Advertisement
Published: January 1st 2008
Jesus Banner
Bizarre. Very bizarre.Okay, that sucked. Shall I just talk about Spain. I will.
We both wondered how a bus to Sevilla could possibly take eight hours from Lisbon. The answer is that it goes all the way to Faro, pretty well the southernmost large town in Portugal and then across to Sevilla. It's one of those funny Schengen land borders and the only way you actually realise you've reached Spain is the large sign saying Welcome to Castille and Leon!
We only had one day in Sevilla and it promised to be a fairly busy one! There's a lot to do there and so we decided to make the most of it. We got out of the hostel nice and early and after wandering blankly around the middle of the city for a bit admiring the sheer Gothic enormity that is the Sevilla Cathedral before taking a short stroll out to the river past the bullring and the Torre de Oro, an old Moorish defence work on the Guadalquivir (mouthful!) River. We cruised off into the middle of nowhere to Sevilla's Plaza de Espana, a little spot featured in the second new Star Wars movie.
Torre del Oro
Muslim Fortification at it's best. The enormous square is decorated with tiled scenes representing the towns and regions of Spain illustrated with scenes from the Reconquista or famous scenes from the various places. Don Quixote was the only one I really recognised but some are helpfully labelled in Spanish. For the first time in Spain we also had crazy people come up and say "regalo" and try to give us sprigs of rosemary. "Regalo" is the Spanish for gift (which it never is!), but what the heck the rosemary had to do with it I do not know. The worst one were the crazy people in Granada who were stealing the rosemary from plants outside the cathedral and then trying to hock it to tourists. Now that's taking it a bit too far.
Seville Cathedral was built at the end of the Reconquista on the site of the city's largest mosque. How's that for religious....tolerance? It's the largest Gothic building in the world and it really is simply enormous. The nave is, well, I don't know how big it is. I would reckon on 50 metres at the smallest. It's pretty large. The cathedral builders kept only a part of the original external wall
Plaza de Espana
It's in Star Wars. Seriously! and the bottom of the minaret that would become La Giralda - the belltower for the cathedral. The views from the top are stunning and it's an easy climb thanks to the fact that the orignial minaret was built with ramps so the muezzin could ride (slacker!) to the top to deliver the calls to prayer. Amazing! On the inside, the cathedral contains nearly three dozen individual chapels to various saints and patrons and it's most famous attraction - the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus. Apparently current research suggests it may in fact be his son and that he was laid to rest in the Caribbean. It doesn't matter so much since it's a really really fabulous tomb showing the kings of Aragon, Castille, Leon and Portugal carrying his bier.
Finally we took a wander, in advance of our visit to the Alhambra, through the Alcazar, the Moorish palace of Sevilla. Except that it isn't really. Most of the modern Alcazar was built over Moorish ruins for Pedro the Cruel beginning in 1364. Pedro used Moorish workers to build his palace giving it a distinctly Islamic design. The palace is one of the best remaining examples of mudéjar architecture,
a style under Christian rule in Spain but using Islamic architectural influence. Subsequent monarchs have added their own additions to the Alcazar. Charles V's addition of gothic elements contrasts with the dominant Islamic style and is slightly hideous as a result. Having said that we really actually rather enjoyed wandering through the Islamic style palace and seeing how it contrasted with the later additions. Perhaps the best bit is the gardens which were damaged quite badly in the 1755 earthquake and replaced
The bus to Granada was one of those that restore your faith in these sorts of things. It was quick, easy and enjoyable and totally unmemorable as a result. We arrived late afternoon and spent the afternoon wandering about the city looking for a decent lunch. Al's Top Tip for Spain - don't arrive anywhere between about 12:30 and 3. Siesta exists and is alive and well in Spain. Things actually shut about 12:30 and, annoyingly, this includes some eateries which don't reopen until after siesta. Silly. On the plus side, we found a great buffet eatery, somthing that appears common in Spain, and ate way too much which is good when you missed breakfast and dinner
Alcazar
One of many reflecting pools. isn't looking like it'll be in the offing. Not a bad plan by any stretch. We wandered about the Albaycin, the old Islamic neighbourhood, and I was reminded of wandering around in the Middle East, unsurprisingly, but without the hastle. What's not to love?!
I got up ridiculously early and headed up to the Alhambra to buy tickets. You don't really need to at this time of year but I hoped to get a suitable time for the Nasirid Palace. Problem is, they gave me one so I had to run back to the hostel and grab Jen, head straight back up and through the back entrance straight into the Nasirid Palace. The Nasirid Palace is one of the most amazing things I have seen anywhere on this tour. It is almost more Arabic than most of the things I've seen in Arabia. Everything about it screams Islamic architecture and it almost looks as if it sprang, fully formed, as part of the Alhambra. The plasterwork on the walls is simply unique and the detail is beyond belief. We've got so many photos of random bits of wall and random bits of door, just things we liked the look
Alcazar
Imperial Bedrooms... of. In amongst the beautiful rooms of the palace are a number of courtyards with fountains and reflecting pools creating an oasis of calm inside the walls. You can understand it when you realise that there is an eerie quiet in places despite the fact you know there are tourists everywhere. It's probably not like this in the summer. We were slightly disappointed to discover that the Lion Fountain at the centre of the palace had been completely dismantled for restoration. On the plus side, we did get a very close look at the work they were doing. The lions themselves are offsite but the first one that has been completed now has pride of place in the museum and it needed a lot of work! 800+ years of running, lime laden water on top of tourists, bathers, dodgy restoration and the fairly extreme weather in Granada mean that it's going to take some effort to restore the other 11 lions. But given the stunning work on the first one, that fountain will look amazing.
After exploring the Nasirid Palace we strolled the gardens of the Generalife pondering on what it would have been like for the Sultans who
Alcazar
More reflecting pools. walked where we did. The gardens here must have been a welcome escape in amongst the shady trees and cool fountains from the heat of the southern Spanish summer. We wandered along the walls and in amongst the old marketplaces through to the outrageous eyesore that was the Palacio del Carlos V (he built a lot, and it's all ugly!). There was a fabulous exhibit of photos of the Alhambra during the early 1800s at the beginning of mass European tourism that really showed how little the place has changed. Well, aside from people not bathing in the Lion Fountain anymore! We crossed through the Porta del Vino (the Wine Gate!) and had a good scout around the Alcazbar, the castle part of the Alhambra and we climbed to the top of the towers and enjoyed the magnificent views of the Sierra Madres. The Alhambra is somewhere you really should visit and I can recommend that you go this time of year. I won't waffle on any more, I'll just show you the photos when we get back!
After lunch, I stopped in briefly at the Capella Real and admired the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella as well as
Alcazar
The Gothic Chapel of Carlos V. their respective coronation kit and a few gems from the Royal Art Collection, including a couple of great van der Weydens and a brilliant Goya. We returned to the hostel for a couple of hours of R&R before going out later that night on the Tapas and Flamenco tour. We went off to a random bar where the tapas came free with the food. It was great - two drinks was 3 euros and the tapas included whole baked potatoes with aioli. Very nice. The Flamenco kicked off about 10:30 and for the next hour and a half we were treated to a fabulous concert of Spanish vocals and dancing. It was fabulous and I cannot rave about it enough. Remind me when I get back and I'll show you the photos.
We got up and went to the bus station and on arrival instantly regretted not buying our tickets for Madrid when we'd arrived. The queue was pretty long and pretty slow. Still, we had 45 minutes to make the 10am bus, should be fine. Except then the computers died. Then they came back, a few people got tickets and they died again. And so on. Suffice to
Alcazar
Slipshod repair work after the earthquake. say that we made it to the coach with about 2 minutes to spare and were promptly told that we were on coach 3, which turned out to first be coach 5, then 3 and then potentially 5 but they decided that too many of us were mucking about. No idea what was going on on coach 4. It was hopelessly organised and a complete debacle. At the first rest stop, people were shifting luggage between the buses it was such a mess. You've been warned. It's not the most exciting bus ride, the scenery is nice, but not thrilling and I had to spend most of it pushing a sleeping Spaniard off my shoulder. Dozey boy...we were late leaving, later arriving and the traffic into the city was a mess, so by the time we actually got to the hostel and walked around our little bit of the Calle Atocha it was time for dinner and bed.
Madrid really failed to put it on for us while we were there unfortunately and we were both exhausted thanks to the most inconsiderate roommates in the history of the world and possibly the worst designed hostel ever. By the end
Alcazar
See the contrast in architecture? of the day we were both stricken with a bad case of the 'flu and it really does put something of a dampner on any visit anywhere. On top of all that, the weather really came to the party. When we were inside, it wasq dry and pleasant. When we were outside, it rained. Without exception. All day. It's one of those things that makes you think there's probably a little rain cloud just chasing you around and raining on your head and your head alone.
We strolled past the Palacio Real and admired the residence of King Juan Carlos before arriving at the Plaza de Espana to see the coolest statue in Spain, that of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The plaza was deserted so we were able to stop and admire the great work in the relative dry before we headed out again into the rain along the Caller de Gran Via past the Starbucks and McDonalds down to the Avenida del Prado. Madrid was really about visiting art galleries so that was where we headed off to.
Our first stop was the Reina Sofia, the modern art gallery in Madrid. There's one reason to go
La Giralda
The Belltower and Orange Garden inside the old Mosque walls. here and that's Guernica. Probably the greatest of Picasso's works anywhere and there is an enormous gallery devoted to it and it's creation. The collection of drawings and drafts sit on the walls around this most amazing work dedicated to the victims of the raid by Hitler's Condor Legion on the small northern Spanish town. It was a real pleasaure to stand and admire this most brilliant piece of art. I rather enjoyed seeing a small photo esssay by Dora Marr showing the huge canvas in Picasso's studio and seeing how the canvas developed into the great work. The other gems in the Reina Sofia include a number of excellent Miros and Dalis as well as some really wacky work done by the Spanish surrealists and the famous photographer Man Ray. I have now seen a ridiculous number of personages, stars and birds. It must be amazing to see life through the eyes of a surrealist painter. We also saw a fantastic exhibit on Spanish art and the art of Flamenco which was quite fascinating. Work by all the great Spanish artists was represented as well as some other well known painters including Renoir! All have painted on the subject
Cathedral
The view over the Orange Garden from the tower. of Flamenco and when combined with some avant garde works by people like Man Ray, flamenco has been instrumental (as it were) in the development of Spanish art!
After eating an excellent vege curry (I know!) we headed over to the Prado to see the other half of the great Spanish art galleries. Of course Dad says the Thyssen is the best of the galleries in Madrid. Of course. The Prado is the home of the older art collection in Madrid. The best bit was the El Greco exhibit, where the museum had collected all their El Grecos and examined them all very carefully pointing out which ones were by the master, which were by his studio and which were complete fakes! (They have a couple!) I really rather enjoyed them as well as the excellent collection of Goyas and Velazquez's. Now, wait, I've made a mistake. The best bit of the Prado is the room which contains the El Boscos - Heironymous Bosch was perhaps the most insane painter ever and his "Garden of Earthly Delights" is one of the best paintings, well, ever. We both stood for ages and scoured the painting, looking at all the crazy
La Giralda
A view of Sevilla and the church roof! little details that make it such a fabulous work.
I won't bore you with the intimate details of the bus from Madrid to Barcelona but I can strongly recommend avoiding it if at all possible. The coaches here are comfy enough, but eight hours cooped up in a bus with only one stop before Zaragoza and no stops from there to Barcelona it makes for hard travelling. It might have also been that Jen and I both were suffering from a nasty bout of the 'flu thanks to the rain and the useless roommates in Madrid. Now it does have some benefits - the landscapes of north-central Spain are simply magnificent and I spent a lot of time staring out the window (given that I can't sleep on buses...) The landscape is incredibly rugged and mostly desert but lorded over by some beautifully smooth snow capped peaks and while a good chunk of it was obcsured by low cloud, when I could see it, it was amazing. I also saw the bestest windfarm ever! 200 and then some turbines and every time I see one of these I can't help but wonder why people don't like them. So anyway,
Alhambra
The view from the Nasirid Palace. Lovely....! we made it, exhausted, sick and generally not to thrilled to Barcelona.
This wasn't such a good day. We were both still sick but there was worse news to come. Paula and Alex's plane was cancelled and they weren't going to arrive until Boxing Day. Cursed British Airways. Bugger was that we'd already done all the shopping when we found out! We had an interesting morning visiting the the huge fresh food market on Las Ramblas. We would have bought even more food, but it was probably good that we didn't! We spent the morning moving our stuff from the hostel into our apartment and chilling out a little bit. We spent the afternoon just wandering - we went up Passeig de Gracia and looked in the shops as well as at the two fabulous Gaudi buildings, the Casa Battlo and La Predrera. Both give a good impression of the style of the great master. We walked back down along the Avinguda Diagonal towards the Arc de Triomf. The Spanish have done a unique job with the Arc in Barcelona. It's an arch, and no mistake, but the similarity ends there. It's festooned with the coats of arms of
Alhambra
The interior courtyard. the cities of Spain and bats. Yep, bats. No idea why. We wandered along the pedestrianised street to the main city park before turning along the waterfront and having a closer look at the Mediterranean. It was a lovely way to end a long day watching the sun set over Barcelona Harbour before going back to our own little space for a nice quiet evening. It made for a wonderful change after nearly two months of hostelling it!
Christmas Day dawned and we stayed in bed, pretty much sleeping through Christmas! We got up for a traditional McEwen family Christmas feast of pancakes and bubbly, this year it was Freixenet - an excellent Cava from south of Barcelona that was once the staple of my family Christmases, until you couldn't buy it anymore! We went out in the afternoon to find Barcelona surprisingly less dead than we expected. We explored Las Ramblas properly in the afternoon, amazed by the fact that the pet sellers were out, as was the entire population of the city, happily just wandering up and down admiring the ridiculousness that is the living statue collection of Barcelona. I tell you what, these guys are incredible.
Alhambra
One more reflecting pool? Paula and Alex arrived in the early afternoon of the following day and we decided to go out and have a stroll round the Barri Gotico, the old town of Barcelona, where we cruised around the narrow cobbled streets and sat and had a good cup of coffee and a catch up. I tell you what, there's a lot to be said for having company while on your travels.
We kicked off the next day with a visit to the single most amazing religious building anywhere in the world. Now I've been into St Peters, the Umayyad Mosque, Notre Dame and umpteen other churches and mosques but frankly they all pale into comparison with the great Gaudi creation - La Sagrada Familia. It's incomplete, has been since it was started in 1883 and at the rate they're going, might not be finished until 2083! I kid of course. Jen reckons that in the 10 years since she was last there they've made some fairly impressive progress.
I don't really know how to describe the Sagrada other than to continually rave about how amazing it is. The Gaudi facade on the Eastern side is perhaps the most famous example
Alhambra
The other end of said reflecting pool.... of the great master's style and the western facade is radically different, completed by a different modernist sculptor. The newer facade somehow still fits with the overwhelming style of the building and I happen to rather like the cubist style of the work. In the interior, much is covered in scaffolding and can't be viewed, but the main apse is almost complete and there's something to be said for looking up at the roof and seeing a view that looks terribly reminiscent of looking up through a tree canopy. Much of the parts that are complete can't be viewed at the moment as the ceiling above them is undergoing work, so well, I'll just have to go back!
There are 10 towers complete now, of the 22 that were proposed, and a lot of work is now going into completing the apse and covering over the nave of the cathedral so that construction can begin on the large central tower. Each of the towers represents a person from the Bible and the large central tower, representing Jesus, is going to be huge. It's a fabulous building and needs to be seen from afar as well as up close to
Alhambra
The Lion Court Portico. realise how it will eventually look!
After lunch we caught the subway up to the north of the city and went a-wandering through the Parc Guell. Built by Gaudi in the 1910s and 20s for his patron, Senor Guell, the park was a commercial failure, but remains to this day as a masterpiece of modernist landscape design is an important stop on any Gaudi tour of Barcelona. The gatehouses are worth a mention just for their almost exaggerated Gaudi-ness and the road up to the top of the hill is worth the trip to admire the three viaducts that Gaudi built to see the way he worked on a much more basic level. We stopped in at the Gaudi House museum (Al's Top Travel Tip - buy a combo ticket at the Sagrada and save 3 euros!) and checked out some of Gaudi's interior design work in the house where he spent the last 20 odd years of his life. Art Nouveau in extreme! It's a lovely little place to go a-wandering in the afternoon and to see the views of the city, including the Sagrada Familia, and watching the sunset.
We rose early the next day and
Alhambra
Another reflecting pool.... headed off up the funicular to the top of Montjuic, the Jewish Mountain, named after the amazing cemetery that runs around the bottom of the south side of the hill. We rode the cable car to the very top and spent some time wandering around the castle taking in the amazing views of the city and sea, watching the port and hunting for Jennifer. It's really worth the trip up to look back at Barcelona and see the Rambla from on high and to admire the Sagrada Familia and it's spectacular place on the city skyline. Back down the cable car, once again not playing conkers with our vehicle, we walked through the botanic gardens down to the Fundacion Joan Miro which we skipped thanks to the enormous queue and on to the singing fountain, which wasn't, and to the Placa Espana, which also wasn't. Spanish that is. It was a roundabout worthy of the French! We had an excellent lunch in a little Barcelonan pub and then rode back up the hill to the Olympic Park on a train of random outdoor escalators! We admired the so-called “forest of steel and concrete” on the forecourt. We weren't able to
Alhambra
El Generalife Gardens. Lovely aren't they? visit the exhibition on the '92 Games thanks to the time of year and the tower with the torch on it was under scaffolding. Why does that always happen to us? Back down the hill we decided against visiting the Poble Espanol since they wanted to chrage us an 8 euro cover charge to get in. Bit excessive for something they want people to see!
Then it was our last day in Europe and just like that, our little jaunt across the continent was over. We had a nice enough flight to Heathrow although Iberian behaves like a budget airline without the cheap tickets. Heathrow was a bit mental and because security there is a) insane and b) pointless we spent ages sitting around in the terminal building waiting to be let through passport control. Al's Top Tip for Terminal Three - there's a sneaky bit after x-ray where they make you take your shoes off. Be ready! Even better, wear jandals! And so with a 12 hour flight on which we saw the edge of the Gobi Desert, we were in Asia.
With that in mind, I'm signing off now from our hotel room in Hong Kong
Alhambra
The Palace of Carlos V. Hideous. and I guess we'll see you all in a couple of days. I hope you've all enjoyed reading my random accounts of places we've been and things we've seen. I trust everyone had an excellent Christmas and New Year and are enjoying the break over the holiday season.
Talk soon and in person,
Al and Jen
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0403s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Ruth
non-member comment
La Alhambra
Damn you guys! Josh and I got to the queue at 6am and there were already 50 people there. We had to wait for so long for a ticket as if you got there any later you missed out. Worth the wait though - your photos are great!