Madrid -- the palace and a ride in the park

We started the day by pulling our suitcases about a kilometer through several plazas to our next hotel. We had tried to get this same hotel for three nights, but it was full, which is why we had to switch hotels. It was early in the morning and not busy yet, so it was an easy walk. Since our room wasn't ready yet, we stashed our luggage in the hotel's luggage room and then hit the streets. Madrid has a bike rental system called BiciMad, similar to the London cycle hire system, except that the bikes are e-bikes. 

Well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try those, and there was a bike stand close to the hotel, so we went straight there. It took a bit of time to figure out how to sign up as tourists, but once we did, we took the bikes and rode to the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Photos are not permitted, so I was a good girl and didn't take any, but I thoroughly enjoyed touring the palace. The royal family does not actually live here anymore, so it is strictly a tourist site. A couple of interesting things -- teachers get free admission to the palace, so if I had brought my ATESL membership card, I would have saved 11 euros. Next time. The other interesting tidbit is that the king of Spain is 6'5" tall. There's a family portrait in the first room you enter, and he towers above mom, dad and his siblings. It is really quite weird. 

These photos are not my own, so I've linked to their websites.

Royal Palace of Madrid

Throne room

The room below, the Porcelain Room, was one of the most interesting. The entire room, walls and ceiling, is covered in porcelain.

And I really wish I would have broken the rules and taken a photo of the Sphinx table. Not the legs, which are sphinxes, but the table top, which is inlaid with various stones and is simply breathtakingly beautiful. If you enlarge this photo (which shows the king signing away his right to the throne so that his giant son can take over) you can see some of the detail, but I couldn't find a photo just of the table top.

After wandering around the palace, we were ready for another bike ride, so we found another bike stand and rode to El Retiro park. This is a large park on the east side of the city centre. It dates back to the 1600s. There's a large pond where you can rent boats (we were enjoying the bike ride, so we didn't go on the water!)

and we rode past a big grove of almond trees, which were in bloom. 

I didn't stop to take a photo, so had to borrow this one:

The grass was green and the sun was shining, and we could totally forget that back in Edmonton there is snow on the ground and the temperature was minus 10 instead of plus 15! The path we took through the park was a fairly steep uphill, so we had a chance to test out the battery assist on the e-bikes. Pretty cool!

Madrid

February 25th -- Saturday

We had planned to take the train to Madrid, thinking we could book tickets the day before. Wrong. Well, technically, we could have gotten tickets, but they would have cost us over 250 euros. The cheap tickets were all sold out. Wow. So, we decided to fly instead -- much cheaper and about the same time, when you count airport transfers.

Planning to take the Aerobus, we walked back to Universitat stop where we had been dropped off, only to find out that the bus doesn't pick up passengers there. We had to walk another kilometer or two to Placa de Espagna. When we got there, the bus was waiting, so we were quickly on our way to the airport.

The flight was short and uneventful. From the Madrid airport we took their version of the Aerobus -- called the Airport Express. This bus was not nearly as nice as its Barcelona counterpart. It was so crowded that most of the passengers (including us) had to stand -- fortunately it was only about 30 minutes. We got off at the Plaza de Cibeles, and this was the sight that greeted us:

From this square it was a 1.7 km walk to our hotel, just off the Gran Via. The hotel room was beautifully decorated and had a gorgeous marble bathroom, but the room smelled of smoke, so badly that even after opening the window and turning on the built-in fan system, I still had to ask at the desk for a stand-alone fan. This was a one-night stop, as we had another hotel booked for the next two nights, so we were glad about that. 

The view from the hotel window was pretty constrained, but we could see this amazing old church. We tried to visit it the next morning, but it was closed up tight, with cast-iron gates and everything. 

After getting settled into our room, we decided to go out and explore, walking through plaza after plaza and past the Royal Palace. It's so huge that it was impossible to get a photo of the whole building. We decided to go inside tomorrow, since today's line-up for tickets was a couple of miles long.

We did go into the cathedral, which is right next to the palace and is huge and impressive.

Tarragona - ancient Roman ruins

February 24th Friday

Today we took the train to Tarragona, about 30 minutes from Barcelona. Unfortunately, it was raining steadily, but that didn't stop us from exploring the Roman ruins.

The amphitheatre:

An arch in the old Roman wall

And (below) -- the Cathedral - built in 1154. 

Throughout the town there are ancient squares and buildings, as well as numerous ruins. We toured the Cathedral and also the Pretorium Tower and Circus museum, which was really interesting.

The rain made our visit to this historical site a little less pleasant than it might have been otherwise, but it was definitely worth the trip.

In the evening, back in Barcelona, the rain had stopped so we walked to the Placa Espanya to see the magic fountain. I couldn't decide if it was cool or tacky, but it was definitely very popular!

Barcelona - Park Guell and la Sagrada Familia

February 24 - Thursday

Today we went to Parc Guell and la Familia Sagrada.  Both are amazing, unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere else.

We started by walking from the hotel to Park Guell. Outside our hotel there is a bike rental stand. The rental is cheap - 8 euros for 12 hours -- and of course I love riding bikes, so this was very tempting. However, I was not completely clear about how the rental worked, and when I saw that the bikes were single-speed, I wasn't sure what to think. Well, were we ever glad we had decided to walk. Park Guell is about 3 km from our hotel, almost all of it uphill -- a very steep hill. Maybe we could have made it on those bikes, but I am glad we didn't have to find out whether we could!



Photos simply do not do justice to this place and its complex and colourful structures, mosaics, buildings, gardens, etc. Also, as you can see, there were lots of people. We went quite early and the crowds grew steadily as the morning went on.

  

 

 

When we'd seen everything, we started off for la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's other hugely famous creation -- well maybe work in progress would be a better word.

After a pace-pushing downhill walk on narrow and fairly busy streets, we finally reached the park across the street from this famous church, where we stopped for lunch -- a fresh whole wheat baguette with cheese and meat from the breakfast buffet.

Our lunchtime entertainment consisted of watching this man feeding the pigeons. He actually got one to land on his hand.

And here it is -- the massive unfinished church that has been under construction for more than 100 years. 

The Nativity, with wise men and shepherds below

Barcelona -- a bit of Gaudi and a little Gothic

February 23 Wednesday

Today we explored Barcelona's Gothic quarter: the cathedral and the narrow winding streets.







We walked from the hotel along a route that included two of the famous Gaudi buildings.

As we passed this building, we saw this beautifully carved wooden door, and it was slightly open, so of course we had to step inside. The interior did not disappoint. The foyer was replete with stained glass and tiles on the ceiling.

 

No, we did not venture up the stairs, tempting though the prospect may have been. And when we went back out, we ensured that the door was securely closed behind us.

Also along the way we saw some other interesting apartment buildings

The Catedral de Barcelona was built around 1300 AD and is, of course, amazing. Big, elaborate, perfectly constructed.

We went up on the roof, which to my surprise, meant walking on a scaffolding. It was a little scary because it is quite high and sort of wobbly. But the view is fantastic.

We had a close-up look at the main spire, and could also see over the city and this cluster of bells:

After visiting the Gothic quarter of the city, we walked along the shore to the Columbus statue. It is big, and you can actually go up inside it, but we didn't. 

We continued walking until we came to the foot of Montjuic. Climbing this mountain was not an easy task, but well worth the effort. Dave wanted to ride the cable car. I wasn't so sure, as I am not exactly fond of heights, but I thought I'd give it a try. So we decided to walk as far as the cable car station and take it the rest of the way to the top of the mountain, where there is an old castle. These are some views of the city and the sea as we made our way up... and up...

This is the cable car station -- you can see how high above the city it is.

It turned out you are not supposed to get on the cable car up here -- you are supposed to board at the bottom of the mountain. So if we wanted to reach the top, we'd have to hoof it. It was a steep climb, but we stuck it out

and were rewarded at last with a visit to the castle and a stupendous view of the city.