Well, now I've been to Spain

February 20-21, 2017 - Well, now I've been to Spain...

and I can no longer truthfully sing along with the old Three Dog Night song...

We left YEG via Icelandair at about 17:00 Monday evening, stopping for about 2 hours at Keflavik airport before proceeding to London's Heathrow Airport.

There we had a four-hour wait before we could board our flight to Barcelona, so we decided to take advantage of our lounge pass that is a benefit of our BMO Mastercard. It took a bit of effort to find the lounge, but once there, we were glad we had persevered. They offer a free buffet lunch, with all sorts of beverages and light snacks as well as pasta and some other stuff. The food was not Michelin star quality, but definitely adequate.

Of course, there were also comfy seats and chargers for our phones and tablets. It was a nice change from the crowds outside in the main airport.

My favourite part of our lounge visit was watching two Asian guys, obviously having the time of their lives. They were taking selfies with everything in sight and really feasting on the buffet items. 

The flight to Barcelona was about two hours and after deplaning we caught the Aerobus to the city centre. From there, it was, according to Google Maps, an 800-meter straight-line walk to our hotel. 

This was the hotel we had booked using Air Miles, and it was superb. Comfortable room, nice tiled bathroom and a quaint "peeping Tom" view from the window. It was a shame we had left the binoculars at home!  
(just kidding)







The red-tiled areas are obviously people's yards -- on the rooftop of their building.

There was also an abundant and delicious hot and cold buffet breakfast. The fruit cups on the left, along with the kiwis, were my favourite. I must confess that we took buns, meat and cheese to eat for lunch.

Breda - June 27

June 27 ~ Breda

This was another town I had read about, and since it was not too far from den Bosch and fit nicely into my plans for my last day, I decided to visit. It, too, has a church and a tower, but this tower was also closed.

The Church of Our Lady was something else. I walked in and stood in awe, gazing around me. They were setting up for a concert, which is why there is a reddish light in some of the photos. 

The church is made from white stone, and it is truly beautiful. Construction was started in 1410. Its organ is from the 16th century and it is one of the largest in the Netherlands. It is definitely eye-catching.

The ceiling medallions and other decorations are simple, but perfect.


Some of the niches feature old, faded frescoes.

 

 

 

Again, it was raining the whole time I was here, so I didn't take as much time as I would have liked to explore and I didn't take many photos of the things I did see.

But there are some wonderful old buildings, beautiful canals, and pretty parks. 

I will have to come back some day when the sun is shining and the church tower is open!

When I'd had enough of walking in the rain, I went back to the train station and returned to Nijmegen. On the way I was wondering whether I should ride the bike back to Arnhem or take the train.

But by the time I picked up my bike from the parking lot, the clouds were parting and there was a bit of sun, so I decided to ride. And I was glad I did. It was about 6:30 when I left, and I fully intended to take exactly the same bike path back that I had taken there.

Somehow, that did not happen. After a significant junction at a minor train station (the same place I got off track the first time I rode to Nijmegen) I ended up on quite a different path.

Of course, a different path is not all bad, as it means I can see different things, like this flock of sheep grazing and these homes
situated on a canal with various types of small boats moored right outside their back doors.

And this rather random-seeming piece of airplane.










At this point, the bike path runs along the highway and I happened to catch a glimpse of a highway sign saying, "Arnhem 6 km." Shortly after that, there was a sign on the bike path saying, "Arnhem 10."

Okay, that is simply not fair. I didn't mind, though, as it was a beautiful evening and I was out to enjoy the ride. It was a perfect way to end my visit. My last day in Gelderland.

den Bosch ... or if you prefer: 's Hertogenbosch - June 27

June 27 - 's Hertogenbosch -- or for short, den Bosch

The name of this town means "The Duke's Forest" and it is the birthplace of Hieronymus Bosch, the famous painter. 


This statue of him stands in the town square. It is obviously a popular hangout for the men of the town!


I came here for two reasons: I had read about the church, with its tower, and about bossche bollen.

The first -- Sint Janskathedraal (Saint John's Cathedral) -- is one of the most elaborate structures I have ever seen. 

Unfortunately, the tower was closed. I stood in line behind a British family to buy a ticket but happened to overhear that the tickets they had purchased were actually for something else: a tour to get a close-up look at some of the carved figures either on or in the church wall. 

This family also wanted the tower tickets, so they were disappointed and annoyed (I don't know if they were able to get a refund) and I was very glad I had heard this bit of information in time. 

 

Construction of this church started in the 14th century and finished in 1530 -- almost 200 years later. 


It is "one of the largest and most impressive Gothic churches in the Netherlands." It certainly is large and it certainly impressed me!

  

It was raining quite hard while I was here, so I just made a quick tour of the old town, taking in some of the quaint and quirky buildings. I also went into a souvenir shop, where I bought a couple of things to take home. It is a beautiful city, but would be more enjoyable on a dry sunny day.

 

 And the second attraction: Bossche bollen -- Bosch balls. I bought two from this bakery (Jan de Groot) and brought them home. They were probably not quite as good as they would have been fresh, but still we had a chance to sample them. 

June 27 - back to Nijmegen and beyond -- den Bosch and Breda

Once again, the forecast was for thunderstorms and rain -- but the morning and evening were supposed to be nice. So, I went to the bike shop first thing, got the bike and rode to Nijmegen. Ths time I managed to stay on the right bike path and made it all the way with no deviations.

I passed this along the way. Guess what it is...

I am not absolutely sure, because there were no signs and it wasn't being used, but I think it's a place for children to practice riding their bikes and become familiar with street signs. 

I also rode through the town of Elst again -- the little town with the big church. 

I was hoping this tower might be open for a climb, but no such luck: everything was closed.

This statue sits right in front of the church. It represents the Elst horse and pony market, which dates back to the 10th century.

These red and cream window shutters are quite a common sight -- so pretty against the duller red brick.


And then ... the bridge leading across the Waal River into Nijmegen. 

Now, this is how you do a bike path and sidewalk on a bridge.

These turreted gates make the ride across  bridge even more interesting.


Below: more of the bridge's infrastructure -- you can see that cyclists and pedestrians are considered quite important here!

A somewhat hazy view of the city, including the church and tower, from the bridge.

This is the train station. Not far from here is the tourist information office, which turned out to be closed on Mondays. 

That was disappointing, but what can you do...? I could only hope that the church tower website was correct, stating that not only is it open on Mondays, but you can also see the bell-ringer at work.





It was true. When I got home and told Dave about this, he said maybe the bell-ringer works at the tourist office Tuesday through Sunday!

I rode around a bit (secret code for I sort of got lost) before finally arriving at the city centre. There was a street market in progress, so I parked the bike and walked. It's always fun to walk through the markets, especially when you don't need anything -- you can just enjoy looking and imagining what you might buy if you were a local. 


The market streets led down to the area where the church is located, so that was perfect.



 

 
These photos show some of the gorgeous old buildings in the city centre area, lining the streets that lead to a sort of close where the church is. The building (above right) with the red shutters is the "Waag" - weigh house.

 


 
 

 

This photo (above right) shows one of the streets leading down from the church close area to the river. This whole part of the city has a very old-world feel about it.

The church is so big that it is hard to photograph close-up.

As I approached, I could hear the bells from the tower, so I paid my €2 admission and started for the top via these winding steps.

This tower is set up as a sort of mini museum, showing how the original tower was destroyed during the war. There are displays of artefacts from the old tower, photos of the damaged tower and even a bomb splinter.

 

This tower has 183 steps to the top, so it is relatively short compared to some of the others, but the view from the top is spectacular  nonetheless. It was a cloudy, misty day, so everything looks a bit dark. I can imagine it would look fabulous on a sunny day.

And the bell-ringer. This is not at all what I expected, but it was fascinating to see her play.

This tower was kind of strange in that you had to squeeze through chain-link fencing and pipes like this from one set of stairs to another. Maybe this was because of the reconstruction; I'm not sure, but it was definitely quite different from any other tower I've climbed.

After coming down from the tower, I followed one of those winding roads down to the river. On my way back, I accidentally stumbled on the red light district and saw women seated in upper-storey windows, advertising their services. At 12 noon on a Monday! Admittedly, there were only three or four of them and the other windows were vacant.

Then I made my way back up to where my bike was parked. I had been trying to find another historic building called the Valkof, but although I saw signs for it everywhere, I couldn't find the actual site. So I finally gave up and went back to the train station.

On my way back to the bike parking spot, I went into a thrift shop. It consisted of 4 or 5 floors of some quite decent merchandise. I especially liked this section of furniture for dolls. The little doll beds and carriage were kind of tempting, even though I knew I'd never be able to carry them on the bike, not to mention bring them back on the plane.

At the train station, I parked my bike in this underground security-monitored parking lot. It was free and there were plenty of available parking spots -- not a lot but considering it was late in the day, there was a good selection of places to park. Once I knew the bike was safe, I got on the train, bound for "Den Bosch."