Last day in Madrid

Tony went off an adventure on his own to see if he could hit a bucket of balls - not so lucky- and to see San Bernarbieu stadium  

I fiddled about at the laundromat, had a haircut and colour, bought some sandals, checked out a few fabric shops. Generally I got to know the culture of the town. You learn a lot in a laundromat! And I didn’t take any photos in there. 

Here are some I took while I walked around the city

 A beautiful park - again land donated by some generous king. It was lovely with lots of trees and grassed areas for people to sit and picnic. It was refreshing to walk through as it was a hot day. 

this is a play area for children. 

the arch of triumph 

statue for Columbus

amazing buildings built 19th century. 

one of hundreds. 

and another. 

this was interesting providing shade for people to shop. 

Dad’s local! Every country loves an English pub. 

and this is Spanish pub where we had tapas. This was 6.30 so still a bit quiet. 

the olives in Spain were delicious. I am not sure what they do but they are better than ours. 

1. and that’s Madrid. We went to San Sebastián in the morning. Another early rise for a long train trip of 5 .5 hours. 

And now for Toledo

which is only 35 minutes away on a pretty fast train. Another amazing town with a bgc- that means bloody great cathedral! We walked into town from the train but halfway you can get on escalators - it is very steep- very strategic in medieval times and it is surrounded by a river and a gorge. 

Actually, the first thing that impressed was the train station - it was like a cathedral on the outside. the old ticket office!

inside the station

and now for the Cathedral 

this was the altar behind a grille

the amazing monstrance- belonged to The queen. Columbus brought back a huge lump of gold and that is all they could think of making!!  It also had the odd pearl and other assorted jewels. 

there were 4 of these corridors 

some nice blue stars on the ceiling

now for something more modest. We had a lovely lunch in a shady square and then went off to visit El Greco’s house. So peaceful and quiet. There were a few of his paintings still there  

artists always live in nice environments!

the garden. 

time to go back to Madrid. 

Day 2 in Madrid

We started off with a bus tour around the city. As I said, we were a bit amazed at the size, style and streets of this city. No one had ever said you must go there. Lots of trees in the major streets which was quite cooling.  

in the afternoon, we went to see another jaw dropping sight- Palacio Real. Over 2000 rooms of which we saw 20 and that was enough. And you are lucky, no pictures except for the first couple of rooms. I did take a photo of the royal family before the one that is ruling now and found it a bit strange as they were in modern dress. I thought they should have popped them behind 18thcentury cardboard cutouts. 

Heres a photo of the outside  

and the fam  - the fellow on the end is the present king

here we are recovering from all the opulence - 2 photos as I am refusing to do the selfie 

dad is in his Spanish hat. 

my hat is from England - works with rain too!

this is the palace. I put the wrong building in before. I removed it but I haven’t worked out how to move photos around yet. 

and that was enough for one day. The days are warmer so we finish earlier. 

Madrid

We are now going to knock off another couple of Spanish cities- Madrid and Toledo!  We were up early to get to the station and catch a very fast train- it went 300kph at one point. We were staying in an apartment again  which was very central and very nice but!  There was a bar across the street and an Irish pub down the street so, on the 2nd morning we went to the pharmacy to buy earplugs!  The lady didn’t seem surprised by our purchase. 

Madrid was a big surprise. It is quite magnificent. So many big buildings and beautiful tree lined streets and big plazas with fountains and statues. The Gran Via is a long street lined with Art Deco buildings - and so busy! People everywhere, especially at Paseo in the evening

We went for a bit of a walk , found this market that had been made into a sort of a good court of tapas which we came back to for tea. 

Dad having his first Estrella beer

The food court! 

These are streetscape pictures of our first walk.  

this was outside the main station

and this was inside 

a sculpture of a bear trying to get berries

I don’t think it is the Centre of Spain but it is where measurements start. 

a king on his horse.

a dapper chap.

And now for the Cathedral! And this was only opened in 1993 after building which took 100 years. 

you could walk up the stairs to the altar!1-

the organ

unusual ceiling. 

and that was our first day in Madrid. 

Streets in Seville

These are just photos I took wandering around.  

 This is a huge wooden construction over the top of the plaza near us. It is called Metropol Parasol but the people call it the mushroom. 

Fancy building  

These holy pictures were all over town.  

This one was opposite our apartment.  

Bougainvillea time in Seville too

narrow streets and churches

Cars would still come down these streets.  

this was evening everyday in the square near us  it is called the Paseo. It was the scene in most squares as people come out, all dressed up, between 6-8 and later in the summer and walk, shop and catch up. It is so vibrant. All the kids are out playing games - you can get caught up in the middle of a soccer game!

More interesting buildings  

not sure who this is! Just another big statue. 

the only skyscraper in Seville. 

the last little street

and now off to Madrid!

Days 5 and 6 in Seville

These days were quieter. Walked through the Jewish quarter, had lunch then walked over to this Plaza which was constructed for an Expo in 1929. There were no holds barred here. It was this amazingly big semi- circular building with a water feature people could row boats around and under bridges like something out of  Venice.  

After goggling wide-eyed at that we walked to a park across the road, the land for which some kind queen bequeathed to her subjects. It is 100  acres and is very beautiful. Lots of monuments-as usual. I liked the one to Manuel Cervantes- the author of ‘Don Quixote - 2 tiled seats facing each other to sit and read.

The last day was spent walking about. Dad went to this war museum and then went to the bull ring. Still a popular sport here??  I went for a walk in a part of the town across the river and visited some ceramic shops looking for seconds - to no avail.  So no Spanish dinner set! 

These are some photos from the garden.

it is oleander time here in Seville.

another monument to someone.

and look at this - Seville oranges! Back in the day they were only available at a certain time of the year and made the best marmalade. 

I also went to a visit a small museum/palace which had belonged to a countess who was an archeologist.  I did wonder whether she had stolen the stuff but I don’t suppose anyone minded as a lot of it was broken bits in glass cases. I did love the house though- it was not palatial but I could live in it quite easily  

This was the inner courtyard with the most beautiful mosaic floor and interesting doorways.  

I love this tiling- nearly every entrance to any of the old houses - and they weren’t big houses either. 

And that was that.

i do have some other odd street photos  of Seville which I will post in another blog.  

I pushed the button too early!

more photos for Granada-

looking across to Sierra Nevada mountains with snow on top. 

Water, 

Water, 

Water, 

And more Water!

Breathtaking views everywhere

Gardens were in all different forms.  

This was the view from the other side which you should go at nighttime to see when the castle is lit. It is quite something to see then. Perhaps because it doesn’t get dark till way past our bedtime and we had been up for so long, we decided to give it a miss and I went in the morning 

And I saw this as well - such pretty street signs everywhere in Spain made of ceramic. note the well covered power lines  

The next morning we had breakfast- scrambled eggs, would you believe?! And then wandered up to the train station. We had to catch a bus first - some problem with the lines- then take a train to Seville but would you believe, the train broke down so a bus was organized to take us to Seville. People were prowling around but I just sat on a ledge and took out my knitting.  That night, we went to mass in one of the 115 churches in Seville. Interesting but there wasn’t a mass earlier than 8pm. I think it because of the Paseo which takes every evening from around 6 to 8 or later. Everyone comes out walking, shopping in their best clothes. Whole families come out. The squares are packed with people talking, drinking, eating tapas and kids playing football etc It is such a vibrant scene. 

I do remember days 3 and 4

it started early- 4.30!  We had to catch a train to Granada which left at 6.30 and it was half hour walk to the station. Even so early in the morning we met a boy outside the apartment who was going there too so we walked along together. Quite safe, he was carrying a suitcase and was a civil engineer from Colombia. A long trip 3.5 hours but definitely worth it. And we were staying the night. We were at the Alhambra by 1.30 and left about 7.00. It was so beautiful. There were different areas to go through including a fortress, palaces,a museum, ruins and  gardens. In the middle of this, we stopped at a lovely hotel for a drink. I looked at this hotel as an option but at $650 a night, it stopped being an option.so here are the snaps which don’t really do it justice. 

What ever did we do on day 2?

I know I went for a walk and got lost as usual - thank goodness for Apple maps!

sometimes you need to stop for awhile and do the washing. I know in the afternoon we went to see the Real Alcazar and these are some snaps:  

you can see the moorish influence everywhere Usually the churches and palaces are built on the Moorish sites. I think the Catholic monarchy we’re making a point!

beautiful ceilings. 

this was like a grotto (or a lap pool)

I do love there gardens. Not much grass but very green and orderly. 

and that night we went to a Flamenco concert - at 5.00 so we weren’t out late!  Great show! We are going to take it up when we get home. They will love it at Cameron Close - all that stamping and making eyes at each other!

What ever did we do on day 2?

I know I went for a walk and got lost as usual - thank goodness for Apple maps!

sometimes you need to stop for awhile and do the washing. I know in the afternoon we went to see the Real Alcazar and these are some snaps:  

you can see the moorish influence everywhere Usually the churches and palaces are built on the Moorish sites. I think the Catholic monarchy we’re making a point!

beautiful ceilings. 

this was like a grotto (or a lap pool)

I do love there gardens. Not much grass but very green and orderly. 

and that night we went to a Flamenco concert - at 5.00 so we weren’t out late!  Great show! We are going to take it up when we get home. They will love it at Cameron Close - all that stamping and making eyes at each other!

And on to Seville!

Which took all day!  We caught a train from Lisboa to Faro at 10.00am which is on the south coast of Portugal and then a bus to Seville.  Interesting getting a look at the country. Trees in most of Portugal are quite small and in the south of Spain it is just about completely covered in olive trees. It is quite a sight looking at the very straight lines of trees in fields going at all angles everywhere you look. It reminded me of the rice fields in Japan. Looking at the countryside, sometimes you think it is just like country Victoria  we have been surprised by how much of the land is under cultivation  

Notmuch else happened that first night in Seville except to find the local IGA and buy milk etc for breakfasy and we had a drink at the local bar.  

Our first day was spent walking, walking.., we visited One church so we could buy a combined ticket for that church and the Cathedral which meant we jumped the queue- pretty tricky!  This was good advice from Rick Steves - and we were in for half price as we are Seniors  It is the best here - nearly everything has a reduced price for +65s!  We love it . So this day we visited 2 churches  and they were both so huge and over the top.  And here is the usual snaps - I won’t call them photos which would intimate that I took some care.... 

when we walked into this church, our jaws dropped. There was so much gold, gold and more gold  

This is one of the floats they carry statues on during processions. It is a big thing here in Seville

Just another altar. 

And another! 

This was the peaceful courtyard, part of the old Mosque. Many of the Churches weee built on the mosques sites after the Reconquista.  

And now fir the biggest Gothic Cathedral in the world and the 3rd biggest church!

the altar is behind the grille.

How is this for a monstrance! 

And this is the tomb of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS- unbelievable! 

A rather large something?

A bird bath? No, a very large baptismal font in the chapel of St Anthony.  

And then we climbed the Bell tower called the Giralda. 330 feet high and fortunately it had ramps which made it much easier than steps. They used ramps to accommodate the a donkey- riding muezzin who had to climb to the top 5 times a day - again the association with a mosque. Some snaps from the top. 

The bull ring....still popular in Seville

The bells in the tower.

And then we home and had tapas at our local bar which was very delicious. Day one done.  

Last day in Lisboa

We went to Sintra. We did get there eventually although not quite as we planned. We were to go first thing in the morning but decided to do a tram trip first and stop for a Tart which would have all been fine but when we got to the station, there was a train strike!! So plan B which we didn’t have!  Off to the tourist bureau after wandering about aimlessly for a while and found that we could get a bus for quite a bit more than the train but Sintra was supposed to be worth seeing. It is only 40 minutes out of the city but in very scenic surroundings. It is on the UNESCO list for its beauty. All very green and lush - tall trees and a few palaces and beautiful gardens. We eventually caught a bus at 3.00, took another bus from the Sintra Station which took a route on a one way road around the mountain- fabulous scenery and got to the palace as it started to rain! We had a walk up to the place and a tour around inside, had something to eat but had to go out to face the rain eventually. Of course- no umbrella and only wearing a windcheater jacket but I was wearing a wide brimmed sun hat which kept me dry and Dad had his hat too.  Back on the buses and back to town. A bit later than planned but it was a good day.

I found it interesting on the trip through the outer suburbs looking at all the high rise apartment blocks everywhere even in top of hills. I don’t think many people live in homes with a garden.

some photos - this is the palace built by king Ferdinand in 184?  Ferdinand is very popular as a king’s name. 

I quite like this dining room. How about this fir a ceiling

Who would polish all those copper pots? 

A peek at the gardens - glorious!  A pity we didn’t get ourselves organize early enough to have a walk through them.  

This is in the Sintra town.  

And then back on the bus. that was our last day in Lisbon. 

We are in Belem

A suburb about 5 kms from Lisboa. This was tram trip but a very flat ride.  Sunday morning so we went to Mass in the Jeronomos Monastery in Belem. The monastery including the church is huge, 300meters long, belonged to the order of St Jerome. It is a World Heritage site so pretty impressive.  Vasco de Gama is buried here.

inside the church.  There are so many ridiculously big churches in this part of the world and so much gold leaf - it quite takes your breath away! Later in the day there was a choir practicing in the church and the sound was magnificent 

This is the cloister next to the church - very beautiful.  You can see how ornate it is. The tiling is so lovely. It is everywhere.

This is the refectory. 

The next place we visited in Belem was the coach Museum.  The queen could see what was going to happen with the onset of the car so she saved all her coaches -and anyone else’s who wanted to hand them over. They were majestic as they would be if they belonged to a queen!  The English queens carriage looks a bit pathetic in comparison! 

After all that opulence, we then climbed aboard a little ferry and went for a trip not a salubrious port on the other side but gave another view to the monuments on the Lisbon side.  And there were quite a few things to visit in the day trip.  They seem to go in for lots of monuments in this part of the world - meaning Europe. And there are large museums too.

The next couple of photos are to celebrate the discoveries made by the Portuguese explorers who mad the country extremely rich but unfortunately, no planning and the country consequently went to the pack.  And since the war they had a pretty awful dictator who didn’t do the country much good. 

and that was that day. We went home and had a beautiful piece of fish bought from the shop next to the bottom of the stairs.  The purchase was a bit of an experience.  They lady sawed of 2 bits of salmon, wiped her hands on her apron, fossicked around for change which was quite fishy at the end.  Delicious fish though! 

Still Lisboa - rest of day 2

we did more of the bus ride and walked  through different parts of the city following Rick Steves’ book; had a tram ride.  The trams are a specialty here as they run through narrow streets and up and down hills. They are likened to the San Francisco trams.

That night we went to the restaurant next door to the bottom of our stairs for a meal and fado. Fado is a type of singing peculiar to Portugal -all about men going sailing and not coming back again having been lost at sea - or something like that.

Well, it was a bit of a rip off  as it started with this 85year old lady singing 2 songs gaily 

then a middle aged man sang and then a young woman sang 2 songs and that was it. It was a bit of a letdown really as they weren’t particularly good.

We did start off the day with a walk up to the top of the hill behind us to have a look at a flea market and then went for the walk.  This is the market and the building is the Pantheon.

We were staying down there somewhere

These boys were practicing carrying Our Lady in a procession. 

The museum of Saint Anthony .  I think it was especially decorated for the celebrations.

Saint Anthony coming out of his church! 

Watching the cook make the most delicious Portuguese tarts! 

Some of the scenic streets on our walk.  They certainly liked to draw on everything here

These trams were being repaired and repainted but I think as soon as they were cleaned up, someone drew all over them.  Not much in Lisbon’s not drawn on or a bit run down. 

The streets were great either. 

But the trees were blooming beautifully-it was Jacaranda time in Portugal! 

Day 2 over! 

I thought Dad was in Seville

Apparently he’s made a quick detour to the US to try and qualify for the US Open in a week. 

In Lisbon

We caught the train from Porto at7.45 and arrived in Lisbon at 10.45.  We met up with our landlady who took us to the apartment which we wouldn’t have found as it a bit like a maze in this area called Alfama.  I was wondering whether we had made a mistake as it was a bit grotty but ‘all’s well that ends well’. 

This was entry to our place - next day it has been swept and looked much better. I think there is not much money in Portugal. 

This is before the party started which is because of St Anthony who was born here! And this goes on for at least 3 weeks -good time to visit! Of course we decided to really stay out on Monday night before we left and it was not on Monday! Most things are closed in Lisbon on a Monday. So we went to the only place open offering the tapas and it was terrible.

getting ready.....

And here is the party

There was music playing over the loudspeakers  

And this is the morning after! Some streets were a sea of plastic cups

This was a skyscraper which was built when they had an expo here.  We caught a red bus tour on the first afternoon and hopped off at this very new area to have a look around.  It had a huge shopping centre and marina and was all quite flash.  I mustn’t have taken any photos on the bus tour mainly because the bus rocks around and you have usually passed whatever. 

There were tiles of saints all over the place Lisbon especially in the Alfama district where we stayed and as you can see this is Saint Anthony. It was a great place, medieval streets, hilly where every street ran into another one so you could sort of get yourself out of the maze. It was only about 10-15 minutes out of the centre. There was a big procession for Saint Anthony from the cathedral near us on the Sunday.  Heaps of people everywhere.  A beautiful choir in the street outside the cathedral and the mass was being broadcast over last speakers even in the city streets.

This was part of our tapas on the first night - this funny little bar just near us - very cheap drinks etc. 

we saw these dishes in a shop and wondered what they were used for and now we know. They do this in some form wherever you order chorizo.   we tried this a couple of other times 

Our second day in Lisboa.

this is the man who engineered the reconstruction of the city after the earthquake in 1755. As you can from his statue he was pretty pleased with himself!

the king who won Portugal back from Spain.

Lisboa’s Arc de Triomphe

sad times here when the Jews were banished and it started the Inquisition.

a view from one side of the city to the other where we were staying.

church of St Rocque which held one of his bones??

I am not sure about the thing underneath- you can put in a grid of photos but I am not sure how to do it and I don’t know how to delete photos.  

Gallery Block

These are example images. Double-click here to replace these images with your own content. Learn more

Walking the Camino

I picked up a pamphlet at the tourist bureau.  I don’t think I qualify for a pilgrims shellhtoughbut I have made a start, Here is my pictorial record. 

the start was the Porto cathedral.

Looking over Porto. The red rooves are fabulous.

There are lots of pretty streets as well as the gritty ones

The next church. 

which is part of a museum now.

This was once a prison and a court os Appeal.

The clerigos tower. 

A nice park -not too much green space in Porto. 

The Cramelites church again. 

A romanesque church and this where I got a bit lost! 

Back on track and here is another church! 

The last church on the Pilgrims way

The last stop out of Porto for the pilgrims. 

And then back to meetDad at the taberna. 

Last day in Porto

Another day spent walking!  We walked over the river - on a bridge - to have a bit of a mosey round a department store.  Dad was looking for a charger for his Garmin watch which was left behind in the UK.  No success so we wandered off to the Port factories down on that side of the river.  The grapes for the port were brought down from the Douro Valley to this port where they were made into Port.  There were heaps of these port wine lodges to visit where you could take a tour and have a couple of tastings so we visited a small one and bought a small and cheap bottle. 

we went back across the river for lunch which was in this little back street and was very home made and delicious.

These are some remnants of the photos I took. When I was walking about it was a bit of a shock to see how delapidated the place was and yet  there were also some magnicent sights.

this was the inside of the main station.  There are a lot of these scenes on walls of public buildings depicting wars and conquests.

I was walking down this street in town and it was a mess with every second building empty and the others being renovated.  The footpath which was cobbled was all loose too. 

This was a huge building site which has been abondoned and doesn’t look as is anything is going to happen to it. 

And opposite it was this one. 

And another blue church

Sorry I have put this in twice and don’t know how to get rid of it!   here I was on my way to meet Dad  at the cheap taberna after I had done part of the Camino walk- it starts in Porto too! I am not sure where it doesn’t start.

A visit to Braga

This was our second day -we caught a train at 9.00 and arrived in Braga around 10.00 am unfortunately it was raining so first thing we had to buy an umbrella for dad- I had brought mine all the way from Australia.  The train trip was interesting as you see what’s on outskirts of Porto - lots of dilapidated high rise Buildings! Then it becomes lots of farms and agriculture.  

Braga is a university town with the oldest cathedral in Europe. On the outskirts is another interesting church which you reach by taking a bus then a funicular powered by water - another thing that was the oldest somewhere - not sure if it was just Portugal or the whole world!

the entrance to the town

those girls wouldn’t move so I could take a picture of the fountain in the main square

the funicular 

the Bom Jesus - the name of the church.  The other special thing about this church, apart from being in beautiful surroundings, was the amazing staircase which zigzagged up in front of the church. It was raining so we didn’t walk down the 300 steps to take a photo but it was a big draw card for people to come and see.

very well tended gardens looked after by lady gardeners

this was in a special building outside the church

inside the church

outside the church 

a dragon in one of the squares

another well manicured garden.

A wedding cake in the oldest cathedral

The blog is really great the only thing is if you want to insert a photo later, it can only be added at the end. There may be a way of doing it but I am not sure how. 

Outside the oldest cathedral

A more normal street in Braga

A very large paschal inside the oldest cathedra

And that is it from Braga! 

The wedding - nearly as good as the other one!