20: Barcelona to Sevilla – confusing day-long train odyssey to Sevilla (finally arrive c. 8pm after leaving Nice the night before) with beautiful scenery.
21: Sevilla – Archivas de las Indias, Reál Alcazar palace, bullring, Cathedral, tapas, Aussie friends with us to meet Amanda and Ross for dinner, sangria, and flamenco.
22: Sevilla – day trip to Córdoba (Mezquita), siesta, Plaza de España
23: Sevilla to Granada – Andalucia countryside, old Arabic quarter, falafel, garden walk.
24: Granada – La Alhambra and gardens, shopping, Sacramonte (former gypsy caves inhabited by hippies).
25: Granada to Barcelona – another long train ride to Barcelona.
26: Barcelona to Paris – Gaudí tour, Sagrada Familia cathedral, las Ramblas, Picasso museum, night train to Paris.
27: Paris – Notre Dame and Rick Steves historic Paris walk (Latin Quarter, Sainte Chapelle, Palais du Justice, Conciergerie, Pont Neuf), Pompidou Centre, Picasso Museum, Place de la Concorde, Tuileries, Eiffel Tower, boat tour.
28: Paris – Museé d’Orsay, day trip to Versailles, Monmarte and Sacre Couer Basillica, Moulin Rouge.
29: Paris – Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysé, Louvre, up in the Eiffel Tower.
30: Paris to UK – Rodin Museum, Napoleon’s Tomb, Eurostar to London, hang with Heidi and Meredith before having last night in the UK.
May 1: UK – left for Heathrow before heading back to the US in the afternoon (via Chicago to Detroit), getting home by 2am.
By the last part of the trip, I was still having fun and enjoying it, but also was getting ready to be done and relax. Spain was impressive. I’d been excited to visit Spain for quite some time, but did not expect the countryside to be as beautiful as it was. I also had a chance to use my Spanish (tons of fun!), and even made friends with a Syrian falafel guy. Southern Spain had much Arabic influence in food, culture, and architecture (the Mezquita basically used to be the Western centre of Islam but was turned into a church… amazing architecture! Also, lots of Arabic palaces like the Alhambra and the Reál Alcazar). Granada was not as classy as Sevilla, but rather much more rugged. The former home of the Islamic Caliphate at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, it also was known as the home of “gypsies” (their legacy now taken up by tons of hippies living in their caves). Barcelona was much different, with a more rebellious, sassy kind of class, as epitomized by the Gaudí (his Sagrada Familia was one of the most impressive cathedrals that I saw). I’d been hearing quite the mixed reviews of Paris, but I very much enjoyed it. Full of art and history, it was so cool to see one of the most famous cities on the planet. It was impossible to see it all, but thanks to travel guru Rick Steves, we had three very full and very productive days.
Coming back to the UK was very bittersweet. I missed it quite a bit, but also realized that I was ready to return home. It was an exhausting journey back to the States, but was great to be back. I had a few days then to reorganize myself before heading to Mackinac.
(photos: the promenade in Nice; Hermanio at the beach in Nice; bullring in Sevilla; Reál Alcazar courtyard; and an "Effigy to Christopher Columbus," potentially his grave, but who the heck knows...)
(photos: Sevilla Cathedral tower, part of the mosque that used to occupy the same location; flamenco; the Mezquita, one of my favorite parts of Spain (the really white part is the church in the centre of the former mosque); dome detail in the Mezquita; and amazing Spanish countryside.)
(photos: cool street in the old Arabic quarter of Granada that our hostel was off of; a courtyard of La Alhambra; Trace, Amanda, Ross, Hermanio, and I at the Alhambra; Nun, I win!; and the Alhambra from the old Arabic quarter with the Sierra Nevada faintly in the background.)
(photos: Hermanio and some Gaudí architecture in Barcelona; Gaudí's Sagrada Familia cathedral; the Sagrada Familia under construction (still in progress and one of the coolest cathedrals I've ever seen); spring in Paris by Notre Dame; and the Seine.)
(photos: Sainte Chappelle, church with more glass than stone in the walls; Steph in Paris; relaxing at a park in Paris; Trace and I; La Maison Rose, where I had french onion soup in France!!!; mmmm... pastries by the Arc de Triomphe; and having a think at the Rodin Museum.)
3 comments:
Me alegro que le haya gustado mi país, y en especial Granada. Estaremos encantados de recibirle cuando quiera volver.
Hasta pronto
Okay, some beautiful shots in there, but the one that gets me a bit misty eyed is Hermanio on the beach. Priceless.
We just got back from an awesome trip to Spain. During our time in Barcelona, we checked out all the main Gaudi sights. Antoni Gaudi is a famous architecture, whose knowledge, insight and understanding of architecture resulted in buildings and structures, that are not only unique in appearance and often used even now in hotels in Barcelona design, but also aim to make the best use of light and materials. One of his main focuses was on using the lines out of nature - rarely is there a straight line in a Gaudi structure. Between La Sagrada Familia, the still unfinished, but entirely unlike anything else cathedral, La Pedrera, and Parc Guell, we were constantly inspired by what we saw.
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