Spain

There are many mountains not just the Pyrenees & challenging mountain hikes

Columbus is a celebrated EVERYWHERE in Spain!

 

Spanish Royalty had and still have more than one Palace

For a country it’s size Spain has a LOT of royal palaces and residences.

Exercise Outside Without a View

The “Pueblo Blancos” small villages we visited had outdoor exercise equipment we saw 3 fitness stations ALL located on the edge of steep hillsides. The equipment never faced towards the beautiful view of the valley. Exercise equipment was not geared towards a hard workout. Our small fitness trail in Spokane requires pull-up & sit-ups. (Ugh!)  I imagined that these centers are meant to keep the senior citizens limber & agile for climbing the town hills. Gotta be pretty fit just to make it down to the grocery store and back in Zahara unless you drive and I didn’t see a parking lot.

We Arrive in Barcelona

Dennis and I along with my sister Kris arrived exhausted in Barcelona a couple of days before our tour began. We checked into Hotel Jazz and walked from our hotel down the Ramblas to the water and saw our first Columbus monument. We tired of the busy street so we took a side street and got off the tourist track. There were disabled men sitting in front of a hospital, very sad. It looked a little more like home though. Later on we observed mothers and children doing puzzles provided by a center using what seemed to be a repurposed freight container. Another container was surrounded by toddlers playing. Our original goal was Sant Antoni Market which was closed. We needed something to eat so we stopped at a coffee shop. This is where I learned that there is really not much English spoken off the usual tourist route in Spain also Google translate doesn’t work if your not online. I thought I’d order a double cappuccino. I ended up with 2 cups of cappuccino. I was very tired and had no problem drinking them both. Wonderful experience watching neighborhood activities from our table on the sidewalk. Best of all the street was closed to traffic.

Barcelona Gothic Quarter & Jewish Ghetto

We thought it was funny when the hotel receptionist told us breakfast was 7am to 11am. After a restless night I woke up at 10:47am. I gave sleeping Dennis a poke- “We missed breakfast!” “No we didn’t.” He was in denial. Dennis threw on his clothes and was eating when I arrived at 11:00 and rushed to the coffee then I was able to grab some random food from the buffet. I noted that they didn’t remove the food until 11:08. We were never that late again anywhere.

Kris was awake, had eaten breakfast much earlier. She was ready to go and was interested in seeing the Gothic District (Barri Gotic) so we walked there at what felt like morning. On the way we saw this building facade designed by Picasso.

The streets were narrow and confusing but the Barcelona Cathedral wasn’t hard to find. Also known as the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. Very grim story, the Romans tortured Eulalia but she stuck with her Christian faith and died at age 13. There are now always 13 geese kept in the cathedral garden.

I don’t remember any other cathedral where you could take an elevator up to the rooftop and walk around.

We followed our Rick Steves walking tour through the narrow streets former Jewish Quarter. Fascinating find, there is a Roman Temple mostly underground, that’s been uncovered. You walk down a few steps down to view it.

Barcelona Day 3 (Day 1 Rick Steves Tour)

Kris chose to visit the Archeology Museum of Catalonia and the waterfront. She did not regret her choice.

The Eixample (Expansion)

Dennis and I wanted to see Modernista architecture. The lines for building tours looked long. We didn’t have tickets for tours of any of the houses but we had downloaded a Rick Steves’ audio walking tour of the Eixample neighborhood. Following our walking tour, taking pictures, and negotiating traffic, we easily spent over two hours wandering around the area.

We found a cafeteria for lunch in the lower level of the Amatller House (Casa Amatller). Pointing to the food you want takes a lot of stress out of ordering lunch. Since we were there we asked about the waiting time for a tour. The wait was 5 minutes and we were the only people on our tour. Two hours earlier the entry hall had been jammed with people.

We needed no consultation with our guide. We had tickets to Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell purchased online weeks before our trip.

Sagrada Familia 

Kris got us on the right Metro to arrive at Sagrada Familia. We had timed entry tickets which meant we had to find where the line was. Entrances were limited but there is no limit on how long you can stay. I believe this is the most tourists I’ve ever seen in any building but it is huge.

Artist and architect Gaudi started work on Sagrada Familia cathedral in 1891 and it is still being constructed. There is a virtual tour available because I can’t capture the vastness or explain all they symbolism incorporated in the construction.

We had timed afternoon tickets to see Parc Guell also designed by Gaudi. Park Guell was planned as a housing development for the well to do. World War I interfered and only a few houses were built. Our tour guide James advised us to take a cab from Sagrada Familia to the park. “Make the driver leave you off at the park. They always want to leave you off a few blocks below.” We ignored the advice and let the cab leave us off a few blocks below the park. It was quite a steep, hot, hike up the hill. The park itself is a hill so more than enough exercise. We learned that we really should listen to James.

There is a virtual tour of the Parc Guell that makes me dizzy but way better than my pictures.

Our orientation walk began at our hotel off Plaza del Sol ended in Plaza de Santa Ana at the Federico García Lorca memorial statue.

Our goal for the afternoon was to see Guernica at the Reina Sofia which has all the Spanish modern art. It was Sunday as we knew the museum was free after 7:00pm. We could walk to the museum from Plaza Santa Ana. James suggested we might want to go to the museum before free admission started as it would be very crowded when the free hours started. We wandered down to the museum about 15 minutes before they started free admission. Kris & Dennis weren’t convinced we should spend $11 each for something we could see for free. ”We’re children whose parents lived through the Depression.” I believed in James. As we approached the museum we saw a line 2 blocks long of people waiting for free admission to start. We quickly bought our tickets and followed the confusing circuitous route to the gallery with Guernica. We were glad we did. We saw as much of the museum as we could and left when it was dark and we were exhausted. Got lost on on our way back but I guess eventually all roads lead to Plaza del Sol.

We got an early start the next morning as we had tickets for the Spanish Royal Palace. It’s said to be Europe’s 3rd greatest palace but it seemed bigger and and as grand as Versailles to me. No pictures were allowed inside but you can see from the outside it is HUGE! Check-out the website for the interiors. https://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/visita/royal-palace-madrid 

We needed to move on and didn’t make it through the entire Armory. I’ve never seen anything like it. Armor for children, armor for horses and armor for dogs, swords, knives, must have been scary times.

A lunch break was our only rest before going to the Prado. The Spanish Royalty were art collectors. The Prado is one of the largest museums I’ve ever been in but very well organized. They have several suggested self-tours with audio. You can find a route to match your artistic interest or there is a route that takes you to view their most famous paintings. We concentrated on well known 14th-19th century Spanish painters. I was most impressed with Goya although I could spend a lot more time studying the Heironymus Bosch paintings. We stayed until closing at 7pm.

We were exhausted but Kris encouraged us to reserve train tickets for traveling to Toledo the next morning. A train trip and a day in Toledo sounded like it might be relaxing.

We exited the train and while Dennis & Kris tried to figure out where we were I photographed the Don Quixote theme mosaics on the plaza benches. Once we got started walking in the right direction it was pretty easy to see the Toledo Cathedral. “Not another cathedral!”  I demanded that we not stay too long. 

Toledo Cathedral

About 3 hours after we entered the cathedral we exited. I made no complaints. Quite a fantastic church!

Emerging from the Cathedral we were tired and needed lunch. We had our real first Spanish lunch (At home we would call it a 4 course fix price dinner.)

We wandered the narrow streets to find the synagogue and a plaza honoring El Greco. The Greek artist El Greco lived in Toledo. The El Greco Museum in Toledo was closed during our visit but we saw his famous The Burial of the Count of Orgaz an imaginative work painted 250 years after the Count’s death. This plaza over looking the river was about the only public green space we saw above the river. I learned later that El Greco did a famous painting a view of Toledo with the river but not the same viewpoint.

Granada & the Alhambra Our tour had unbelievable bad luck. The Alhambra palace of the Sultans and later the Spanish kings was closed to the public for 3 days including the one full day we were in Granada. Kris managed to find us tickets just before closing, through a city tour company. We had one hour to see the Alhambra palace before it closed. However, we could explore the original fortress, Generalife which included the Sultan’s summer palace in the hills, and the gardens below the palace. The Summer Palace and gardens were my favorite part of the complex. From the ancient fortress that was part of the Alhambra we had a nice view of Granada and the surrounding area.

The Alhambra Palace is not like quite like anything I’ve seen before and can’t be captured in pictures. It’s known for its intricate mosaics and marble work. The plumbing of the fountains still works, which is impressive considering that the palace was built in the 14th century

Granada Day 2

Kris & Dennis insisted that our guide said we should see the Grenada Cathedral. They didn’t allow pictures so it’s hard to remember except the tombs of Ferdinand, Isabella, their daughter Joana and her husband Phillip are in the Royal Chapel. It’s a Spanish Renaissance cathedral rather than Gothic so not dark and spiky. We had lunch in one of the plazas.

After lunch I insisted we walk up the steep hill to what I hoped was the old Albayzin neighborhood. It was very hot & I wore everyone out before we fully explored the area but we got some nice views. The streets are very narrow and judging from the shops it’s an Muslim neighborhood.

That night our guide made reservations, for all who wanted to go, to a very nice restaurant at the top of a hill across from the Alhambra. The food was good and the view after dark was fantastic. He hoped those on our tour who didn’t get to tour inside the Alhambra might get a sense of its magnificence.

Ronda is a hill town with fantastic geology. It’s quite busy with tourists. Our bus let us off with our luggage and we walked across the Puente Nuevo bridge pictured through narrow stone streets to our hotel. We did see some people driving and even a bus driving in the neighborhood but it was much better and faster to walk.

 The trail down the canyon I’d hoped to hike was closed for repair. That was probably lucky because it was awfully hot for a steep walk. We walked to the edge of town and explored an ancient fortress. On the way back we found a large shady plaza and people watched for a while.

Exploring the ancient city wall /        Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, Ronda

Ronda claims to have the oldest continuous bull fighting school. We did an audio tour of the facility. Our guide hosted a Sangria tasting in a historic house and then we went to a classical guitar concert. Quite a full day.

Sevilla (Seville)

We off to Seville the next morning right after breakfast. We arrived before noon and had our orientation walk. We ended our walk in the Santa Cruz Barrio. We were near the Cathedral which is tourist central so all the restaurants were very crowded. We found a small place on a back street that was not so crowded but also the menu was in Spanish. We are never sure exactly what we will have to eat. I must have been satiated because Kris and Dennis talked me into going to the HUGE Sevilla Cathedral after lunch.  

You can’t possibly capture the huge Gothic structure that is the Sevilla Cathedral but I tried.

That evening we attended a Flamenco show. A very touristy thing to do but the energy and dancing was not like anything we’d ever seen before. Our only regret was that each dance tells a story and they didn’t clue us in as to the plot.

On our final day we had tickets to the Real Alcazar at 10:30am. We decided to explore the neighborhood on the way and got quite lost in the picturesque and some not so picturesque, streets. We found our way in plenty of time. This Spanish Royal Palace is again impossible to capture in pictures. There were incredible tile mosaics, huge detailed tapestries, lots of marble and beautiful gardens.

Kris made sure we had tickets to the part of the palace that is the private space of the royal family when they are in Seville. No photos were allowed there and they made us lock-up our phones. A guard carefully supervised our movements while on the tour.

We wandered back through the Santa Cruz Barrio and the one time Jewish ghetto. This time we were following our Rick Steves walking tour so we didn’t get disoriented and made our way back to the hotel for our tour group farewell.

On to Our Next Spanish Adventure

We were very sad to say good-bye to Kris but we were off to our next adventure. A visit to the Pueblo Blancos ( white villages). I had agreed to drive a rental stick-shift. Driving a manual transmission is something I hadn’t done for 20 years. The first scare was when the woman at the car rental agency told me I could be fined 1000 euros by the Spanish police for not having an international drivers license. I decided to take my chances. Next she informed us the Opal we were renting was “almost” brand new. I would be held responsible for any scratches. My final upset was trying to leave the rental car parking lot. I nearly crashed trying to get the car into reverse. To get us out of the parking lot It took a patient attendant speaking Spanish, using hand motions, and finally reaching in and showing me how to reverse. With Dennis patiently navigating us thru city traffic I managed to get out of Seville. Once on the road I had only to negotiate the narrow mountain roads, avoid the bicyclists and deal with intermittent GPS guidance. Dennis was much better than GPS most of the time.

Our first hotel was in Zahara De La Sierra. I lost GPS and panicked driving the steep narrow streets. I phoned the hotel manager who knew as much English as I do Spanish (not much at all) but he managed to guide us around the hill and up to the top of town where our hotel was.

The next morning we hiked up to the Castle/Fortress that was above our hotel. A few rooms in the castle have been set-up to demonstrate what living in the fortress was like. Dark and cold and if not on guard duty and I imagine a lot of time bringing up food and water.

We were soon off driving the narrow mountain road to Grazalema.

Grazalema

I found myself driving down a street similar the the one pictured below in Grazalema. As I was headed down a local let me know that I was going down a one-way street the wrong direction. Even though I had mastered the reverse gear turning around in the narrow street was difficult. I parked the car on the edge of town and there it sat for 3 days. 

Our Rick Steves recommended hotel was perfect. We enjoyed a welcome drink on the patio. We had a view from our room and I went swimming twice in the cold pool. Important to us was the the hotel owner had maps and information in English about the hikes in the area. Unfortunately we found out that some of the trails were closed due to fire danger just like home. :-(

The next morning we got an early start on our first hike. (9:30am early for us) The hike began at the edge of town and went more or less straight up a mountain. It was more difficult that we anticipated. There were no or very short switch-backs up the hill. We are used to clearly marked smoother trails. We found ourselves picking our way through rocks unsure where our next step should be. Usually it was straight ahead. We heard goat bleating across the valley and saw big birds launching from the cliffs soaring high above us. Too far away and moving to fast to identify but I believe it was likely a Bonelli’s eagle they are said to be in the area in October. Once we reached the top of the the hill trails were clearly marked. Of course by that time we were tired and it was very again very hot. We did some exploring and managed to make our way back down without breaking any bones.

The next morning we decided to take it easy and hike a clearly marked trail around the town reservoir. The trail was steep but not as rocky with nice views of Grazalema. It was supposed to be a loop trip with a trail leading back to town. Somehow we lost that and ended up picking our way downhill towards the highway. When we reached the highway we saw a PARKING LOT with a relatively flat trail. People were just driving, parking and walking up this easy trail. How fair was that? We decided we better do a little of the easier path as well.

Retracing our steps we return to Seville and Barcelona

We wanted to stay another night in Grazalema but who knew OCTOBER 12th is a national holiday in Spain. Our hotel and several others were full. We retraced our steps a night in Zahara, spent a night in Sevilla, and our final night in Barcelona before flying home.

Miraculously we returned the rental car undamaged. With a sigh of relief we took a cab to the Don Paco Hotel where the hotel clerk said in English of course -“I hope you won’t be too shocked by your room.” I wondered if something had been lost in translation. He informed us that the hotel had upgraded us at no cost to us.

Our room was on the 11th floor was glass wall with windows and a door looking down on the hotel’s rooftop patio & pool. Even the bathroom had a glass door and full glass front. Dennis went to use our WC. I glanced through the glass bathroom door in the bedroom and warned him “I think Sevilla can see you.” We quickly found some button that let down electric shutters.

I’m so glad we had the rest of our day to walk to Plaza de Espana and the adjoining Maria Louisa Park. The building in the Plaza was constructed for the Ibero-American exposition in 1929. The purpose of the Exposition was to improve relations between Spain it’s former colonies and other countries. The building incorporates beautiful tile mosaics honoring Spain’s provinces and former colonies. Maria Louisa Park is 99 acres and some of the features were a bit run down but it was still a nice respite from the heat and traffic of the city.

We took a plane to Barcelona the next day and rode the now familiar Blue bus back to Hotel Jazz in time to see this large, well organized, protest from our hotel window. Police cars barricaded the street for the marchers. We could make out signs protesting discrimination and working conditions for immigrants and women.

We had one last walk down to the Ramblas to identify some architecture we had missed our first visit. It was Saturday and very crowded so still hard to view the buildings. We took note of the many teenage boys sporting shopping bags from Lefties. Maybe you should invest in the stock.

We had no trouble finding the 4 Cats Cafe (Els Quatre Gats) once a hang-out for Picasso and other artistic types just off the Ramblas. The Cats was easily identified by the number of tourists gathered to take selfies with the sandwich board sign. No pictures for us. We went in but there were no tables available so we left and found a quiet place on a side street off the Ramblas where we ordered drinks and enjoyed our last chance to people watching on a street slightly off the Ramblas.

The next morning we bordered the Blue bus for the airport and made the long trip home.

Great trip!