The rain in Spain.
It is difficult not to love Spain. No matter how hard you try the country always manages to put a smile on your face and a glass of sangria in your hand. It isn't hard to understand why, this is country of happy, beautiful and cultured people.
I started my adventure in Barcelona which has a well deserved reputation as being a fantastic party town. There is some amazing architecture by Guadi including the Sacred Family church which when (if) finished will be spectactular. I stayed in the Barri Gothic which is the old neighborhood. Its narrow streets and alleys enclosed with 5 and 6 storey apartment blocks gives it a dark atmostphere which is perfect for partying, which is what goes on there all day long. The neighborhood is full of restaurants and bars and so the party atmosphere is fantastic.
My next destination was Granada right down the bottom of Spain. It is a small city but has the amazing Alhambra fortified palace which is artefact of the area's moorish period. I think I took something like 200 pictures in the 4 hours I spent there which almost every room or part of a garden spectactular and different from anything else you see in Europe. My second day in Granada was spent wandering around the old Moorish neighborhood accross from the palace. It is filled with white stone houses with plush gardens sitting on cobblestone roads that wind up and down the hill accross from the Alhambra. The neighborhood, called the Alcaicin offers amazing views of the Alhambra and the town below as well.
Three hours on the train and I found myself in Sevilla (Seville in English) where I did the quickest whirlwind tour possible. On the day that I arrived I hurried into town and visited the HUGE gothic cathedral and climbed it's belltower which is actually an old muslim minaret. I then wandered around the gardens and palaces area of Sevilla. While impressive I didn't find as interesting as it is in the heart of the city and a few very major roads go straight through it. What was impressive was the Alcazar, a moorish palace and gardens. The palace itself wasn't quite as amazing as the one in Granada but the gardens surrounding it were just amazing. The moorish gardens use water in a very interesting way with water often flowing in a direct line all the way through the garden (effectively making a little canal) and then have pavement covering it in most places with frequent bubblers to make the water accessable.
I only stayed overnight in Sevilla because though the city did offer a few more interesting sights that might have held me for an extra day or so it wasn't interesting enough to stop me moving on to Madrid! A seven hour bus trip later and I was there, the capital, the party town. I ended up spending 5 days in Madrid, 2 more than I had planned, thanks to another battle with my stomach in which I lost horribly and ended up too dehydrated to go by the gatorade I sorely needed. On the happy side I managed to see everything I wanted to in Madrid before the debacle. The Prado museum was interesting due to the large number of Spanish and Belgian artists represented. The Palacio Real was fantastic and while not as amazing as say Versailles it was easily classier. There are a number of large parks in Madrid and I spent a lot of time just wandering around them and absorbing their spanishness (I had sore feet).
After recovering my strength it was time to head back to the best city of them all: Barcelona. While the south was different and interesting and Madrid was bustly and cultural nothing beats Barcelona for atmosphere. This is the meeting place of the world. Backpackers from all over the world are packing it's streets and adding to the atmosphere of ease and spark of vitality. The only sad part is that I won't be in town for the 19th of November to watch the party if Barcelona beats Real Madrid.
Next Stop Stockholm.
I started my adventure in Barcelona which has a well deserved reputation as being a fantastic party town. There is some amazing architecture by Guadi including the Sacred Family church which when (if) finished will be spectactular. I stayed in the Barri Gothic which is the old neighborhood. Its narrow streets and alleys enclosed with 5 and 6 storey apartment blocks gives it a dark atmostphere which is perfect for partying, which is what goes on there all day long. The neighborhood is full of restaurants and bars and so the party atmosphere is fantastic.
My next destination was Granada right down the bottom of Spain. It is a small city but has the amazing Alhambra fortified palace which is artefact of the area's moorish period. I think I took something like 200 pictures in the 4 hours I spent there which almost every room or part of a garden spectactular and different from anything else you see in Europe. My second day in Granada was spent wandering around the old Moorish neighborhood accross from the palace. It is filled with white stone houses with plush gardens sitting on cobblestone roads that wind up and down the hill accross from the Alhambra. The neighborhood, called the Alcaicin offers amazing views of the Alhambra and the town below as well.
Three hours on the train and I found myself in Sevilla (Seville in English) where I did the quickest whirlwind tour possible. On the day that I arrived I hurried into town and visited the HUGE gothic cathedral and climbed it's belltower which is actually an old muslim minaret. I then wandered around the gardens and palaces area of Sevilla. While impressive I didn't find as interesting as it is in the heart of the city and a few very major roads go straight through it. What was impressive was the Alcazar, a moorish palace and gardens. The palace itself wasn't quite as amazing as the one in Granada but the gardens surrounding it were just amazing. The moorish gardens use water in a very interesting way with water often flowing in a direct line all the way through the garden (effectively making a little canal) and then have pavement covering it in most places with frequent bubblers to make the water accessable.
I only stayed overnight in Sevilla because though the city did offer a few more interesting sights that might have held me for an extra day or so it wasn't interesting enough to stop me moving on to Madrid! A seven hour bus trip later and I was there, the capital, the party town. I ended up spending 5 days in Madrid, 2 more than I had planned, thanks to another battle with my stomach in which I lost horribly and ended up too dehydrated to go by the gatorade I sorely needed. On the happy side I managed to see everything I wanted to in Madrid before the debacle. The Prado museum was interesting due to the large number of Spanish and Belgian artists represented. The Palacio Real was fantastic and while not as amazing as say Versailles it was easily classier. There are a number of large parks in Madrid and I spent a lot of time just wandering around them and absorbing their spanishness (I had sore feet).
After recovering my strength it was time to head back to the best city of them all: Barcelona. While the south was different and interesting and Madrid was bustly and cultural nothing beats Barcelona for atmosphere. This is the meeting place of the world. Backpackers from all over the world are packing it's streets and adding to the atmosphere of ease and spark of vitality. The only sad part is that I won't be in town for the 19th of November to watch the party if Barcelona beats Real Madrid.
Next Stop Stockholm.
posted by denny at 8:51 AM
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