Category Archives: Spain

Our last day in Spain is also a transition day – and a long one at that.  Up early to get showered, packed and out to the Alhambra in time for our 9 am visiting time to the Nazrid palace.  We had no idea what that actually meant until we got there but afterwards it all made sense.  There reallly are no words to describe the Alhambra adequately – Versaille is the closest comparison I can think of but that still doesn’t fit as the timing and the details are wrong although the scale is pretty close.

It is a set of palaces that were first built in the 13th century and then added to by a series of sultans before the Christians took over in the 1500s and built their own buildings (churches of course and Charles V needed his own palace.)  While factual and correct, that description even come close to describing the amazing architecture, ceramic work,  and intricate moldings and carvings that cover every square inch of wall floor and ceiling in every room of all the palaces.  The lion plaza was all dug up as they were restoring the lions and doing archaeology work in the courtyard so we couldn’t fully appreciate what is apparently the centerpiece of the palaces but we were impressed nonetheless.

The views from the tower walls of the mountains and the city of Granada were breathtaking. And there were the gardens of the Generalife (???) which were nothing short of stunning with flower arbors and beautifully trimmed hedges on multiple levels and fountain after fountain.  The guidebooks suggest planning for 3 hours for your visit – we were just shy of 4 hours and we didn’t even try to see everything – there were entire sections that we didn’t have the energy for – even after stopping for a cafe con leche and a snack!

What was almost as impressive as the sight itself is the precision with which the tourists are handled by the staff.  I’m sure there are military manouvers that aren’t as well planned and orchestrated!  The timed entry tickets to the palaces make sense because there are so many visitors that you need to control the flow of people through the buildings – we were in a time slot that was not sold out and it was still very crowded.  I’m tempted to make a joke about the two Japanese tour groups we had to contend with but I think I’ll leave well enough alone! In addition to having a specific time slot for palace entry, there are sitogns everywhere helping you to “decide” how to continue your visit.  No decision really – you will go through the grounds in the order and manner that has been dictated for you.  There are a few places where you actually get to choose where to wander on your own but they aren’t the important things that you want to see.

And keep those tickets handy!  There are several sections that you are clearly told that you only get to visit once and they scan your ticket before granting access to those areas.  And they scan them again at random other points in the grounds and we weren’t quite sure why. All in all though, it made the extra drive to Granada well worth it – even if the MC Escher exibit in the Charles V palace was temporarily closed because they had just finished a music festival there…  😦

And so we wandered around Granada a bit more – making sure we made the most of our last day in Spain before having our last late lunch (with sangria of course!) and then beginning the drive south to Malaga for the flight home.  I wish I could say I was looking forward to it but that would be lying.  If you have never flown Ryan Air, think of Greyhound but with wings.  They really define “budget” airline – there is a charge for *everything* including water, priority boarding and online check-in.  This is the airline that was rumored to be considering coin operated lavatories and standing room tickets.  Yup, that cheap.  We didn’t choose it for the price but the destinations:  it’s one of the few airlines that still flies into Prestwick airport which is no more that 5 miles from my cousin’s house and therefore extremely convenient! I didn’t like the 9:30 pm departure time which meant that someone would have to come pick us up at midnight but Stephen’s a champ and came through even though he has to work tomorrow.

But the big question remained:  what about the sword?  We had paid for a checked bag each (more than the actual tickets I think) but now we had 5 checked pieces.  Two hours before the flight was due to depart, they opened one ticket counter for check in (yup, one) and we all queued up.  After about 30 minutes, it was our turn.  We had no problem with the actual cases as we had worked very hard to make sure they were all under 20k (I paid extra for the 20k limit – it’s cheaper if your cases are less than 15k but we couldn’t be sure).  But we had 5 items not 4.  Had we declared this when we booked the tickets, it would have been an extra 45 euro – assuming they would let it on the plane.  Now we had this weird green shrinkwrapped thing (we paid the guy at the airport to wrap it in cellophane to protect it) and it wasn’t expected and doesn’t look like a suitcase.  They stared at it, asked what it was – it had become a “decorative wall hanging” for this situation – and decided that they’d let it on but of course we’d have to pay the “2nd bag paid at the airport” fee of 80 euro!  Grrrr…. It almost made me wish we had paid the 140 in Toledo and avoided all the pain.  The guy behind the counter looked at me expectantly as if I actually had a decision to make – if I didn’t pay, it didn’t go ergo, we paid.  Frank owes me big time for this one….

After that the flight was relatively uneventful.  We grabbed bad airport food before standing in another queue to get on the plane and participate in the free-for-all of finding seats.  Luckily we got two sets of two right in front of each other and the three hours of boredom began.  But we landed on time in blissfully cool 14c weather and were promptly collected and taken to the Bargh household where minor revalry commenced before a very late bedtime.

Three things we noticed today:

1. Tourists in a particular city run into the same tourists everywhere.  The couple in the lobby of our hotel when we checked in were on our tour of the Alhambra then next day.  The family sitting at the table next to us in a restaurant for dinner we see in the shops later that day.  It’s a little creepy actually.
2. RyanAir is an example of the ulitimate in capitalism: bare bones, no frills and they even sell advertising space on the overhead bin doors so it’s a little like flying in a subway car – especially since the seats don’t move.
3. European airport security doesn’t want you to take off your shoes.  Really, please don’t.

We’re nearing the end of our Spanish journey.  Today was another transition day where we changed cities from Sevilla to Granada.  We started with breakfast at the dining table in the suite – rolls with incredible cheese and ham (okay, rice cakes for me but the fillings were great!), yogurt and chocolate croissants with take away coffee and juice from a local coffee shop.  That got us up and on the road by 10 am for the 3 hour drive to Granada.  I’d like to say it was a charming drive but it was 200+ kilometers of olive groves, sunflower plants and lots of brown.

We got to Granada just before lunch and the rooms weren’t ready so we started to wander around town.  This place seems to have much more of a “big city” feel to it as there doesn’t seem to be an old town proper like there has been in most of the other cities we’ve visited.  We had a light lunch at a cafe on one of the many squares because it was hotter than Hades!  Then we traipsed back to the hotel to get things sorted.

First on the agenda was to print out our boarding passes for tomorrow’s flight to Scotland – I can imagine that I’ll have an entire chapter to write about our Ryan Air experience but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.  Second, head to the Alhambra which was the entire reason we came to Granada.  We headed out and encountered our first raindrops of the entire trip.  It lasted about 10 minutes (during which I was afraid I would break my neck on the smooth wet marble-tiled sidewalks!) We found the local bus – our first experience with public transportation this trip – and headed up the big hill to the big palace. That’s when we found out that there were no more tickets for today!  When the guidebooks suggest booking in advance, they mean it!

So back down the hill to book tickets for tomorrow (9am – ugh!) and do some shopping.  This was not my idea of a nice way to spend the day but apparently my teens were in need of European bargains so off we went.  We took a short sangria break – Gilly joined us this time – and then proceeded to close the shops down.  Net haul:  a windbreaker and cool new shoes for Duncan.  Finally, our last dinner of tapas and vino blanco before we spent the last hour or so wrestling with the cases to make sure that none went over the 20kg limit that I paid for.  Now to see if we can get the sword on as an extra piece of luggage – stay tuned!

Three things we noticed today:

1. Spanish cities have definite layers: the first ring of outskirts have furniture stores (muebles), the second has automotive industries, and the third is strip clubs.
2. A local store here sold Hammer pants style shorts for men – nuff said.
3. A 4 euro bottle of wine from the convenience store is as good as anything we’ve gotten in a restaurant.  We thought so last night when we first opened it but verified it when we finished the bottle during packing tonight.

(Still no wifi in hotel so typos are due either to BB thumbs or my inability to correctly work th Spanish keyboard on the computer in the hotel lobby. )

We’re trying very hard to like Sevilla but the city and circumstances are not cooperating. We started today by making one more attempt to ship home the sword. Unfortunately, this meant a journey in the car through the streets of the city which isn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy. We eventually found a DHL shipping center but alas, no joy – it can’t be shipped, reason unclear. We’ll have to pray that Ryan Air will take exorbitant amounts of our money to put it on the plane on Wednesday. Otherwise, anyone prowling through the dumpsters at Malaga airport will find a nice surprise!

Trying hard not to hold it against Sevilla, we parked the car and wandered out to try to restart the day. We found what looked like a lovely cafe in one of the plazas where people appeared to be eating breakfast – fresh squeezed OJ and coffee cups were in evidence – so we joined them. And were promptly informed that the only things on offer were tostadas, no huevos, so I got to watch everyone eat. Eventually we found a greengrocers and I got an apple but I confess that I was taking this personally.

We continued on, however, to the northern part of the tourist map to the Plaza de Espana and things started looking up. The government building and beautiful plaza with a fountain were charming – ceramic tiling everywhere including the railings and lamposts! The circular courtyard around the fountain was a popular place for horse carriages to drive leading my cynical teens to make jokes about Spanish NASCAR!

We then proceeded to the Real Alcazar – a group of palaces and gardens that is nothing short of amazing! We may not yet appreciate the city itself but the historical sites are incredible! Room after room of moorish architecture blended with Castillian style and colorful ceremics that was truly amazing! And the gardens inside the walls were also incredible – trees growing on multiple levels of the palace which I’m not sure I fully understand but appreciated nonetheless.

After we were historied out, we made our way to a lovely place for lunch and then hit a few of the local touristy shops before siesta (which might be habit forming!)

I opted for a shorter nap so I could have the bathroom to myself for a lovely bubble bath. Once we were all up and moving we picked up supplies for tomorrow at a local convenience store and then headed to the river.

A river walk may be just the ticket to make one appreciate a city. We saw lots of people in kayaks – including some who appeared to be playing water polo in their kayaks! Being resigned to being one of a zillion English speaking tourists, we took a river cruise which was far more relaxing than informative – possibly because I don’t appreciate bridges built in the 90s or the buildings constructed for Expo 92. But we did see our first clouds of the trip! Yup, it took 7 days for us to see even the whispy white ones we saw tonight.

Then dinner at a a “real” restaurant – meaning not a tapas bar – which was delicious albeit confusing: they brought Gillian the wrong chicken dish which we didn’t realize until she had eaten most of it and then they brought what she ordered but it was too late. An FYI: both restaurant today charged us for baskets of bread we didn’t actually order and at dinner we were charged “por entrada” – 4 euros entrance fee that went with our bread.

Three thing we noticed today:
1. Hotel shower gel is very versatile. You can use it to hand wash that extra pair of underwear and when you pour it in the jacuzzi bath tub and turn the jets on, you get the most amazing bubbles!
2. Business men on scooter are both fearless and frightening. They are usually dressed in suits and dodge in and out of traffic in a very scary manner.
3. Dry heat means you need to consume ridiculous amounts of liquids – even sailing on the river, you get parched. We’ve opted for a combination of agua y sangria and have fared pretty well, thank you very much.

After a later start than usual on this Sunday morning, we packed up the car
and headed out of Córdoba to the outskirts to visit the ruins at Medina
Al-Zahra. We stopped for a quick breakfast at a casino (?!) where no one
spoke English and there was no written menu. Go Duncan the super
translator! Turns out that you could have tostada, tostada, or tostada
(yup, toast!) which was not really for me. Duncan managed to get me two
fried eggs (not quite as green today) and the others enjoyed the equivalent
of half a toasted baguette – Gilly’s with jam and the boys with crumbled
Iberian ham, crushed tomatoes and olive oil.

Thus fortified, we headed to the  Muslim settlement dating from the 10th
century that was the capital of Muslim Spain. The ruins were really
interesting and there were active archaeological worksites all around. But
it was hot!  We melted climbing through the  kitchen and governor’s rooms
and the like. So back to the air conditioned car for the 1.5 hour trip to
Sevilla accompanied by Spanish guitar music – from a CD of the trio that
played during our excellent dinner the first night in Córdoba.

The new Spanish highways proved a bit confusing for Sally, our fearless GPS
system and while she had no problem with the old streets, we kept losing
the signal in the little alleyways.  We eventually found the hotel (which
is right on one of the big plazas so it shouldn’t be *that* hard!) and were
confronted by our first disappointments.  While I have nothing but great luck with the website Booking.com especially with European hotels, this is the first time that things weren´t exactly what we wanted.  I booked a nonsmoking suite with a double and two twin beds.  We got a smoking suite with a king size bed and a sofa bed and the wireless isn´t working.  And the Sunday desk staff were not really up to scratch as far as making changes.  So we carefully assessed the smell of smoke in the room (none) and the size of the sofa bed (adequate) and decided that it would do for now.

Then off to see Seville.  We had lunch at a lovely taverna near the cathedral and all was going well until Duncan spilled his vino tinto all over my black skirt.  I managed to wring most of it out but I still smelled like a winery.  Nontheless, we decided to tackle the cathedral since it seemed appropriate to get some Jesus in on a Sunday even if we did smell funny.  It was really impressive, I must say if for no other reason than the fact that Christopher Columbus is buried there.  Pretty cool!  The main altar is way over the top for gold plating and there is an altar plata (silver altar) which defies the notion of polish.  In addition, there is the amazing Giralda tower attached to the cathedral – the bottom two-thirds were originally a minaret from a mosque built in the 13th century.  We´re really getting our Moorish exposure!  The cathedral brags that it is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and I can believe it!  After more than an hour (and several hundred photgraphs), we went for the obligatory siesta.

After a short nap and showers, we ventured out again and wandered the city to find a good place for dinner.  Since we had such good luck with Trip Advisor in Cordoba, we thought we´d take their advice again and headed to the most highly rated restaurant in Sevilla.  Unfortunately, our luck didn´t hold out.  While we enjoyed the meal, it was nowhere near what we expected; we should have known we were in trouble when the told us the were out of albariño but said they would have a similar wine and tried to serve us gewurtstraminer!  Not the same thing at all thank you!

So we wandered through the gardens out side the Real Alcazar and went to another cafe for a last drink and desert.  Now I will tell an embarrassing tale on my spouse:  he had a major brain fart!  He had been doing so well with learning basic Spanish words but his mind must have just snapped because he accosted the closest waiter and blurted out ¨Sit?¨in a half command- half plaintiff cry.  This led to extensive peals of laughter and much joking for the rest of the evening.  Duncan enjoyed his first mojito in amoung snorts of laughter at his father´s expense but by the time we rolled into the hotel after midnight, all was forgiven (but not forgotten!)

Three things we noticed today:

1. TripAdvisor is not always right.  We could see where the restaurant we chose could have been wonderful but we were disappointed by the fact that it wasn´t for us.
2. The fans you see Spanish women carrying are not an affectation:  they help with the heat tremendously and I have now made my souvenier fan part of my daily wardrobe.
3. More English is spoken in the streets than Spanish.  This is the first city where there have been more people conversing in English (with a huge variety of accents) than in any other city we´ve visted so far.

We didn’t even try to start as early today since it’s a Saturday and we were out pretty late for us last night.  We managed to get breakfast around 10 am and there was no “just coffee and toast” for the Cannon clan today – we were hungry and wanted a real breakfast! Naturally, it came with fries (patatas fritas) regardless of what you ordered so I opted for the fried eggs and bacon.  Now I know that I have mentioned the acres of olive trees and the ubiquitous fruit they bear which appear on the table at nearly  every meal; in addition, I got confirmation this morning the the oil is also generously employed in local cooking.  How do I know?  My eggs were slightly green from the olive oil they were fried in!  Small puddles of it gathered in the wrinkles of the whites giving it a bit of a green ting. So if you consider that my bacon was more like back bacon than American streaky bacon, I can now say I’ve had green eggs and ham.  The Dr. Suess lover in me is pleased.  (Not sure that my doctor would be though.  I know that olive oil is supposed to be  a “healthy fat” but I’m not sure that it still applies when consumed in such quantities!)

Thus fueled, we were off to conquer the city before the heat conquered us (forecast was for triple digits temperatures again today!) and so we wandered the around the shopping district admiring the local color (and dress sense – we are obviously tourists without even speaking!).  We also have been noticing the number placement of churches around the city.  The tourist guide lists 16 in the old city and we’ve wandered past or into many of them.  Some of them have unassuming doorways between two tiendas o cervercerias but those gates open into lovely courtyards in front of parish churches that are both ancient and beautiful!  I have to say, the gilt and lavishness of the decoration in even the local churches makes the protestations of the Reformation completely understandable!

But nothing in this town tops the Mezquita – the mosque turned cathedral.  We wandered in at the stroke of noon to be completely amazed at the moorish architecture (900 columns connected by red and white striped arches) dating from the mosques building in the 8th century.  The beauty and color of the Muslim decor has been completely overtaken by the decorations of the Christian faith that claimed the building for their own in the 13th century.  It is now the seat of the diocese and there has been mass said there every day without exception since 1236.  In fact, there was a wedding going on in one of the chapels while we were there!  Not that it was much of a big deal to use one of the chapel – we counted 56 of them!  And that didn’t include the main altar and choir space right in the middle of the building.  Truly impressive!

But we couldn’t leave out the other major world religion represented here – most of the interesting buildings and restaurants/shops are in the Jewish quarter where we found one of the only 3 synagogues still in Spain.  Interestingly enough, we walked past at least of the other two as they are both in Toledo!  Had we but known, we would have made more of an effort to visit.

The rest of the increasingly hot daylight hours were taken up with propping up the local economy by buying locally made goods and enjoying the sangria and tapas combination that is easily found everywhere here.  But by 4 pm, the heat was too much so it was back to the hotel for an air conditioned siesta before wandering out again around 8 pm for a light meal and a flamenco show!

We actually found a restaurant with GF dishes marked and it just happened to be the #3 restaurant listed on Trip Advisor so off we went for an early meal (9:15).  Normally, I complain about always having to eat salads but tonight it was just the ticket with a lovely fruit salad and decaf coffee (first time we’ve seen it in Spain) to round out the evening.  Then to the flamenco show.  I have no idea if this was a tourist trap or the real deal but in someways it didn’t matter because we thoroughly enjoyed it.  “The boys” got in on one ticket (yes, even in Spain people mistake Gillian for a boy although Duncan thinks it was a literal translation of “los chicos” which is used to mean “the children” as well.) I didn’t care why, I was just happy that we got a two-for-one deal for them.  The guitar playing was wonderful and the vocals interesting.  Frank and I noticed the Muslim influence (several passages sounded like they should be calls to prayer for Mecca) but Gillian thought they sounded kind of whiny.  Regardless, they worked with the dancing which was fabulous!  It’s certainly not just the Spanish version of tap dancing and the costumes were incredible.  (Not to mention that the male dancer looked remarkably like John Turturro in “Mr. Deeds”)

But now we’re up way past our bedtime….

Three things we noticed today:

1. There are no clocks anywhere.  Not in our hotel rooms, not in the shops, not in the restaurants, not in any of the cities we’ve visited.  It’s like Las Vegas that way….
2. Not all sangrias are created equal. I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many places we’ve taken a break with a glass of sangria but it’s enough to know that there are as many house recipes as there are houses but they all seem to be yummy.  Even the one we had at lunch today that obviously contained Sprite and fruit cocktail…
3. Flamenco dancers can walk on their ankles.  It made my legs hurt to watch them flex their feet to the point that their ankles touched the stage.

We were sorry to only have had one night to spend in Toledo – especially after  we learned about the special El Greco light show that was going to take place after our departure…. grrr. …

But leave we did and undertook the longest drive of the trip:  3 1/2 hours through pretty flat, dry land, mostly clay colored soil but miles and miles of olive groves as far as you could see.  We figured out how to change the rental car display to English and plug in the iPod so we had hair band music for the drive (nothing wrong with a little Motley Crue driving south on the Autovia del Sur!) We only needed one stop at a very modern rest stop (with an entire floor devoted to the sale of different kinds of olive oil!) before making our way to the outskirts of the old city of Córdoba.

We found the hotel, checked in and parked (no mean feat in this place!) and then set out on the most important journey of the day:  to the post office to try to mail home Frank’s sword.  Well, let me say that the Correos de España doesn’t quite have the same “can do” approach as our own USPS because they took a great deal of time and quiet conversation among themselves to decide that there was no way we could mail it to the US from Spain.  Ugh.

So after a lovely lunch (with chickpea and chorizo stew and several glasses of wine) we decided to not to deal with the weapon in this city but to enjoy ourselves instead.  Of course, this was after Duncan the Fearless Translator tried valiently to carry on telephone negoatiations with a private shipping company that ended in frustration and a quick “Adios.”

We knew that we were too fatigued to truly appreciate the Mezaquita (the Cathedral-Mosque) so while we wandered around being awed at the outside of the building, we opted to save the visit to the inside for tomorrow.  We didn’t have much else to entertain us, however, because most of the shops close between 2:30 and 6ish.  So we visited a museum at the other side of the roman gate to the city.  It was an interesting display of Islamic/Jewish/Christian harmony which gave a flavor for the multicultural history of the area but had the unfortunate implementation detail of unbelievably flowery language (“the soil then began to sing”) with bad pronunciations (unless there is a part of the English speaking world that  pronounces “patio” with a long A).

As the thermometer outside the mezquita read 40 degrees celcius (look it up – it’s really hot!), we opted to head back to the hotel for naps and/or dips in the pool (Frank opted for the former, Gillian and I for the latter and Duncan obsessed over his upcoming visit to UVA to choose his classes.)

After a brief sojourn, we headed back out to the old part of the city to visit a restaurant that we had seen on our wanderings earlier that just so happened to be the most highly rated eatery in Córdoba on TripAdvisor – and with good reason.  Luckily we were there early (9:15 pm!) and got a table for 4 at La Tranquera which outshined every other restaurant so far by a mile!  The staff was cordial and good humored with Duncan’s slow Spanish.  The food was amazing – I will never have a Spinach salad like this again unless there are other places that will smother it in Manchego cheese and Iberian ham – and the Rioja wine (at just 13 euro a bottle) was outstanding!  The three gluten eaters ended with what appeared to be amazing chocolate-based deserts and the finale was 4 shots of Frangelico on the house.  I’m not sure Gillian has recovered but she did take comfort in the street guitarists that chose to play right by our table.  (Have I mentioned that most of our meals have been al fresco?)

We took a full two hours to enjoy the meal and the music and the bill was embarrassing for how much we enjoyed it.  We then wandered back through lively city streets well after 11 pm and decided that we did, in fact, enjoy Spain very much.

Three things we noticed today:

1. The thousands of acres of olive groves that we could see on our drive south looked much healthier than the couple of hundred acres of sunflowers we saw wilting in the sun.
2. There is much more English being spoken in the streets here – and all with English accents.
3. Far too many restaurants have pictures of dishes on their menus instead of words.

Today we said goodbye to Madrid.  It was lovely and we enjoyed it but it was time to have our last desayuno aqui and head south.  We picked up the Audi A4 wagon and drove the mere hour south to Toledo in the province of Castille-La Mancha – famed home of sword makers and a certain knight errant created by Cervantes.

It took some creativity (and our GPS system) to find our way into the walled city but it was well worth it in the end.  Toledo is everything that you could want in a medieval city and then some.  There are as many ways in to the city as there are convents (today’s nun count stands at 4) as well as a couple of monestaries, a cathedral, a synagoge and a mosque.  Frank thought he was “Jesus’d out” yesterday after the Catholic art extravaganza at the Prado but we added a few more bits today with a visit to the most ornate cathedral I have ever visited (and that might be saying something!)  It wasn’t that there was too much gilt (the Russians probably win for that) but that there wasn’t a single surface that wasn’t engraved, sculpted, inlaid or painted.  Absolutely unbelievable! It was well worth the visit (even if this old cathedral has also resorted to lightbulbs as votive candles…. sigh….)

We then proceeded to try to procure the one thing that we had come to Toledo to buy:  a real sword.  I have been assured by my spouse that none of his toy weapons will be used as such but still…. we wound up with a beautiful example of a  rapier with a swept hilt – hand made in Toledo of course where the university still teaches sword making.  I have no idea how we’re getting it home but I’ll worry about that later.  For now I am comforted by the fact that my spouse is happy and I am off the hook for a birthday present next month!

Then lunch at a small cerveseria in the center of the town where I had the most amazing lunch (white wine, melon with Iberian ham, roast chicken and chips and creme Catalan) for only 9 euros!  The rest of the family agreed that it was the best meal of the trip so far and then we were off again for more sightseeing.  This time to the monastery of San Juan del Reyes which is right by our hotel.  Beautiful old building with a special chapel dedicated to the martyrs of monestary killed in the Spanish civil war.

After all that religion, it was time for warfare:  off to the el Alcazar, the fortress that dates back to the Roman era with hints of Islamic occupation.  It was really an interesting military history of Spain but I am afraid that we were too tired to truly appreciate all of it.  We had an early dinner of tapas in a square by the hotel before retiring to take advantage of the jacuzzi bathtub in the room… woo hoo!

Three interesting things we noticed today:

1. Toledo might be a busy tourist spot but they are catering to Spanish, not American, tourists.  We met very few people who spoke English (yippee for Duncan again!)
2. Marzipan is the royal treat in this town. Nearly every second shop has “royal” marzipan for sale – usually shaped like some bread product even though it’s really just almond paste and sugar.
3. Cobblestones are really hard on your feet and lower back.  I changed shoes twice today and was still completely done in at the end of the day after climbing up and down cobbled streets that are all on hills.

And we’re on to day two in Madrid:  gonna get some religion and culture!  Started with some minor technical difficulties getting the safe to open and relock that caused a delayed start while the tech guy fixed things.  Then on to breakfast at a cervezeria (read: bar) where we found a waitress that translated “sin pan o harina o trigo” to “no gluten?” which made us very happy.  I ended up with fried eggs, ham and chips (you’d think we were in Scotland they way they serve chips at every meal!); Gilly had toast and jam (and my baguette which apparently it didn’t register for them to omit!) and Frank and Duncan wound up with ham and cheese toasties.  And cafe con leche – really good coffee!  The Spanish must love their coffee sweet because the size of the sugar packet that comes with every cup of coffee makes my teeth hurt if I just use half of it!

Then to the Cathedral for our religion lesson for the day.  We didn’t read up on it before visiting unfortunately and so much of the history was lost on us but it is very modern and the stained glass was beautiful.  The lady chapel was multistory!  But the modernity of the cathedral ruined one small point:  the candles that you can light at various chapels to say a prayer for a loved one were electric rather than real flame!  It just isn’t the same to put your one euro coin in and watch a light bulb flicker.  I know my mom will understand why I didn’t “light a candle” for her today.

More impressive than the cathedral itself was the neo-roman crypt underneath the church – unbelievable!  Like Westminster Abbey, people are being buried under the floor and in crypts all over the building (which is pretty much the same size as the church above!) but the dates are 1995 or 2009 rather than the 16th and 17th centuries.  (Again, pictures will be posted when the wifi likes us more!) The church and crypt are celebrating the centenary of their dedication and on the wall was posted a list of the rules for plenary indulgences – anybody see Dogma?

Then to get some real historical perspective, we visited an Egyptian temple from 2 BC which is not far from the cathedral and royal palace!  Unbelievable!  There were rooms dedicated to Osiris and another god and visible hieroglyphs on the walls.  Unfortunately, it was constructed there in 1969 rather than existing there for 2000 years but it was still pretty cool.

Then to the culture part:  a visit to the Prado!  It’s the Louvre for Spanish artists and is pretty impressive.  We must have some really good karma because we had no lines to get in today just like we had no lines to get in to the royal palace yesterday – and today the line for the palace was 50 people deep!  In addition, the woman selling tickets to the Prado decided that Duncan wasn’t 18 yet so both of the kids got in for free.  He’s quite pleased that the waiters at the restaurants who have been serving him sangria don’t have the same problem!

We spent a couple of hours looking at the masterspieces that were recommended  – unfortunately none of the artists are real favorites of mine – before grabbing another lovely lunch at a cafe across from the Bank of Spain (yes, I am that geeky!)  Gillian went to take a nap while Frank and Duncan and I wandered around Madrid some more.  I bought some adorable sandals – the women of Madrid really know how to do footwear!  Even if they aren’t dressed to the nines, they always have the cutests – or most interesting – shoes!  So now I can join in (my Tevas aren’t *really* styling!)

Gillian joined us for one last shopping expedition:  espadrilles!  Apparently, you can’t visit Spain without getting a pair and they look just like the Toms shoes that Gillian has been begging for at $50 a pop.  Tonight we got a pair of locally made ones for 10 euros!  Duncan even got a pair to kick around in while where here – he opted for the budget pair at 5 euro.  We walked past the store that is written up in Frommers and therefore has a  long line of tourists and went to another store nearby where we were the only ones speaking English.

Well Gillian and I were speaking English – Duncan has been doing a phenomenal job as our translator!  He doesn’t always remember the word he needs when he’s speaking but he understands nearly everything that’s being said and has done a great job of making sure that we get extra towels, the in-room safe fixed, and something I can eat without getting sick.  Go Señor Duncan!

We did a lot more walking (why didn’t I bring the pedometer!) before settling down for tapas and a few pitchers of sangria.  Duncan seems to be really enjoying his adult status and tonight the waiter offered Gillian a glass but she isn’t very keen. Now to prepare to leave Madrid and continue our road trip!

Three things we noticed today:

1. MC Hammer pants are alive and well in Madrid!  It’s actually a little frightening but they have passed red skinny jeans for the strangest fashion trend noticed this week.
2. Madrid is a phenomenally clean city.  Everytime we turn around, someone is sweeping the streets and there doesn’t seem to be that lingering odor of urine in every alley.
3. There are no flying bugs.  No mosquitoes, no gnats, no midgies, nothing.  I thought I saw a fly at dinner tonight but I might have been wrong.

P.S.  For those who have been paying attention over the years, the nuns are back.  We saw one yesterday but I didn’t pay much attention since it is a very Catholic city.  But we saw 6 today at various times (and one monk which still puzzles me!) so the holy crusade is apparently still on!

I’m not sure why we were surprised that the Irish airlines flight to Spain on Independence day wasn’t full but there you go:  we had great bulkhead seats and there were loads of empty seats to spare.  Kudos to Aer Lingus for a smooth trip and no problems.

After making our way to the hotel to find that our room wasn’t ready at 9 a.m.(no surprise there) we dropped off our bags and went, sleep deprived, to explore Madrid. We headed first to the Royal Palace, a supposed “must see” and it did not disappoint.  Like lots of other European palaces, there was gilt and too much everything everywhere – including a room where the walls were completely made of porcelain and a room with vines and flowers on the floor, ceiling and wallpaper!  The most impressive part though was the royal armory.  I’ve never seen so many samples of horses in armor in one place.  And, appealing to the Muppet lover in me:  the suits of armor were all worn by squishy purple velvet people!  Jim Henson would have loved it!

The sun was pretty intense by the time we finished around noon but when you were in the shade, you didn’t notice the 30 C temperatures – it’s a dry heat!  (which means that your eyeballs and throat get scratchy!) We wandered around the Plaza Major, the Plaza del Sol and stopped in a few shops before finding a nice place for lunch (paella for starter, pork loin and chips for main course, wine and rice pudding – 10 euros!)  Then back to the hotel for a much needed nap!  Got up around 6 and showered before wandering out again all over the city.  We found people queuing for hand made canvas shoes and queuing to get into the oldest restaurant in the world (according to Guinness).  We are going to go back the street with all the shoe makers off the Plaza Major because there were some really cute hand made shoes for not a lot of money…. 😉

Finally around 9:30, we were tired of traipsing the streets and found a cafe with outdoor seating, good paella and sangria and we had dinner.  Duncan had is first sangria (two actually!) and the day was topped off with a Mariachi band (I thought they were Mexican!) playing in the Plaza and a large crowd singing along.  Now it’s time to plan the day tomorrow and try to get a full night’s sleep.  Pictures to come but the hotel wifi doesn’t seem to want to play tonight.

Three things we noted today:

1. We saw many more gay men in Madrid than women and they have an interesting sense of style – although “manpris” (capris for men) are not their exclusive territory.)
2. We’ve heard lots of English being spoken – most of it with an Australian accent.
3. The local grocery store has an entire wall of GF goodies.  I was in heaven.