My best travel day ever was when I was in Šiauliai, Lithuania in May 2016. I had just got done seeing the Hill of Crosses and made it back to the bus station. It was only about 11AM and my bus to Riga departed at around 4:30PM. So I had an entire afternoon to myself with no worries and only a couple of attractions left to see including the Cathedral of Šiauliai and Iron Fox. I had plenty of time to see these attractions and causally walk around the city.
Sometimes I feel like I get too much in a desire to check things off my list and slow down and enjoy life. I look back on that day in Šiauliai as relaxing; introspective and a chance to reset myself. I wish I had more days like this.
I’ve been doing alot of research on the Caucuses – that is Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. I would love to go there, but I do believe it is further down the road until I have gained enough experience traveling before trying to go to these places. The Amazing Race featured Georgia and Armenia, so I figure they couldn’t all be dangerous. It’s just a little bit daunting, since their language and script (with the exception of Azerbaijani) seems so different than the rest.
I have a friend from Georgia who never really speaks of Georgia. I do believe most of his friends must think he is from Russia. It’s the American lack of geography that causes this. Georgia looks like an amazing land full of culture and picturesque sites.
It did, however have a Russian intervention in 2008 in two breakaway areas of Georgia: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The conflict lasted 5 days, but it is something to keep a watch on.
Georgia is a Christian nation and seems a bit more friendly toward tourists compared to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
How would I get there? We’ll there’s a direct flight on a low cost airline, Baltic Air, from Riga, Latvia, a country I am familiar with. The only problem is that if I were to go to Armenia or Azerbaijan I would have to transition through Georgia as Armenia and Azerbaijan are hostile toward one another and have their borders closed. So if I fly direct into Tbilisi, I would have to be doing some backtracking if I tried to visit the other two countries on the same trip (A very daunting task as I would likely have only a week there).
Georgia requires no visa. An Armenian visa can be purchased at the airport / border. For Azerbaijan I’ll have to get an e-Visa in advance.
To get to either, I’d have to fly or travel by train, minibus. or fly. The minibus from Tbilisi to Yerevan is 6 – 7 hours while the overnight train takes 12 hours. This is the same case with the overnight train from Tbilisi to Baku which takes 12 hours and can a bit more harrowing. I’ll need to make sure my e-visa is valid at the time of crossing the border into Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is a Muslim majority country, but secular. It would be my first Muslim majority country. Citizens do dress conservatively, but without burkas. The Wikivoyage article stated that many Azerbaijanis do not smile or show emotions. This would be difficult for me to blend in because I do not have a poker face. I’d likely be smiling in awe once I got there and want to let the locals know I was excited to see their country.
I don’t know much about Armenia, only that they seem to have some disastrous earthquakes. It is a Christian nation and looks stunning like the other two nations discussed in this blog post.
Although I don’t foresee myself visiting the Caucasus anytime soon, I can dream can’t it?
It wasn’t the most memorable trip in the world and definitely not the worst. I found Spain to be like most other countries. Barcelona was a party city with young people staying up until Sunday on the day before a holiday. Madrid was more about museums and family life. It was a carnival type atmosphere there.
My hotel room in Barcelona was small and cramped, but the city was picturesque. My hotel room in Madrid was spacious but the city was spread out with less opportunity for unique photographs. I could easily figure out Madrid’s Metro system, whereas Barcelona’s Metro seemed complex.
I expected the cities to be dressed up for the Christmas holidays. Not so. Barcelona had some lights handing on wires over streets, but it was rare to find a Christmas tree. The churches weren’t even decorated with Christmas trees or garland. I do believe the tradition of Christmas decorations might be limited just to America, with Americans going all out. Honestly when I was over in Spain I forgot it was Christmas time. Except for a Christmas market in the main squares it seemed like any other fall day.
One of my aggravations with people is them needing to get a photo “just right” using a selfie stick, especially in a high narrow place. Twice I was delayed because a fellow tourist was taking an absurd amount of photos thereby blocking my passage or opportunity to take same photo shot. Even though I use a selfie stick for my GoPro camera, I am generally against them for portraits. It just looks bad and narcissistic to put a phone on the end of camera and take gobs of photos with it.
So I’m sitting at the Dublin airport right now. My flight begins boarding in 10 minutes.
I had a pretty in eventful trip from my hotel to the airport. It’s interesting how there are several different steps that you have to do in order to get to the seat in my plane. Such as.
So now I’m on the second part of my journey. There will be a third part. Hopefully the winter storm won’t cause havoc in Chicago.
I slept in a little bit later today. The museum that I wanted to go to what’s up open until 10 a.m. so I actually got up at about 8 a.m. to get ready and have breakfast. Had breakfast I was able to anticipate what the breakfast attendant would ask me. He asked me my room number and I was able to answer in Spanish. It’s the small accomplishments in life than make me feel good.
I wanted to go to the Museum of the Americas. It’s a museum showcasing Native American artifacts. Spaniards are very proud of Columbus discovering America on behalf of Spain even though he was Italian. The museum is in a neighborhood that is away from the city center. As I got out of the metro station I started walking what I thought was the right direction but figured out that I would not be able to cross a busy street in order to actually get to the museum so I had to backtrack just a little bit.
What I have found out about Europe is that there is graffiti everywhere and it was very conspicuous in the area where backtracked out of. I don’t know if the City officials care to clean it up or is it just a part of life. Had this been in Mount Juliet it would have been cleaned up very quickly. But I get the feeling that graffiti stays on buildings for quite a while before anyone takes an interest in actually repainting or cleaning the Graffiti Off.
The Museum of the Americas was free on Sundays. I did need to check my bag and coat. I wasn’t so sure if the museum allowed for cameras so I didn’t take any pictures. In fact museums rarely provide for good pictures as most of the interesting articles or behind glass. Simply in a museum setting it’s just not natural and doesn’t provide for any natural light. This might be why I don’t necessarily care for museums.
The Museum of the Americas did not have any subtitling in English. It was all in Spanish. So I could not read the stories behind the artifacts. However I did see feathered Cape from the natives of Hawaii. And so I thought to myself my vacations are intersecting. I had been to Hawaii earlier in the year and did not expect to see any artifacts from Hawaii and Madrid, Spain.
Next was the archaeological Museum of Madrid. It too was free on Sundays. It did have English subtitles to the artifacts which was a big help to me. Although I found myself being overwhelmed with information and artifacts. I simply did not have time to go through each and every artifact and really only breathe through the museum. The museum covered prehistoric, Roman, medieval and pre-industrial time.
It had a replica of the prehistoric skeleton nicknamed Lucy. Lucy was much smaller than what I had imagined. The skeleton wasn’t even a full grown person. Instead the skeleton was probably about 3 feet high. Only a portion of the skull was available yet somehow the scientists were able to come up with a skeleton just from the small portion. It makes me disbelieve Evolution even more.
I also saw Egyptian sarcophaguses. One thing I did not know about sarcophaguses is that it had Egyptian hieroglyphics on them. I wonder how much scientists have been able to translate on the coffin itself of these hieroglyphics. Or is it more of a decoration?
The Rick Steves travel book had recommended that I go to a particular Art Museum. Butt it was getting to be about lunch time and I knew I needed to get lunch so that I wouldn’t be starving throughout the rest of the day. I know of a Subway and the particular Metro stop that it was on. I decided to go there for lunch even though it was probably way out of my way. I found the subway fairly easily and had my usual Club. The difference in Europe is that subways serve roast beef instead of bacon on clubs. I guess the sensation of bacon hasn’t quite hit European subways.
At Subway I discovered that 2 attractions for near me. When was The Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida. The other was the temple of debod. On a map it appears that these two locations are very near each other however I later found that they’re both in two different directions separated by a busy street that cannot be crossed.
After wandering around for a bit I found the temple of debod first period according to the Rick Steves book agent cave Spain it’s an ancient Temple as a gift. The gift was because Egypt was grateful that Franco help Egypt rescue monuments that had been threatened by the rising Nile River. There appeared to be a line to get in and quite frankly I couldn’t imagine what was so great about the inside of the building. It was a small building and the interesting part of the building could be seen from the outside. It showed some arches along the reflecting pool.
I wandered around a bit more. my phone was beginning to lose a bit of its battery and I was apprehensive about losing the battery altogether before I was able to find the Hermitage Ave San Antonio de la Florida.
After walking around for quite some time I did find the Hermitage. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside. Inside was Francisco de Goya’s tomb. on the ceiling was painted a fresco. I’m not so sure this particular church was worth walking 5 minutes for but it was an interesting way to pass the time.
It was getting close to 5 p.m. in The Prado Museum was free on Sundays at 5. I decided to try to find my way there in order to Cy Rick Steves had to put this on his must-see list in his travel guide. Unfortunately by the time I got there there was a large long line and quite frankly I had seen enough art this trip to last me quite a while. Hard has a tendency to drain on me. Once I’ve seen one or Museum I’m pretty much done for the rest of the trip. Maybe next time I can see The Prado Museum but I don’t know if I will be back in Madrid any time soon.
My vacation is almost over. Tomorrow I’ll be heading off to the airport for my 10:30 a.m. flight to Dublin with a connecting flight to Chicago and then on to Nashville. I would say the best part of the trip was my three Country tour. It was on that tour that I really learned much more about the history of Spain which I will plan to lookup in the weeks following my return. I had no idea that Franco the fascist was in power for 30 something years and the United States did not do too much too lessen his grip on the country. How did he get away to last so long? The United States and its allies squelched Germany and Italy but allowed a fascist dictator in Spain to continue.
I’ve discovered that Spaniards may or may not speak English. Many times I came across people who did not speak English. maybe I need to brush up on my Spanish in order to be able to communicate a little bit. But language has not ever been a strong suit of mine.
I look forward to traveling again but in some ways it’s good to come back home. I look forward to sleeping in my own bed without having to worry about where I’ll go for the day.
If my alarm hadn’t woken me up 5:15 a.m. I would have slept longer. I did manage to sleep a bit longer until about 7:48 a.m. I had trouble finding breakfast but stumbled upon it on the first floor. it was the usual fare: various breads, fruits, and cold cuts. I still haven’t ever really understood Europe’s way of having sandwiches for breakfast. But to each his own.
I decided to start the day off by going to the Royal Palace which was on the other side of town. The Rick Steves book stated that it could be potentially crowded and recommended I go early in the morning. I rode the subway all the way there and sure enough the line had already formed and getting in. As I stood in line I noticed the people behind me were speaking in German. Almost mention to them that I had lived in Nürnberg for a summer but decided not to. Sometimes it’s best to remain anonymous rather than try to start a conversation with someone. While in line we were treated to accordion music by street musician. He played some tunes that I recognized although I don’t know the title of them. I did recognize Jingle Bells though.
At around 10 a.m. they opened the doors and started letting people in. It took a little while for the line to go through but eventually we made it in. I paid 11 Euro to get in without an audio guide. Rick Steves book gives all the details that you would want to know about the palace rooms without having to rent an audio guide.
As with many of the tourist sites we were required to check our bags at the lockers. It took one Euro to lock the door and once you retrieve the key you get the Euro back. Initially I left my camera in the locker thinking that no photography was allowed within the Palace. However I went back and retrieved it. It is a good thing I did retrieve it as there was plenty of opportunity outside to take pictures.
The outer Courtyard is quite large it is gated off and on the other side of the gate is the Cathedral of sorts. Later I found out that this Cathedral is where the king and queen of Spain usually worshipped. Within the Royal Palace the rooms are quite elaborate. There are rooms for receiving guests, dining rooms and even a room specifically for dressing the king. Within the grand dining room there is a fresco on the ceiling of Columbus presenting his goods to the king and queen of Spain. I noticed that Columbus has a sphere that he is presenting to the royal couple. I don’t know if it is meant to symbolize Columbus presenting the world to the king and queen by discovering America thereby bringing the world together.
The Palace also has a full set of Stradivarius stringed instruments including two violins a viola and a cello. Musicians say that the Stradivarius violins are like no other. I wonder how they have not been able to replicate the sound of the Stradivarius violins.
There is a silver room which Rick Steves reported a silver baby’s rattle but I don’t think I found it while I was looking.
While going through the palace it began to dawn on me that the king and queen lived in this elaborate Palace and I wasn’t sure if they were even allowed to be messy ever so often. Did they leave their cloaks laying on a bed or did they just let the maid and other servants take care of their clothing so that the palace would never become messy?
Next I decided to go to the National Art Museum. It was a few subway stops away. I expected there to be a long line of people but to my surprise there was no line at all. I paid my eight Euro to get in.
Throughout the modern art exhibits I begin to ask myself is this really art? Or is it something that someone says was Art and then someone else put it in a museum? Honestly many of these Modern Art ideas and sculptures are ridiculous. I saw one exhibit that was 2 femur bones. One was painted in Belgium’s flag colors and the other was painted in France’s flag colors. The title of the exhibit was belgians man’s femur and French’s man’s femur. Another had a suitcase painted in Belgium’s flag colors which was titled Belgian suitcase. In another exhibit featured art with eggshells and clams. Clams were embossed on a table. It was all very strange.
I had really come here to see the Guernica by Pablo Picasso. I asked the lady at the information desk where to find it and I thought she said floor 3. So I went up to floor three trying to find this painting. I came across some interesting photography about the globalization of the world. It showed a time-lapse of shots in New York City and eventually he’ll they closed possibly due to globalization.
I became increasingly frustrated that I could not find the Picasso painting. I asked a worker where to find the painting. As it turns out the painting was actually on the second floor. After searching the second floor for a while and browsing through some Salvador Dali paintings I eventually did find the Picasso painting. Of course there were a ton of people around it. The painting is fairly tall and could take up an entire wall if needed. They were worker sitting and stools on either side of the painting to watch for people trying to take a photograph of the painting. I’m not sure why photography is banned outright if only that flash photography tends to harm paintings. However most cameras that do not use flash would not harm the painting. I’ve noticed that my camera when I’m not using the flash still sends out a beam of light to try to gauge how far the subject is from the camera in order to focus correctly. I can understand why painting over time. So after seeing the Picasso painting it seems that my they had been fulfilled and I was ready to move on from viewing paintings.
I decided now would be a good time to try and eat lunch as it was 2 p.m. I was going to try and stick with fast food as it was the easiest and most convenient. If I had gone to a sit-down restaurant where the waiter or waitress dining could have taken all day.
I had a few choices including KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King. Both McDonald’s and KFC seem to be crowded even at 2 p.m. on a Saturday. Therefore I decided to go over to Burger King. After waiting quite a bit for my food at Burger King I deduced that McDonald’s probably would have been quicker. I had to listen carefully to discern the number on my receipt with the number which was called out in Spanish. Again I was using the Spanish numbers which I learned on Sesame Street years ago. After several minutes my food was available. I picked a seat near the drink machines so that I can easily get a refill without having to pack up all my stuff in order to just refill my drink if I was on another floor. I noticed beside me there was a man who must have purchased parts and tools to repair a cell phone. So there he was repairing a cell phone in the middle of a busy Burger King.
After spending a good portion of the day at the art museum I was ready just to experience Madrid. I decided to do one of Rick Steves recommended walk so I called a Subway train to a particular stop. As I got out of the Subway exit I saw that it was very crowded which made me fearful of pick pocketers. I was also leery about carrying around an expensive camera which would give them an opportunity to snatch and grab. It is Saturday night in Madrid and seems like everybody is out. It was mostly families though. I walked along and bought a few souvenirs along the way. I made the mistake of Spain 49 Euro for a soccer shirt. I was sure the worker said 14 however it was actually 49. I probably should have protested it but I didn’t feel like putting up a big fuss after the worker had been so kind help me with my purchase. I did buy some other items including a Barcelona shirt which I had meant to buy in Barcelona. I was surprised that they sold Barcelona shirts in Madrid as I thought the cities were in some type of rivalry. Also found a bull shirt with a silhouetted Bull on red background.
I wandered into Plaza Mayor, an enclosed area surrounded by buildings. It had a carnival type atmosphere with people dressed up in Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bear. Magicians were doing magic tricks and there was a Christmas market going on.
After walking around a bit I decided it might be time to get some dinner. So I was able to find a free Wi-Fi signal and use Google Maps to find my way to the Pizza Hut in the north side of town. I believe this Pizza Hut served the northern suburbs as there didn’t appear to be any tourist areas around the store. It also had very limited seating but I was able to grab a table and a chair and eat my personal pan pizza. Then it was time to journey back home to my hotel.
Tomorrow is my last day and Madrid before going back on Monday to the United States. I’ll finish up with a few things that I mean to say and plan on getting a good night’s sleep tomorrow night.
I started today off really early. I set my alarm for 5:15 a.m. I had a 7:54 a.m. train ticket to Toledo and I figured if I left at 6:30 I could make it.
The night before I had purchased some donuts at the supermarket around the corner. The hotels breakfast only started up at 6:30 a.m. I wasn’t sure if that would be enough time to eat and catch the train in time. So I had those donuts for breakfast.
I took the Madrid Metro to the Madrid railway station. This was the same station that was bombed by terrorists a few years ago. I noticed signs pointing to the memorial for the station. Probably because of this bombing I noticed that both in Barcelona and this time in Madrid all suitcases were being screened by an x-ray machine.
I sat and watched the board waiting for my train to be assigned a gate. There were a few trains in front of it which had already been assigned gates. I was secretly hoping that it would be assigned to a gate which I knew the Spanish number for. Since I didn’t take Spanish in high school always drawing from my knowledge of Spanish based on Sesame Street rhymes. Then it happened my train was assigned to gate 12. And I didn’t know the Spanish word for 12. There was a screening area right in front of the bored which I tried to use but first I asked the lady checking tickets if this screening area was for gate 12. She said no and that would have to go downstairs. I quickly went downstairs knowing that I had just a few minutes to locate my train and board. After asking around I was able to find my gate and have my luggage screened.
On the train ride over there I really just got arrested my eyes but never actually went to sleep. I have this nagging feeling that if I go to sleep on a train that my luggage will be stolen. I know that this is not always the case but I’m paranoid in a way. Also reviewed Rick Steves book on Toledo. Since my train was going to arrive at around 8:30 a.m. I look for attractions which would be open during that particular time. Unfortunately it looks like the whole town stayed close until 10 a.m. with a few exceptions. There was an El Greco Museum and synagogue which opened at 9:30 a.m. I decided it was in my best interest to check out those first in order to optimize my time there.
The train arrived and I got out and ask an older man working at the desk if he had a map of the city. He gruffly said no and that the tourist office would be open later on. I decided to head out based on my knowledge Google Street View which I checked out before I left for Spain.
It was about a 15-minute walk to the city. It always seems a bit more foreboding when your trying to get there. And in the back your mind you’re trying to keep up with how long it took you to get to the center of town so that you can keep track of how long it will take you to get back to the train station in order to catch your train back home. I did the same thing when I was in Bratislava. The only difference is my train in Bratislava was about two hours late and departing to Budapest.
Toledo is located at the top of the hill. It’s Fortress and Cathedral dominate the skyline. I tried to keep track of landmarks and streets on my way in so that I can easily remember how to get back out. As I entered the city as find a hotel with a front desk clerk. I went in and asked him for a map of the city which he gave to me. This proved to be the greatest asset in Toledo for me to try and find my way around. I later found that Google Maps somehow could not show the street address at the time that I was checking. Toledo can be a bit foreboding initially as the streets are very narrow and up and down Hills. If you’re not paying attention to landmarks you could easily get lost. But the good thing is that it’s a small City and eventually you’ll get back to where you need to be albeit a few hours later. I walked around and thought I found the El Greco museum. It wasn’t open yet and it was difficult to determine when it would be open. I went next door to ask the bartender when it would be open. He answered me in a rough time to indicate that he did not speak English.
After wandering around a bit further I found the real El Greco Museum which was closed at that particular time. I could hear people inside of the building so I knew it would be open soon. I decided to see if the synagogue which was supposed to open at 9:30 was already open. I found what I thought was the museum but it appeared to be closed. Since I wasn’t sure if that was the museum or not I wandered up the street a bit more looking for a building that might be a blessing to God. After being fruitless I decided to head back to the El Greco Museum to see if it was open. The good thing is that it was open. I bought the 5 Euro combo ticket to see the El Greco Museum and synagogue.
I had been fascinated by El Greco for a while. I can’t remember if it was in elementary school when a parent would come by classical paintings to show to us. Or maybe it was during my art appreciation class in college. Either way El Greco’s paintings are very unique. They almost look like the background is the end of the world since it seems so gray and the people are so slender with big eyes.
During the tour I found out that El Greco was actually Greek. this is the name by which El Greco comes from. He lived and studied in Venice, Rome, and Toledo. Hence many churches in Toledo have portraits painted by El Greco.
This particular Museum had several El Greco paintings along with some other paintings by similar artists. One room that struck me was the portraits of the Apostles. Some had the x-shaped cross which that particular apostle was crucified on.
I also found out that El Greco was not famous when he was actually painting. Instead he was rediscovered in the 19th century. It’s sad to know that El Greco even after working very hard never achieved the fame within his lifetime
I finished up the El Greco Museum and look for the synagogue. I showed the lady that I had already bought a ticket at the El Greco Museum and she let me in. The first room that I I came to was the large equivalent of a Christian sanctuary. However it was for Jewish worship. As I was going through the museum a lady stopped me and showed me how to listen to the descriptions on the Museum’s Wi-Fi via my smartphone. This proved invaluable as all the descriptions to the Museum displays were in Spanish.
I found out that women where in the balcony during Jewish worship service. They were separated from the men. It would be interesting to know if this is the same case as today.
The glass displays contained several Jewish items including the menorahs. Unfortunately they descriptions were in Spanish and they WiFi do description did not go into very much detail in these rooms. the audio guide then directed made to go outside 2 a courtyard with grave markers of past Jewish inhabitants. It was very sobering to see the Hebrew writing on the raised Stones.
The museum also contained some history of the Jewish culture and a wedding outfit.
Next I tried to find another church which I wanted to visit. I stumbled upon what I thought was a church and paid 2.50 Euro to enter. A huge tour group was in front of me. And then I saw what they were looking at. It was the painting of The Burial of Count Orgaz by El Greco. I had seen it in books many times before and here it was right in front of me. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the painting. Even so it was a bit hard to get to as there was so many people crowded into the room.
Now a note about The Burial of Count Orgaz. There’s that one guy in the center of the painting that has always struck me. He has his eyes looking up to heaven and it seems as though he’s incredibly tired of the burial itself. It’s that one detail that always makes me find a little humor in the painting.
I decided to try and find lunch. There was a McDonald’s and Burger King somewhere in the city and I was trying to find it. However the draw of a small Pizzeria got my attention. One thing that you’ll never find in Europe is a sausage pizza. It’s unheard of. Instead you find pepperoni or ham or bacon. I saw what I thought might be sausage being put into the oven but eventually I convinced myself that was probably not what I would not like on my pizza. In fact it is likely tuna fish.
I decided now was probably a good time to try and go to the cathedral. I wandered around until I found what I thought was the entry for the cathedral. However it was a caged off section. It was as if this portion of the cathedral was separate and apart from the tourist section of the cathedral. I later found out this was the prayer section of the cathedral and therefore only those wishing to participate in prayer were expected to go in.
I then found the entrance to the church. in order to get a ticket you actually have to go next door to a shop across the street. I inquired about a tower tour. Unfortunately the next one wasn’t until 4 p.m. and it was already almost 1 p.m. but the lady at the ticket desk talked me into it.
I got my audio guide and was required to give a form of ID as collateral in order to return my guide. I told the lady at the audio guide desk that I didn’t have an ID. She suggested my hotel Key could be used. Since my hotel Key was of the magnetic card variety which could easily be replaced I did not have a problem giving her my key for the audio guide.
The audio guide was very thorough. There are 18 Stations of the audio guide and it took at least 90 minutes to get through it. It’s at this point that I have to continue to ask myself if medieval churches of this size and ambience was what God wanted. Or should they have spent their time and money feeding the poor? I’ll never really understand that type of mentality. I know that the church should be a Shining Light to those in a dark world. But is it necessary to build such elaborate churches?
This cathedral in Toledo is one of the most elaborate churches I have seen. In the back there are portraits of the Toledo Bishops including past and present Bishops. It kind of goes along the stereotype that Catholics lift Saints and other human figures above God and Jesus. It was just aggravating for me to see a present bishop’s portrait in a medieval church period preachers and pastors are supposed to be humble and yet this is the complete opposite of being humble.
I could have stayed in the cathedral for at least another hour but felt that I needed to go if I was to ever see any more love Toledo.
I wandered around a bit more and bought a souvenir. It was a ceramic tile of the skyline of Toledo. This should look good in my bathroom. I hope it does not break on the way home.
I wandered around and found the Iglesia de los Jesuits Church. There wasn’t anything particularly special about this church accept that you could climb to the top and see a great view of the skyline.
I had about 45 minutes before my tower tour so I decided to try to wander back to find the Cathedral again. It was quite easy to find. I guess when you’ve wandered the Streets back and forth at least a few times you get to understand the layout of the city. While waiting for the tour to begin I did get some ice cream from a local vendor.
When they emphasize to her expected some commentary to go along with it. Surprisingly there was none. It might have been because the group was speaking various languages. If our tour guide had given a commentary he would have had to give it in multiple languages. Instead he just unlocked the doors counted number of people on the tour and told us when we would need to come down. We went through various areas including the cloister. We climbed a few steps and saw the huge Bells. Honestly I think the bills were so big that I doubt they’d actually ring them and instead probably use some type of electronic signal and system to imitate the Bells. The real problem of the tower tour is that there was wire fencing around the viewing area making pictures impossible to take. Had I known this was the case I probably would not have gone on the tour. Going up that high is only good enough to take photos and when you cannot take a non-obstructed photo, the it simply isn’t worth it.
After the tower tour walked around a bit and discovered the main Square where the McDonald’s and Burger King are located. I also found out this was the square where the ATMs are located. I have been going all day without having very much cash on hand. And sometimes souvenir stands only take cash.
At about an hour before my train was to the part I decided it was a good time to go back to the train station. I’ve actually found my way there and sat around waiting for my train to be assigned to gate. Suddenly several people started lining up and I figured why not follow the crowd?
After my ticket with stand our bags were x-rayed. Even at this small train station x-raying bags has been implemented.
I dozed a bit on the way home thinking of getting Papa John’s Pizza. After I got back to my hotel room looked up Papa John’s Pizza on my phone. It was just the subway ride away. After a few wrong turns I eventually made it to Papa John’s Pizza. The smallest Pizza they had was a medium therefore I got it. And right now I’m paying for it because I’m feeling very full but not sick.
Tomorrow I’ll tour the city of Madrid hoping to go to the Royal Palace. It’ll be good not to be on some type of schedule therefore I’m thinking about sleeping in a little bit.
I was inspired this morning. I had some places I would like to visit, but until this morning I didn’t even plan on visiting the Gaudi sites. I checked the Rick Steves guidebook that recommended three Gaudi sites: Casa Batllo, Casa Lleo Morera, and La Pedrera. During breakfast I made the decision to buy my tickets online to avoid the crowds.
I bought a ticket for Casa Batllo for 9:30am. I then got a ticket for La Pedrera for 11:30am. I tried to get a ticket for Casa Lleo Morera but it seemed to be unavailable online.
I arrived at 9am at Casa Batllo and the ticket taker was kind enough to let me in early. Casa Batllo was an apartment building retro fitted with Gaudi design. Gaudi prefers not use straight lines and instead uses organic design. Edged are curved. It reminded me of Alien, but in a nice way. The audio guide goes into great detail about the design including use of natural light.
The real jewel of the site is the roof where Gaudi dressed the smokestacks with his trademark organic theme. There is a cross at the top as well. I really enjoyed the site and took several photos.
Next just up the street I visited La Pedrera. It is a Gaudi designed site from the ground up. I was a bit early, but the ticket taker let me in early.
We took the elevator to the very top, which was by far the most visually stunning part of the site. The smokestacks were tan and very similar to how the Star Wars cantina bar was seen. Rounded edges. Unearthly. I spent a lot of time on the roof taking several photos.
Next after finally finding the exit door I followed the audio guide to the attic. The interior was designed like a snake skeleton.: Arches of varying height with a central backbone on top.
I went through the exhibits including an apartment setup with period furniture. I exited through a gift shop.
Next I tried to visit Casa Lleo Morera, but it appeared to be closed.
I had lunch at McDonald’s, not because I like McDonald’s but because it was easy. I ordered via kiosk and picked up my order. As I ate I bought tickets for Palau Guell. The only thing is that I didn’t pay attention to the date. I reserved my ticket for Friday instead of today. Same day tickets are not available online. I had some trouble downloading and opening the PDF ticket, so I took a screenshot of the barcode from the website.
When I got to Palau Guell the ticket taker tried to enter the code, but it wouldn’t work. She asked if I bought the same day. I said yes. She said same day tickets are not available, but that she would radio my name and ticket number to the front office to have it corrected to allow me to enter.
The interior is even much less Gaudi’s organic design, but still unique. The audio guide gave a lot of information even much more than I’ll remember. The numbering system for the audio guide was confusing.
The roof was the jewel of the site. Gaudi changed the design of the smokestacks into organic design with glass mosaics. It was visually stunning. I took several photos.
Next I decided to try to find the Santa Maria Del Mar. With my phone’s battery running low I began to stress if I could find it and get back in time for my train to Madrid. I walked in the general direction and stopped in some souvenirs shops on the way. All had the ugly iron on logos which would fall apart during the first washing. I did find a collared shirt I liked but didn’t buy it, thinking I’d get it on my way out.
I arrived at Santa Maria Del Mar, and paid my entry fee of 8 euros to have access to the church plus a special roof tour which was starting in 5 minutes. Paul, our young tour guide arrived. I could tell that some of the member of our tour group did not use English as their first language.
Paul described how the church was not built in the traditional cross style layout. Rather it was built with a design where there is opened in the Sanctuary. The church took 54 years to build compared to 400 years for the Barcelona cathedral. It was burned during the Spanish civil war.
We walked up to the roof. It had a good view of the steeple of the Barcelona cathedral and Sagrada Familia. We also saw the bells. Our tour guide said the bells were baptized. I think he meant “Christened,” as baptizing a bell brings to mind a weird moment. Won’t the rust?
At this point I began to worry if my train was at 19:25 (7:25 pm) or 17:25 (5:25pm). I worried I might not make it back in time.
After the roof I stayed only briefly and found my way to a metro station where I got back to my room to find it was 19:25 or 7:25pm. So it was 5pm and I had time for supper. I decided to get kfc, which was just around the block from my hotel. I got the 5pc chicken fingers with fries. Not as good as Zaxby’s but it’ll do in a pinch.
While I was watching a young man came to each of our tables asking something in Spanish. I only picked up “dinero.” So I figured he was asking for money. The couple at the table to the side gave him a piece of chicken. I felt sorry for him and realized I could have given him some fries which I would not finish. He finished up and thanked the couple who shared their food and left.
Back at my hotel room I packed and charged my phone. I got directions from the front desk clerk who said I should leave at 6pm. As I checked out I was told I owed a .65 euro tourist tax. I gave him was I had in change, but he said that was OK.
I rode the L3 train to Sants Rail station. I got off the metro and asked some rail workers for directions to the train station. My bags where scanned in the x-ray machine, something I hadn’t seen before.
I tried to go to the platform but the did not open the gates until 20 minutes before departure.
So right now I’m riding my train to Madrid at 258 km/hour. Not sure how fast that is in miles. I expect to make it to my hotel late tonight. Tomorrow I will visit Toledo with a train ride at 7:45am. I’m.looking forward to it.