After an overnight flight, we magically wake up in Spain.
Breakfast in Barcelona. Jet-lag will not get the best of us.
Barcelona and Gaudi go together like Rioja Wine and Aged Goat Cheese.
Jamon is cured ham, and in Spain, you see it everywhere. Thin slices are shaved off and what they serve you looks a lot like Italian prosciutto. Very tasty. Try to ignore the hoof.
The Spanish love their cured meats. Meat served like ice cream. When in Spain….
Barcelona's Sagrada Familia church was designed by Antoni Gaudi.
The interior of the church appears to be completed and there are regular church services taking place.
Unique parachute-style crucifix hangs above the altar.
The ceiling is surreal. A mixture of art and fantasy.
Large text on an exterior wall. Note the skull at the centre right.
Another Gaudi element on the churches exterior.
These block-long, high density structures were designed with a new emerging type of mass transportation system in mind, the steam powered trolley. City planners mandated that the building corners be chamfered to allow the trolley tracks to round the corners. I read somewhere that there were 900 similarly designed buildings in Barcelona. 200 years later, the invention of the automobile put an end to the popular trollies but the hundreds of the unique buildings and street intersections remain today.
Barcelona is a football town. North Americans have a very different opinion of what football is and prefer to call this version soccer.
Plenty of modern architecture around too.
From a tourbus, this is what you see.
Alien antenas? Somebody's idea of art?
This building is apparently where Gaudi lived.
Barcelona sea port.
Gigantic abstract art display.
One of the many beaches in Barcelona. We came back here a couple of times.
La Rambla is a tree-lined pedestrian street that stretches for almost a mile. We were warned to watch for pickpockets.
More Gaudi influence.
The girls are in their element. Shopping!
Side trip to Denia, best known for it's annual "running of the bulls event". Just so happens we were a month early. Too bad. Tito and I were ready to run with those bulls.
Tito and Sandi at El Castell de Guadalest.
Keeping in touch with the family back home.
El Castell de Guadalest lookout tower.
Historic hill fort of Guadalest are the remains of a medieval castle and village…and a little windy!
Back to our patio in Altea and it's Titos turn to serve up some tapas. Will this wine suffice Madam?
Chez Pierre on the beach in Altea. We ate here twice. The food was great.
Cliff dwellings along the highway.
Our rental apartment in Granada was nothing to look at from the outside.
The inside was totally a different story.
Moorish and Islamic influence at Alhambra Royal Palace dating back to AD889.
Fancy Moorish tilework
Arabic words of wisdom.
The Alhambra Palace and gardens is a "must see" in Granada.
One of the rare moments when Sandi was drinking and the rest of us were not.
Rhonda nuns on the run.
Day trip to Rhonda
Restaurant in Rhonda. Very casual.
More fancy tilework.
This mosaic depicts the village of Rhonda and it's buildings perched on the cliff tops.
Downtown Rhonda
Yvonne hamming it up with legs of jamon.
We had hoped to see a bullfight but…..
all we saw was a statue of el torro.
Two girls on a mission.
The Rock of Gibraltar.
Tito swimming in Marbella.
Toledo. The inside of that church blew us away. It rivals St Peters in Rome
Pucker up
One of the strangest paintings of Jesus and Mary.
Lunch in Toledo
Off to Madrid on a high speed train. Less than 30 minutes for 12.50 Euros.
Alcaniz Tour de Ram B&B was so quaint.
Back in Barcelona for one night and then back to Canada
Barcelona - an amazing city!
