Day 16 - Madrid & pictures - last day :(

Last pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633479633081/

2:00pm - sitting in casa Lucas in the Latina district for a peaceful and delicious "gourmet" lunch.  But no one else is here. I had read about this place basically everywhere but it's dead. Maybe it's a dinner place.

Anyway, started the day with another lovely group breakfast at the b&b. took the metro to the Salamanca district, checked out the very cool La Paz market and wandered around for a bit in this trendy (I guess) shopping area. Didn't seem that special to me.

Day 15 - Segovia and Madrid & pictures

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633470881859/

3:50pm - at the bus station more than a half hour early to avoid any problems like last time :) had no problems getting to the bus station this morning for the bus to Segovia, which took just over an hour. It stopped once before the bus station and a few people got off, but i did not make the same mistake twice!! Easy walk to the unmissable and truly remarkable roman aqueduct that cuts through the center of this city. It's massive and in incredibly good condition.

Wandered around into a couple of churches including the huge cathedral and got a snack of the local cake called ponche. I'm still not exactly sure what it is but it was a little two layer cake with something in the middle, lots of cinnamon, and wrapped completely in a thin layer of marzipan. Delicious!!

Wandered some more and had lunch at meson duque.  Many places in town are famous for roast suckling pig and this is one. A splurge, but when in Segovia...  

Wandered up and found the alcazar, which is apparently fairly recently rebuilt and intentionally as a museum, so it's more Disney than historic, but it was still interesting with great views.

10:50pm - back for the night. Arrived back in Madrid shortly before 6pm. Took metro ti main square Sol and did some wandering/shopping. Bought a gram of saffron because why not! Came back to the b&b for a much needed short break and set out for dinner. Was going to try one place that was closed today so I went to El Lacon, recommended by the b&b. they gave away a tapas with each drink (house wines just 2€ a glass mind you) and i had steak with fried padron peppers and fries. Delicious and fun place!

Tomorrow i will spend my last day (wahhhhh!) wandering a few neighborhoods around town and not having too much planned. 

Day 14 - Madrid & pictures

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633480313456/

9:00pm - currently enjoying phase 2 of my tapeo dinner at Maceira, mentioned basically everywhere as a great Galician tavern. Having fried little peppers, patatas braves, and cheese croquettes. Started at Dolores with a mini Jamon sandwich. Maceira is a riot, they don't serve coke and they don't take credit cards and since its Galician it almost feels more Irish than Spanish.

Anyway, started the morning slightly lazily with a lovely breakfast at the b&b. one of the owners makes his own bread and he just kept bringing out food. And everyone sits around a table chatting and laughing. All of a sudden an hour had passed. Great way to start the day! 

Walked the lovely stroll through madrid's main squares to the cathedral and royal palace. No pictures allowed in the palace but its as amazing as one might expect in a country with an old and active monarchy. Stunning rooms highlighted by a room housing a collection of five or so Stradivari instruments. Also it has a strange old royal pharmacy collection. Interesting. 

Walked back towards the main square, and witnessed an incredibly massive line at what appeared to be the opera house, can't imagine what it was bit it was mostly older people literally snaking around the huge square that house the opera house.  On my way back to the main area, I had a late morning (really it was almost noon, but whatever) snack of chocolate con churros at the highly recommended chocolateria San gines. It was crazy busy then, and apparently it's even worse at about midnight. Yikes! Then, since its Sunday, i detoured to quickly check out the rastro flea market, which was packed with people and a lot of junk.  

On my way back to town center, I found a recommended leather factory/shop and bought a gorgeous dark purple wallet. The guy used Nivea cream to polish it before packaging. Well ok then, guess he'd know better than I would! 

Made my way back to mercado san Miguel, which I had quickly checked out just as it was opening around ten. It could be my new favorite place on earth. It's a small but amazing upscale indoor food market. I could live my life there, not kidding; actually let's not kid I could live my life at the olive stand alone. Through the masses of people, I pieced together a delicious lunch of a mini Jamon de bellota (aka the top quality) sandwich, a plate of mixed olives, and a couple croquettes. I also bought a quarter kilo of my beloved teeny tiny delicious arbequina olives to take home. Even in this upscale/fancy market in the middle of a major world city, they only cost me 1.60€.  

Got a yummy fresh mixed berry juice to take to my 2pm free Madrid walking tour, which lasted surprisingly almost 3 hours and was pretty good. That ended in the city's main square, puerta del sol, where I hopped on the metro to walk down gran via, the big grand boulevard in the more modern part of town from the 1900s with great architecture and the "big box" stores.  The street was closed to traffic and I understood when I got to a square at the other end - protest!!  

Got on the metro at that square and went one stop to where the bus station is to get my day trip tickets for tomorrow as well as do a test run so I don't have the same problem as last time. Bought my tickets and made it back to the b&b thankfully uneventfully via metro! Took a short late siesta after a 10 hour day in which I barely sat down and set out for a delicious traditional tapas dinner at these highly recommended spots!!

Yay I'm all caught up on pictures! Tomorrow a day trip to Segovia. 

Day 13 Madrid pictures

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633475105582/

Day 12 Granada pictures finally

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633467715252/

Day 13 - Madrid

2:30pm - waiting for my "late lunch" (I use quotes because it is late for me but not spain) at a cuuuute little place recommended by my b&b, which is also cuuuute. Anyway caught the 9:10am train from Granada to Madrid. Sadly no fast train makes that journey so it took over four hours but was uneventful.

11:30pm - exhausted after a long afternoon! After a yummy lunch, I set out for the gigantic Retiro park, full with crystal glass buildings, palaces, ponds, you name it. Wandered for a couple hours and on the main drag there are street performers, vendors, etc. there were fireworks there at 10:30 for a festival running all week but I was just too tired to trek back there. 

Around 6pm I made it to the nearby prado museum to do my art museum duty. Luckily it is free from 6-8pm! Spent most of that time there looking at masters from the likes of Raphael, titian, Velazquez, and Goya. I managed to last about an hour and a half, which for me is quite long for an art museum :)

Then set back to my b&b's area to find dinner. Decided I needed a quiet sit down place where I could relax so picked a place recommended by the b&b down the street. 

Trying very hard to get the pics up-to-date!

Day 11 Granada pictures

Here http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633449885471/

Day 12 - Granada

1:15pm - waiting for salad in my meal of the day in the albaicin quarter at aurora de la rincon. It was recommended several places and apparently Mario batali filmed here for the Spain PBS show. 10€ menu of the day and a lovely peaceful square setting is good enough for me!

Woke up early thus morning to try to get to the Alhambra as early as possible. Went to the recommended-by-everyone Alhambra Cafeteria for churros and chocolate, luckily they were open, kinda. But they were hot, fresh, delicious, and cheap. 

Made it to the cathedral where a minibus was waiting to go to Alhambra. Perfect. Unfortunately I missed the lower entrance and ended up at the main entrance. Walked down to the main sights and saw the Charles V palace and ruined fort, before my 10:00 entry ticket to the main palaces. Wow, what a sight. Can't help but wonder what it looked like 600-700 years ago even more ornate and full of 2000 people. Wandered through to see the palace and then went back out and bought a wood inlaid plate to hang up from a workshop where they're making it all on the grounds of the Alhambra.  Went back and finished the tour in the generalife gardens, which are lovely. 

Caught the 30 bus back down and immediately hopped on a 31 up to albaicin. The Alhambra looks different midday than at sunset. Wandered down a few minutes to this square for lunch. Btw discovered my new fave drink, tinto de verano, which is half red wine half carbonated lemonade. Lunch was pretty good but not mind-blowing. 

11pm - in for the night getting ready to move to my last (:() destination Madrid. After lunch I wandered down through the albaicin which reminded me of the alfama district in Lisbon but less pretty. Everyone says the albaicin is the most important and interesting part of Granada and maybe I was there at the wrong time of day (2:30pm or so) but I just found it boring. Anyway, made it back to town and bought my obligatory magnet and a little bowl in the traditional blue/white style with a pomegranate, the symbol of Granada (the word for pomegranate in Spanish).

Took a short siesta and wandered around for a couple hours. Around 7 I went to bodegas Castaneda, a tapas bar recommended by basically everyone, which had been too busy last night. Had a couple drinks (which come with free tapas in Granada, one of which was in recognizable so I did not eat it) and a couple tapas. Stood at the bar for over an hour as it was fun to watch the scene get busier and busier.  Got a gelato at the best place in town right down the street and took bus 31 back up to the San Nicolas viewpoint to see the Alhambra all lit up.  Gorgeous. 

Tomorrow a long train to Madrid for my last few days :( will try to catch up on pictures tomorrow!

Day 11 - Granada

3:00pm - in my hotel for a little siesta. Arrived by train from ronda around 11. Train ride was lined with about 10 million olive trees.  Room wasn't ready so left my bag and set out to find the covered food market, where I bought some olives. Did Rick Steves's old town walking tour and went in the royal chapel where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried. Lots of gypsy beggar-types all over the place, especially these ladies who think they can give you a branch of rosemary and you'll give them money? Oh, ok. 

Waking tour ends at the bottom of the hilly albaicin quarter, which I'll visit tomorrow but had lunch of chicken couscous at Azafran. Wandered back and printed my Alhambra ticket for tomorrow at the bookstore in town and got a gelato before checking in to the hotel. 

11pm- phew, long afternoon and evening! Just before 4 I went out and first saw the massive cathedral that has walls so thick it was freezing inside despite being over 80 out. Then walked up to the monastery of the jeronimos, which was so peaceful. 

Walked back to the center of town and found the couple streets that have Moroccan stuff and tea houses. It's like being in another world.  Had a juice and baklava before heading to plaza nueva and grabbing a mini bus up to the famous viewpoint to wait a few hours for sunset. Had a drink up there to kill time and did a lot of people watching while watching the Alhambra change as the sun went down. Gorgeous. 

Caught the minibus back down and got a light dinner of a stuffed baked potato, which seems to be popular and on a lot of menus here. 

Not sure when I'll get today's pictures up since I have an early start tomorrow at the Alhambra but I'll get them up soon!

Day 10 - Ronda

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633451035026/with/8721722482/

10:20pm - I started this entry earlier today and the draft disappeared :/ anyway, in the b&b for the night as I have an early train to Granada tomorrow.

Had a lazy morning, sleeping until after 8 then moseying on to a churro shop I had walked by yesterday. It was just off the main drag, which means there wasn't a tourist in sight. Two fresh churros and coffee = 2€. 

Day 9 pictures

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633428122373/

Day 9 - white villages and Ronda

7:15pm - sitting on a lovely square in Ronda for a pre-dinner sangria after a lovely day seeing a few of the white villages and ending in Ronda, where I'll spend two nights.

Day 8 - Sevilla pictures

Whoops forgot to post link this morning

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633435809468/

Day 8 - Sevilla

3:00pm - back at the pension for a little siesta. Set out around 9, got breakfast and crossed the river into the Triana neighborhood. What is it about the other side of the river always being where the interesting artisans are? Rome and Florence are the same. Anyway, wandered along the river to the market and picked up a late morning strawberry snack. Went to find a recommended ceramics shop and instead found men demolishing the inside :/ found another shop and bought a nice tile to hang up.

Day 7 - Cadiz and Sevilla pictures

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633409649555/

Day 7 - Cadiz and Sevilla

3:15pm - sitting on the bus back to Sevilla after a few hours in the historic beach town cadiz. And theres wifi on the bus.

Got the 9am bus down from Sevilla. Took bus rather than train for 2 reasons: cheaper and bus station walkable from my pension. And they take the same time. Got to Cadiz around 10:30 and got off where everyone else was getting off. But that was not the right place. It was a nice 30 min stroll along the water but I wouldn't know where to get the bus back.

Unfortunately since its Sunday, the big central market was closed but today was really the only day I could come to cadiz that made good sense.

Found the Cadiz cathedral, which rules the skyline, and it's lovely. The whole ceiling was covered in netting, I wonder if its because stuff is falling off :/

Anyway. Kept walking along water and really had to use bathroom. Came upon castle and found one. Fine til I picked up my camera and i guess somehow tapped it on the ground just in the right place to ruin 2/3 of the screen. Its not like i even dropped it! Everything else works fine but fucking fuck! Luckily I can still see the menu side but not the shutter speed so indoor pictures will be a nightmare. Just great. May be taking a lot of iPad pics I guess :( the screen itself isn't even broken, it's something underneath it that makes it work. Sigh.

Wandered a bit more, found a lovely little park, wandered some more, and had lunch on plaza San Francisco. A few more tapas down.

Set off to find "Comes" bus station as I bought Comes bus tickets. Couldn't find it so started asking people, including a cop, cabbie, and tour bus driver, aka three people who should know. They kept directing me to the same place, which was opposite from where it was on my map. So I end up at the train station and so convinced I'm in the wrong place that I almost bought a train ticket. Went out to the bus area behind the train station just in case and people said the 3pm to Sevilla did leave from there. So hooray! But I almost missed the fucking bus because it was an ALSA bus, not Comes, and the sign on the front didn't say sevilla. So at 3pm I ask the ticket guy and he's all HURRY HURRY. Luckily the line to check tickets was long and the bus left 5 min late or I would literally have been standing there watching my bus go. I swear, more than half the time I take day trips, something frustrating happens. But at least I made the bus. Camera screen, not so lucky.

Lots of people say cadiz is the most beautiful city in Spain. It's nice and all with the beaches and amazing cathedral right on the water and all, but I found the streets uninspiring and poor, with lots of Africans selling fake shit on the streets. I was underwhelmed. Maybe I wasn't there long enough maybe because it was Sunday and things were closed, or maybe it was just the comedy of errors starting with getting off at the wrong place, I'll never know.

11:15pm - back at the pension later than anticipated because as i was finishing another tapas meal, at cerveceria giralda, a lovely British couple from Yorkshire who'd ridden their motorcycles from England for an event in Jerez wanted my table then invited me to sit with them while they ate. Michelle and Steve, wherever you are, thanks for the lovely conversation!

Anyway, got back to Sevilla from Cadiz around 5, a little late from traffic at a toll booth due to the bike thing in Jerez. Walked straight to Casa Pilatos, an old palace that's still privately owned and partially lived in. The entire thing is tiled and gorgeous. They also give you a private tour of upstairs, where there's art and furniture. Really cool.

Came back to the pension for a much-needed break and did a bit of laundry. Changed and set out for dinner. Honestly most of the menus look the same so i picked the one I did because a few people wrote about it and it sounded good and I like that they had tapas sized portions of everything, some places only have larger sizes of some things. Then chatted with Michelle and Steve for quite a while before skipping gelato (already 11pm!) and coming back here.

Pics tomorrow morning hopefully. Will be taking it easy as I'm just wandering more of Seville all day.

Day 6 - Sevilla and pictures

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633417561500/

5:45pm - back at the pension for a rest. Took the morning slow as I nada walking tour reserved at 10:30. Found breakfast in an old cafe and went on the tour, which covered a lot of the places I saw yesterday but gave more life to them. For example, all the pretty little plazas didn't used to be in the Santa Cruz area, the French made those in the 1800s when they conquered spain. Also of note, the city center has a "trash subway" - instead of dumpsters they have these almost mailbox-looking things: people out their trash in it and it gets taken away lord knows how and lord knows where, but that's pretty cool!!

Day 5 Seville pictures and a couple videos

Here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633399152819/

Day 5 - Sevilla 5/3/13

10:40pm - whew, long day! Took a quick 45 min train from cordoba and arrived at the hotel (well, really a "pension" but whatever). Luckily room was ready. It's bare bones but sufficient. I even has its own little patio. And the pension has a pretty patio of its own. I think i saw a huge moth in here tonight but now I cant find it? After checking in I set out and did Rick Steves's walking tour of this neighborhood Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarter. Again you can tell from the tall buildings and very very very narrow streets. There are tons of little plazas full of orange trees and flowers. Grabbed a smack and met guide for tour of the cathedral. That was interesting.

Day 4 - cordoba 5/2/13 and pictures

Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633388467911/

7:30pm - sitting in a square people-watching until dinner time.

Started out the day somehow sleeping til 8 and then searching for breakfast. I wanted to start at the alcazar since it's free in the early morning so I made my way there. In the square across from the entrance, I stumbled across a churreria. Oh yeahhhhh! Two euros and a sixty-second fry later and I had two churros and a little cup of steaming chocolate. Ate it under a lovely orange tree and went to the alcazar. I can see why Rick Steves says it's not worth it because it's not. Well, it is for free! And the gardens are lovely.

Day 3 pictures

Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633381670853/

Day 3 - off to Cordoba

11:00am - train for cordoba from Madrid about to depart. The Spanish train system, despite its truly awful website, is absurdly efficient. Unlike in Italy where it's a boarding free-for-all, they board the trains in Spain not too differently than airplanes, through a gate with a ticket scan. This means you can't accidentally get on a train without a ticket validation and face potential fines like in Italy. Even in Toledo, which only has three platforms, they have a baggage scan and ticket control.

Day 2 - Toledo blog and pics

Photos here. apologies for the weirdness, the Flickr app isn't meant for this kind of uploading I don't think and it has way fewer options than the website so the pics are kinda out of order and I can't customize much. Anyway, onto today's entry:

Day 1 pics

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633381147668/

Day 1 - arrival in Madrid and Toledo

7:24am - plane landed relatively on time in rainy darkness. Surprisingly attractive and fast-moving terminal brought me through passport control in no time. Spain passport stamp getting cozy with switzerland. Already encountered a stupid chip-and-pin credit card machine at airport station. Thank goodness for having a few coins on me. Sitting on train to madrid's main station, we'll see if I can change my train to Toledo to an earlier one so I don't have to sit there for two hours.

8:38 - train change an hour earlier (at NO cost, mind you!) and one much-needed cafe con leche later (just 1.50€ in a major train station, no less - take note, Starbucks), and I'm waiting for the 9:20 train to Toledo. Interestingly, they do a cursory luggage X-ray here. For a country with no money, everything is surprisingly clean, efficient, and modern. Rather embarrassingly so, to be quite honest.

Now, if the rain would kindly cease by 10am, that'd be appreciated.

Day 0 - the adventure begins

As I lie in my seat somewhere above the Atlantic, laid out surprisingly comfortably on a mostly empty plane, on the way to embark on another grand European adventure, I feel I must discuss some of the more striking differences between American and European airlines, having taken a redeye on united just three days prior that has fresh comparisons clear in my mind:

Time flies when you're busy planning!

Amazingly, time has flown by and in less than four weeks I'll be on my way to Spain. I'm testing out the blogger app and doing this entry on my iPad just to see how impossible it's going to be. It's not ideal but manageable. Considering I'll be able to travel so light I won't even need a backpack I'm sure it'll be worth it. Just forgive my typos :)

Spain, here I come!

With a new year comes lots of new things. For me, it means it's time to dust off the cobwebs from this blog and start getting excited about my next trip. While I have probably a dozen potential trips swirling in my mind (Northern Italy? Paris and Loire Valley? More of Denmark? Scotland? Hungary and more of Austria? Gosh, you name it. Need more vacation time.), but a few months back I settled that my next trip would be to Spain.  Besides its current spot among the center of the culinary world, I figured it would be a great opportunity to see something a bit different yet not stray too far from my beloved Mediterranean culture. So, Madrid and Andalucia for 16 days at the end of April-first 2 weeks of May it is: