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Return to Spain
  • Pat Kopitke
  • Laura Folk
May 2025

Return to Spain

A 15-day adventure by Pat & Laura Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 6, 2025
    Return to Spain

    On Our Way

    May 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    FROM LAURIE:
    Wayne drove us to Dulles. Check-in was uneventful, and we got a "free sample" of Clear. (Reminder to self- need to cancel.)

    We took the transport train to our terminal, and found the KLM/Air France lounge, where we were able to spend some time before we had to leave at 3 to make space for those airlines' passengers.

    At our gate, we noticed at 4:35 that we still didn't have a plane. We decided after awhile that we needed a nosh, so we stopped by Starbucks. Back at our seats, we broke out the Girl Scout cookies. Life is good.

    The Iberia App indicated that our flight was on time. I checked a flight status app that had an Iberia plane from Madrid to IAD diverted to Philly. After quite awhile we were informed that the situation was what I suspected. Iberia was really tight with info, but I spoke with a guy who was messing with the entry aisle markers around 6 pm who told me our plane had landed, but we wouldn't be boarding until 7, and thanked me for being patient. I told him we could all be patient, if we knew what was going on.

    We boarded, and had a lovely flight, with a lot of very well-behaved children.

    FROM PAT:
    Our plane was delayed a few hours in getting to our gate in DC, having been diverted to Philly because of bad weather. A bit of confusion, but we finally departed at 8 pm on Tues May 6 and enjoyed a mostly smooth flight over the Atlantic.

    Having the window seat, I was able to enjoy the view during takeoff and later as we passed over Chesapeake Bay. Light beverage service (we opted for pineapple juice) was followed by an actual meal.

    Nice selection of movies, TV shows, music, & more on large touchscreens. I chose "Here" with Tom Hanks - and liked it; Laurie tried "Apartment 7A" and decided soon into it that she'd sleep instead, having realized
    that it was based on "Rosemary's Baby" - she commented that there would be NO sleep -ever- had she watched it.

    We both managed to get a few hours of sleep (putting on some music was helpful), and awoke as we finished crossing the Atlantic to a breakfast of coffee and bocadillas as we passed over Portugal and on to Madrid.    Read more

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    First Day-

    May 7 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    LAURIE'S TAKE:
    Interesting day. We arrived at Madrid around 9:30- much better than our scheduled time of 6:30 am. Immigration took about an hour in line and about 90 seconds with the Policia Nacional. After collecting our luggage, we got Metro cards and went to Nuevos Ministerios for a switch. After a couple of mixups, we took a break at a subway cafe for café con leche and croissants. Finally got headed in the right direction and made it to the hotel- Apartamentos Recoletos near the Biblioteca Nacional.

    Along the way, we encountered many, many kind people who offered up their seats on the Metro (not sure how I feel about that- am I officially and visibly an Old Lady?)- so sweet. What was even more welcome was the assistance we received at least 4 times with our luggage on stairs. Just voluntary kindness popping out all over the place.

    We needed a nap, so headed out around 7:30 for Plaza Mayor. We walked around a bit, then went to the house that Pat lived in when she studied here in Madrid.

    Then to Cervecería Alemana. Pat and her friends determined that it was the "Clean, Well-Lighted Place" that Hemingway wrote of. And, indeed, we sat at the table by the window that he apparently loved (under a picture of him, in fact). Our dinner couldn't be beat. We shared a portion of tortilla española, some jamón croquetas, and fried calamari - topped off by generous glasses of sangría.

    We caught the bus back- another public transport experience. The driver was the one exception to kind people - closed the door on me and squished my shoulder. I'd like to think it was a mistake. Yes- that's what I will choose to think, after some cussing and very mean thoughts.

    PAT'S TAKE:
    Arrived in Madrid by 10 am, got through Passport Control, and found our checked baggage.
    We were then off to get reacquainted with the Metro system. Really didn't do that badly with our initial attempt on the Metro from the airport into Madrid. The map provided with our passes only showed the station names without any street details, so I guessed at the stop, which was actually pretty close. Arriving at "Avenida de Américas" station we found a place to buy a SIM card for Laurie's hot spot, then noticed an information stand where a friendly man looked up the hotel address and provided exact directions for the train to get us closer to it. As we proceeded, we saw the aforementioned café and were fortified to continue on to the Colón station, just blocks from Apartamentos Recoletos.

    Post-nap we easily identified the Metro station "Retiro" and line to take us to "Sol," the closest station to the Plaza Mayor. We spent a little time at the Puerta del Sol Plaza, which is at the center (km0) of Madrid's street system. Found the popular longtime bakery where we discovered croissants back in our foreign study term of 1974-75. One of the number of streets that radiate from Puerta del Sol leads to the Plaza Mayor - thanks to mobile hotspot and Google Maps, we were able to find our way there, and beyond to Calle de Atocha, número 85, and then to the Cervecería Alemana.

    Left the Cervecería with take-out containers for the calamar and croquetas, since there's a fridge, to enjoy leftovers later. We visited a small grocery where we purchased a container of sweetened condensed milk for our morning coffee and a jar of jam. Looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast.

    On to our first bus experience. We found the location of the stop, though not exactly where to board. We saw the correct numbered route on an approaching bus. He was stopped behind other vehicles right by us, so we motioned that we wanted to board. Instead, he pointed ahead to the actual boarding location, so we ran ahead and fortunately made it in time before he took off. This happened to be the same "pleasant" (not) bus operator that Laurie referred to above. I definitely preferred using the Metro to dealing with the uncertainty & human whims associated with taking the bus.    Read more

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    Hokie IrisesHokie snapdragons?Chocolatiers.."Not bad...not bad at all..."Los Borrachos (the drunkards)Neptune Fountain

    Prado

    May 8 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    🚧🏗️🚧UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🚧
    (but getting closer)

    We amazed ourselves by waking up at 11:30- guess we needed that sleep!

    Our room was equipped with a small kitchen: fridge, an electric stovetop with 2 burners, a microwave, sink, and plenty of cups, plates, utensils, and a saucepan or 2. But how to turn on a burner so we could heat water to make some coffee? Fortunately, the housekeeping lady was in the hall outside, so we asked her. She in turn contacted someone else who demonstrated it for us.
    We enjoyed a late continental breakfast of coffee, enhanced by bread & other leftovers from the Cervecería and purchases from last evening.

    Meanwhile, the conclave in Rome was underway! We turned on the TV to catch the coverage; it was clear that by that time there had already been 2 votes, resulting in black smoke.

    We hung out in the room, trying to download the app for our 5:30 Prado audio tour. Mine wouldn't download at all- Pat's downloaded - more on that later.

    We walked to the Prado- about a 15 minute walk, and were quite early, so decided to stroll around the building. On the other side was the Royal Botanical Garden- €1 each for "viejas". So worth it! We saw lots of irises, including what Laurie dubbed the Hokie irises, and some other like-colored flowers. There was a vegetable garden, complete with a scarecrow!

    At our scheduled arrival time, we entered the museum and went to the audio desk to see if they could help. Turns out we booked with a third party- so not their problem. Pat tried to activate her app, which wanted her to purchase something to establish and account. No go. I sent an email requesting a refund of the difference between entry fee and what we'd paid. We'll see what kind of review they earn.

    We took off on our own. There was a special El Greco exhibit that included "The Assumption" from the Art Institute in Chicago.

    We saw a lot of other El Greco works in his gallery, and proceeded to Velázquez, where we spent a lot of time. When I visited Pat with Mom & Dad in '74, my favorite painting was of Prince Baltasar Carlos on a horse. He was probably 5 or 6 in the painting. I remember thinking, I will probably never see it again. And there it was. Photos aren't allowed, so the posted picture is from Internet. I got to see it again.

    The wonder of the cellphone and internet - as we walked through the Velázquez gallery, we were able to piece together the family of Philip IV (father of the young prince), which we need to learn much more about. It rivals the Borgias!

    About that time, we were ushered out- it being 8 pm. We sat outside for awhile, and I started receiving texts about the newly-elected Pope - he's from Chicago! Then it was time for something to eat. We noticed a cafetería across the street- but along the way was a sweet shop- "Turrons Vicens" (est. 1775). The young lady at the entrance was giving samples, and it worked. We got some snacks for future enjoyment before proceeding to the Restaurante Prado. Sangría, tapas, and pizza with Los Borrachos (having just seen the original in the Prado).

    Afterwards a walk back to the hotel, past the illuminated Post Office and Cibeles Fountain.    Read more

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    Big Bus Tour

    May 9 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    🏗️🚧👷‍♂️ UNDER CONSTRUCTION

    A bit about the area where we were staying. "Apartamentos Recoletos" is on a side street, about a block from a major boulevard that begins at the south near the Atocha train station, where it's called Paseo del Prado (for reason which will be apparent) and passes through several plazas (large roundabouts, basically with fountains or monuments at the center). At the Calle de Alcalá (Plaza de las Cibeles), it becomes Paseo de Recoletos, for a relatively short stretch, and changes name again to Paseo de la Castellana at Plaza de Colón (location of the aforementioned Biblioteca Nacional) as it heads north beyond the Chamartín train station. Between the north- and south-bound traffic lanes was a pleasant park-like area with trees and walking paths for a leisurely stroll returning from the day's activity.

    It was pretty centrally located and convenient to everywhere we wanted to go by Metro, bus or on foot. It was an easy walk to the Prado, which we visited the day before.    Read more

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    Toledo ...

    May 10 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION
    (Pat separated this into multiple footprints, to allow for a bunch of photos for all 3 stops of the tour)

    LAURIE'S VIEW (modified by Pat):
    We had an EARLY start- fixed coffee and some bread, then took the bus on this rainy morning to the "Ventas" Metro station- our meeting place to join the day's tour. What to our wondering eyes should appear, but the Plaza de Toros (Bullring)! There was a statue dedicated to a bullfighter who apparently ended up on the wrong side of the bull in 1985.
    We encountered some other travelers who were scheduled for the same tour. Our guide, Luís, gathered us up and herded us to the bus.
    The tour was in both Spanish and English, and they put us on different buses. We were "White Chaos." Yep- Chaos is the name of the bus company. Our first destination was Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid. We were given some historical information along the way, with repeated recommendations to use the toilet at our stops. (reminding us of Dad's advice- "Never pass up an opportunity.")

    After a quick stop to take photos from a spot that was clearly an inspiration for El Greco's "Vista de Toledo", we were dropped off at the city's Plaza Mayor, a square with "many coffee shops." Being still quite early, there was really only one, Mazapán al Foro, unless you counted McDonald's and Burger King. We had café con leche (served with a small marzipan) and shared a cookie. We discovered as we were leaving that it was a local specialty called a "toledana," partially dipped in chocolate.

    We had a walking tour of the city, including a view of El Greco's house and the old Jewish Quarter. There was a factory/shop where we saw a demonstration of sword forging and delicate hand fusing of gold and silver in jewelry. (We resisted some beautiful items in the gift shop.)

    There were chains hanging on the side that were from Christians who had been imprisoned. And there was a statue outside that looked curiously like Jesus with a hula hoop. (this last observation was included under the Segovia part, but was actually in Toledo at the monastery of San Juan de Los Reyes, so I moved it - Pat)

    The views were amazing, and it was easy to see where El Greco got his inspiration.    Read more

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    ... and Segovia ...

    May 10 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We hopped back on the bus for the 2-hour ride to Segovia, taking the tunnel under the Sierra Guadarrama on our way. Got in a little nap & were glad to have taken the advice about the bathrooms.
    After a quick look at the aqueduct dating back to Roman times, and a short orientation in the main square, we headed up the street for lunch at El Bernardino, which had been recommended by our guide. One of our tour guides was at the door and told the hostess "dos prestos" (two in a hurry?) We each had a bowl of "sopa a la castellana" (a traditional garlic soup made with cooked egg, bread & paprika) and shared an entree "hojaldre de revuelto de morcilla, piñones y dulce de pimiento de piquillo" (puff pastry stuffed with blood sausage, pine nuts and red pepper jam) along with a bottle of Rioja & bread, of course. Had fun interacting with a little girl who was at the next table with her parents. Lunch was REALLY good- and that's not just the Rioja talking. No room (or time) for dessert - we had to hustle to meet up with the group at the cathedral [that looked like it was being set up for a wedding???]
    Proceeded through picturesque narrow streets and on to the Alcázar.

    More beautiful views- and a self-guided walk-around through the Alcázar. We met an amusing Aussie man who took joy in hopping into people's pictures.

    We rejoined the group in the plaza in front of the Alcázar at the designated time and hustled back to our bus to proceed to our next destination.    Read more

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    ... and Ávila, oh my!

    May 10 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    There was a smaller group that was continuing to Ávila, so there was some bus-swapping action as we reboarded in Segovia. The English-speakers skipping the next leg moved to the black bus (allowing us to improve our position from the back row where we started the day), some Spanish-speakers moved to the white bus to proceed to Ávila, and the black bus returned directly to Madrid. Despite the name on the buses, there fortunately didn't seem to be any chaos - get it?

    Luís, our friendly & informative guide did a masterful job on continuing the tour bilingually - and sometimes within the same sentence.

    It was raining (as the day had started) as we got off the bus at the visitor center. We'd been lucky that the weather had cleared earlier for the first two stops of the day, and was mostly sunny up until now. But no worries, and the sun eventually broke through as we proceeded.

    Laurie had been intrigued about going to the home town of Santa Teresa. We enjoyed another walking tour through the town, though not a lot of info on Teresa- except she was from there.

    Similarities in all the places we visited today included a discussion of the progression of architectural styles through the ages - so much to absorb. Each had a "plaza mayor", effectively the local town square, and an ancient walled enclosure that had been built as protection in earlier times, and a cathedral, along with churches & monasteries. In Ávila, the back of the cathedral was actually incorporated into the walled section. We didn't visit inside any of the churches or cathedrals on this day's jam-packed tour (something that would change in the coming week - stay tuned).

    Interesting also to observe that these are not solely tourist destinations - they remain active & bustling for the people who live there. Laurie noticed some people rehearsing for a procession - turns out the festival of St. Mary of the Cows was coming up.

    We checked out the gift shop in the visitor center (where we returned for another toilet visit opportunity before our return to Madrid). Laurie overheard a lady ask the cashier if they had any relics for sale. Her first thought: "not in the last thousand years," was followed by a second: "This one probably didn't go to Catholic school."

    This had been a long, and most enjoyable day, with four thumbs-up for the tour. Back in Madrid around 8 pm, it was still daylight. We took the Metro from the "Ventas" stop back to our hotel, to make plans for the next day.    Read more

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    Madrid- Getting Sorted Out

    May 11 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🏗️🚧 ... but getting closer

    It had been our plan to activate our 8-day (non-consecutive) first-class Eurail passes by taking a day trip from Madrid to the picturesque town of Cuenca on this day. We discovered, however, that it now involved a bit more than checking out train schedules, having passport & train pass in hand at the appropriate station, and climbing aboard, as in earlier times.

    Using the Rail Planner app to schedule rides, called "journeys," for our itinerary was easy enough. But there was an additional requirement to purchase a seat reservation for each leg of the journey (starting at around €12 for a 2 hr ride). Trying to complete this using a less-than-user-friendly app late on Saturday night, and dealing with credit card authorization was a big source of frustration. Never mind that we also needed to present printed tickets to board (and that we REALLY needed to travel the following day), we opted to scrap Cuenca in favor of scouting the train stations & seeking assistance from a railroad pro.

    With that decision behind us, we got a good night's sleep, and Sunday turned out to be a great day- and VERY productive.

    We took the Renfe Cercanías underground train (different from the Metro) from Recoletos to the very busy Chamartín station and managed to find the Renfe office for high-speed train travel, once we learned that there wasn't just one Renfe office there. Richard/Ricardo, the agent we spoke to, was our hero as he patiently made our seat reservations for the entire rail itinerary we had planned for the week ahead, and printed all our boarding passes. Success!

    Before leaving the station we made sure to locate the departure area for the next morning's train out of Madrid.

    Having addressed our train travel concerns, we were free to enjoy the remainder of our last afternoon in Madrid. First order of business: more coffee. We still had our passes for both Metro & Renfe transit, and headed back to central Madrid, home to many Starbucks cafés, to make our plan for the rest of our now stress-free Sunday.

    [Note: need to move the following part to Sat May 17 - the day we visited Frank at Renfe office re: Córdoba day trip - "we remained nervous about trying to make seat reservations on our own- realizing that it might be difficult to get seats together."
    * Also, need to move the selfie photo from Museo del Jamón to the "More Madrid" footprint on the same day]    Read more

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    Puerta de Atocha, the southside train station in Madrid

    More Madrid

    May 11 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    🚧UNDER CONSTRUCTION 👷‍♂️🏗️
    We had passed on Linda's urging us a few days earlier to visit Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world (having opened in 1725), and were glad that this day gave us a chance to try her other suggestion: Museo del Jamón (Museum of Ham)! We were intrigued, having spotted a sign for it on the Gran Vía during our Big Bus tour a few days earlier.

    A Google search revealed multiple locations around town - we decided to visit the one on Paseo del Prado and headed to the Metro to take us to the Estación del Arte stop near the Atocha train station. The nearby Reina Sofía Museum of 20th Century Art had also been pointed out on the Big Bus tour - so much to see, so little time.

    Entering the restaurant, we passed a huge deli counter on our way to an open table in the rear dining room to have a late lunch/early dinner (by Spanish standards). From their "menú especial" we shared a melon cup with iberian ham and assorted iberian hors d'oeuvres as our primer plato (first course) and veal escalope with potatoes and iberian pork shoulder with pepper as our segundo plato (second course), which included a glass of vino tinto & dessert (flan, if memory serves correctly) for €19.95 each.

    It was a nice evening to stroll along the Paseo del Prado back to our hotel. We stopped into "Ale Hop"- a ubiquitous variety store, sort of like Five Below, but with kitchier merchandise and a wider range of prices. Laurie picked up a metal bottle (to transport leftover wine), and Pat got a lanyard for her phone. Both great (and reasonably priced) purchases.

    Continuing on, we passed the Royal Botanical Garden & Prado, and then our favorite Restaurante Prado (we waved to our server, Raúl) and Torrones Vicens (our chocolate shop: Not bad--- Not bad at all) where they gave us more samples.

    Arriving back at Apartamentos Recoletos, we packed up for our next day's travel to Santiago de Compostela.    Read more

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    Madrid a Santiago de Compostela

    May 12 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🚧🏗️
    [Pat attempts to reconstruct the morning events, as we departed our hotel and embarked on the train to our first overnight destination outside of Madrid. I had posted it previously, but it somehow seemed to have gone "poof, along with the photos that I had posted.

    The only line to have survived was at the end of my narrative: "A very nice hotel, once we finally got there" in reference to our hotel in Santiago.]

    We got up early, made coffee, and Pat polished off the paella and artichoke leftovers from our dinner a few nights earlier, as we finished packing to move on to the first of several rail trips to other areas of Spain.

    Hoping to avoid the possibility of stairways (up and down) with all of our luggage, as experienced on our arrival in Madrid, we had already decided to take a taxi. Even easier, Laurie submitted a request for an Uber driver, who pulled up to the hotel entrance in good time. He loaded our bags into the trunk and off we went, bidding farewell to Colón and other sights along the Paseo de la Castellana as we headed to the Chamartín train station, where we were deposited just as we hoped alongside the area for boarding long-distance trains. Huzzah!

    A track number had yet to be posted for our train, so we found seats in the waiting area for Laurie to hang out with our stuff while Pat went to find us some café con leche. Before long, we had a track number and proceeded to the platform area, passing through security where we loaded most of our things on the conveyor belt to be scanned. An unanticipated step for train travel, but at least we got to keep our shoes on. Having shown our boarding passes, we proceeded along the crowded platform to find our assigned car number, stepped aboard, and found our seats. With each future trip, we became more adept at getting ourselves and our luggage on and off the train, often with the assistance of other passengers.

    We placed our larger bags on the overhead shelf, and settled in for the ride to Ourense, where we would change to another train to take us to Santiago. Announcements, in both Spanish and English, kept us advised of upcoming stops, and monitors also displayed the progress toward our destination.

    Boarding the second train, we placed our larger bags in the designated area near the car entrance. Live and learn.

    We watched beautiful scenery – lots of green – outside our window along the way, as we traveled to the Galicia region of northwestern Spain.

    Laurie contributes:
    We took a taxi to the station for our trip to Santiago de Compostela. The train ride was fine- and we opted to walk to the hotel; it appeared it would take only 15-18 minutes. What a mess. Google Maps took us around Robin Hood's barn and beyond, including several large hills. With our luggage. And though we packed conservatively, compared to our usual travel, it was heavy and awkward.

    We finally located our lovely hotel- Plaza Santiago. The desk clerk was very helpful, and suggested that we really needed more than one night in Santiago - and we came to discover he was right (so much to do, so little time).

    We settled our things in the room. then took a taxi to the tour company office for our tour of the Cathedral.

    From Pat: A very nice hotel, once we finally got there.    Read more

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    Santiago de Compostela - Cathedral

    May 12 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    From Pat:

    We decided to give our feet a break and asked the desk clerk to call a taxi to take us to town for our tour. (Funny story about a hotel guest who approached the desk, complaining about "no power in his room" 😁)

    The tour of museo y catedral was TODO en español, y muy interesante. A little souvenir shopping & stopped at a tapas bar on the plaza, before going to evening Mass.

    More time spent in a church in a LONG time.

    (back to you, Laurie)
    The driver dropped us off, and it started raining -and of course, it had been sunny when we left the hotel. We checked in with our guide, whose name was Laura, and was told that the tour was in Spanish. Oh well... turns out I was able to pick up on quite a lot.

    We started in the museum- no photos allowed - and as a result, no pictures from any of the tour because we were too busy concentrating on what she was saying. We then proceeded into the Cathedral itself.

    A special feature of the cathedral part of the tour was being able to climb the steps to the statue of Santiago (St James) behind the main altar, and to embrace his silver cape. Definitely no photographs allowed there.
    But it was all good, because we found out there was a Pilgrims' Mass at 7:30 pm. We figured "what the heck," and wandered around, settling into a tapas restaurant for sangria and croquettes for some pre-Mass refreshment.

    Mass was packed. We stood behind the chairs on the side of the altar. Someone got up to leave and I was encouraged to sit down. There were three women in front of us, and one of them was videoing the service. A self-appointed Church Police lady (attired in shorts and hiking boots so we'd all know she was a pilgrim,) decided to set the young lady straight. The young lady switched places with a friend, and was writing in her journal - I presumed that she was inspired from her visit and was recording her thoughts. Legit, in my mind. Well, Church Lady wasn't having any of that, either. Pat and I compared notes afterwards, and decided that if we weren't in Church, we might apply special names to self-appointed Church Police lady.

    Having spent some time in the presence of the Lord, we thought we could handle a walk back to the hotel. On the way we found a shop specializing in Chestnut products.

    On the rest of the way Google Maps messed with us again, but Pat was very clever (she has to be) and switched it to "drive" instead of "walk" and it showed a direct route.

    We found the hotel, and went in for dinner.

    back to Pat ...

    After Mass we spent a little more time in the cathedral. We started back through town and were invited into a little shop along the way that sold all products imaginable made from castañas (chestnuts). They even gave us a sample of a liqueur!

    More walking - and more confused directions from Google Maps. It finally occurred to us to specify driving, instead of walking, directions, which helped a bit.

    Returned to the hotel in time to enjoy a small dinner in their restaurant (jamón, queso y más vino) and promptly to bed!

    A LOT of walking in Santiago ... from train station to our hotel (took a taxi to town for our tour) and back to the hotel after our visit to the cathedral. GoogleMaps was NOT our friend - nearly 13K steps for the day!    Read more

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    Santiago a Barcelona

    May 13 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🚧🏗️
    Observed building construction across the street and other bustling activity from our hotel window. Easy packing job after just one night's stay, and we went down to the lobby to enjoy a very nice breakfast in the hotel's restaurant.
    We checked out and took a taxi (our new m.o.) to the train station. With plenty of time before our train's departure, we enjoyed another cafe at the station, then made our way to the boarding area. Oops, should have allowed more time. We had failed to keep in mind that security check would be a factor on our way to the platform, and quite a line of people were waiting there. Laurie recognized the 3 women in front of us as those we'd seen at Mass in the cathedral, and struck up a conversation with them about it. It turned out that they were visiting from Ukraine, and had walked one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago. It helped to pass the time.

    [Pat copied texts sent to Linda from the day's train travel to use as a base for narrating today's adventure - edits to follow]

    🚂🎶On the train again 🚃 ... (really more like this one 🚄) on to Barcelona (changing stations & trains in Madrid). Time to enjoy special cookies from a shop we visited in Santiago that sold all things made of chestnuts - yum! 

    We weren't expecting to go thru security with our luggage to board the first train (Santiago to Madrid) & spent more time than we should have in the café at the station. There was a l-o-o-o-ng line to exit to the platform. Laurie had purchased a wine opener in Madrid for a bottle we got at Museo de Jamón. Wasn't a problem at the Madrid station on Monday, but got flagged this time, resulting in further delay as she had to go through her bag to retrieve it. The guy measured the blade, which was fortunately short enough, and we proceeded to our train. Enjoyed the beautiful scenery and got to work documenting our adventures of the past week on the "Find Penguins" app.

    A little stressful as we approached the north (Chamartín) station. Our train was slightly delayed in arriving - maybe 10 minutes. But no worries, since we had visited there on Sunday and were familiar with the layout to take the separate underground line to the south (Atocha) station ... or so we thought. Instead of an easy elevator ride down 4 floors, we wound up going all over creation, up and down staircases (not escalators) with all our luggage. A bit frustrating, but fortunately there were uniformed attendants all over the place and enough vocabulary on our part to finally find the track for taking that train. We became concerned that we wouldn't make it to our next train on time, but we're standing next to a young guy from Germany who was taking the same train to Barcelona. He seemed calm about it, and we stay connected with him through the even busier Atocha station.
    Bottom line: we made it! Riding in comfort to today's destination, and resuming work on our 'travel log' but taking a break to send this update.
    Here are a few photos of our place in Santiago and this morning (great hotel breakfast ... more jamón, queso, tortilla española, & local pastries.

    On a high speed train as we head east from Madrid. Trying to take a picture would be just a blur, I think. Rolling terrain with some mountains, farmland, ranches, highways with car & truck traffic, factories, warehouses, occasional tunnels.

    They showed a movie on the train: "¿Quién es Quién?" - seemed a bit like "Freaky Friday" but involved 5 or so members of a multi-generational family. Had subtitles, but en español. Adding it to my watchlist, if I can ever find it. Llegamos pronto a Barcelona. ¡Hasta luego! 

    Viajamos hoy al hotel en taxi ... mejor decisión.  

    Arriving at our hotel in Barcelona (on Tues) we enjoyed leftovers (jamón, queso y pan) from Monday dinner in Santiago. It is (or was) on La Rambla - a pedestrian area. Had a nice room with a balcony. The main lobby area was quite elegant. We took a stroll on La Rambla in the evening, opting for gelato instead of dinner for once. Lots of cafés, shops & more along the way. Laurie left a euro for a "foot artist" - he gave her a card featuring a copy of his painting of La Sagrada Familia church & wrote her a message on the reverse ... also with his foot. Such talent!    Read more

  • Return to Spain

    Big day in Barcelona (part 1)

    May 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 46 °C

    Pat's perspective:
    A very fine breakfast buffet featured WAY more than we could eat. We had an early start and couldn't delay, since we had tickets for a tour of the Sagrada Familia church starting at 9:30 am, and needed to figure out the Metro. The only snag after purchasing our tickets was that we needed to exit the station to get on a train going the opposite direction. We made it to the tour in plenty of time.
    It was very informative, narrated in English by our guide - her name was Haizea, a Basque name, which sounded like "Isaiah" (the prophet). We were given headphone devices to listen to her - lots of tours were going on around us, with probably 100's of people.
    It was breathtaking to actually be inside the church. It's been under construction since the late 1800's. When I visited with Barb (and Madrid foreign study pals at the end of our term) in 1975, only the Nativity entrance structure had been completed, so that was all that we were able to see. After the 90 min tour, we visited the museum - & gift shop, of course - and spent another hour or so inside the church on our own.

    So much detail, everywhere we looked, both high & low. What a genius Gaudí was ... also the people who've continued his work since his death in 1926. The entrance on the opposite side ("The Passion") has since been completed, and the main entrance ("The Glory") has only begun ... and has a way to go. The light shining through the stained glass windows was just incredible!

    Laurie's perspective:

    The height- the light- the colors! After our guided tour, we spent a couple of hours walking through the museum, checking out the gift shop, and another hour or so back in the church to take in all the details.

    We realized that Gaudi's genius included not only architecture, but a deep understanding of theology, symbology, tradition, nature, color, and physics. After getting chewed out for ducking under the pew divider strap thing, we just sat in wonder, then walked around noticing more and more details. One thing that we saw was a window near what will eventually be the main entrance with the names of Estevan and Isobel.

    Having spent most of the day at La Sagrada Familia, we decided to take the Big Red Bus tour around Barcelona.    Read more

  • Return to Spain

    Big Day in Barcelona (part 2)

    May 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Pat says:
    After our visit to Sagrada Familia, we walked thru a park across the street & decided to take a Coke/lemonade break and figure out the rest of the day. We decided to get a 24-hour pass for the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus around Barcelona. It gave us a chance to see other parts of Barcelona while giving our feet a rest, and we could take advantage of our passes the next day to ride another route to pass the time before our train on Thurs, scheduled to depart at 4 pm. Among the sights were a restaurant (Two Patties 😉), playgrounds, their own monument to Columbus (called "Colom" in catalán, as opposed to "Colón" in español), a communications tower from the 1992 Olympics, an open-air cultural exhibit, the former bullring (not a thing anymore in Barça), Corte Inglés department store, and of course, McDonald's.

    Laurie chimes in:

    We were able to get nice, shaded seats on the upper level, and decompress from the Sagrada Familia experience.

    We returned to the hotel to decompress, and asked the hotel desk clerk about Colóm, a restaurant with good reviews. He approved. We knew that there would be a queue, which ended up being an hour. The time passed quickly, as we conversed with two young women from England- one an optometrist, the other a data analyst.

    Dinner was another amazing meal- sangria, seafood paella, and garlic shrimp, followed by crema Catalan. We were surprised by a complimentary aperitif- a Bailey's-luke concoction for me, and an herbal liqueur for Pat.    Read more

  • Return to Spain

    Big Day in Barcelona (part 3)

    May 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    (from Pat)
    Wrapping up Wednesday ...
    we exited the "HOHO" bus at a convenient spot and took the Metro back to our hotel. Laurie grabbed coffees from a nearby Starbucks, which we enjoyed with a pain au chocolat and cookies (brought from Santiago) and zonked out for an hour or so. We felt refreshed & thought we'd try for some local catalán cuisine.

    We set out for "Colom" (again with Columbus!) that had good reviews - and the hotel clerk confirmed it was good. A very popular place, so we expected there'd be a wait. It was an hour outside in a line to get seated. We struck up a conversation with 2 younger ladies in front of us (Alicia and Mali) who were on holiday from England, which helped to pass the time.
    An excellent meal: pitcher of sangría, garlic shrimp tapas, and seafood paella. We made sure to save room to share a dish of crema catalana (aka crème brulée) for dessert, followed by complimentary shots provided by one of our fun & friendly waiters.    Read more

  • Return to Spain

    Sunday in Córdoba (en muchos partes)

    May 18 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Pat:
    Woke up way early to reach the station to board our 6:55 am 🫩 train for Córdoba ... arriving an hour or so later 🌞
    Time for café con leche and shared a croissant (filled with Nocilla) at the station. Then off to explore the city. Purchased the city tour (hop-on hop-off) bus passes & searched the local area for the stop, asking a few people along the way, since it wasn't clearly marked. Finally found it, as a bus pulled up right outside the train station, and spent the next 2-3 hours cruising the town. That included a lengthy wait, exiting the first bus to transfer to a mini-bus to take us on a different route. It never showed, so we hopped on the next "big bus" that arrived and exited at the Mosque/Cathedral location. Found a table in the visitor center to have a snack of some well-traveled chestnut cake & a chocolate egg (respectively from Santiago & Madrid). Then off to find the check-in location for our audio tour.

    Laurie:
    What another mess we had! I thought I'd booked entrance and audio tour through the official Mosque/Cathedral site. However, the crooked vendor hijacked a link that used the official site's info making it look like it was legit. I received a confirmation, but no voucher or location info, despite a couple of emails. A German couple we encountered was in the same boat. So we purchased entry tickets and had an amazing experience.

    There was initially a church on the site. The Moors took over and built a mosque that was enlarged several times over the centuries. When the Christians regained power, they built a cathedral -but rather than tearing down the mosque, the Cathedral was built inside the massive mosque structure, including all the chapels, artwork, main altar and side altars we've come to expect in our Cathedrals.

    There was a small chapel, guarded by a Chapel Monitor that was just for praying. No pictures. It contained some beautiful art. Pat and I were grateful for such a spot on the busy and loud "Mosquedral."

    I lost my CityBus ticket somewhere along the way- and we were faced with yet another "happy accident." We through the Jewish Quarter, getting some helado along the way. High points on our walk were the synagogue, a bust of Manolete (famous bullfighter), and a statue of Maimonedes (our Dad's favorite philosopher.)

    We were 20 minutes from the train station, so decided to walk for 10 minutes, find a place for dinner, and then to the train. We found the Victoria market, with lots of food stands and bars. You find what you want, and then sit wherever you like to consume. We opted to share a bacon cheeseburger that was mighty tasty, accompanied by the best fries we had in Spain (with the caveat that we didn't go to any of the numerous Five Guys we saw throughout Spain)

    At the train station, we boarded the train, delightfully unencumbered by luggage, and returned to Granada, caught an Uber, and went back to the hotel as the restaurants were closing earlier (at midnight) since it was Sunday night.    Read more

  • Trip end
    May 20, 2025
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