Madrid Day 5 – 02/04/2013

Posted on by

Sadly, today our trip came to an end. As we ended up having a lot of extra space in our luggage, probably because by this time in our lives we are expert packers, we were satisfied that we didn’t even need the extra bag. It was a tough morning to get through, especially since it meant that as soon as we step out of the door, we’ll be on our way back to California. The owner of the apartment came by and made sure everything was great and called a taxi for us, which was very nice to her.

As the time came closer to saying goodbye to our daughter once again, I realized studying in Madrid for a year was probably one of the best decisions she’s ever made. She grew up so much within the time she’s been here and has really learned how it feels to step outside of her comfort zone once again. It was difficult to say goodbye again, and I tried my best to hold back my tears but I knew that this time when we said goodbye, saying hello will be just around the corner.

Madrid Day 4 – 01/04/2013

Posted on by

Today we went to the famous bazaar and according to my daughter, the biggest street bazaar in Europe, El Rastro. The bazaar was huge and it went for blocks in each direction of the street. I couldn’t resist but to do a little more shopping while I was here. I was really eager to do shopping in Spain since the quality of everything has lowered so much back in California. Nevertheless, I got right to it and found some really beautiful jewelry and great bags.

After the bazaar we went to the neighborhood of Salamanca, where my daughter lives. It’s another shopping district in Madrid other than Sol and Gran Vía. I have to admit, that at that moment, shopping in Spain was like being a kid in the candy store. Everything they had in the stores was beautiful and fun to try on. I didn’t let myself get too carried away especially since it started to rain. When I finally decided I’ve had enough shopping, even though in Spain it felt like there would never be enough shopping, we went back to my daughter’s apartment, which luckily was only 2 or 3 streets down, and got our suitcases together to go back to our rented apartment. We put our bags down and decided that we should probably start considering packing since we have so much extra things to take back, not including some of my daughter’s belongings we were supposed to take back for her. We spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what to pack and not pack considering we just realized we need another bag.

When we finally finished shopping we went back to her apartment and started cleaning, just like parents did for their kids that went away for college living at the dorms. It took about 3 hours especially since we had to fix some of the flooring and her apartment was still under construction due to a water leak. After cleaning we went back to our rented apartment and changed to go meet one of our daughter’s good friends she made in the program and her parents. They were a great family and after eating churros and chocolate for 2 hours, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our place for a long night ahead of us trying to pack. I couldn’t believe that our trip was coming to an end right now and that we were really packing to go home. It went by so fast and it was incredibly hard to accept how fast 11 days went by in Spain. When you’re on vacation, nothing goes faster than time.

Sevilla Day 3 & Madrid Day 3 – 30/03/2013

Posted on by

Today is our last day in Sevilla and our third day in Madrid. We left Sevilla at 10:45am and arrived in Madrid at 1pm. Since we arrived to Madrid in the afternoon we were able to see a few sights in Madrid. We went to the museum called la Reina Sofía, which is the modern art museum in Madrid. Currently, they have the famous Guernica painting that expressed the horrific Spanish Civil War during 1936-1939. It was a beautiful painting, and sure enough we went to the gift shop and made sure to take some souvenirs with us. We went back to the apartment we rented right beside Plaza Mayor and spent a nice night in figuring out what we needed to do the next 2 days we were in Madrid.

To me, it was nice just to be with my family. It was months since we saw our daughter, and soon enough it’ll be time to say goodbye again until she comes home on July 1st.

Cordoba – 29/03/2013

Posted on by

Today we took a day trip to Cordoba, Spain. Its another Moorish influenced city in the south of Spain and a 45 minute train ride from Sevilla. If you’re spending a few days in Sevilla, I would recommend that you go to Cordoba for one of those days. Anyways, once we arrived to Cordoba, we went straight to the famous mosque or La Mezquita, which was a mosque that was converted into a church once the Catholic Kings kicked out the Arabs in Spain. It was interesting to see the mixture of the two religions in one establishment and how they converged together. I was very impressed by the detail put into the cravings in the walls by the arabs and artwork done.

After the mosque we went to the Puente Romano, which is the Roman Bridge that connects the two sides of the city. Like most Roman bridges in Spain, it has lasted thousands of years and it truly a well built bridge. The view of the city and the mosque when you get to the other side was unbelievable pretty. You would see the structure of the bridge, the monuments, and the mosques. We took a few more pictures and headed back towards the other side and started heading towards to the Jewish Quarter. It took us a while to get into the Jewish Quarter since we didn’t really understand how to enter the area. We finally had lunch and figured out that the entrance of the area was right beside us the whole time and we kept walking right past it.

The Jewish Quarter was very different than the rest of Cordoba. We saw the synagog and started to just walk around the area. We went to two really famous streets with just flowers on the walls. When we went into a gift shop I saw multiple postcards with the streets with flowers blossomed, so I assumed that was what Cordoba is famous for. We kept on walking throughout the Jewish Quarter and saw Puerta de Almodovar. We continued to see other sights around the Jewish Quarter and then stopped at a cafe. It took us quite a while to find a cafe since its Holy Week and it was Good Friday so most places were closed. When we finally did have one we got a few cappuccinos, and then called it a day and headed back to the train station to go back to Sevilla.

Tomorrow were going back to Madrid and we leave on Tuesday. I can’t believe how fast this week went by and how near the end of our vacation is close to an end. It’s been a good week of travelling around Spain and seeing the major cities in the south of Spain and going to Barcelona.

Cordoba Image Gallery

Sevilla Day 2 – 28/03/2013

Posted on by

Our second day in Sevilla, we first went to the Alcazar, which was close to the area we were in the day before by the park. The Alcazar of Sevilla is originally a Moorish fort, when the Moors came to Spain in 711. It is the oldest royal place still in use in Europe, and parts of the upper palace is still used by the Spanish royal family today.

In the Alcazar, there was a lot of Muslim architecture and beautiful gardens. We saw some of the most interesting gardens designs, but nothing matched the Alhambra, of course. In a way it kind of reminded me of a mini version of the Alhambra. What was even more interesting and unbelievable was the detail and artwork that was put into the whole palace.

After seeing the palace, we went to Sevilla’s Cathedral and the Giralda tower. Sevillas Cathedral is the fourth oldest cathedral in the world and the Giralda tower has a 360 degree view of the city. What I also like about these monuments in Spain is how much funding the government gives them. That it’s important for them to preserve and save the history of their country and that they put in the funding to do any necessary construction if necessary. The church was beautiful because they changed it up for the Holy Week. my daughter said that when she came to Sevilla with her study abroad program 2-3 weeks earlier, the church had different sections and looked different than it did that day we went.

Once we left the church, we made our way to find somewhere to eat. Since it’s Semana Santa in Sevilla, tourists are everywhere and the Spanish have a long weekend for religious reasons. So we had a bit of a hard time to find somewhere to eat. When we eventually found a tapas bar, where we ended up having Spanish food again, the service in Spain is non existent. We are so used to being so taken care of in the United States when we go to a restaurant that the service in Spain is very strange for us why they take so long to get your order. I ordered a chicken apple salad, my husband had a Sevillian dish called salmorejo y jamón and my daughter had a chicken kebob. After lunch we made our way to Triana, which is the neighborhood on the other side of the Guadalquivir River, which is the second longest river in Spain.

El barrio Triana, was very different than the other side of Sevilla. People from Triana consider themselves a different part from the rest of Sevilla and has a very strong flamenco culture. Also, it has a street dedicated to Christopher Colon and the supposed place that his ashes were thrown into. After walking along the river and the Triana neighborhood, we decided to head back to the hotel since we were so tired to hang for the main procession at midnight, La Macarena. We got ready for our day trip to Cordoba the next day!

Sevilla Day 2 Image Gallery

Granada Day 3 & Sevilla Day 1 – 27/03/2013

Posted on by

Our last day in Granada we headed to the train station and headed to the beautiful city of Sevilla. Our daughter has already been here because her study abroad program took a weekend trip to Sevilla very recently at the end of February. But this time around during Semana Santa, her experience in Sevilla will be different because of the religious celebrations taking place. According to some of her Spanish friends, the celebrations in Sevilla are famous within Spain and the catholic world. In fact, they are known as the best celebrations with probably the most religious people.

When we got to our pension in Sevilla, I knew right away I was going to be uncomfortable staying there because I’m very sensitive to clean sheets. Long story short, we got out of the pension that my daughter booked and checked into a brand new Hilton hotel. My daughter was a little mad at us for leaving the pension because we weren’t around the celebrations anymore, but I was very uncomfortable there and I knew I had to leave.

Once we finally got settled into our hotel room we set out for the city and the first place we went to was el Parque de Maria Luisa, where we saw Sevilla’s famous Plaza de Espana and a few more plazas that have beautiful buildings like the Plaza de las Americas. We spent our whole afternoon walking around in that park because we just couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. It was at that moment in the Plaza de Espana, where I realized that out of all the countries I’ve traveled to in my lifetime, Spain has got to be the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen! There is so much history and culture every part of the country that really defines how you perceive the city.

After we left the park, we had dinner at a tapas bar called Cien Montaditos, where we tried some Spanish tapas and I had tinto de verano, which is wine with lemon and sprite. I liked it a lot, and the food was delicious, which was weird because Spanish food is very bland and hard to get used to. We continued to walk around the city that night and saw one of the processions for the Holy Week taking place by the Sevilla Catedral. We saw a similar procession in Granada the day before, so it was interesting to see the differences in the processions in each city especially since Sevilla is known for their processions.

Sevilla Day 1 Image Gallery

Granada Day 2 – 26/03/2013

Posted on by

Our second day in Granada we had one objective: see the Alhambra. La Alhambra is a fortress built by the Moorish dynasty when the Arabs occupied the south of Spain for nearly 800 years until Isabel and Fernando kicked them out. Nevertheless, the fortress was incredibly amazing. We had a view of it from our condo’s window and we couldn’t wait to get there.

On the map it said it would take about 3-4 hours to see the whole fortress, and it took exactly that amount of time. We had already bought our tickets beforehand, which we were lucky because they were sold out of tickets when we got there. We entered the palace and went straight to Palacio Nazaries. In this section of the fortress we saw multiple gardens and beautifully built rooms. There was a lot of detail in everything, on all the walls, and columns, and everywhere in the palace. In fact this section of the fortress took 30 years to build because of the details in the cravings.

After we went to the Azacabar, which is another section of the fortress. Lastly we went to Generalife, which was the part of the fortress with the most incredible gardens and flowerbeds. We took pictures at the famous part of the fortress, which had the mini waterfall in the corner, and the springs of water.

When we left Alhambra, we walked to the center of the city and had another go at Spanish food at a tapas restaurant called Casa López and the food was definitely better and our daughter told us that this is how Spanish food is supposed to taste like, not what we had in Barcelona. The rest of the day we walked around Granada and did some shopping. Since its Semana Santa in Spain, we bumped into a parade, which blocked off any access to buses, taxis or cars going through for the rest of the day. Eventually we got tired and decided to go back to the apartment but had to go on a manhunt to find any available taxis. We dropped our things back at the apartment and luckily we were within walking distance to the Albyzacin, which is a plaza that has a panoramic view of Granada. Then we packed up our things and got ready for the next four days in Sevilla and Cordoba.

Granada Day 2 Image Gallery

Barcelona Day 4 & Granada Day 1 – 25/03/2013

Posted on by

It’s our last day in Barcelona and we got up bright and early before our train to Granada at 1pm to go to FC Barcelona’s soccer stadium. Being the first ones in line we got to see everything very quickly and still make it back in time for the train. The stadium tour consisted of seeing a museum dedicated to the teams past best players, best coaches and all the trophy winning achievements that they’ve won since the team started in 1889.

We saw all the recent trophies of the Copa del Rey, El Clásico and Super Copa winnings. We did a walk through of the team’s most memorable moments on the field with legendary players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Luis Figo and Messi. After the museum we took a family picture holding up a replica of the most recent cup they won and I took a group picture with the team. We bought the pictures and hurried back to the apartment, as our check out time was noon. When we got to the train station we were on our way to Granada and leaving Barcelona.

Barcelona was the beginning of our vacation and it was a great memory. It was a beautiful city and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity in my lifetime to see this beautiful city. I hope one day when the Sagrada Familia is finished, my daughter will be able to go back to Barcelona and see the church in its finished product.

The rest of the day we were stuck on the train and arrived in Granada at 10pm. When we arrived to the apartment we booked in Granada we were very impressed by the home. In fact it wasn’t really an apartment it was more like a condo. It was very well kept and a beautiful home. But of course not everything is as good as it seems, and the condo had problems with the electricity. It had a timer and a max amount of watts it could use and every time it hit that maximum amount the power would go out. So we had to turn off all the heaters that night and it was freezing, and function that way. To us, living in California and Canada for 18 years, problems with electricity were uncalled for and we forgot what it felt like. Nevertheless we made the most of it and called it an early night for La Alhambra the next day.

Barcelona Day 4 Image Gallery

Barcelona Day 3 – 24/03/2013

Posted on by

Our third day in Barcelona it was my birthday! So we took it a little easier so we weren’t so exhausted like the day before. The first sight we saw today was the Picasso Museum. In this museum you can see how the artist’s artwork changed and developed to the cubism that he is famous for. It was a very nice organized museum, divided into the eras of different types of artwork. We spent a good two hours in the museum and headed off to another Gaudí masterpiece, Hospital Sant Pau di Maig.

When we arrived at the hospital, we could see La Sagrada Familia, from the front of the hospital and realized we could’ve just walked there from the church yesterday if we wanted to. We took pictures of the hospital and unfortunately missed the last tour time but took our own initiative and walked around the hospital grounds on our own.

After the hospital we went to Gaudí’s very first building in Barcelona, Casa Vicens, which is currently privately owned and we couldn’t enter the home. When we got to the house we couldn’t believe that someone actually lived in that house and how much they must have paid for to own the home.

As we continued our easygoing day, we went to Barcelona’s beach, Barceloneta. Luckily, it had its own metro stop and we started walking on the beach boardwalk towards the beach itself. Barcelona’s beach reminded us a lot of Santa Monica’s Venice Beach. Our daughter nearly ran towards the beach as she doesn’t have access to any bodies of water in Madrid, and living in California with a beach that is 10 minutes away, not living with the beach is very hard to get used to. The funny part? Our daughter grew up west of Toronto, where winter is around more than 50% of the year with only three months of sunshine.

At the beach we met a man that was half Catalan and half Iranian. Sadly he had Parkinson’s disease so speaking to us in Farsi was very difficult for him. He was a very nice man and helped us out, telling us some history about Barcelona, the differences between Madrid and Barcelona and told us some sights to see if we have time in Barcelona and some more in Madrid.

When we got back to the apartment we were so tired that we just packed up for the next day and got ready to leave for Granada. But before we leave tomorrow, were going to FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium.

Barcelona Day 3 Image Gallery

Barcelona Day 2 – 23/03/2013

Posted on by

We had an early start on our second day in Barcelona at 9:30am in the La Sagrada Familia. Luckily, our daughter was thinking ahead and bought all our tickets to everything we had planned for the next two days the first night in Barcelona so that we wouldn’t waste time waiting in the lines. Everything we saw this day was works of Antoni Gaudí.

When we got to La Sagrada Familia, we couldn’t believe that it was as big as it looked. We saw pictures on Google but those pictures most definitely did not justify the church at all. We’ve been told that the lines for the La Sagrada Familia get so long that if you can get in, you’re lucky. Guess we were the lucky ones and we got to experience the church first-hand and we were completely mesmerized! Again, another masterpiece by the Spanish/Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí, and the saddest part we learned about the church was that he was recognized for being the architect the day after he died.

We had tickets to go up to the top of the church and got to see some of the most remarkable skylines in Barcelona. Majority of the church overlooked the entire city and at the end of the day we realized that the church was the center of all the Gaudí pieces in the city. Since Gaudí died before he was able to finish the church, the Sagrada Familia was left unfinished. Currently, there is a team of architects that are completing the plans that Gaudí left, but on the prototypes of the completed church, it looks like its going to take a very long time for them to finish building everything.

After the church we went to La Pedrera, which was within walking distance and relatively close. La Pedrera looked like a massive home, but in reality it was an apartment building that Gaudí built for the very wealthy Catalan Milà Family. When we walked into the building, it was surprisingly actually in the shape of an oval and the ground floor was an open area and when you looked up to the sky there were windows of all the rooms surrounding you.

What I like the most about Spain is that the government cares a lot and puts a significant amount of their budget towards the maintenance of historical and cultural monuments. In La Pedrera, we were able to see all the original furniture from when Gaudí first built the home. In fact, there was one floor dedicated to the work of Gaudí and where all his influence for his architecture came from, and surprisingly his architecture was very much influenced by nature and the textures of our earth. For example the shape of a sponge influenced the roof of La Pedrera and the shape of a tree trunk influenced the columns of the home. As we continued throughout the home we went to the very top leading to the terrace and overlooking the city. The terrace of the apartment was similar to the terrace of the Palau Güell.

We took a break for lunch and then after we headed to Park Güell, which was also built for the same family of the Palau Güell. Here we saw another true masterpiece of Gaudí, the whole park in general and more specifically the design of the seats and the famous salamander and lizard head situated in the front of the park. From the top of the park where seats with the colorful textiles, we saw another beautiful view of Barcelona. We took pictures of the park and continued to our last destination of the day, Casa Batlló.

Casa Batlló was another piece of Gaudí’s that was requested by a wealthy Catalan Family in Barcelona. In fact, this house is still property of the great grandchildren of the Batlló family and “all proceeds go to maintaining the home” since they get no help from the government because its still privately owned. All the walls of the floors leading to the top were blue or had blue tiles and at night the house lit up blue. Next to the home was Casa Amattler, which is famous for the artwork in the rooftop.

Everything we saw of Gaudí was remarkably impressive and at the end of the day we realized that Barcelona is beautiful because of Gaudí’s influence throughout the city and even his influence in the structure of other buildings.

Barcelona Day 2 Image Gallery