back to me...I saved us quite a bit with my mad skills.
Our Spain Tips
1. Most places require you to spend 10 Euros before you can use a card
2. Learn at least a few words in Spanish, not everybody there is fluent in English
3. Buy tickets for sites you want to see ahead of time. They had some major lines.
4. Their metro and train system is spot on, don't be intimidated
5. We saw way more issues with pickpockets in Italy than Spain
6. Remember about Siestas!
We started out in Madrid, at another airbnb apartment, which was fantastic. I'm getting pretty good at picking them out, I have to say.
We really only had one full day in Madrid and started at the Royal Palace. No pictures allowed, unfortunately, as it is still a working palace. It had a different architecture style than England, of course and you could definitely see Spain's wealth in all the gold everywhere. There were walls covered in silk, entire rooms in porcelain, from top to bottom and some of the largest chandeliers I have ever seen. We got to see where they hold state dinners and where US presidents sat. It was a place full of grandeur. There was also the Royal armory to see, which had weapons and armor from centuries. There was a lot that was what I thought of as typical Spanish armor. We really enjoyed walking through the palace and seeing the differences to English palaces.
Eventually, we wandered over to Retiro Park. It is a very large public park in the middle of the city and is filled with sculptures, gardens and monuments. It is a good place to wander through and people watch and is free to enter. There's a lake where you can rent little row boats and make a fool of yourself (which we saw many people do) or use your kids for hard labor (which we also saw). We spent a few hours going through the park as there is always something new to be seen around the corner.
Our final destination for Madrid was the Prado Museum. We aren't big art museum people but we can appreciate good art and this place had some good art. It is considered one of the best art museums in the world. Again, no pictures allowed inside but the art was mind-blowingly good.
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| church outside Prado |
Our next destination was to be the town of Toledo. We booked this day trip as part of our trip because of many reasons, one of them being that the town itself is a World Heritage Site. It is known as "The City of the Three Cultures" because of its historical co-existence of Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is known for its wonderful handmade swords (which we totally wanted).
Toledo is such a picturesque city! We first made our way to San Martin Bridge. It was built in the 14th century and is still in wonderful condition. It's such a pretty bridge.
Next, we headed away from the city. We walked along the waterfront to get some beautiful views of the city. It was totally worth the hike. On the way back (once we realized the only bridge was the one behind us) we got hailed on. And since we listened to the weather report, we assumed it wasn't going to rain...well it did and it hailed. At least it didn't last very long! Anyways, the hike was a nice break from the cities.
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| I see a hail cloud coming! |
After making it back to the city, we headed for the Toledo Cathedral. It was built in the 13th century over the city mosque remains. It has some real beauty in it. One of my favorite parts was this skylight that was surrounded by statues and artwork, it was like nothing I have seen in a cathedral before.
Our next destination was Seville. To get here, we took a 2.5 hour train ride which was super nice. Spain has some of the nicest trains we have been on in Europe, I mean, they even had a movie playing that you could watch. Now, that is class.
Our hotel turned out to be about 500 meters from the major attractions in the city so I was mighty proud of myself for that one. Also, the room was huge and we had our own personal courtyard. Yes, seriously, a courtyard, it was pretty awesome.
The first day in Seville, we headed to the Cathedral. It is the largest Gothic cathedral and third largest church in the world, in other words, it's big enough to get lost in. It's also the burial place of Christopher Columbus. While, I'm not a fan of that notorious man, it was still pretty cool to be in a place steeped with history.
We climbed up the tower in this cathedral. It was one of the better climbs we have done as there weren't stairs! It was ramps going up to the tower instead because it was a part of the original mosque and the person doing the call to prayer would ride his horse up. I prefer ramps to stairs every time.
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| it was windy..obviously |
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| Columbus' tomb |
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| mmmhmm. check out that Spanish view |
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| again, Columbus' tomb |
After making our way out of the cathedral, we spent some time just walking the streets. It's a really adorable town with orange trees everywhere.
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| Just a man and his gopro.. |
Our next day in Seville was spent in the Alcazar. It is a royal palace that was originally a Moorish fort. It was first built in the 11th century and since has been added upon many times in the passing centuries. In that time, it was in control of the Moors, like most of Southern Spain. In the 13th century, Christians claimed it back and many monarchs used the Alcazar as their palace.
And the architecture was absolutely amazing! The surviving Moorish architecture was like nothing we have ever seen before. The mosaics were just beyond belief.
After getting lost in the building for a while, we decided to go get lost in the gardens. The gardens were very expansive and seemed to go on forever.
Another place we wandered to that day was the Gold Tower. It was built as a Moorish defense site and is thought to have been covered in gold at one point.
Overall, we really enjoyed Seville. In fact, the Alcazar was my favorite part of the whole trip! Next, we hopped on a plane to head to Barcelona! In Barcelona, we were in another apartment. It was another great one! The bathroom had a super deep tub and a shower with multiple heads and spouts! And the rest of the apartment was super nice too!
We took it really slow in Barcelona since Lee was showing battle scars (he got sick...he always gets sick on trips!). The first day, we visited Park Guell. Barcleona is known for the works of the master architect Gaudi (yes, his name is now known for extravagance and just "too much") and this was the park he designed.
We enjoyed the street performers here. There were dancers, bands and people playing Spanish guitar music. Of course, there were the normal vendors but this park had some added specialness.
For the rest of the day, Lee slept but he sure did need it! The next day, we had tickets to Sagrada Familia. It is a church that was designed by Guadi. They started building it in 1882 and it is expected to be finished in 2026. That is a lot of work! They really, really are still building it!
The church was super modern, which is crazy when you remember it was designed in the 19th century. Gaudi was obviously way ahead of his time which is what makes this church so special. The symbolism and the way he used lighting is amazing. He really used light in his favor and it shows in the stained glass, they shine so beautifully, giving color to the whole church. It really can't be compared to anything else we have seen.
Also, a part of his style was to use elements of nature. Like the columns in the church are supposed to be tree trunks that go up to the ceilings which is supposed to look like a canopy. He wanted you to feel like you are in a forest.
We also bought tickets to climb up the Nativity side of the church. We took an elevator up then climbed stairs down. It afforded wonderful views of the city and gave up close up views of the church siding.
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| lighting from the windows |
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| a door |
After spending time at the church, we wandered around the rest of the city. It has some beautiful small streets. We also saw the Casa Batllo, another Gaudi creation, the outside completely covered in mosaic.
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| the looks he gives me! |
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