Oct 8, 2019 - Last days in Madrid

Oct 8 and 9 we spent our last days in Madrid visiting two of the "biggie" museums. The Placa (the older works like Goya and Velazquez ) and the Reine Sofa museum with the more modern and contemporary works (i.e. Picasso, Salvador Dali and more recent Spanish artists). In each of these museums, much like the Louvre, you could easily spend a week. We spent a day in each and still felt completely overwhelmed trying to take it all in. One should really take an art history course before coming.. This trip has been such an education. Each city...

Oct 7, 2019 - Madrid

Madrid is a big, bustling city...in case I didnt mention that.I think the constant crowds are beginning to wear on us. Today we went to the Royal Palace which rivals the Palace of Versailles in it's opulence (minus the beautiful gardens). We waited for 1.5 hrs to buy tickets and strolled the palace for a couple hours. No photos were allowed except outside and at the grand entrance. Afterwards we found a great little Turkish cafe for lunch and then strolled Madrids equivalent of Fifth Avenue (called Gran Via). The street was built over 3...

Oct 6, 2019 - Travel to Madrid

Off to Madrid today for the final leg of our trip. We took the high speed train from Cordoba. It took less time than our trip from the Algarve and is twice as far! Pleasant trip through the arid countryside. Arrived in the huge bustling city of Madrid and decided to walk the short distance to our apartment with our luggage. A few wrong turns, hills and a fight before we found our quaint little apartment where our kind host was patiently waiting for us. Once again we unpacked and then took off to explore the city, get our bearings and find...

Oct 5, 2019 - Cordoba

Well we are slowly transforming into Europeans- sleeping in, eating a late breakfast, late lunch, afternoon siesta when the sun is hottest and a late evening meal. Today we started the day at the Mezquita- a massive former mosque with a 16th century church built in the middle of it. It is another marvel of mixed architecture built over a number of centuries. Afterwards we walked across the Guadalquvir River on the Roman pedestrian bridge and then strolled the streets of Cordoba. Its Saturday so many of the locals are out enjoying the...

Oct 4, 2019 - Travel to Cordoba

We decided to make a slight change to our itinerary as we couldn't get tickets to the main attraction in Granada. We decided instead to go to Cordoba for a couple days. We left Seville by bus this morning and our 2 hour journey turned out to be closer to 3 as our bus broke down and we had to wait on the highway for a replacement. Arrived in Cordoba late afternoon, checked in and then went for a stroll to get oriented to the city. Once again our apartment is very much in the heart of the old city and we can walk everywhere. We had a nice...

Oct 3, 2019 - Last day in Seville

Today we decided to take a look at the Spanish National Archives building (ho hum says Kathie) and were pleasantly surprised by an amazing free exhibit that describes the first voyage around the world 500 years ago by Ferdinand Magellan. A remarkable story and display of key historical documents that describe this voyage in the 1500s from Spain into the unknown. 250 sailors and 5 ships embarked and 18 returned 3 years later on one ship (the Victoria). Must read more about this when we return. So much rich history here! I am currently...

Oct 2, 2019 - The Last Group Visits Barcelona

Barcelona! Wow, what a city! First single word to describe it is “TRAFFIC”! Cars, buses (public and multiple tour type), Vespas, electric scooters, full size motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrian, lots of dogs (and as a side note, in Spain neutering seems not to be a common practice and yet they all seem to get along ). And they are driving everywhere together! And lots and lots of tourists. Because we only have two full days here we were hitting the big time tourist sites so that was to be expected. The Sagrada Família was as astounding as...

Oct 2, 2019 - Leaving the house in Calpe

Our time in Calpe came to an end. We had the house for the month of September but on the 30th Ann and Dale took a bus to Alicante to catch a flight for Barcelona and flew out the next day for home. Jan, Rick, Lorraine and I took a bus to Valencia then a train to Barcelona where we've rented an apartment for a few days. Even though the house in Calpe wasn't perfect, it was hard to leave. At this time in my life, I don't enjoy traveling around as much as I used to. I like spending time primarily in one place. I haven't been in Spain for 50...

Oct 2, 2019 - Seville

We are still a bit awestruck today. It seems like every few steps you take - there is another beautiful photo op. And nighttime is even moreso. The tourists (including us) are completely snap happy but the irony is that you simply cant capture it. Today we took in the Seville Bullring and museum. We have no interest in seeing a fight but are trying to understand the passion behind this sport that seems so cruel. Then we walked along the Guadalaquivir River and into Triana where we explored a large and lively food market. Fresh fish, fruit,...

Oct 1, 2019 - Seville Sights

Wow.. so today we saw 3 of the main sites to see in Seville: 1) Church of the Savior - this is Seville's 2nd biggest church, built on the site of a 9th century mosque. It is uniformly Baroque in architecture and decor and contains many beloved statues that are paraded through the streets on religious holidays. I thought this was the most magnificent church I had ever seen until later on today... 2) the Royal Alcazar - a palace built by the Moors in the 10th century and then revamped in the 14th century and still serving as royal digs. In...

Sep 30, 2019 - Off to Seville, Spain

Today we hopped the bus to Seville from Faro airport. The trip took about 2 hours but as we had to drop off the rental car, etc. it ended up taking a good part of the day. We arrived at our Airbnb in the heart of Old Seville in the mid afternoon. It was hot here today and tourists are everywhere! We unpacked and took a brief walking tour of our neighbourhood (ala Rick Steves guidebook). We are definitely in the heart of the action and it is a beautiful city!

Sep 28, 2019 - Day 29 travelling to Figueres

PHOTOS TO BE ADDED Left Vilanova for Figueres. This involved catching 2 trains with the bikes. First train to Barcelona was fantastic. Space for bikes and not crowded at all. The change of platforms in Barcelona was also very simple. Then after waiting 45min for the train it was suddenly cancelled. And the next train was 1h45min later. So we had lunch in the station. Arrived at Figueres and checked into our apartment. (A large private room with en-suite in a house ). Then quickly headed off to see the Dalí museum. Due to the train being...