Spain Grad Trip Begins

 

Honestly, I have lost track of our days because we had a marathon journey to get here! In the winter of 2020, we bought flight tickets to Spain for our oldest one-of-three as a surprise for her college graduation in May of 2020. We picked Spain because she minored in Spanish in college. Well, March rolled in and the world shut down. We thought, we'll still go; no big deal; it can't last that long. WRONG!

It's two years later and FINALLY, we are in Spain! We left North Carolina on Monday and headed north to fly out of Newark. We left very late Monday night - almost Tuesday - and arrived in Barcelona, Spain Tuesday afternoon via a stop in Lisbon, Portugal. We had dinner Tuesday evening but reserved sight seeing until Wednesday. 

Our first stop was the Barcelona Cathedral. The current standing cathedral was building over some existing churches with the original consecrated in 1058. This building's construction began in 1298 and was completed in 1417 with the attached cloister being completed in 1448. Currently the spires are undergoing some renovation so there's not a great view of the exterior but trust me, it's beautiful. 

I am guessing these weren't the cheap seats. Seemed to have family crests on the backs.

Front Facade

We toured the inside at length, visiting the areas dedicated for the saints, looking at the minute details of everything from stained glass to pews, standing where 15th century worshipers stood, and walking with our heads tilted upward at the beauty of the architecture. I mean after all, that is what these cathedrals were designed to do - get you look heavenward.

On the roof of Barcelona Cathedral

Loved the beautiful draping purple flowers

Interesting mix of a centuries old bell tower and a modern structure in the distance.

We also got a rooftop tour and visited the attached cloister, which by the way, constantly holds 13 white geese. The official name of the cathedral is after Barcelona's patron saint Eulalia who was martyred at age 13; hence, 13 white geese in the cloister.

He strongly voiced his opinion after posing for a pic and we didn't provide a treat!!

On a side note, there were people in cloister casually working on an organic display for some upcoming festival. I mean who doesn't hang out in your 15th century cathedral make a giant flower display?

Gluing soil to the black lines

Wheat grains color the top

Next, we made our way to Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar. This church was smaller than the Barcelona Cathedral but still very beautiful. It was built between 1329 and 1383. I loved the detail and thought they put into these magnificent structures!

Sant Ignacio

The Basilica had many doors, all different

I would not want to be this organist.

Another door

Our day also included a self-guided walking tour of some various spots in the Gothic Quarter. I just love how they continue to utilize the old structures and work around them instead of tearing them down!

Streets and alleys so narrow that the buildings appear to be leaning inward.

We caught a train late afternoon and headed to Madrid. Once settled in to our Airbnb, Audrey and I headed to the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana - AKA the National Library of Spain. My doodlebug planned this stop just for me!! (FYI - she was in charge of planning this whole trip.) The library was beautiful, of course, and we were treated not only to some gorgeous books in the Incunabula Exhibition celebrating 550 years of the printing press in Spain but also to an exhibition of Kaulak's work - a Spanish photographer! Books and photography - couldn't get any better!

Beautiful detail - all done by hand!!

Playing with light so long ago!!

I'll take my version any day!

I could not find out what this was but it was near the Biblioteca Nacional.

This was my favorite photo by Kaulak. A Spanish woman reading to children. He often photographed life in the countryside.

We met back up with Chris and headed to Can Via which is apparently like 5th Avenue in NYC but MUCH cleaner!! Honestly, much of Madrid, to me, mirrors NYC but the buildings aren't as tall and it is much cleaner. We did some shopping, people watching and eating dinner.

Can Vie

Wednesday morning started in El Retiro Park. It was beautiful!! So calm and peaceful. Again, many similarities to Central Park in NYC. It is very large, beautifully landscaped, interesting features, musicians playing and manicured paths for walking and biking. Just lovely!

This was called the Crystal Palace - for obvious reasons.

The large installation on display in the Crystal Palace was made entirely out of cardboard. Apparently by an artist, but I literally did smaller scale stuff like this in my last job in a maker space. Hmmm...

We had a 1:00 lunch reservation in the oldest part of Madrid so after the park we headed that way. We window shopped the Plaza Mayor seeing everything from a duck store (not real ducks) to a shop making handmade espadrilles as people watched! We also walked through a thriving market of foods! Could have tried so many things but we were headed to lunch.

Plaza Mayor

Translation - Ham Museum - the man loves his ham!!

Duck Store

Chris spotted these three Spanish gentleman sitting along the street, hanging out, chatting away and I wanted their photo so badly because they just screamed Old Spain to me. Audrey kindly asked them in Spanish if I could take their photograph and they were so obliging!! Just so sweet! It is my favorite photo of the day!

3 Spanish Gentlemen

We made our way then to our lunch reservation, Restaurante Botin. According the Guinness Book of World records it is the oldest restaurant in the world! It was pretty plain to look at on the outside, but the interior has such old world charm - beams in the ceiling; narrow, maze-like staircases and great waiters! Also, Ernest Hemingway has eaten there! The food was classic old world Spain, not a lot of flair. It was good - our plates consisted of suckling pig, lamb and roasted chicken. Don't skip the desserts - they were great! Highly recommend the cheesecake!

Next was the Palacio Real de Madrid or the Royal Palace. It was ginormous - just under 1.5 million square feet! It has almost 3500 rooms!! The floors were absolutely amazing - such intricately detailed marble. Few rooms allowed photos though so not much to share. Oddly though, Audrey was shopping on Can Via again this evening and the King came down the street!! Roads were blocked off, crowds gathered and she says he waved specifically at her... Hmmm.

Playing with light in the Royal Palace

Right beside the Royal Palace is the Catadral de la Almudena. Yes, another large cathedral! Not quite as old as the others, just 19th century. This one has an interesting mix of neo-gothic and modern geometric colors and shapes! Still very beautiful! It has some interesting stories such as finding hidden objects in walls presumably put there to hide them during war times.

After the Cathedral Almudena, we made our way to the Museo Nacional del Prado. It is the main national Spanish art museum. Audrey wanted to see some specific artists so we spent a bit of time there strolling the galleries.

Afterward, Chris and I opted for a break and she opted for more shopping on Can Via and we met up later for dinner. So far, we have been unsuccessful as finding great restaurants on the fly, but ended up at a little empanadas shop and grabbed a sampling to share. Delicious!

We wrap up Madrid Thursday morning and head to Valencia!!

#kuwtp