#1 Spain, June 18,2013

The boys ‘slept off’ their flight for about 15 hours the first night. We did actually go to the Prado Art Museum on the first afternoon---they said they were up for it, but they, of course, kind of faded, but did enjoy the El Grecos and the Goyas. We had preceded that with a full dinner at a lovely place—four courses, which I see they can put away handily!

The hostel experience is working out fine. The first night when I was alone it wasn’t too crowded, but the second night when the boys arrived—so did a whole bunch of Polish kids who filled up every bed. Still, in spite of the multitudes, all went surprisingly smoothly with the bathrooms and breakfast.

We set out for the Plaza del Sol, where we saw the Bear, the symbol of Madrid. From there we walked on to the Plaza Major, that beautiful square that is the center of Madrid life. However, they had put a temporary exhibit building right in the middle of things, which spoiled the whole appearance of the square. Still I could photograph around it; the buildings are very lovely.

The Palacio Real (Royal Palace) was the highlight of the morning. We guided ourselves through 50 rooms (out of 2900!), admiring the opulence and beauty. Across the courtyard is the Cathedral de Nuestra Senora del la Almudena, which was built from 1883 until 1993. It is huge and has quite a modern look. We continued on until we got to a metro stop (unfortunately most of the tourist attractions are quite a ways from metro stops) and came back to our hostel. We had lunch ‘in’ from provisions I had bought last night from a wonderful Mercado---lots of good bread, salami, ham, and cheese, along with fruit.

The next day we took the train to Cordoba. Early on we saw wind turbines---later we saw old fashioned windmills! It was kind of a long ride, but we finally arrived, got a city bus, then walked to our hostel. It is a very pretty old house that has a lovely courtyard with nice Spanish tiles half way up the walls.

The mihrab was embellished with 1600 kg of gold mosaic cubes and is the centerpiece of the mosque, denoting the direction of Mecca and is the focus of prayers.

In the 16th century, the columns in the center of the mosque were ripped out to make way for a Christian cathedral to be built smack in the middle of the mosque. While it seems like this would ruin a beautiful building, for a tourist, it also makes it more interesting. The cathedral is sumptuous with its many altars, side chapels and its 18th century carved mahogany choir, along with a beautiful organ which was being played as we visited.

A little ways away---actually a very hot walk in the sun---were the remains of a Roman temple, mainly just a number of columns but fun to see in the middle of town.

We called it a day when a couple of ‘sights’ were not open, and went to a restaurant where we had a good four-course dinner. Some of what we shared was gaspacho, mushrooms, pork roll stuffed with ham, meatballs, all of which was preceded by a salad for each of us, and fruit at the end.

The bus ride from Cordoba to Granada was beautiful. It is very clear that we are in SPAIN and not anywhere else. Spain must be much less heavily populated than all the rest of the European countries as there seem to be very few small towns. The landscape is gorgeous with remnants of castles on some hills, harvesting of their small grain crops (mostly oats) well underway and miles and miles of olive trees that grow way up the hillsides. When we got very near to Granada, much to my surprise we saw mountains with snow in the distance!

We arrived in Granada just in time for our linner, which we had at a Kasbah restaurant right in the neighborhood of our hostel. Hummus, cous-cous, brique, vegetable paella and gaspacho were all good. The Oasis Backpacker hostel is great! We have our own bathroom ensuite for eight people (albeit with a very tiny shower), a FAN (I’ve been longing for one) and wifi that works in the rooms and not just in the lobby. There are big storage lockers under the beds that accommodate our packs, which gets them out of the way. The hostel staff made our Alhambra reservations for us on the internet, and the boys went on a hostel-generated tour, while I took a little nap. They reported that it was probably a good thing that I didn’t go as they walked uphill for a solid hour to the old section of the city, and then walked down exploring the ancient sections with street art, and also caves, where people still live, and where flamenco was born. They learned some interesting facts about Granada (like last summer it reached 135 degrees F.) and also about Cadiz, where we’re going next. Cadiz is the oldest city in Europe and also invented money.

Monday we visited the Alhambra, one of the top sights in Spain. It was a fortress built in the 9th century, made into a fortress/palace in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Nasrid emirs. In later centuries when the Christians reconquered Spain, European-style palaces and convents were added. It is a huge area, up on a high hill with the Sierra Nevada in the background. It has many palaces, gardens, and churches, which were added later. It has mosque baths, used for ablutions in connection with mosques of long ago.

I have to comment, though, on the regimentation that is necessary nowadays since 6,000 people visit this site every day! Yes, traveling used to be easier, but that’s life. We had to buy our tickets on the internet, which, luckily the hostel people did for us. Then we walked a short way to a plaza for the shuttle bus (it’s a long walk uphill), which we had a little trouble finding. The bus was cram-packed, but we squeezed on and arrived at the Alhambra ticket office. Here we stood in line and turned in our printed paper for three tickets with a designated time on them in which we could visit the Nasrid Palace (all other sites could be visited anytime between 8:30 and 2:00 PM). Then we were on our way! I understand it is necessary, but I remember 1990 when we simply bought a ticket at the entrance and strolled in!

Still, this is truly impressive! We started with the Nasrid Palace with its Middle Eastern architecture. Beautiful ponds, columns, pools and fountains, enhanced with stylized Arabic script, were everywhere. The Court of the Lions was our favorite in the complex.

Moving on to a later European palace built by Carlos V, we saw a double storey courtyard with 32 columns. This palace was never completed.

The Alcazaba was the military part, where the boys climbed the Watchtower and waved at me.

Then we were ready for some beautiful gardens. The Generalife Jardin was spectacular with a plethora of flowers among hedges, ponds, fountains and other greenery, under a beautifully sunny sky. How do they get things to grow like that?! The roses were enormous, and the mixed flower beds were chock-a-block with many kinds of flowers. This all culminated with the water stairway where we could cool our hands in running water in the ‘handrails’ of the stairway toward the exit. What an extravaganza!

It was time to go back to the hostel and play with the kittens. A mother cat gave birth to six kittens on the terrace right by our room three days earlier. I guess she’s used to lots of people around, as she seems to take us all in stride!

That evening at 9:00 we set off to see a Flamenco show, but unfortunately, we hadn’t made a reservation and they were sold out! We’ll have to see Flamenco in Cadiz.

Tuesday morning we got the bus to Cadiz, a five-hour ride. Before we left the bus depot, we went across the street and had breakfast, including churros and chocolate, which Marco had heard all about in his Spanish class. Yes, it was really good! Four different people in Granada assured us that we would LOVE Cadiz, so we had high expectations. We had a good view of the extensive seaport on the way in. We got settled in our hostel (very good, so far) and had a very nice menu of the day at a restaurant overlooking the Santa Maria del Mar (beach) where the boys returned after we ate. We expect to be here for four days, and I have promised for the next three mornings, I will not awaken the boys for any deadlines! It’s an R and R in our Spain trip!

Sounds like you're having a wonderful time. I did a simiar trip in April, visiting Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Toledo and Madrid.

Madrid: I spent the whole of one day in the Prado, being totally amazed in every room - and another half-day in the Sofia seeing, inter alia, Picasso's Guernica, which I'd quite forgotten was there.
But ti was freezing when I was there, so i was glad to be inside in a controlled atmosphere (which I guess worked for you, too, in he opposite direction.)

Cordoba: In spite of seeing photographs of the Mesquita online, I was knocked out by the beauty and majesty of it all. But I thought the Christian cathedral rather detracted from the geometric simplicity and grace of the original building. (It's not because I'm a muslim - I've always appreciated simple and rather shun the baroque.)

Granada: What a shame you didn't get to see the flamenco show. I assume it was at the place just down from the Alhambra? I went there and was knocked out by it. But there are other places - and other towns where you can find it, too.
It was my first visit to the Alahambra, but I found the walk up quite easy - even early morning before my (essential) coffee. And limiting the number of people who can enter the Nasrid palaces at one time is a good idea because it means it's never too crowded - a necessity these days when so many people visit. Only town I wish I'd stayed longer in. (I'd missed a whole lot of streets on the Alhambra side of the main street.)

Are you going to Seville? If so, do visit the Alcazar. It's smaller than the Alhambra, but in its own way quite spectacular.

If you're flying back from Madrid, make some time for Toledo. It's an enchanting little city - and the Youth hostel there has a wonderful feel to it. Plus, there are escalators going up the cliff face from near the bus station to the town on top of the hill - unique?

Looking forward to reading the next installment.

Thanks for all of that. Yes, we're going to Toledo and Segovia on day trips from Madrid, but will have to skip Sevilla. Too many places and too much to see!!

Glad to see you are feeding those lads!

And you were worried about what you were going to feed them!

Especially loved this post. I was walking right beside you the whole way :)

We visited tons of small towns/villages in Spain. Sometimes it seemed like there was one every ten km. I think that in taking the bus it would have driven the main roads/highways. When we drove ourselves we purposefully took the back roads that still wind through the small towns. Next time :)