Alhambra Visited the Alhambra today. Entrance is strictly controlled to protect the site. My ticket was for the afternoon, so I first walked up a hill which faces the site to take some preview pictures in the morning. The way up was steep, but fairly easy to find a good viewpoint. On the way down, I decided to take a different route, and got completely lost in the Albayzin (Arabic neighborhood). It was fun, and gorgeous, and I ended up on Plaza Nueve (my starting point) about 100 meters from where I started. Not bad for not having a map with me. The Alhambra is built on three hillsides. The site was significant in Roman times, a ruling city for the Moors in Spain, and then a ruling city for the Castilians until the capital was ... read more

Alcazar & Jewish Quarter walkabout Today I walked to Alcazar, which was originally built by the Visgoths, and rebuilt several times over history. It stands on the beach of what once was a major trading river. The river is merely a trickle now, and the ancient castle is crumbling, but the gardens are gorgeous. The jasmine, roses, hibiscus, and blue morning glory were in bloom, and the date palms, orange, lemon and grapefruit were nearly ripe. The fountains were burbling, and the birds were singing, I felt quite lucky to be alive. I then climbed to the top of the castle, and took some pictures of the garden from above with the Mezquita in the background. The castle itself is pretty barren; lots of low dank passageways. The patios were pretty, and had some lovely old ... read more

Museum fail, beautiful Mediterranean Sea win My plan for the day was to see the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), but I should have done my homework; it is closed Sunday. So sad! I decided to go see the beach and wander the Barceloneta and Barri Gotic areas instead. Definitly a high point of the trip. The palm trees, and gorgeous colors of the neighborhoods. The melding of Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Catholic people all in their finery and standing around in the plazas chatting with the children running about playing and laughing. It made me very happy to be alive. I determined that I did want to see MNAC, so asked if the hotel had availability tomorrow night, so I could see it Monday. They were full, so my afternoon adventure included a trip ... read more

Wherein I leave the rain for the sun I awoke Friday morning to find it was *pouring* rain in Donostia. Thunder, lightening, the whole works; it was beautiful! Think Seattle rain mid-winter: it was coming down sideways, in buckets. I had planned to walk to the local bakery to grab some breakfast to eat on the train (they had some lovely whole wheat rolls Thursday). The bakery was still closed when I walked by, so I kept walking. Made it to the station with time to spare. The station store was open, but all they had were Panier and doughnuts - I grabbed a Panier. The train was a few minutes late arriving to Donostia, and we were delayed on our way to Barcelona due to a train wreck. Thankfully, it was not a passenger train. ... read more

Departing Madrid After getting up early this morning, I checked out and went to grab some breakfast at the hotel restaurant. A beautiful older Japanese woman came in and attempted to order her breakfast in Spanish. The waiter was having issues understanding her, and looked at me. After talking with her for a moment, I discovered she knew a smattering of Spanish and Japanese. And she was traveling alone. I am in awe. I can usually find an English speaker when I get into trouble with my limited Spanish. There are few Japanese here. So! Got to the train station with 6 minutes to spare, and was running down the station trying to figure out where my train was. A kind guard helped me , and urged me to 'vaminos!'. I did, made it, and was ... read more