1. Vacation Travel • Поездки

Spain (09.2011)

Two weeks in Spain - certainly not enough to take in or absorb all there is to see in the four cities we visited - Madrid, Alicante, Valencia & Barcelona with a day trip to Toledo. As always, we did too much, though our beach break in Alicante helped. It's easy to understand why Europeans love to vacation in Spain - fabulous weather, varied landscapes, history, culture & style.

Such striking architecture from the Medieval to the contemporary. Oh those Spanish masters - artists & architects - with their indelible contributions to civilization. Oh that sweeping history from the Romans to the great empire; and, yes, its tainted past filled with dictators & despots leading to the Inquisition, colonial cruelty, & the Civil War.

Spaniards certainly haven't lost their lust for life despite teetering on the edge of default. Their cities seem to never sleep with hordes of Spaniards & tourists wining & dining, and walking & talking until the wee hours of the morning. Glad we weren't there in high season as the crowds were a bit overwhelming even into early October. Each of the cities we visited could use another go-round, but of course, there are so many other Spanish cities to explore...

I have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills, Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain... "Beauty" ~ John Edward Masefield
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Another UNESCO World Heritage site, this extraordinary building is designed in the Catalan modernista style .
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Another UNESCO World Heritage site, this extraordinary building is designed in the Catalan modernista style .

ИспанияSpainEspañarusurusu photographyБарселонаBarcelonaCatalan modernista stylePalau de la Música CatalanaPalace of Catalan Music

  • Another UNESCO World Heritage site, this extraordinary building is designed in the Catalan modernista style .
  • Overwhelming beauty in every detail. The Palace of Catalan Music is the only auditorium in Europe illuminated during daylight hours entirely by natural light.
  • Susan had bought tickets in advance to see a Flamenco performance at the Palace of Music.
  • A fabulous performance in a fabulous setting.
  • Mattias putting a helmet on Susan as we get ready for our sidecar tour of Barcelona.
  • Brightside Tours uses sidecars made in the Ural Mountains region of Russia.
  • Ural sidecar.
  • Our guide, Mattias.
  • Wireless headsets in the helmets enable the three of us to communicate.
  • Building butterfly.
  • View of Barcelona from Montjuïc Hill (Jews Hill). The four columns symbolize the four stripes of the Catalan flag. The original columns dating from 1919 were destroyed in 1928 by the then dictator, Primo de Rivera, who removed all Catalan symbols. They were replaced in 2010.
  • Barcelona rooftops.
  • The Olympic Tower on Montjuic Hill.
  • On Montjuic Hill.
  • The 65,000 seat Montjuic Olympic Stadium, built in 1929, was intended for use as a venue for an anti-fascist alternative to the 1936 Berlin Games. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War put an end to those plans & it wasn't until 1992 that it was used as an Olympic venue.
  • The Montjuïc funicular takes one to the top of the hill where a beautiful park & the National Gallery of Catalan Art are located.
  • Lichtenstein on the beach.
  • Barcelona's city beach.
  • Susan & Mattias.
  • There's a horse on my balcony!
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