Oct 23, 2018 - melting clocks

It is clear that art and culture are highly valued in this part of Spain and perhaps always have been. We saw the Picasso Museum a few days ago and today traveled more than an hour out of town to Figueres to see the Salvador Dalí Museum in the town where he was born. His museum is housed on an old theatre and this space dictates the way his surrealist art is displayed. He was alive when the museum was created and decided which pieces to include and where they should be. Some of it was outside, but most was under roof. In the courtyard he...

Oct 22, 2018 - Gaudí continued

It's hard to believe, but one of the biggest tourist attractions here is a failed housing division that only has three houses in it. The architect Antonin Gaudí whose masterpiece church we visited yesterday, was fortunate to find a wealthy patron named Eusebi Güell, who said, "I have no idea what your work means, but I know that it's special." Güell had a huge fortune inherited from his father and brought into the marriage from his wife, so he paid Gaudí a salary for his entire life and let him do whatever struck his fancy. Our word "gaudy"...

Oct 21, 2018 - world class

From my perspective Barcelona became a world class city in 1992 when the Olympics brought the attention of us all to its beauty and culture. Undoubtedly, the Romans also thought it was a pretty great town when they founded it 2,00 years ago. Our tour of the city took us past many of the Olympic venues, which are still being used and are a vital party of city life, unlike some other Olympic cities like Athens, where the grass and weeds are rapidly reclaiming it all for Mother Nature. Our view of the city from Montjuic was spectacular in...

Oct 20, 2018 - Valencia

Valencia seems to have a bit of an inferiority complex as it views the more famous Spanish cities around it getting more attention. This makes it a great place to live. Housing is somewhat cheaper and tourism is at the stage where it is appreciated, rather than overrunning the place. With 330 days of sunshine a year (today was not one of them) and a mild winter climate, I can imagine Northern Europeans enjoying a lengthy winter stay here. A Gran Prix race tracks runs through the city and the track includes the area we walked in the port fro...

Oct 20, 2018 - Too Cute Not To Include

Lousy weather and too much activity yesterday conspired to create a slow-paced day. It was the evening that merits a brief post, for my memory’s sake and perhaps it will make other readers smile. During happy hour on the patio of our pretty hotel we were thoroughly entertained by a sweet little boy celebrating his second birthday, and laughingly commenting to his loving parents in my Spanglish. Having received the gift of a pushbike in the shape of a motorcycle - and a helmet - he... 1) Straddled the bike and rode it to the nearest...

Oct 20, 2018 - Madrid - end of an unbelievable experience

After a disasterous flight to Madrid, we awoke to our last day together in Madrid, now certainly one of my favourite cities in Europe. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in this fun city now, my third visit and really enjoy the history, the Spaniards, the food, it’s clean, attractive and oh so much to see and do here. I decided we should join another free walking tour for Lorna’s sake who has not been to Madrid before, and although the guide was a young and particularly weird Irishman, was not disappointed, his history knowledge was good,...

Oct 19, 2018 - Cartagena

Carthage has been a city on the Spanish coast for almost 3,000 years. Initially it was named after a city in North Africa by a Phoenician general. A few generals later, the one named Hannibal left from here to conquer lands to the north, starting the journey with 90,000 troops and one hundred elephants. He was able to cross both the Pyrenees in France and the Alps in Switzerland with this enormous invasive force. The people who chose to remain in town became immensely wealthy as they worked the silver and tin mines in the area until the...

Oct 19, 2018 - Santiago - Bueno Camino and adios

We have had the best time in this wonderful city of Santiago de Compostela, lively, pretty, exciting, great tapas, many new friends. I loved it the first time I was here and loved it the second time too. So much fun with pilgrims arriving constantly, we meet up in bars or around the town and catch up on funny accounts of our hike, the crazy people we met, sights we saw etc. This morning, after breakfast we met Paul from San Francisco yet again, actually in the room next door to us, ha ha and invited him to join us on a very interesting free...

Oct 18, 2018 - touring the city

After the gorgeous weather we have enjoyed, it was a bit of a shock to see rain and temperatures in the low 60º's here on the Costa del Sol (Sun Coast). We had a half day city tour in the bus on the schedule with a stop at the Picasso Museum so we were able to dodge some of the worst of it. Picasso was born here, although he spent much of his productive and lengthy life in France, because he boycotted the lengthy rule of Generalissimo Franco, the notorious dictator of Spain. Of course, there is a museum of Picasso's works here, but there...

Oct 17, 2018 - running with the bulls

The first time we went to Spain in 1981 we attended a bull fight. I didn’t think I would enjoy it, and it was even more horrible than I imagined. It wasn’t just a man against a bull. There were other riders on horseback who occasionally put pointed rods into the bull’s neck, which caused him to bleed more and more. Finally the matador plunged a sword behind the bull’s neck and it was over. He was awarded one of the bull’s ears. But it was a big part of Spanish culture and the thing to do. When in Rome. Bull fighting is still a big part of...

Oct 17, 2018 - Santiago de Compostela - destination reached, mission accomplished.

Oh what a feeling! We did it, 200 kms later we reached our destination Santiago de Compostela, we achieved our goal, mission accomplished, done and dusted. What a trip it has been, I have enjoyed every minute of it and could not have chosen a better companion than Lorna to share this wonderful experience with. The crazy sights we have seen along the way, the sometimes rough weather conditions, the strange, amazing and often wonderful pilgrims we have met and befriended (Wendy, you had better invest in some blow up mattresses at a Laurieton...

Oct 16, 2018 - The Cathedral of the Catholic Kings Seville

My father-in-law Ken McColl described visiting Europe as going on an ABC tour. By which he meant “Another bleeping castle and another bleeping cathedral.” I am sure happy his son feels more positive about those kinds of tourist attractions than he did. The Seville Cathedral was consecrated in 1507 and to this day it remains the largest cathedral in the world.Both St. Peter’s basilica in Italy and Our Lady of Aparecida basilica in Brazil are larger Catholic churches, but by definition they are not cathedrals. Apparently that is a meaningful...