Usually I find it very difficult to answer the question “what was the highlight of your trip?” Not this time. It was hands down the Alhambra. If you ever find yourself near the south of Spain you must go! I’d say the surprise highlight of the trip was Lisbon. We sort of tacked it on to the end of our Spanish vacation but I think Portugal deserves a longer visit some time in the future.

Traveling with my mother was an absolute blast. She did a wonderful job making hour travel arrangements and building our schedule. The amazing thing is we did not stop talking the whole trip. Well that’s not quite true but we certainly never ran out of things to talk about and (over-)analyze. The trip absolutely flew by!

Here are links to all the entries in my 2008 Europe Travel Diary:

• Part I – Madrid
• Part II – The Alhambra
• Part III – Gibraltar
• Part IV – Barcelona
• Part V – Lisbon

Enjoy!

The full set of all my photos from the trip are here

We spent our last morning in Madrid at the Reina Sofia Museum of modern art. The main attraction was Geurnica, a painting by Picasso depicting the horrors of the first saturation bombing of a small Basque town. It was very powerful and the room of studies done in preparation was also quite interesting. The works in the museum were arranged chronologically and we hung in until about 1940 and but lost steam quickly. I have decided hat I have about one modern art museum visit in me per annum. That’s all I can take After the museum we had a long lunch in a square near our hotel and then caught a shuttle bus to the airport and a flight to Lisbon.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and set off for Belém. After finally figuring out how to buy a transit day pass from the machine we caught a subway and then a streetcar (trolly) to the Jerónimos Monastery. There were a lot of tour groups (I hypothesize a cruise was in town) in the church but the cloisters (which had an entry fee) were quiet. There was an orchestra warming up in the church while we were visiting and by the time we left the cloisters the church had been closed for rehearsal. Lucky we arrived at the right time!

After the monastery we walked to the Monument to the Discoveries honouring Portugal’s explorers and history of attempted world domination. Mom and I both quite liked the style of the monument. That’s Henry the Navigator at the front holding a model caravel. The fifth person back from Henry (holding the ring) is Ferdinand Magellan who was the first explorer to circumnavigate the world. For a full diagram of who’s who see this pdf.

After a Portuguese lunch (I had a fish and potato dish that was delicious, I think it was Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá) we visitied the home of the original Portuguese custard tart. Matt and I used to eat these when he lived in little Portugal in Toronto. Apparently only 3 people know the original recipe. They were just as good as I’d remembered, if not better! Plus how often do you get to try the original of something!

 

After our visit to Belém we did a walking tour through a few of Lisbon’s other neighbourhoods. We took a funicular up a hill (Lisbon is very hilly!) to a viewpoint and then wound our way back towards the city center. Then we took another trolly up to visit the Sao Jorge Castle.

Later that afternoon during our walk back to the hotel we stumbled upon a Ginjinha store. Well it really really more of a hole in the wall with a counter. Ginjinha is a local Lisbon liquor made from sour cherry like ginja berries, sugar and grappa. We shared a 1,10 euro shot for a little liquid sightseeing.

We spent the morning of our second day in Lisbon at the Gulbenkian Museum. It was the private collection of an Armenian oil tycoon and was donated to the city of Lisbon in gratitude for asylum granted to him during WWII. In about 2.5 hours we walked through art from 5000 years of human history. There weren’t a lot of pieces but each one was equisite. In the afternoon we took the metro out to the Oceanarium (Europe’s largest aquarium). I’m a big fan of aquariums and enjoyed the visit. I will particularly remember seeing a sunfish which is perhaps the ugliest fish I’ve even seen!

The rest of my Lisbon photos are here.

The next morning we were up early to start the long trek back to North America. It took me about 26 hours to get from our hotel in Lisbon back to my apartment in Seattle!

Next: Wrap-up

We took a 5.5 hour train ride from Algeciras back to Madrid. We spent the afternoon visiting the Royal Palace which we had been unable to visit on the first day of our trip. As one might expect, the palace was quite lavish. That evening we conquered Tapas. That might not seem like much of an accomplishment but it was for us. We’re not really the types to bar hop having a drink and bit of food at each place so instead we went to a restaurant fairly close to our hotel and sat outside on the patio. We ordered a pitcher of sangria and five different tapas over the course of two hours. We sampled everything from smoked salmon to Spanish torta to a delicious mystery croquette!

The next morning we rode the high speed train to Barcelona for the day. Barcelona might have deserved a longer visit but this was all that we could fit into this trip. The train reached speeds in excess of 300 km/h! Surprisingly it didn’t feel that fast. We got a newspaper on the train and were surprised to see showers forecast for Barcelona! We hadn’t seen a drop of rain yet on our trip and didn’t have our rain jackets with us! Luckily although we had a cloudy day it never actually rained on us.

Our first stop was Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church. It was really really impressive. Construction began in 1882 and is ongoing. We were quite interested in the displays that showed how Gaudi incorporated mathematical constructs from nature into his designs. Who doesn’t love a good Hyperboloid Structure! I’m planning on returning to Barcelona in 50 years to see it when it is finally fully built. Mom doesn’t think she’ll bother!

Next we took the metro to the Picasso Museum. It was really neat to see some of Picasso’s younger works from before the cubism phase. Then we went to Las Ramblas a very wide pedestrian street teeming with locals and tourists alike. The main reason we were there was to try churros con chocolate. Yes, we dipped greasy fried churros into a cup of thick hot chocolate pudding. It was very good as a snack but we still didn’t understand how it can be eaten as a breakfast food!

The rest of my Barcelona photos are here.

Next: Part V – Lisbon

It was another early morning as we were up at 6am to catch our train from Granada to Algeciras. We arrived at around noon, walked to our hotel (across the street from the train station), checked in and dropped off our bags. We then went directly to the bus station and caught a bus for the hour-long ride to La Linea. From there we walked across the border, flashed our passports to the guard and voila were in a different country!

Technically, Gibraltar is one of fourteen “British overseas territories.” I am choosing to count it as a country in its own right on my list of countries visited. Not everyone will agree with this and that’s OK. When it comes to counting countries I say you can follow any set of rules that allow you to sleep at night. By the way, precedent had been set years ago when I choose to count Bermuda as a country (it’s another overseas territory). Also John and Yoko were married there. And so was Sean Connery. So there.

Upon arrival in Gibraltar we boarded a local bus and rode out to the southern most point of Gibraltar, Europa Point. From there we could see the ships travelling through the Straight of Gibraltar and, in the distance, mountains in Morocco. This is the closest I’ve ever been to the continent of Africa!

Our next stop was the cable car to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. As soon as we made it to the top we were met by one of the local Barbary Macaques (better known as Barbary Apes). It was just sitting minding its own business but I wanted nothing to do with it. See, I’m not really an animal person so having wild apes around was a little unnerving. Of course they’re totally accustomed to having people there but the warning signs made it clear they were not to be messed with!

The views from the rock were great and we even got to watch a plane land on Gibraltar’s runway. The runway is partly on reclaimed land that juts out into the bay. All vehicle and foot traffic into and out of Gibraltar has to cross the runway so when a plane is about to land or take-off they bring down barricades and temporarily close the road! We choose not to stop at the apes’ den half way down the rock because we’d seen plenty of apes up top, it was hot and we were tired.

We spent the rest of our time wandering through town and having dinner at a local pub. I embraced the Britishness and had a pint of beer and fish & chips. Yummy!

At the end of the day we walked back across the runway, into Spain and caught a bus back to our hotel in Algeciras. It was a long day but a great one. Gibraltar certainly is a unique place and I’m happy to have been able to visit. My full set of Gibraltar photos are here.

Next: Part IV – Barcelona

We caught at 7:40 train from Madrid and arrived in Granada about 4.5 hours later. From the train station we took a taxi to our hotel, Hotel America, which is on the grounds of the Alhambra. After checking in we took a bus back down into town for lunch and a visit to the Royal Chapel (with the tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand). Then we took another bus up to the San Nicolas viewpoint on a hill facing the Alhambra. It was great to see The Alhambra from a distance to really take in it’s magnitude. We went to bed that night eagerly anticipating our visit of the Alhambra the next day.

Here’s a brief history lesson: The Alhambra is a Moorish palace built in the 12th century. At one point 2,000 Muslims lived within the Alhambra’s walls. When the Catholics conquered Granada in 1492 they took control of the Alhambra. There are four main points of interest within the Alhambra. (1) The Alcazaba: the original castle/fort on the hill. It’s mostly in ruins now (although several towers still stand) but it was once the main defence point of the Alhambra. (2) Palacios Nazaries (Nazrid Palace): this is the Moorish royal palace and the highlight of the Alhmabra. The rooms and halls have intricate stucco work and amazing geometric tile patterns. The courtyards have beautiful fountains and the whole thing is amazingly preserved. (3) Charles V’s Palace: Built by the conquering king but never finished it’s a square building with a circular courtyard that was meant to be topped by a dome. (4) The Generalife Gardens: These gardens once fed the residents of the Alhambra. The sultan also had a summer palace here.

Since we had an afternoon entry time we couldn’t pick up our tickets and enter the grounds until 2pm. Our first stop was The Alcazaba. Next we got in line for our 3pm entry into the Palacios Nazaries. They let 300 people in every half hour in increments of 50 every 5 minutes. We took our time walking through the palace trying to take it all in. I don’t think I can find words to do justice to the palace’s architecture, design and beauty. I was most impressed with the geometric tile patterns. They were amazingly well preserved. After the palace we toured the Generalife Gardens and then walked back through the grounds to the Charles V’s palace. What a day!

After our visit we had dinner and the Parador San Francisco Hotel right next door to our hotel (but 2.5 times more expensive per night!). The meal was excellent and served on a patio overlooking the buildings of the Generalife under a full moon! I ordered from the vegetarian menu and had pumpkin and kidney bean soup and vegetable paella. I’m still dreaming about that soup and will have to try and recreate it at some point!

Our visit to the Alhambra was the highlight of the trip for me. The rest of my Alhambra pictures can be seen here.

Next: Part III – Gribaltar

I left my apartment ridiculously early in the morning on Wednesday September 10. I literally caught the first bus of the morning from my neighbourhood to downtown and then took an express bus to the airport. Originally I’d been scheduled on an 11:50am SEA – YYZ flight. I’ve been scheduled on this flight before and every single time they’ve canceled the flight and moved me to the 8am departure. This left me with a super long (OK it was only 6 hours) layover in the Toronto airport. Luckily my Dad was able to give me a lounge coupon and the time passed quickly enough. I met Mom at the gate and we boarded our flight to Madrid. I had dinner on the flight and then used my red wine & Gravol method of sleep induction (I figure my liver can handle the occasional challenge). I probably got 4 hours of sleep before we landed in Madrid.

We got into our hotel room at about 12:30. We were both pretty tired so decided to take naps and set my watch alarm for 14:00. We slept through the alarm but woke up at 14:30 anyway. We then set out to get some lunch the highlight of which was the 1 euro mini desserts. Mom had a small slice of cheesecake with cherry topping and I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with brownie bits and chocolate sauce. I should have taken a picture they were so cute.

Then we tried to visit the Royal Palace. Unfortunately after walking all the way there we discovered that the palace was closed. We assume there must have been some event going on. Fortunately we knew would have several more opportunities to make it to the palace. It’s supposed to be third only to Versailles and Schonbrunn!

After the palace disappointment we went back to our hotel for nap number two and then off to the train station to get our Euro Rail passes validated and to get reservations on the one leg of our trip on a regional train. After finding the right place we ended up having to wait about 45 minutes for our number to be called. We were both very tired by the end of the day so we picked up a sandwich at the station for dinner and turned in for the night.

We spent the morning of our second day in Madrid at the Prado Museum. This seems to be the main tourist attraction in Madrid and houses and impressive collection of paintings. Our strategy was to get the audio guide and try to see the 50 or so masterpieces listed on the map. The highlights included: The Garden of Delights, Las Meninas and the pair of paintings the Nude Maja and the Clothed Maja.

After a nice lunch in the museum cafeteria (Spanish torta and salad) we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens. This is a museum of plants and was a nice quiet place to wander. September might not have been the optimal time to visit but it was neat to see all the different species.

For dinner we went to a Rick Steves recommended restaurant and had a three course meal which came with unlimited wine. We felt sort of odd sitting with two bottles of wine (one red one white) on our table! After dinner we headed back to our hotel to get a good nights rest before our 7:40 train to Granada the next morning.

Next: Part II – The Alhambra