Spain, Part 7 - Exploring Barcelona

On Sunday, we explored Barcelona. We started in the Placa Espanya after going to church in the morning. From the Placa, we walked to the Palau Nacional.


That's me with the Palau Nacional in the background

After climbing the many steps to the Palau, we had a great view of Barcelona. Unfortunately it was a little hazy, so the visibility was not the best.


Barcelona! Those old royals sure liked a view.

After enjoying the view, we walked behind the Palau to the Estadi Olimpic. You might recognize it if you watched the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. As an avid fan of the Olympic Games, I was excited to see Barcelona's Olympic Stadium and I was thrilled when we saw that we could actually go inside!


Mr. Frisby and I with the Estadi Olimpic in the background


Mr. Frisby inside the Olympic Stadium

After checking out the Estadi Olympic, we meandered through some gardens and made our way back to the hotel so we could change our clothes before continuing our exploration of Barcelona. After getting out of our church clothes, we did a walking tour through the old part of Barcelona. We loved checking out all of the old churches, tiny streets, and hidden squares in the old European neighborhoods. Some pictures from the walk:













Of course, we had to visit Barcelona's cathedral (which happened to be under renovation. This seemed to be the case with many things we tried to see in Barcelona). And, we got to see the geese in the cloister inside.





Near the cathedral is one of the ancient Roman gates into the city.



That evening, we decided to go for a walk along the waterfront. This picture was taken with the self-timer on our camera and was carefully timed to go off in between the hordes of people walking along the marina. We think it turned out pretty well.



We made our way to the beach and decided to dip our feet into the Mediterranean Sea. It was freezing, though, so that didn't last long.


Getting my feet wet. Brrrr!


Mr. Frisby collected sea glass for my sea glass jar.

We packed in a lot because we wanted to see it all before it was time to go home. And, in theory, we would be going home shortly. We had no idea what was in store...

Spain, Part 6 - Barcelona Here We come

I had almost forgotten which part number this post is. Is anyone bored yet? Don't worry - things are about to get exciting.

On Saturday morning we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona. We had wanted to take the high speed train to Barcelona (it takes about 3 hours) so we could enjoy the scenery along the way. But, they had no tickets left when we were looking into it, so we got plane tickets instead. The flight was short and uneventful. We arrived in Barcelona and made our way to our hotel which was right on La Rambla - Barcelona's main drag. It was very convenient, and after checking into our hotel we realized that the price they charged for the hotel must have been for its convenience because it certainly wasn't for the accommodations. We didn't complain, though, because it was very nice to be able to walk outside the hotel doors and be in the middle of the main tourist area.

By the time we got checked in, it was later in the afternoon, so we decided to head out to see Barcelona's big attraction - La Sagrada Familia. I'm not sure what to call it. Cathedral, temple, church - take your pick. I think any of those titles could suffice. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi who, I have come to realize, must have been a strange dude. Anyway, La Sagrada Familia is a huge church/cathedral/temple that is still under construction. Gaudi died before it was completed, so they're now trying to finish it per his designs. So, we got to La Sagrada Familia and paid our Euros to get in. And, it cost many Euros to get in. After looking around for a few minutes and realizing that most of the building was off limits because of the construction, we felt seriously ripped off.


La Sagrada Familia


Mr. Frisby at La Sagrada Familia


This is inside the church. Please note all of the construction equipment that actually covered most of the church floor.

After our disappointment at La Sagrada Familia, it was off to the next landmark - an apartment building also designed by Gaudi and also very whacky. La Pedrera. Fortunately, this building was in a major shopping district in Barcelona, so after checking it out, we shopped our way back to the hotel. It was mostly window shopping, but I did buy a pair of Camper shoes which I love. Please note, the building was open for tours, but it was outrageously expensive (cost almost double what La Sagrada Familia was) so Mr. Frisby and I just admired it from the street. We definitely felt we were nickle and dimed a lot in Barcelona while we didn't feel that was the case in Madrid. We also found that Barcelona was just more expensive than Madrid in general. I guess that's just how it is in the big tourist cities. But, we had a good time regardless.


La Pedrera - more evidence that Gaudi was one crazy dude

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at some other crazy buildings designed by the Spanish modernistas.



I don't remember the names of these buildings and I'm too lazy to get up and look in my book.

We also stopped for dinner at a hip tapas joint recommended by our guide book. I should've taken pictures of the food, but I didn't want to detract from the hipness of the place by looking like the paparazzi. We quickly realized that they speak a different language in Barcelona - Catalan. And Catalan is not like Spanish. My Portuguese gets me by when Spanish is the predominant language. It does nothing to help me understand Catalan. So, when we sat down to eat, we looked at our menus and realized they were written in Catalan. We had no idea what any of it meant, so we just sat there until the waiter came and asked if we were ready to order (he was speaking English to us - thank goodness!). We laughed and told him we didn't understand the menu, so he brought us an English menu and then translated the specials for us. And, here we fell victim to assuming that something in one country is the same as it is in another country. Take Calamari for instance. The waiter highly recommended to us what he called "calamari". I'm not a huge seafood fan, but Mr. Frisby likes it and I can actually handle calamari okay. So, we ordered it. What we got was not calamari. It was definitely squid, but it was not calamari. It was basically entire little baby squids. Mr. Frisby loved them. I didn't. Then we ordered the artichoke, thinking it would be some sort of roasted artichoke with dip like we might see in any number of restaurants here in the states. It was not. This was a deep fried artichoke which basically made it artichoke chips. Not so tasty. But, we had a good time and enjoyed experiencing a different culture. After we ate it was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel after a busy first day in Barcelona.

Spain, Part 5 - Our Last Day in Madrid

Friday was our last full day in Madrid. We thought we wouldn't have much to do, but since our attempts to tour the Palacio Real and a couple of convents had failed earlier in the week, we headed out to see them on Friday. The boys were finishing up their work stuff, so Miranda and I were off without them to see the sights. We started with the convents because they were only open for a half day on Friday, so we had to see them in the morning. When we signed up for the first available tour at the Real Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, we realized we wouldn't be done with the tour in time to see the other convent before it closed for the day. Oh well. We really liked the Real Monasterio and enjoyed our tour there. I think I enjoyed it mostly because the tour guide's translation from Spanish to English was pretty literal and, because literal translations often don't make sense, pretty funny.


Real Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales

We finished our tour of the Convent and, since the other convent was out, we headed over to the Palacio Real. No Spanish Royalty today, so our tour of the Palacio was on. We waited in a rather large line for tickets, but finally we made it in and it was pretty sweet. We also saw that the last tickets for the Palacio were sold at 6 pm, so we figured the boys would be able to see it after work that night.


Heading into the Palacio Real

Photography was not allowed inside the Palacio, but they didn't tell us that until we were actually going in the doors. I still had my camera with me since I didn't know, so I was able to sneak the next picture when the guard wasn't looking.


Oops.


A view of the Cathedral from the Palace gates. And, yes, it was the same day. The weather was being very finicky.

After we finished our tour, we headed back to the hotel to wait for the boys to finish work. When they got done, they decided they wanted to tour the Palacio. So, we all headed down together. Since Miranda and I had already toured the Palace, we made plans to meet the boys in about an hour just outside the palace gates. So, while the boys went into the Palacio, Miranda and I headed to a nearby shopping mall and, yet another H&M. We poked around the stores for a bit and then headed back to the Palacio just in time to take this picture as the boys were finishing their tour.




Mr. Frisby and I just outside the Palacio Real

And that was pretty much it for Madrid. That night we just relaxed, got some dinner, and then got stuff ready to head out in the morning. I really liked Madrid and we had a great time. Of course, we were also excited for our next destination!

Spain, Part 4 - Segovia

On Thursday, we decided to take another day trip. We headed out to Segovia, another half hour train ride from Madrid. Of course, the boys were working, so Miranda and I headed out on our own. I felt bad for them because I think they would've really liked Segovia. It's an old city, like Toledo. It's famous for its ancient, but extremely well-preserved Roman Aqueduct and its Alcazar, or castle. Having had rainy weather for the past couple of days in Madrid, we were ready for more when it was cloudy and overcast as the train pulled out of the train station. But, when we arrived in Segovia, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day! From the train station, we rode a bus to the old part of the city and were dropped off right in front of the aqueduct. It was amazing!


Me in front of the Aqueduct. This was what we saw when we got off the bus.


The Aqueduct was totally amazing

Next to the aqueduct was this Telepizza. I was very excited to see it because it brought back fond memories from my mission in Portugal of seeing the Telepizza delivery boys zipping around on their scooters with the pizza boxes strapped to the back. I was happy to see that Telepizza was alive and well.



After checking out the aqueduct, we headed towards the castle by way of the cathedral. When we got to the cathedral, we opted to go in and I was reminded of how all of the old cathedrals start looking the same once you've been in a few. A lesson learned on my first tour of the Iberian Peninsula.


Segovia's Cathedral

After our stop at the cathedral, we continued on toward the castle, enjoying the quiet atmosphere of a small, old European town. I have no formal photography training or skills, but I'm pretty excited about how this next picture turned out. In fact, it's one of my favorites from the trip because I think it does a good job of capturing that atmosphere.


Just a little street in Segovia

After our stroll through the old city, we made it to the castle. Supposedly this castle is the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. I'll let you be the judge of that, but it was pretty sweet regardless.


Me at the Alcazar.



At the Alcazar

After our tour through the castle, we headed back toward the Aqueduct and bus stop, hoping to stop in some shops along the way or perhaps get a bite to eat. It was lunchtime and we learned that the smaller towns in Spain adhere much more strictly to the Siesta rule than the big city of Madrid. NOTHING was open. In Madrid, the big shops and malls usually stayed open in spite of Siesta time. Not so in Segovia. So, we just wandered the streets back toward the bus stop.


A view of Segovia on our walk back


A look at the Aqueduct through the little streets of the city




Waiting for our train at the train station

We had a great time in Segovia! When we got back to Madrid, we met up with Mr. Frisby. After relaxing for a few minutes, we headed off to spend the evening at the Prado.

Spain, Part 3 - Madrid Continues

Tuesday was a rainy day, so we made it an inside day. The boys had to work, of course, so Miranda and I headed off to check out museums. We had a good time and the museums were interesting, but pictures weren't allowed in any of them. And, let's be honest, if I try to describe museums to you, you will be bored out of your mind. So, just know that we went to the bullfighting museum, an archeological museum which was only partly open anyway due to renovations, and a great art museum (no, not the Prado. That would come later. We went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which was a great little art museum across the street). A couple pictures from the day:


Madrid's bullfight ring where they had the bullfight museum. In the museum we saw lots of pictures of famous toreros (bullfighters), some of the costumes, and heads of some very feisty bulls. One torero was gored to death in the ring and they even had his blood-stained costume on display.


This is the fanciest post office I've ever seen. And, yes, it really is a post office. We even went inside to mail some postcards.

With Tuesday being a low-key, inside day, we were ready for some adventures on Wednesday. We planned to tour the Palacio Real and a couple of convents that were nearby. We planned this for Wednesday because I had seen online that all of these sites were free on Wednesday. So, we headed off to the Palace. When we got there, there were police and military guys all over and the Palace was closed to the public. A crowd of people had gathered in front, so we stopped to see what was going on. A few minutes later, some sleek black cars come speeding up a ramp and into the Palace, James Bond style. Apparently, they were some Spanish royalty. And when Spanish royalty is at the Palace, it's closed to the public. Blurg. We headed off to the convents, saving the Palace for another day. When we got to the convents, we learned that Wednesdays are indeed free - if you're a member of the EU. We lowly Americans would have to pay anyway. Since it was free for EU members, it was also packed. We decided that, since we had to pay anyway, we may as well come back when it wasn't as busy. So, we ended up just walking around to see more stuff.


Spanish law enforcement guarding the entrance to the Palacio Real


Since the not-so-cool cathedral was right next to the Palacio, we decided to check it out. It was open and "free" (they did request a 1 Euro donation) so we went inside.


The bear and tree statue in the Plaza del Sol


Me in the Plaza del Sol (and yes, that is yet another H&M bag full of more goodies for Mr. Frisby - his birthday was coming up)


Cool plant art on a wall outside one of Madrid's many art museums


A cool church right behind the Prado


The Prado. We planned to go in and check it out on one of our evenings since it's free every evening from 6-8pm (are you noticing a pattern?)


Cool trees in the Parque del Retiro


Me in front of a cool arch

That night the boys had a work dinner that involved a Flamenco show. Good thing I saw a Flamenco show last time I was in Spain or I might have been mad at Mr. Frisby for seeing one without me. Anyway, that left Miranda and me to fend for ourselves. We headed to a restaurant near the Prado for dinner and then got caught in a rainstorm on our walk back to the hotel. Good times. Stay tuned for a day trip to Segovia.