We took a plane to Spain and there was no rain.
In Madrid we got around using the Metro subway system. There are 10 train lines and they go everywhere. It's clean and efficient. We never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes for a train. Madrid's big thing is art. We visited El Prado and Thyssen Bornemisza museums. Monet, Gaughin, Goya, Rembrandt,Van Gogh, El Greco, Bosch, Rafael, Rubens, Titian, Kirchner, Dali. Well, we saw a lot of paintings. Some of the paintings I liked the most were by artists I hadn't heard of. We took day trips by bus to Toledo and San Lorenzo. Toledo was one of the highlights of the trip. The Catedral there was amazing; extra ornate. As Mariana said, it was kind of sickening how much expense and effort they put into building their palaces and churches while the resources could surely have benefited the people in better ways. But the results are pretty awesome. San Lorenzo is home to El Escorial, a fancy historical monastery. I liked Madrid a lot. It's an old city with real neighborhoods and real people. A lot of the other places we visited felt too touristy. Madrid felt real.
First stop after Madrid was Cordoba. Cordoba is 4 or 5 hours due south of Madrid. It's a small city that was a big deal when the Moors controlled Spain. Now it's famous for the Great Mosque, La Mezquita, which, strangely enough, houses a magnificent Catholic church. There a history to it... We marveled at the hundreds of arches, columns and key-hole doors. To think that the place is 1300 years old... Wow.
Seville looks like it was created by a tourist bureau. There are old narrow cobbled streets with cool buildings all around. The city is dominated by shopping. It's the center of southern Spain and Flamenco dancing. Our apartment in Seville was a super-modern affair with a 24-hour desk. We were in a great location. All the attractions were easily walkable. There was a grocery store in the basement of a high end department store close by. And bakeries and small shops all around us. We had air conditioning and it was very comfortable. There was even a small swimming pool on the roof. Francisco and I jogged along Paseo de Las Delicias, a really nice river walk close to where we stayed. It went on for miles and miles.
From Seville we drove east to Granada. There we saw the magnificent Alhambra. It's a Moorish fort and castle, with fancy gardens. It's also one of the most visited attractions in Spain (6,000 visitors per day). We saw a lot but we neglected to buy tickets in advance and were shut out from the central palace. Still, we made the most of it. We enjoyed the six-century old fort, a bunch of the other buildings and the superb Genearalife gardens. I tried to imagine what was like in the time of the Moors and later Ferdinand and Isabela. Yeah, this is where Cristobal Colon got his commission to find a shorter route India. The Alhambra was vast. But we concluded it's magnificence is as much in it's importance in history as in it's visual awesomeness. To us, Toledo and Seville were more impressive. We ate a late lunch at a place in Granada and continued on. Adios Granada.
From Alicante we drove northeast up the Mediterranean coast to Valencia. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain (behind Madrid and Barcelona, in front of Seville and Zaragoza). It was easy to get around and seemed like a nice place, but we were only there to visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias as a day trip. It's quite spectacular. To us it looked like something out of a futuristic movie. We enjoyed the Science Museum. the aquarium and the cool architecture of the place. For some reason we parked in a garage on the other side of a vast mall. We dined in a giant mall supermarket restaurant!
Our next stop after Valencia was a seaside town called Peñiscola on the Costa del Azahar. We rented a super large apartment in regular neighborhood with easy access to the the town square and the beach. We visited a small fort where some with cool views. We heard stories of Roman soldiers and Papa Luna. But mostly we just relaxed. Peñiscola has miles and miles of awesome Mediterranean white sand beaches. The water is clean and clear. The beers and seafood are cheap. And the ladies lie out on the beach topless! Is this place paradise or what? I enjoyed morning runs along the beach followed by plunges into the roof pool, days at the beach, lunch back at the apartment and evenings at restaurants and trinket shops. Peñiscola was worth the trip!
From Peñiscola we drove to straight to Barcelona. Somewhere along the way we noticed the radio broadcast switched from Spanish to Catalan. And our Barcelona adventure was beginning. Everyone raves about this place so I wondered what made it so great. I think it's popular because it's a beautiful city with lots to see and do for tourists. Our apartment was a very modern place on a main drag close to the Sagrada Familia. The whole city was easily accessible via the Metro with the neighborhoods being fun to walk around. We enjoyed Las Ramblas, the boulevard closed to traffic. We toured Camp Nou FC Barcelona to appreciate Futbol! We visited Catedral de Barcelona. We walked down to El Puerto de Barcelona. Other stuff we saw: Arc de Triomf,Barceloneta Beach, Port Olimpic, Anella Olimpica, Stadio Olimpico, Columbus Monument, Torre Agbar, Raval, Font Magica, Placa Espanya, Parc Güell, Barri Gotic, El Poblenou, Merca de Sant Josep de la Boqueria and La Barceloneta Beach. Barcelona earns its heavy rep as a tourist mecca.
Back from our trip. Got to write this stuff down before it's lost forever.
We were there from June 22 thru July 8 and we covered a lot of ground.
We hit 12 of the 15 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Spain
- The Alhambra and Generalife Gardens, Granada
- Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
- The Great Mosque (Mezquita), Cordoba
- The Prado and Paseo del Artes, Madrid
- San Lorenzo de El Escorial
- Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
- Seville Cathedral and Alcazar
- Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Galicia
- Plaza Mayor, Madrid
- Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia
- Costa del Sol Beaches*
- Las Ramblas, Barcelona
- Toledo's Old City
- The White Towns of Andalucía
- El Teide, Tenerife
We flew into Madrid and spent four days there. Our apartment was in Malasaña. This was a central location a few blocks off the Gran Via. Our place was great. We were in a cool neighborhood. We had plenty of space, wifi and a full kitchen. We were on the 4th floor with a balcony over the street. First thing we found a market close by to stock the fridge. There were lots of small shops all around us.We were in a lively area with great restaurants and bars. And I could send the kids out to get whatever we needed.
In Madrid we got around using the Metro subway system. There are 10 train lines and they go everywhere. It's clean and efficient. We never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes for a train. Madrid's big thing is art. We visited El Prado and Thyssen Bornemisza museums. Monet, Gaughin, Goya, Rembrandt,Van Gogh, El Greco, Bosch, Rafael, Rubens, Titian, Kirchner, Dali. Well, we saw a lot of paintings. Some of the paintings I liked the most were by artists I hadn't heard of. We took day trips by bus to Toledo and San Lorenzo. Toledo was one of the highlights of the trip. The Catedral there was amazing; extra ornate. As Mariana said, it was kind of sickening how much expense and effort they put into building their palaces and churches while the resources could surely have benefited the people in better ways. But the results are pretty awesome. San Lorenzo is home to El Escorial, a fancy historical monastery. I liked Madrid a lot. It's an old city with real neighborhoods and real people. A lot of the other places we visited felt too touristy. Madrid felt real.
Next we rented a car to explore some other parts of the country. The car was way cheaper than trains or buses, and it gave us a lot more freedom and flexibility. Driving in Madrid is crazy. There are 6-lane avenues going into rotaries with 3 or 4 other roads joining in. Motorcycles, trucks.everything. Crazy, but somehow they manage. The highways going south are very good. Traffic was light and the roads were in great shape. Also there were no tolls (except for between Valencia and Barcelona, but that came later). The speed limit is 120 kph, but everyone drives faster. I didn't see any speed traps the whole time I was there. Not being used to kph, I tended to lose track of the speed I was driving. Francisco caught me doing 145 kph, which he said was 90 mph. I dunno, but I do remember considering whether the turns seemed uncomfortable because the roads weren't banked as they are in the US or they felt uncomfortable cuz I was driving 90 mph.
First stop after Madrid was Cordoba. Cordoba is 4 or 5 hours due south of Madrid. It's a small city that was a big deal when the Moors controlled Spain. Now it's famous for the Great Mosque, La Mezquita, which, strangely enough, houses a magnificent Catholic church. There a history to it... We marveled at the hundreds of arches, columns and key-hole doors. To think that the place is 1300 years old... Wow.
We didn't stay in Cordoba for very long. We walked across a cool bridge. We ate lunch. And we scooted over to Seville, 90 minutes west. All over Spain we found comida del dia. These were always 3-course meals, including drinks and desserts, for prices ranging from 8-12 Euros. The main course usually included Paella, the national dish. It's sort of a jumbalaya heavy on shellfish; but I guess it could be made with other stuff too.
Seville looks like it was created by a tourist bureau. There are old narrow cobbled streets with cool buildings all around. The city is dominated by shopping. It's the center of southern Spain and Flamenco dancing. Our apartment in Seville was a super-modern affair with a 24-hour desk. We were in a great location. All the attractions were easily walkable. There was a grocery store in the basement of a high end department store close by. And bakeries and small shops all around us. We had air conditioning and it was very comfortable. There was even a small swimming pool on the roof. Francisco and I jogged along Paseo de Las Delicias, a really nice river walk close to where we stayed. It went on for miles and miles.
Seville's main attractions are La Catedral and the Alcázar. La Catedral is tall with lots of spiky spires. There is a tower you walk up for a great view of the city. Strangely to get up the tower you walk up spiraling ramps rather than stairs. I read that they built it that way to allow horsemen to get up and down the tower... Hmm. Inside the Cathedral is super ornate. Only Toledo surpassed it. And outside there is a small orange grove that they say has been there forever. The Alcázar is a cool fort and with immense gardens. We had a hard time finding our way out of a shrub maze. In the evening Mariana and I tried to find Flamenco dancing, but it seemed to be limited to late night shows. Instead we toured the city and stumbled upon the Metropol Parasol. It's a big strange structure that serves as a public plaza. The locals call it 'The Mushroom', but it's fun to visit and gives a great view of the city. Seville is beautiful at night!
From Seville we drove east to Granada. There we saw the magnificent Alhambra. It's a Moorish fort and castle, with fancy gardens. It's also one of the most visited attractions in Spain (6,000 visitors per day). We saw a lot but we neglected to buy tickets in advance and were shut out from the central palace. Still, we made the most of it. We enjoyed the six-century old fort, a bunch of the other buildings and the superb Genearalife gardens. I tried to imagine what was like in the time of the Moors and later Ferdinand and Isabela. Yeah, this is where Cristobal Colon got his commission to find a shorter route India. The Alhambra was vast. But we concluded it's magnificence is as much in it's importance in history as in it's visual awesomeness. To us, Toledo and Seville were more impressive. We ate a late lunch at a place in Granada and continued on. Adios Granada.
We continued on to Alicante. Our path took us past the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And they looked impressive. The peaks here top out at 11,400 feet. Sadly a lot of the foothills we passed through were deforested. Only higher up could we could see foliage. Again the roads were excellent and we made great time. We were heading east to the Mediterranean Sea!
Alicante is a city on the Costa Blanca with a beautiful beach, a super cool malecón and lots of restaurants, bars and shops. It gets lots of Spanish and other European tourists and has big cruise ships coming and going. We enjoyed the beach and the fun atmosphere a lot after looking around historical places, churches and museums for so many days. Francisco met some American exchange students studying Spanish in Alicante. It was a cool place to be for a few days.
From Alicante we drove northeast up the Mediterranean coast to Valencia. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain (behind Madrid and Barcelona, in front of Seville and Zaragoza). It was easy to get around and seemed like a nice place, but we were only there to visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias as a day trip. It's quite spectacular. To us it looked like something out of a futuristic movie. We enjoyed the Science Museum. the aquarium and the cool architecture of the place. For some reason we parked in a garage on the other side of a vast mall. We dined in a giant mall supermarket restaurant!
Our next stop after Valencia was a seaside town called Peñiscola on the Costa del Azahar. We rented a super large apartment in regular neighborhood with easy access to the the town square and the beach. We visited a small fort where some with cool views. We heard stories of Roman soldiers and Papa Luna. But mostly we just relaxed. Peñiscola has miles and miles of awesome Mediterranean white sand beaches. The water is clean and clear. The beers and seafood are cheap. And the ladies lie out on the beach topless! Is this place paradise or what? I enjoyed morning runs along the beach followed by plunges into the roof pool, days at the beach, lunch back at the apartment and evenings at restaurants and trinket shops. Peñiscola was worth the trip!
From Peñiscola we drove to straight to Barcelona. Somewhere along the way we noticed the radio broadcast switched from Spanish to Catalan. And our Barcelona adventure was beginning. Everyone raves about this place so I wondered what made it so great. I think it's popular because it's a beautiful city with lots to see and do for tourists. Our apartment was a very modern place on a main drag close to the Sagrada Familia. The whole city was easily accessible via the Metro with the neighborhoods being fun to walk around. We enjoyed Las Ramblas, the boulevard closed to traffic. We toured Camp Nou FC Barcelona to appreciate Futbol! We visited Catedral de Barcelona. We walked down to El Puerto de Barcelona. Other stuff we saw: Arc de Triomf,Barceloneta Beach, Port Olimpic, Anella Olimpica, Stadio Olimpico, Columbus Monument, Torre Agbar, Raval, Font Magica, Placa Espanya, Parc Güell, Barri Gotic, El Poblenou, Merca de Sant Josep de la Boqueria and La Barceloneta Beach. Barcelona earns its heavy rep as a tourist mecca.
Details
Thu June 22 - Mon June 26 : Madrid : Malasaña, Calle Marques de Santa Ana 24 : US$187/night
- Thu June 22 - Thyssen Bornemisza museum, Gran Via
- Fri June 23 - Toledo - Alcázar, Catedral Primada de Toledo
- Sat June 24 - El Prado, Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor
- Sun June 25 - El Escoriál de San Lorenzo
Mon June 26 - Wed June 28 : Sevilla : Tempa Museo Calle San Vincente 4 : US$122/night
- Mon June 26 - La Mezquita de Cordoba, Puente Romano
- Tue June 27 - Catedral de Sevilla, La Giralda, Alcázar, Metropol Parasol
Wed June 28 - Fri June 30 : Alicante : Hotel Maritimo, Valdez 13: US$97/night
- Wed June 28 - Alhambra de Granada
- Thu June 29 - Costa del Sol, Playa del Postiguet
Fri June 30 - Mon July 3 : Peñíscola : Mestre Roca, 36, Portal D : US122/night
- Fri June 30 - Ciudad de Ciencias, Valencia, Oceanografic, Museo de Ciences
- Sat July 1 - Costa del Azahar, Playa Norte
- Sun July 2 - Castillo de Peñíscola Playa Norte
Mon July 3 - Sat July 8 : Barcelona : Modern Diagonal 318 Avinguda Diagonal 4-1 : US$154/night
- Mon July 3 - Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas, Mercat de San Josep
- Tue July 4 - Olympic Parc
- Wed July 5 - Camp Nou, Font Mágica de Montjuíc
- Thu July 6 - Parc Guell, Soccer Store, Mercat de San Josep
- Fri July 7 - Sagrada Familia, Parc de Ciutadella
