WEDNESDAY AUGUST 29, 2012
It's sort of crazy in Madrid, as I searched for breakfast, nearly everything was coming with pork of some sort, ham and bacon nearly everywhere. I tried to order without a couple times and folks said no, so I finally ended up finding a corner stand up diner who would serve me up a nice egg and cheese sandwich with no qualms. I'd return over the next two days :)
Late arrival and siesta
Rob rented a car at the airport and then found out why driving in large European centers isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I tank he saw the whole city 11 times from the story that was told, so if you're ever in Madrid and can't find your way, give him a call. With all the hubbub, it was siesta time, exploring Madrid would wait just a while.
Museo Reina Sofia
A few cool paintings, Guernica being the most relevant, but we were not allowed to take photos in that area. We were allowed to take a few others, and some that stuck out were:
And a personal favorite, though not a picture, was what we saw when we decided to take a break from pictures and have a beer before continuing onward. This was out on the second floor terrace.
Walk through the park
As we were in the neighborhood, we took a walk through the park, I had ruthrough the previous night to see what it looked like in the day. And wow, I think the park might just be bigger than I can gave it credit for the night before. The shade from the trees and the low humidity kept it reasonably cool, so it was a pleasant couple of miles. After the park, it was a quick walk up Gran Via and back to the hotel to drop off a few things before heading out for dinner.
Dinner in plaza mayor -
We walked around the neighborhood a bit, ultimately deciding to stop and eat in plaza mayor. It was a good choice for food and wine, which we ultimately drank a couple bottles of red. The good thing about the plaza is that it really felt like a good mix of locals and tourists who we were eating. The most annoying bit about it was the guys who were trying to sell some random lighted helicopter-ish toys to kids. apparently this is huge in Europe as I've seen these in Paris, Prague, Barcelona and now Madrid.
THURSDAY AUGUST 30, 2012
Palacio Nacional
When I was in Barcelona, I met a couple fellas from cologne Germany and they highly recommended a trip to the Palacio Nacional. Always game to drool at the decadence put into these places, it was on the short list of things to see and do. Turns out this place is huge. There are over 2,000 rooms in this place, though we were only able to see a few. And of course, as with most royal palaces, no pictures were allowed to be taken once you walked inside. Here's a view from the outside, but of course, it's good to be noted that you can only see 3 of the 5 stories from this angle.
Egyptian temple
Morro park
General walking around town.
We dropped in at San Miguel market, which is essentially like the north market in Columbus but with an additional feel of authenticity.
FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2012
Double dose of museums ( Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo del Prado)
I'm not a huge fan of spending a lot of time in museums, as I'd like to be out there and experience life, rather than necessarily see everything that has been experienced already. That said, it's always good to take a step back and see what's happened before. The T-B museum is a great collection of European work that was all privately held at one time and eventually sold to the state about 20 years ago.
After he T-B museum, we crossed he street to the museo del prado. It really felt like I was back in art history class from years gone by, as I recognized paintings like "third of may", "las meninas", and others.. What was good was that they had a listing of the "masterpieces" throughout the entire place and as you went along you could play the game of spot the masterpiece. I challenged Rob to a game of spot the masterpiece in a few of the rooms and he did pretty well, getting over 50% of them correct, clearly not just chance!!!
Crazy drive to Segovia
Museums done and so was our time Madrid. It was time to see what driving in Spain was all about. It took us a bit but out of Madrid and onto Segovia we went. Out hotel, las linajes, was in the old district where there are plenty of one way streets so small you can't imagine how the horses made it through never mind cars. We ended up parking in a church parking lot and finding our way to the hotel by foot (just a couple blocks away). Based on this I'm sure the driving will only get more adventurous.
The aqueduct and Segovia walking
After the drive to Segovia, it was clearly time for me to be full time map dude and while reading an entire map of Spain is cool for some, google maps work better for me, yes it's data plan time. I tried a couple times in Madrid, but long lines and less than enthusiastic customer service that plagues the whole of Europe interfered with those plans. In Segovia, we serendipitously passed a Vodafone store and within a couple minutes and 5 euros, I was off to the races with data. I felt human again, the only question is for how long.
A little more down our path we found what we came to see. An old school roman aqueduct, which I'm pretty sure could still work today. The thing looks not a day over 100, though I'm sure it's nearly 2k years old.
another vantage point of the aqueduct
standing on top of the aqueduct from a low portion near the end
A few other sites of interest...
Castle
Sun setting behind castle
Cathedral lit up on hill
dinner
What's cool about Segovia, over Madrid and Barcelona, is that the entire city feels authentically old. Yes there is clearly signs of tourism, and the trappings that come with that, immediately around the aqueduct, but if you walk just a few quick blocks away, it feels like you find yourself in a truly authentic, historic Spanish town. After walking a few of those blocks we found an out of the way place to relax and have a bite to eat. Of course, what I'm not a big fan of in Spain is how everything comes with seafood or pork of some sort. However, I've consistently found some good food to eat. Spaghetti with three cheese it was this evening (sort of like an Alfredo sauce but with more bite).
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2012
On the road again
With the assist of google maps on an old iPhone, exiting Segovia was nearly flawless, and making our way to Granada went rather smoothly as well. As they say, with GPS anything is possible.
Alhambra
I did not know a lot about Alhambra, when Rob suggested it as a go to site in Spain. The quick crib sheets I had on it let me know that it was a palace of Spanish royalty and that it was originally a Moorish palace as well. Once I got onto the grounds, I have to admit my mind was swirling. The place was huge. It actually ended up having three palaces in it not one. It had ruins of old "cities" that used to be in the walls of the compound and was lush with gardens. This will be an interesting trip through the place.
Oh, and did I mention that this was all built on top of a very long, steep hill that you have to ascend before you get to see it all. At least there was some scenery along the way.
Inner courtyard of Carlos V palace. Yup, just the courtyard is that size. Not a lot in this building to see. Near the first floor entry you could walk through a museum. Coolest feature here were some original copies of the Quran.
Cool building and reflection in pond
remnants of the baths from one of the inner cities
inner courtyard of generalife palace
The cloud that hovers over Gibraltar like a UFO
View from inside the lift that takes you to the top of Gibraltar (or at least near the top)
remnants of the baths from one of the inner cities
inner courtyard of generalife palace
Dinner under Alhambra
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER, 2 2012
Ride to Gibraltar
Not much to say. It was about a 5 hour trip to get from Segovia to Gibraltar. We took a few wrong turns along the way, but nothing too crazy, and we made it safely to the Spanish town bordering Gibraltar. We decided it best to park there and walk to and around Gibraltar.
Gibraltar
The cloud that hovers over Gibraltar like a UFO
See those nuts in his hands, yeah those are mine. A mere few seconds before this picture was taken, they were in the back pocket of my backpack. Then all of a sudden I felt an extra weight on my back. I went to turn around, the extra weight was gone and this guy is perched up on the ledge opening my friggin nuts!!
Down below one of the terraces are ships out at sea. What's super cool is that the cloud cover comes and goes, essentially the wind picks up and blows a patch through the clouds where you can see the ships and then when the wind dies down, the cloud quick obstructs the view again.
A lot of people have decided to write their "holas" in the aloe bush
Within one of the caves on the island, there is a serious number of stalactites and stalagmites.
Just a scenic view of the southern end of Gibraltar
Another vantage point
Facade of the entry way
Inside of cathedral.
Tomb of Christopher Columbus.
Bell tower of the church
Inner courtyard
another inner courtyard.
Rob was excited to see a peacock
old tower in the gardens
The gardens.
More gardens
one of the many fountains. There were some large fish that liked to circle about where the water fell into the pond.
View of the tower of the cathedral from within he palace.
Torre de oro.
Ride to Seville
Ugh, iPhone data is not working. Maps it is :(. Fortunately we know our way out of Givraltar, and the directions "to Seville" are easy enough. Out hotel, however, is in the barrio of Seville which is the very historic portion of the city and many of the "roads" on maps aren't actually roads at all, they more walking paths that you probably would want to even take a horse down becaus they're so small. After quite some time circling around Seville, we find our way to a parking lot "in the area" and begin walking in the general direction of our hotel. We don't know street names, directions, anything, we are just walking. We find our street name and it looks like a dark, dead end alley, however after further review, you cam really turn left and continue down another part of the dark alley and voila, the hotel. Interestig tidbit about our hotel, we were actually staying in an annex part of the hotel. At midnight the front doors to our hotel get locked and we need to push a button to get out when leaving and then go across the "street" (dark alley) and have them push a remote controlled button for us to get back in. Too freaking convoluted!!!
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2012
Seville Cathedral
As I walked up to the cathedral, I had a feeling that I had seen this before, and when I got inside, I really had a feeling that I had seen this before. Turns out a guy that built this one, built a cathedral in Barcelona, so I'm assuming it was the same guy, who built the cathedral I saw there. However, he made this one bigger, and it still stands as the largest gothic cathedral in the world.
First sight of cathedral
Another vantage point
Facade of the entry way
Inside of cathedral.
Alcázar
The alcazar was the roual palace in Seville. It remids me a lot of the Alhambra, and rightfully so. It was also originally a Moorish palace and was occupied by the Spanish royalty around the same time as Alhambra was.
Main entrance courtyard
Inner courtyard
another inner courtyard.
Rob was excited to see a peacock
old tower in the gardens
The gardens.
one of the many fountains. There were some large fish that liked to circle about where the water fell into the pond.
View of the tower of the cathedral from within he palace.
Afternoon beers, torrende oro, siesta and laundry
After the walk through the place it was definitely beer thirty and after the second beer, it was approaching siesta time. On our way back to the hotel, we did stop to see the torre de oro, a naval museum along the river. After a good nap, the evening was finished off with my last load of laundry for the trip and a walk around the barrio for dinners, which turned out to be vegetable paella. It had a few too many veggies, but overall pretty good.
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