Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1086

We went to Segovia on Monday! Everyone loves Segovia. I've been there several times & every time you go to Segovia the weather is guaranteed to be perfect. It's kind of a magical place. It was especially magical when Erica threw up at the bus station when we arrived! Never take Dramamine on an empty stomach. We visited the Roman Aqueduct, the Cathedral & the Álcazar (castle). The Álcazar is supposedly the model that was used for Disney's version of Cinderella! I think the girls all loved it. I had a blast myself. I don't think you can ever get sick of Segovia. I especially liked the part where we pigged out on pastries! Yummy caracol...... read more

Let me begin by saying that I love love love Barcelona! As is increasingly the case in Europe, it was cheaper to fly to Barcelona’s El Prat de Llobregat Airport from Granada than to catch the train. Vueling Air was superb and is now my new favourite budget airline in Europe. One of the first things we noticed when we landed in Barcelona was that Andalucía seemed a whole world away from Catalonia, and really in most ways Catalonia could so easily be a completely different country. We stayed in the wonderful gothic neighbourhood of Barri Gotic, just off La Rambla. Legend has it that in a previous incarnation our hotel was a house of pleasure (it’s a very respectable hotel now though), which was visited many times by a young Picasso, and that his painting ... read more

From the air, the area around Barajas airport looked a lot like I remember Phoenix and Albuquerque looking from the window seat. Only around Madrid there are many more olive trees than you will see in the American southwest. It wasn't long until I realized that the topography is pretty much the only thing Madrid has in common with Arizona and New Mexico. After meeting my parents in the airport we traveled together to the apartment we had rented for the next few days to meet the agent who would show us around and give us the keys to our accomodation. It was already getting dark by the time he arrived and while waiting for him we all became a little suspicious of our neighborhood and the reputation of this rental company. Apparently the neighborhood billed ... read more

Last weekend I planned a little Andalucia tour for 5 days. I had one day off and I took one day off. Who´s counting anyways? But Andalucia is the region in the south of Spain. I was so interested in travelling there because it has an especially interesting history because it is the area that the Moors, the Muslim empire, lived in until 1492 when the Catholic kings, Ferdinand and Isabella kicked them out /conquered them and took their land and then proceeded to kick out all the remaining Muslims and Jews while they were at it. So, to say the least this area is extremely rich in history and in a very different history than that of Barcelona and the rest of Spain that I have seen. I had planned to do this trip alone ... read more

Malaga Spain has been a wonderful surprise, much much more than the tourist ghetto we'd been expecting. This ancient city, palpably Roman but actually occupied much earlier by the Phoenicians, has shattered our stereotype of the shallow Costa Del Sol resort town. It's actually a decent-sized city, and getting from the airport into town was more of a challenge than we'd expected, even having perused Google sat photos beforehand. (For the record, there ARE sufficient connections across the riverside natural preserve area that cyclists don't need to take the heinous Autovia bridges into town.) The GPS guided us directly to our pre-selected, Lonely Planet-approved pension, the Hotel California. (Coincidently, Kate and I first met at a same-named hotel some 15 years ago in Baja, Mexico. Everybody say "Awwwh....") The beautiful room, with a Mediterrnean-view balcony, w ... read more