Merida, Spain

We drove back into Spain to spend the last few days of our trip there. As Steve is a major history buff, it certainly made sense to visit Merida for a few days. It is home to the most extensive Roman ruins anywhere in Spain.

The Puente Romano, at half a mile long, is the longest Roman bridge still existing and in use today.

The ancient city walls made for a nice backdrop for an evening stroll along the Rio Guadiana -

There is an amphitheater, where gladiator games were carried out -

The archway is made of original Roman bricks that are 2,000 years old -

There is a Temple of Diana that had a villa built within/around it -

The Basilica of St. Eulalia was built in the 5th century -

Trajan’s Arch is just out standing by itself -

[Sorry that the picture is so cropped (my original is broader), but it had to be edited to fit the template so it wouldn’t come out looking stretched.]

Then there is the Casa del Mitreo.

This was a private villa encompassing over 2,000 square meters. It was built at the end of the first century, and included subterranean rooms used as bedrooms during the hot summer months.

There were several gorgeous mosaics…

… that were largely intact.

[Sorry that was upside down, but that was the only angle afforded me for photography.]

Last, but not least, was my favorite - Teatro Romano.

It’s still used for theater productions today.

I liked some of the behind-the-scenes views better than the theater itself -

Now for a couple of stories…

Planes, trains and automobiles - we had disruptive episodes with each type of transportation used on this trip. The car we rented out of Sevilla, which was an 18 day rental, gave a hiccup on the highway as we drove from Sevilla to Cordoba. No biggie, right? We got to the parking garage, and while I tried to work out our 2 day parking with the attendant, who spoke no English, Steve turned the car off, waiting for me. Upon turning the key to restart it, it didn’t even click or grind — nothing. We called for service, as well as speaking to the rental car agency. This was on a Sunday. Luckily, a truck came out to the garage so we could jump the car and at least get it parked. Upon turning it off in the parking spot, it was again deader than dead. There were no replacement cars available in Cordoba, but there was one in Granada - our next destination in our adventure. To leave Cordoba, we again called for service to jump start the car. We prayed for the next 3+ hours that Steve wouldn’t accidentally kill the engine, or that it wouldn’t hiccup again and roll over and truly die. If you’ve been following the blog to date, you know we made it safely to Granada, where we left the car running while Steve got all the paperwork done to exchange cars. Our new car had literally two kilometers on the odometer!

(thought I’d break up all the verbiage with a reminder of all the olives we saw…and ate!)

At the end of our trip, we were booked on the train from Sevilla to Madrid, only to receive an email less than 24 hrs before departure that there was a railway strike in Andalucia, and the train we were booked on was one of three that were cancelled (out of 12 running that day between the two cities). The other trains were either full or leaving at times that we just couldn’t make. The only contact with the rail line was by email, and they promised to reply “within 1 day”. Needless to say, we contacted the rental car company and switched our drop-off to Madrid. It was only a 3+ hr drive from Merida, so it really wasn’t that bad. (we got an email later that day saying that we got a full refund of our train tickets) Along the way, we saw one of the many bulls that we had seen all over Spain along the highways -

We found out later, on researching, that this had started in 1956 as advertising for a brandy. In 1994 the national Traffic Department wanted to take them down to limit driver distraction, but there was a public outcry. This has now become a national symbol, and we found out that there are “only” 21 of them and they are all in Andalucia (SW Spain - Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, etc.).

Anyway, back to our stories…planes…On leaving Spain at the end of our adventure, our flight out of Madrid was delayed due to a faulty starter on one of the engines. We actually had to move gates and change planes before we left 3 hours late, and barely caught our connecting flight in Chicago, and this was only possible because of a rain delay there.

Notes about Spain in general:

• Beer is like water. You order a small glass of beer to enjoy while you look at the menu.

• The restaurants were empty until 9 pm or later, including families with young children.

• Sunrise wasn’t until 0830 or later, and coffee bars don’t even open until 0900!

• There was more smoking than what I notice in the US.

That’s the end of our Spanish adventure. Until next time…

Eastern Portugal

We left the gorgeous coast and drove up the interior, wanting to see some of the more isolated towns. The first we drove by was Mertola…

… but we couldn’t go in to explore…

… because we had a restaurant to find for lunch. :) We had done some research and found an excellent place in a little town way off the beaten track, that was literally packed the entire time we were there. I tried one of the specials of the house, Migas with black pork, that had me rolling my eyes back in my head.

The blackened lump was torn up bread pieces combined with tons of garlic and then fried up, while the pork strips were from the local black pigs that feast on the acorns from all of the oak trees growing in this region. We drove by innumerable oak trees…

… that were a mix of “regular” and cork -

As you might guess, those above are cork oaks that have been harvested. I’ll go into more detail on cork production in a bit.

First, I want to share some pics of Cromeleque dos Almendres -

… a megalithic (“big stones”) complex that is older than Stonehenge by 2,000 years. It’s set on a gently sloping clearing in the middle of a cork oak forest.

95 of the egg shaped granite stones are laid out in 3 elliptical ovals, with no other information known about them (other than, like Stonehenge, they are oriented around summer solstice). A few had carvings on them, but they are so worn now, that none of my pictures could capture them. Anyway, it was a quick, neat diversion.

Now on to cork…

The bright red trunk of the recently harvested cork oak stands out quite brilliantly amidst the other trees with their grey-brown bark. We went to a cork production facility to learn about this interesting product. Cork trees are planted or cared for with future generations in mind. The first harvest won’t occur until the tree is 25 years old, and that “virgin” cork is almost unusable, as is the next harvesting 9 years later.

this tree was in the lot of the production facility and is over 200 years old

The cork is still harvested by hand, due to the need to not harm the underlying, living layer just beneath the cork bark. Once harvested, the sheets of cork are left outside to dry for most of the year…

… until they are brought inside, soaked in boiling water and compressed -

… and stored until used to make bottle corks or other products. Corks for bottles are only punched out longitudinally from the bark, due to the pores in the material that run vertically. If the cork was punched out in a vertical direction, the pores would let the wine seep out.

With harvesting only every 9 years, the trees are painted with the last digit of the year they were harvested…

… and the height of the bark removed is a trade secret passed down from father to son, and depends on the age of the tree and diameter of the trunk.

Estremoz is another town that we visited briefly, because of the widespread use of marble on many buildings…

… and sidewalks…

… due to the surrounding marble quarries. The city was really pretty and clean, and we have pegged it for a future stay. As we drove through eastern Portugal, we were surprised by all the towns with still-standing castles, both short…

… and tall.

A town that we stayed in, Evora, didn’t have a castle, but it did have Roman ruins…

… and a Gothic cathedral mostly built between 1280 and 1340…

… with a roof we could explore (no…really??), noting the stone roofing material…

… great views…

… and a statue of a pregnant Virgin Mary from the 15th century -

On our way out of Portugal, we did stop into a walled city, Marvao…

… that was built on a granite escarpment that rises suddenly out of the plains…

… again, giving awesome views.

I loved how the castle was built into or arising out of the surrounding rocks -

As we drove back into Spain, we were surprised to find how close to home we were!

Algarve coast of Portugal

We wanted to visit Portugal while we were on the Iberian peninsula, but didn’t have enough time to explore the country like we’d like to, so we settled on spending several days on the southern coast, before driving up the sparsely populated and rarely visited (by tourists) eastern half. We saved Lisbon, Porto and the Duero River for a return visit.

This was the view from our balcony the first morning:

We headed west to visit the southwestern-most point in Europe, Cap St. Vincente, where Prince Henry the Navigator (in the 15th century) reportedly had a school for disseminating knowledge of the seas, utilizing information gleaned from sailors returning from the New World.

Along the way, we checked out some beautiful beaches and coves:

It was pretty bleak on the point -

… but the water was gorgeous!

Interestingly, there were men fishing off the cliffs -

I also wanted to check out some of the western coast of Portugal…

… which is renowned for surfing.

Back at the little town we were staying in, the moon rose over it, giving a pretty shine -

I had done some research ahead of time (no…really??), and found that there was a 6 km trail along the shore. We set out early one morning to tackle it (out and back).

There were multiple coves…

… and caves…

… and beaches.

As we got further along, we encountered more people…

… and bigger caves.

There were also a good number of sinkholes that were nicely fenced off -

At the turnaround point, we reached Praia da Marinha…

… widely considered the most beautiful beach in Europe.

I agree.

The erosion in this area reminded me of Bryce Canyon in Utah -

Heading back was much hotter and brighter.

I took our “obligatory” shadow picture as we started our hike…

… and I’ll end with sunset (as I’m wont to do). :)

Gibraltar

Since we were so close, we just had to visit. Now that we’ve been here, we can truly say that we’ve been to the UK, other than just a layover in London’s Heathrow airport. We did a day trip out of Jerez, on a Monday, when basically everything was closed in Spain. The view as we approached was not very welcoming -

(I never did get a good shot of that vertical wall of limestone)

Upon walking across the border (and only getting our passports stamped with an exit stamp from Spain), we hopped on a bus that dropped us near the start of the hiking trail to the top of “The Rock”.

the signpost at the beginning of the trail to give you a little overview

This was along the road on the way to the trailhead -

This was near the beginning of the trail -

(it was not clear enough to see Africa that day, but we squinted and tried) ;)

Not for the faint of heart…

… but we were rewarded with a view like this:

The point of the rock in the upper center of the picture above was frequently obscured by clouds, but every once in awhile they cleared, so I grabbed a shot when I could! We actually couldn’t walk to that point (which is the top of the sheer face that is the classic shot of The Rock) and I was quite disappointed.

Enjoying the view from the top and off both sides -

The port of Gibraltar and looking back into Spain -

As we moved on from our summit, we started encountering the furry residents of the nature reserve -

That picture was not taken with my long lens; I was standing right beside him. (There are signs all over warning you not to feed the animals.) These are Barbary Macaques, originally from Morocco…

… and this is the only wild monkey population on the European continent.

I didn’t get a picture of them here, but as we started down these stairs, we had to step over several lying across the steps. One grabbed my pants leg as I stepped over it, giving me quite a start (not a comfortable feeling when standing on one leg at the top of a very steep set of stairs)!

Not a great video (at all) but it shows how the clouds were just racing up and over the top:

I really liked this guy’s ‘do -

We didn’t get the British fish and chips we were hoping for (due to the bus not stopping where we thought we requested)…

… but all in all, it turned out to be a great hike, and an excellent spur of the moment trip.

Jerez de la Frontera

As its name implies, this city in Andalusia was on the border of the Muslim and Christian ruled areas of Spain.

On our way there from Granada, we drove past acres of olive trees -

… had gorgeous patchwork vistas -

… and saw some “white towns” perched on hills (I don’t even know the names, they were just pretty and striking to photograph).

I made Ronda a town that I definitely wanted to stop in, because of its location -

The city is perched on both sides of the El Tajo gorge (328 ft deep) and the two parts are joined by 3 bridges. You can just make out the “old” bridge (built in 1616) in the upper center of the picture above…

… but you sure can’t miss the “new” bridge (completed in 1793). The views across the surrounding valley were quite expansive -

We didn’t tarry long, for we had “miles to go” and more Pueblos Blancos in Andalusia to see -

… from the back (above) and from the front -

As we neared Jerez, things got drier -

The town itself isn’t very picturesque, but it is well known for three things - sherry, equestrian arts and flamenco. We stayed several days there to partake in all three. This was our lunch the first day…

This is only 5 of the 10 types of sherry produced. It is a fortified wine that is dry, and not very sweet, until you get to that darkest one, which was Steve’s favorite - Pedro Ximenez.

We were in town over a weekend, so wandered through the Saturday market -

… even finding snails!

Ok, on to flamenco…

We had a table right on the edge of the small stage. The next videos show how much rhythm is involved in this type of dance (remember to open this post in your browser to be able to view these, and have sound on).

And the third of the trinity… “dancing” Andalusian horses -

We watched them train outdoors, before we were treated to the full show -

Leaving Jerez, we headed for Portugal. Until next time…

Granada

I noticed that the majority of the posts for Spain are based in cities. That’s because there’s so many neat ones in the country, as well as great things to see and do in them. After we got settled into our apartment in the old town area, we wandered around a bit to get our bearings. Whew! Granada is definitely built into the hills -

… employing narrow curving streets and staircases to get around…

… and the Alhambra definitely dominates the skyline -

We found they also like to decorate their streets with designs -

On our first morning in town, we went to the Alhambra, which started as a small fortress in 889, and was greatly enlarged over the years, especially in the 14th century by the Muslim Nasrid dynasty. This is the most visited site in Spain, which is why we were there when the doors opened.

The morning light was neat to see spreading across the valley below…

… as well as lighting up some of the oldest areas of the complex -

Because we got there early, we were able to see the Baths without anyone else there -

yes, those are really cool skylights!

The highlight of anyone’s visit is the tour of the Nasrid Palaces…

… which are loaded with intricate carvings and details -

As you head deeper into the palaces…

… you’re treated to “stalactite vaulting” -

… that gets more and more elaborate -

Just wow…

As I went from one more elaborate room to another, I had to keep shutting my mouth so it wouldn’t hang open. :)

Then you get to the gardens…

this was “just” a small inner courtyard

The Alhambra grounds continue over to that hillside you see in the background of the picture above…

… where there were great water features and reflections -

I really liked the hint of the hills in the background

I had nearly 400 pictures (that I kept!) taken around Granada and the Alhambra over 3 days, and I can’t begin to share even a fraction with you. I’m closing with that one above, as one of my favorites.

Cordoba

Driving between Sevilla and Cordoba, we didn’t find much in the way of fantastic landscapes -

… other than miles and miles, and acres of mostly olive trees -

Another fun fact about Spain - this country produces more olives than any other country in the world, and as much as Italy and Greece combined!

As we wandered in town our first evening, we were treated to golden hour views of the Roman Bridge (this current version built in the 8th century) -

… and the bell tower of the Mezquita -

The Mezquita, or Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, was the main reason for our visit to this city. This is just a small portion of the outer wall -

The Mosque was originally finished in 785, but greatly expanded in 971.

In the picture above, you can see the lower, yellowish colored stone walls, which comprise the outer wall of the mosque, while the taller cathedral rises in the center. The cathedral was built literally in the center of the mosque.

Inside…

… just wow.

It was hard to stop taking perspective shots -

… and there was no way I could capture the enormity of the space (over 250,000 square feet!).

In the “newer” addition to the mosque in 971, there were gorgeously intricate designs -

… and more neat perspectives -

The ceilings were also beautiful…

… and you can see how the artisans just painted the red striping, and painted in lines to appear to be brick and mortar.

The Renaissance cathedral had a beautiful pipe organ and choir (but it was roped off and I couldn’t get closer) -

… and over-the-top ornamentation, but it did truly looked plopped down in the middle of the mosque.

I’ll close with a few pics of daily life in Cordoba -

,,, my breakfast (olive oil, fresh tomato sauce, shredded Iberico ham on toast) -

… our view on entering or leaving our apartment -

Til next time…

"Fixed" Gaudi in Barcelona

I wanted to repost this blog page because I’m afraid the initial one had some weirdly stretched and chopped off pictures that you saw. Something happened to the site I use for blogging that changed how pictures appear. I now know what to do, so that pictures appear as intended.

All of the writing is the same as the initial post, but I hope you enjoy my pictures more now.

https://www.lisajtravels.com/getting-started/2021/10/3/gaudi-in-barcelona

Sevilla, parte dos

Part two.

As “promised”… another church and bell tower!

As the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, Seville’s cathedral was very hard to try and get into one picture.

The bell tower, La Giralda, is 318 ft tall -

… and was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Sevilla between 1184 - 1198. The Renaissance top was added by the Catholics in 1568.

On our visit to the cathedral, we found ourselves immediately in the line to climb the bell tower, so of course we did! Interestingly, there are not stairs inside, but rather 35 ramps. This is so that a donkey or a horse carrying either a bell ringer or the Sultan could climb more easily. (the beast of burden depends on the story you’re hearing)

You can get a slight sense of the size of the cathedral here (vantage points are from opposite sides of the bell tower)-

(the city’s bullring is in the upper right corner)

… while the maze of narrow streets can be appreciated in this shot:

As you can imagine, the inside has soaring spaces…

… a gorgeous pipe organ…

… unbelievably sumptuous side chapels…

… not to mention the enormous and intricately decorated main altarpiece (completed in 1564, after taking 80 years of work) -

It is carved wood, gilded with real gold.

And we can’t leave without visiting Christopher Columbus’ tomb -

Now I want to share some scenes of every day life… narrow streets -

… that just barely fit cars:

(that wall was just a couple of inches away from the side mirror, and was identically spaced on the opposite side; luckily, this was the taxi taking us to get our rental car, and we hadn’t had to negotiate these streets except on foot)

…red and yellow buildings were common -

… tiles with addresses, and HUGE doors…

… and a gorgeous Saturday in the park (we truly have never seen so many horse and carriages in one area before! -

Another pretty neat thing we stumbled into was a procession complete with band, incense and platform with a statue being carried -

(remember to open this email in a browser to be able to see these videos)

I’ll leave you with a representation of the golden light in Sevilla -

Sevilla

After spending 3 days here, wandering through the narrow, curvy streets, I definitely want to come back and experience this city for longer! I loved the sun and warmth - of both the climate and the people. And the apartment where we stayed didn’t hurt either -

We were smack dab in the middle of the old city, and happily explored everywhere on foot.

Our first full day was spent touring the Alcazar and wandering in the beautiful gardens. The Alcazar is the oldest European royal residence still in use (the king and queen stay here when in Sevilla).

We started our tour in the Cuarto Real Alto, the upper quarters still used by the royal family. Of course, we couldn’t take any photos. If you happen to visit Sevilla and the Alcazar, definitely add that tour to your visit - the sumptuousness was amazing. These were the tiles that lined the staircase leading up to their private quarters:

The Alcazar is a complex of palaces and fortifications that were added to by successive rulers. The oldest part was built in the 13th century, while the part that I took the most pictures of, was built in the 14th century in the Mudejar style.

Mudejar combines Gothic and Islamic art styles…

… in carved plaster and stone, and with tooled wooden ceilings and decorative tiles.

I have to show you this first -

… so you can better appreciate the gorgeous domed ceiling -

On to the gardens…

The space was enormous…

… but as we wandered around…

… we found quiet nooks of peaceful beauty.

That evening, we enjoyed getting out as it cooled off…

… and I can give you a peek into my next post -

Mallorca

I had seen the name of this island spelled as above, and as Majorca. The official name of the island is spelled Mallorca. It just sounded like a neat place to visit “while we were in the area”, so we did. I also considered Ibiza, another of the 3 Balearic Islands (along with Menorca) off the east coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. However, we’re not the Ibiza type - young, slender, loaded with money, and wanting to see and be seen. So, Mallorca it was. I had envisioned a laid back beach holiday, but it was far from that.

We stayed in an apartment 2 doors away from the cathedral, but never ventured in. Can you imagine…us not visiting a cathedral (and taking too many pictures)??

The view from our rooftop terrace:

Our main activity was renting a car and driving up the west coast. This turned out to be a much bigger island than I thought.

Apparently, windmills are a big part of tourism on the island, and I saw many in various states of disrepair, but was able to capture that one above as we started our drive.

This was in a little town we stopped at just to grab some pictures -

Driving up and over a “mountain” range, we were treated to a peek of coastline -

This was a pretty cool tunnel that you could look out the windows at the scenery as you passed -

We stopped for an early lunch at this cafe, and had a table on the railing -

Continuing along the road…

… Steve was thrilled to be driving a manual, and I hung on for dear life, while trying to get decent pictures through the windshield!

We drove through towns with (what we thought were) very narrow streets (more on this later)…

… and by others terraced onto the hills -

We also passed some pretty gnarly old olive trees -

The clouds kept coming and going most of the day…

… and cleared nicely at one of our “panorama” stops -

We were continually amazed at all the bicyclists -

I’ll leave you…pondering the fate of the building at the bottom of this neatly terraced hillside of olive trees -

Barcelona

Ok… now this is the chronologically true Barcelona post! We drove 6+ hours from Bilbao, through some areas that resembled the Dakota Badlands …

… that changed to rolling hills with vineyards…

… and then to a lot of rocks, dirt and wind.

It was a very boring drive until we hit the traffic, bustle and noise of Barcelona.

We enjoyed wandering through narrow streets…

… as well as along Las Ramblas with all the Sunday strollers.

There were interesting building shapes to see…

… along with lamps and balconies.

Of course we visited the Cathedral…

… finding a beautiful baptismal font…

… choir loft and pipe organ…

… as well as the obligatory (for us!) rooftop visit.

There were 2 other Gaudi designed buildings that we visited — Casa Vicens…

… which was Gaudi’s first house that he designed (in 1883) as a summer home for the Vicens family.

Inside there was a gorgeous “smoking room” with a painted papier-mache ceiling…

… while on the roof were the (now) trademark Gaudi chimneys -

Moving on to Palau Guell - this was a mansion designed by Gaudi for the Guell family and it was built between 1886-88. This was much darker and made from much different materials than the other buildings we visited.

It had some really unique spaces, like the stables in the basement:

… gorgeous coffered ceilings -

… and even a pipe organ!

On our last 2 days in the city, the weather wasn’t very cooperative, but we did get out to see the Christopher Columbus monument (pointing to the New World)…

… and caught this Roy Lichtenstein sculpture, The Head of Barcelona:

Now, a soothing shot from La Sagrada Familia to close…

Basque Country coast and Bilbao

We continued our driving trip along the Atlantic coast between San Sebastian and Bilbao…

… stopping in at little towns along the way…

… and to get some neat shots of the coastline…

… and bays.

Inland, there were some great rural scenes -

Besides eating in Bilbao, I wanted to visit there to see the Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry.

After staying at that gorgeous hotel, this was underwhelming (sad, I know!). I was thrilled to recognize a piece of art just outside the museum:

There is an identical replica of this at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, AR. :)

As we were walking along the river back to our apartment, I happened to glance down -

The “Drowning Girl” artwork had just been installed the previous week (apparently stirring up a bit of controversy).

At the recommendation of our Airbnb host, we visited the Vizcaya Bridge, west of Bilbao at the mouth of the Ibaizabal estuary (30 minute Metro ride). It was completed in 1893, and was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a suspended gondola.

Something that cool, we were definitely going to walk along the pedestrian passageway at the top!

There were great placards that gave interesting tidbits on the construction, like - “a system of rivets put into place one by one, by previously heating them in small furnaces placed sometimes at great heights very near the corresponding hole and hammered into place. The workmen of that period were capable of fitting several hundred rivets each day, totaling nearly 400,000 keeping the bridge together.”

The views were quite expansive…

… in all directions.

The gondola passing beneath us was pretty freaky:

… and Steve shot a neat video of it - (be sure and click through to the website to be able to view it)

As we walked away from the bridge, it was neat to see it peeking up beyond the surrounding buildings -

Closing with an action shot!

Basque Country

My last email mistakenly included two blog posts. The one on the architecture of Gaudi in Barcelona was included at the end. You can click on the underlined to read that now if you missed it. We were in Barcelona when I was writing several blog posts, and I wanted to capture my current thoughts on all the Gaudi buildings we saw.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled chronology!

Laguardia bills itself as the “prettiest town in Spain”. Well, I’m not so sure about that, but it sure was situated well on a hill surrounded by jagged mountains.

And the surrounding countryside wasn’t too shabby either -

As we drove north through Basque Country, towards San Sebastian, we crossed through some rugged areas…

… that became more rolling hills…

.. the further we went.

You can see in the picture above the relatively small apartment buildings. We’ve been very surprised to see how much of the living space in cities (and even small towns) is given over to apartments.

Some fun facts: Spain is about 75% of the size of Texas, but has twice the population. Spain has the most acreage devoted to grapes of any country in the world.

After the relative flatness and dryness of central Spain, the forest covered hills of this area were very refreshing -

We spent 4 days total in the Basque Country, mainly to eat! Our first stop was San Sebastian…

… with its gorgeous bay and beaches. We walked all along the Paseo…

… but it was a cloudy, blustery day, so I wasn’t brave enough to try out the water.

We headed for the “famous” sculpture, Comb of the Wind, installed in the rocks at the end of the beach -

When superimposed, it was pretty neat:

Along the way, we passed some restrooms (WC is “water closet”), and the signage made me smile -

From the paseo, it looked like men and women each had their own bush to crouch behind! Actually the little white signs were positioned at the top of narrow staircases leading down to the restrooms. :)

Now, on to the main reason for a visit to Basque Country - pintxos! This is pronounced “pinchos”, and they are small snacks eaten in bars. We have bar crawls in the US; in Spain - pintxos crawls.

We didn’t even try to speak Basque, but just pointed to ones that looked appetizing, and happily noshed while enjoying a glass of wine.

We weren’t sure what the squiggly things were, but they resembled tiny fish that we had had in a soup in Iceland, so we just went for it! They were actually pretty mild tasting, and at another bar, the English speaking waiter jokingly called them “fake baby eels”. We still don’t know what they were. {I just now looked it up — genuine baby eels cost $1,100/kg, while surimi costs $4/kg. Surimi is the same pollock- based fish base that is imitation crab.}

We did pintxos crawls in both San Sebastian and Bilbao, and for several different meals. Sometimes, we hit 2 or 3 (or 4) different places…

…or as happened in Bilbao, we might be so happy with the quality and selection of pintxos, we just stayed put for the whole meal!

Enough with the food! Next post will be back to landscapes.

Closing with a very cool mural that was in a pedestrian tunnel along the beach in San Sebastian -

Wine country in north central Spain

By now, you should realize our love of wine, and interest in exploring wine producing areas of the world. It was why I based us in Zamora (in the western edge of the country, near Portugal) and then drove east, pretty much along the Rio Duera, through the wine districts of Toro, Rueda and Ribera del Duero.

At times, the countryside would be flat…

… and then quickly develop rolling hills.

You’ll have to forgive the photography in this post, as I was alternating between my Nikon (which was acting up) and my new cellphone (with an awesome camera!), and trying to take representative landscape pictures from a car speeding down a highway at 75 mph!

The town of Toro was interesting to explore… first looking one way:

… and then the other, down the one main street.

This was the town square of Penafiel -

… with the castle on the hill looming over it. Unfortunately we arrived at the wrong time to take a tour…

(originally built in 1013, then added to later)

… but the views from atop the hill were pretty sweet.

Our next overnight was a costly (but really fun) stay in Elciego, courtesy of Frommer’s Guide to Spain. It had described a Frank Gehry designed hotel out in the middle of nowhere, and when I pulled up images, I was blown away.

This was our view from the terrace, as we enjoyed wine and tapas just after our arrival -

It was very hard to say goodbye to the beautiful titanium plates the next morning.

After enjoying the lines and colors of the Hotel Marques de Riscal, we actually thought the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was a let down!

Our trusty Fiat 500 carried us on…

… through the Rioja wine district…

… where a pretty large smattering of vines had really thick stems and were planted and tended to as bushes, rather than in neat rows along wired trellises.

We passed many fields of sunflowers…

… as well as some pretty dry areas -

My next post will cover the Basque Country. That’s actually the name of the “autonomous community” on the Atlantic, abutting France. This is one of Spain’s 17 recognized communities, including Andalusia, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, etc. As we drove there, the terrain became much more rugged -

Tune in later for further updates. :)

Gaudi in Barcelona →

Just wow! I never knew about Gaudi until coming to Barcelona, but after touring 3 buildings inspired by his creativity, count me a fan. Most of you have probably heard of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia (Basilica of the Sacred Family). I only knew of it as a must-see destination in Barcelona. While I was visiting, I was mesmerized. The outside is almost too much to take in.

That’s one side. This is another:

You enter through the Nativity Facade, which is pictured above, and in more detail, below -

Gaudi worked on this from 1883 until his death in 1926. This facade was the only one completed during his lifetime. The three facades - Nativity, Passion and Glory - tell the life of Christ.

As you walk in, you appreciate the feeling of walking in a forest filled with light -

The nave’s roof is 150 ft high. The ceiling and floor were only completed in 2010, just in time for Pope Benedict XVI to consecrate the church. The colors bathing the interior from the stained glass just took my breath away.

The altarpiece, besides having the crucifix, has a canopy to symbolize Pentecost, or the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of flame -

One side of the church has windows of glass in cool colors…

… while the opposite has the fiery colors of sunset -

The “Our Father” is written out in Catalan, while the phrase “give us this day our daily bread” is written in 50 other languages:

This door will open out into the Glory Facade, after the city manages to buy out the owners of the drab condos just outside, to build a grand esplanade.

Gaudi is very much inspired by nature, and seems to abhor right angles.

The columns definitely resemble tree trunks, and are made of porphyry (a very hard reddish rock originally mined in Egypt), basalt and granite…

… and the arches at the top of the columns remind you of branches.

There are whimsical touches on the top of spires outside, representing fruits of the harvest -

… which will segue into another Gaudi house we visited, Casa Batllo.

This is Modernista architecture at its most fanciful. As we learned at Sagreda Familia, Gaudi loved incorporating nature into his designs, and this house was to make you feel as if you were living in the sea.

Again, there were no straight lines, and even the ceiling evoked ideas of a shell -

This was the center light filled air shaft, showing the various floors and terraces -

Gaudi really had fun on the roof, where the chimneys were covered in tiles and mosaics -

… and a dragon roamed -

There are two other buildings that Gaudi designed (and we visited), but they have a much different look and feel, so I’ll save them for another post.

Toledo (Spain, of course)

This was another day trip from Madrid; this time we headed about 30 minutes south by high speed train. Our major site for exploration was the Cathedral, which is still the seat of the Catholic Church in Spain today.

(Wandering the narrow, curving streets was fun too!)

It was hard to get it all in one picture -

Construction was begun in 1226 and finally completed in 1493.

The interior was enormous and with jaw-dropping ornamentation. This altarpiece was commissioned in the 1490s and took 6 years to complete:

Hopefully you can enlarge that picture to be able to appreciate the details.

Behind the main altar is this amazing piece:

The sculptor was upset that this wouldn’t be able to be appreciated in the dark of the poorly lit cathedral, so he had a large circular hole cut in the roof to allow sun to shine on it!

In the upper left corner of the above picture, you can see the top of the altarpiece, to give you some orientation of the space. The hole was cut in the roof opposite that sculptured marvel.

I have always been drawn to rose windows (and the people in the bottom of the picture give scale):

We then visited the Sephardic Museum, which is housed in a synagogue built in 1355.

I kept the people in the bottom of the photo, to again provide scale -

That wooden ceiling was gorgeous, but the scrollwork in the stone was even more breath taking:

Steve was enamored of the brickwork…

…while I enjoyed wandering the maze of narrow streets -

On our way out, we admired the walls ringing the city -

(look closely to see the crenellations, to help you find the wall)

great layers!

The entrance gate into the city -

One last look at its commanding position -

Segovia

We took the high speed train from Madrid and it only took about 30 minutes to get to Segovia. Luckily, we had read in our guide book about how to get into town, and squeezed onto the first bus leaving the station. It was a good 10-15 minute ride, so we were really glad we hadn’t decided to try and walk it. We had no idea where to get off, but left the bus with the rest of the crowd. We then wandered down into town, marveling at the Gothic churches along the way -

As we strolled down main street, we got our first glimpse of the main attraction:

The Roman Aqueduct was built about 2,100 years ago…

… and its supporting arches are made entirely of granite blocks without mortar.

The highest of the 166 arches is 92 ft.

Of course we climbed the stairs beside it, to follow it into the city…

…and discovered where it disappeared underground. Heading further into the city, we found the Cathedral…

…that was destroyed in 1520, but rebuilt in the same Gothic style.

I fell in love with the pipe organs in all the churches we visited, especially the heraldic trumpet-shaped pipes extending out -

Because there wasn’t much to see in town, we went on out to the edge…

…to see the Alcazar (castle).

The reason this looks like something from Disneyland, is because the original one built in the 1300s mostly burned down in 1862, and was rebuilt to emulate castles from northern Europe from the 1600s. The inside wasn’t too inspiring, but there were great views of the surrounding countryside:

This was our last view of the aqueduct as we left, and with this, I’ll bid you adieu (adios).

Madrid, Spain

I wanted to just put “Madrid” as the title, but for those of you who might not know, it really is in Spain. We spent our first 5 nights in the country here, taking day trips out to surrounding towns, but otherwise exploring this vibrant and huge city.

We landed in the early morning and dropped our bags in a storage shop just down the street from the apartment we were renting {how handy was that? do all big cities have such places? we usually have a car and explore outside of cities, so we’ve never had need for that :)} We then headed into the Plaza Mayor (the main plaza in any self-respecting city) and enjoyed a fashionably late (but right on time for Madrid) breakfast, sitting outside, enjoying the morning bustle around us.

Plaza Mayor was pretty empty then…

…but foot traffic picked up as the day went on.

We later wandered over near the Royal Palace…

…and happened to catch the changing of the guard!

This occurs twice a week at random times (actually a 3 hour window is given, and we happened to walk up at just the right moment).

There were a decent number of tourists out, but nothing felt crowded to us (other than the subway at times) -

That is the Almudena Cathedral which was sits across from the Palace and was just built beginning in 1879.

The Palace courtyard:

Another angle -

Inside, the colors were gorgeous -

… and the pipe organ was eye-catching (be on the lookout for much older pipe organs in later posts).

We collapsed early that evening and then woke up refreshed to continue exploring.

Now, the rest of this post is a little out of chronological order, as we took 2 different day trips to nearby cities, but I just wanted to include all our Madrid stops and wandering in this one post.

Our next day of wandering landed us in Retiro Park, which is an enormous greenspace on the eastern edge of the city. I wanted to see the Crystal Palace -

… which was built in 1887 for the Exposition of the Phillipines. It’s some pretty awesome wrought iron architecture.

Also in Retiro Park was this lake, on which boating is an apparently common pastime.

The park was a great place to spend a gorgeous fall day.

Strolling back to our apartment, we passed some striking monuments -

…and buildings…

…and enjoyed the bustle of the big city.

Our last day in Madrid, we visited 2 museums and the Royal Palace.

As you can see from the picture above, it was a good day to be inside for most of it. Once we were admitted to the personal rooms inside, we weren’t allowed to take pictures…

…but that entrance hall and staircase was fair game…

… as was that receiving hall above.

I’ll close with an example of tapas that we had several nights as our evening “meal” after our large meal at 2 pm. If you’re in the know, you don’t go out before 8:30 pm or later for these bites and a cocktail or wine. Salud!