Spain with Madelaine and Kelsey
I've tried several formats for my travel articles. None has gone viral, but since Madelaine Mills and Kelsey O'Rourke, my nieces and traveling companions, kept journals, I hope to incorporate their thoughts into a daily diary and make it entertaining for the handful of humans who make the effort to embrace the entertainment that follows. Specific travel advice will be in bold, and Madelaine and Kelsey's input, which was beautifully colored in the draft, can only be made to stand out in this format by making them bold and in italics.
First, let me offer up a summary of sorts. I'd traveled with both Kelsey and Madelaine to Europe in 2016; Kelsey on a fantastic tour of Italy for nearly two weeks in January, and Madelaine on a shorter and equally fantastic four days in Paris and three days in Amsterdam in late May. After finishing the second trip, we discussed trying to go back to Europe together, perhaps to Spain since Kelsey had studied Spanish in high school and college. With them both having jobs, it would be hard, and I had plans to go for several weeks to Nepal in December and January of 2017-18. In May of 2017, after planning to go on that trip for nearly 18 months (I'd been asked by its leader to provide medical support), I was summarily dismissed as I was not on the leadership team and not a university employee and they needed my spot for someone who had to do a trip abroad to graduate (in a shot of karma, the guy who took my spot caused a lot of trouble and had to be sent home early). After a few days of bitterness, I realized it was not worth it to fret over a trip with a bunch of university students for three or four weeks. Then it dawned on me I could go to Europe again in January and ran it by the girls. They were in and made a point to get the time off. Kelsey came up with a bunch of activities, so many Madelaine had an anxiety attack, but we eventually got it all planned, with me again using my travel websites to find good places to stay (both our hotels had rooms with three twin beds) and scheduling the flights.
It all worked out great. It was one of the most enjoyable trips I have ever been on. Madelaine and Kelsey were so much fun and got along so well, it took a load off me as I didn't have to entertain them. Kelsey was always our source of information and carried the maps, leading us where we were supposed to go. Madelaine rarely complained (the lack of a scarf at one point the main exception), focusing more on how she looked and the weather, which was chilly, but nowhere near as cold as Pennsylvania had been. The best part was the pure joy they got from sharing their adventures and photos on various forms of social media. Spain is a great place to tour, obviously, and we got a lot done in Madrid and Barcelona, but there is a lot more to the nation, and judging from what we saw traveling, it is a very pretty and varied landscape and the people are very nice. The main things I noticed: wide sidewalks, big plazas, lots of running/cycling/walking paths, lots of lovely parks, and lots of pretty women. It had the feel of Paris and Florence but a bit less crowded. Every place we went it was easy to walk around, with lots of little alleys, which I favor. The food was great and not too expensive. I would say culturally it is a step below France and Italy, but the Royal Palace in Madrid was certainly almost the equal of Versailles, and Sagrada Familia is the most spectacular place of worship I have ever seen, even without lovely frescoes by famous artists. The terrain is certainly more interesting than those other countries, but our sample sizes were small. So definitely make it a priority to go there and have a wander around! Here is the blow-by-blow account of the trip, with lots of photos.
Day 1, Saturday January 6th, Danville:
It was a bitterly cold day, with an overnight low of 1 degree F, and I managed to run, but only a short run with a stop at the gym to lift weights for my legs. I left Danville at 12:30 and got to Madelaine’s apartment before 2pm. She was all ready, but she hadn’t gotten gas. We took her car, as it was an automatic with all wheel drive, and I parked mine within a millimeter of the curb across the street, extremely proud how close I’d gotten as I’d backed it there onto the street from the nearby post office parking lot. We stopped for gas and I filled it, distracted by how dirty her windows were. I cleaned them quickly and then we were back on the road. We made quick progress and were nearing the Delaware River when Madelaine said, shocked, “The lid to the gas tank isn’t closed and is flapping around!” I got off at the next exit and pulled over so she could close it; our first good laugh of the trip. It was a good spot to do it as I could do a u-turn at the road and go right back onto interstate 80, and we zoomed along without any problems the rest of the way, using Madelaine’s phone to guide us through the complicated lane switches to get to our parking lot.
It was an easy shuttle ride to the airport, and I recognized immediately our driver was from Nigeria, so we talked about Africa on the way. Check in went smooth, but then we waited a very long time at TSA before finally getting through. Kelsey had flown in from Pittsburgh much earlier in the day and was waiting for us at the gate. She had scoped things out with all that free time, so we wandered around to find the best place to eat and to get some supplies for the flight. We ended up back at a little Asian place right near our gate and got enough food to satisfy us.
The waiting game began. Our flight was to take off around 8:30pm, but the flight before us seemed to take forever to get out of the gate. It was clear something was amiss, but the passengers on our flight still lined up well before boarding time and stood there (for hours!) while we were seated. That plane finally left, then ours was delayed even more. The pilot, after we finally boarded, seemed to vent a bit about the slowness of the loading of the plane; it seemed it was more than just the very cold weather, which the gate personnel had cited. He alluded to a work slowdown by the loading crews protesting having to work in the tough conditions. (Kelsey: The airport was still recovering from the Bomb Cyclone - a fabulous name, but terrible storm. I managed to watch an entire movie while we waited on the plane.)
I remember sitting on their left. I am not sure what sort of spell Kelsey has cast on her selfies.
We took off right around midnight and got to Madrid about 3 hours late. I fell asleep waiting for take off, but not much after that. Madelaine claimed to have slept well with a pillow she’d gotten from Christina Roig, who was at our house for Christmas. (Madelaine: This pillow was one of two key components to this trip) Kelsey was probably somewhere in between us in amount of sleep and didn’t have much good to say about the flight otherwise. (Kelsey: Madelaine slept through dinner!)
Day 2, Sunday January 7th, Madrid:
Like many foreign airports, Madrid had a maze of walkways from the plane to the passport place, but once there we got through quickly. (Kelsey: We walked 1200 steps from the plane to baggage claim.) Baggage claim was another story, but it gave us all time to go to the bathroom, some of us twice ;-), to “officially arrive.” We wisely stopped for information once in the airport proper. The nice young man informed us of an option I am not sure we’d considered: the C train. After getting some Euros at an ATM, we had to take a bus to another terminal, and it seemed like it was 10 miles away. Finally there, it was a little hard to find, as there were multiple levels, but it was easy to pay with a credit card and then we headed downstairs. There was a train on the left side as we got there, and the girls headed for it, but then they stopped. I was a bit unsure of what was going on, but I tried to get to it past them and then the doors closed. It was the correct train, and we missed it! No big deal, except the next train took about 15 minutes to arrive, and then they almost didn’t get on again (Madelaine told me it seemed like I was telling them not to get on. I don’t recall that happening) (Madelaine: And I quote, “Wait, is it the correct one?”). Finally on the correct train (though it was a local and made more stops), chatty little girls across from us entertained us for part of the ride. We reached the Principe Pio stop and got off. It is a pretty big place, but it didn’t take us long to get to the door, though there were lots of puddles, letting us know we might have some rain to deal with.
It was a dry walk up a gradual hill to the hotel, a little over a quarter mile. It was almost 3pm by then; any thoughts I’d had of getting a run in once we got there had been dismissed at midnight in Newark. The hotel staff (Hotel Principe Pio - highly recommended) was very welcoming and we were quickly in our room after getting our passports copied and walking up the 2 flights of stairs. I was hungry, but not ravenous, and I knew that getting something to eat had to be a priority, but I also wanted to avoid anyone falling asleep. Fortunately M&K were fired up and we were out the door quickly, still trying to stick to Kelsey’s first day agenda of getting to the Reina Sofia museum, which was free on Sunday afternoons. Along the way we finally saw a restaurant that looked open and decent, so we went in. Madrid (and, to a lesser extent, Barcelona) didn’t usually have touts outside trying to talk passerby into dining there. This place did, and it was really good, marketed as “Andalusian.” I wanted something exotic and got it: stuffed peppers with squid ink sauce and a goat cheese salad. From there the museum was not far. It was raining lightly, but we still enjoyed the cityscape: lots of plazas and concrete buildings.
The museum was really nice. I don’t remember much as they don’t let you take photos near the art. I took a few shots of long hallways and that was it, but the art is more modern and it is a good collection. Picasso’s Guernica is the most important work there, and it took us a while to find it. I’d had a print of it I’d hung in various low rent apartments and dorm rooms growing up, but that didn’t prepare me for its size. Like Michelangelo’s David, it is way bigger than you think it will be. Disappointed I couldn’t take a selfie with it, I moved on after only a short time admiring it. (Kelsey: Madelaine, who we had lost earlier, but found studying Guernica amongst the crowd, said as we were leaving the room, “Was that it?” I am still laughing about it.) (Madelaine: I was an art major in college.)
As we prepared to leave, we saw it was really raining hard, so we started our first tradition of the trip: the visit to the museum/landmark store. I was very pleased to find a miniature 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of Guernica (It has taken me so long to finish this I have the puzzle done and framed) and Kelsey was even more excited to find an even smaller mini puzzle of it, only 125 pieces, in a little tube just a bit bigger than a roll of Mentos. We still had to go out in the rain, but we decided instead of walking to rush over to the Atocha train station across the avenue and take that back to Principe Pio. First we had a terrible time finding the place to buy tickets for the C train, then AGAIN missed a train that was just leaving, but this wait was even longer and involved us not taking another train that would have gotten us there. This made me not want to risk trying to take the train to Atocha Tuesday to get our high-speed train to Seville.
A brief respite on a bench at the Atocha Station's C Train tracks.
During a break at the hotel, Kelsey found a highly-rated Tapas place not that far away, so we headed there. True to form, she had a spot of bother finding it, and it turned out we were right next to it at one point before walking around an entire block, (Madelaine: depending on what I am feeling and to make a bit of a puny joke I interchange the first three letters of my name to match my mood/feeling, in this moment I was Hangryelaine.) but it was worth it. It was great: wide selection and everything was awesome. I ate tuna tartare on guacamole with a good sauce, a huge plate of fried calamari, grilled goat cheese (goat cheese is so incredibly good!!), and fried cheese balls. We shared a bit, and the girls got some good things as well. After that we went to a nearby chocolatier that had a reputation for the best churros and hot chocolate, a Madrid favorite. We got quite a few churros and the hot chocolate was thick and delicious. I licked the cup before we left. The best part was they were cheap. (Kelsey: A Rick Steves recommendation!!)
We walked back to the hotel and got ready for bed – it was already 10. We’d made it through a long day well and got a lot done despite the plane delays and missed trains.
Day 3, Monday January 8th, Madrid:
I slept pretty well, but I also got up a lot to pee, and finally my nose started to run and I noticed it was 6:15, so I gave up trying to sleep any longer. It was very dark, but I got ready to run and was excited to try the paths along the river near the Principe Pio station. I noticed it was not getting light and checked the weather – sunrise at 8:38am! I had not planned on that! Still I ventured out, getting a map from the desk clerk. It was chilly – mid 30s – and the sidewalks were slick, but I made it down the hill and crossed the avenue with lots of commuters, taking the sidewalk to the river and its trails. This area was brightly lit, but the lights faded as I crossed the narrow Rio Manzanares on the Puente del Ray bridge and headed north on the other side. The paths were generally roads, but poorly lit, and I soon came to the end of them and was on sidewalks along a road that had a number of small playgrounds mixed in. I was constantly veering from road to sidewalk to adjacent sidewalk as they came to ends or people got in the way, and then I was back on a path, then there was nothing but an on ramp to a major motorway. I turned around and then spotted a bridge to the west of the river that crossed a major highway. I worked my way over that and then tried a few more paths, as it seemed like I was in one of the parks on the map. I eventually made my way back and totaled 6.3 slow miles.
The girls were barely up – they may have woken just as I came in (Kelsey: We did), but they were both absorbed in their phones. I showered and went down for breakfast at the hotel while Kelsey was getting ready (Madelaine liked to shower before bed). We headed out along a similar path to the day before and stayed due east to the Prado, walking along many busy boulevards on a Monday morning.
We stopped at a Rodilla for pastries for M&K and then went on. The Prado is down in a depression, and there were no lines at all. I’d prepaid before we left the US and it worked fine. It is a modern feeling museum, lots of space and good natural light, but initially it was also somewhat dull. (Kelsey: ‘Twas not dull! Some great Raphaels and Goyas. I was having the time of my LIFE.) (Madelaine: Dull.) Then we left the entry floor and went up to the first floor and it was clear this was the heart of the place. It was generally post-Renaissance artists, with many massive canvases by Rubens that enthralled me. I was fully sated with the beauty of paintings after we found all the Goya and Velasquez rooms. (Kelsey: Las Meninas, my favorite painting, forever changed me.) It took about 3 hours, and then we ate lunch at their very nice cafeteria, where I got a huge amount of food, all of it good. We stopped at the museum store and spent a while there before finally heading out.
It was a much nicer day, a mix of sun and clouds and maybe into the low 50s. We climbed back out of the Prado depression into the hills east of it in search of the Parque del Retiro. It had a nice entrance gate and unusual trees with many posing opportunities for Madelaine (Madelaine: Supermodel documentary hour!!).
Up a few stairs we could see a large pond with many people out in rowboats. There was a band playing to our right as we took in the view (Kelsey: That song is still in my head) (Madelaine: It was Michael Buble “Sway (Dance With Me”) before heading that way in search of the Crystal Palace. I had no idea what to expect, having not researched this area at all, so it was a big surprise. Not only was it a large, mostly glass-walled building, it was also the site of a moving art exhibit. We waited a while in the line and then were allowed to put surgical booties on our shoes and go inside. There were wet areas on the floor we were yelled at (Mad!) for nearly stepping on, and they turned out to be the names of refugees who had died crossing the Mediterranean for Europe. The water seeped up through the unusual floor (a bit like a firm sponge) and filled the names so they were visible (but not always). We took a lot of photos and selfies.
It was very nice. From there the girls went to the edge of the little pond in front of the palace, where several ducks were swimming, both of them feeling the need to touch the water.
We made our way out along a little path to a cave visible from the palace grounds. Again we did lots of posing, as it was a nice change of venue.
There was also a bench with a good view of the palace for M&K to sit on briefly. One of the undercurrents of our walks around Madrid was my need for frequent pit stops, like I was starring in my own prostate medicine commercial, and we were lucky to find an open public rest room nearby. We continued back to the pond and looked at the nice marble and stone building on the other side, with multiple lion statues. Now, with my bladder empty, was prime time to look for a place to do pull-ups, and it wasn’t long until we found a playground with a number of children and their parents amusing themselves and decent set of upturned bars that were just far enough apart I could slowly do a set or two. Jacket off and with Kelsey filming, I did a slow 10 with the children playing just feet away and the adults trying not to watch. Then we found an even better one where Madelaine was able to get her elbows to bend a bit and Kelsey only maintained a grip with no discernible motion for less than 3 seconds. I had taken note of how nice a place it looked for running before we departed.
Nice shot on the walk back.
With time to kill, we walked back north, past where we’d gone the day before, and reached the National Library. We finally ascertained we weren’t allowed to visit that day and left (just before the xray machine for our bags), with Kelsey dwelling on the mix of Spanish and English in her conversation with the woman at the desk there. (Kelsey: I was speaking to her in Spanish and she continually responded in English.) We headed west, finding the neighborhoods to be much like the rest of Madrid, and stopped for some crepes. Our waiter told us of his adventures traveling in the USA and took good care of us. We finally made it back to the hotel just in time for me to pee again. It was fascinating to see how fast M&K got on the internet when we got back to the hotel.
(Kelsey: After a short rest, we walked only two blocks to dinner. We were served one of the top 10 olive oils in the world. Madelaine and I both got grilled goat cheese salads, our newfound obsession. No idea what Uncle Terry got, because he didn’t write it down, which is why I’m filling in here. We went to bed early.)
Day 4, Tuesday January 9th, Sevilla:
This day was our riskiest (and most expensive) venture, a day trip to Seville by high speed rail. We all did our prep before bedtime the night before so we could jump out of bed and get to our taxi we’d ordered at the front desk. I woke up around midnight after only a brief sleep and realized I’d forgotten to take melatonin before going to bed, and now I really regretted it. I could not get back to sleep and killed 4 hours tossing and turning, reading my Kindle, and going to the bathroom. When I finally did fall asleep, I woke up all sweaty, but without time to take another shower. We were able to get the taxi without problem and to the station. We found our departure area right away and got breakfast at a very crowded and chaotic bistro adjacent to it. They finally announced our train, and we had a long walk out to our car. Unfortunately it didn’t let us sit together so we could play cards. Madelaine fell asleep in a funny position, but otherwise it was a fairly dull ride, starting out in fog, and I apparently fell asleep when it got more interesting, with lots of vast orange groves and orchards. I didn’t wake up until we were near the station.
Kelsey took charge and went to information on another level to get a map while Madelaine and I went to the bathroom. We left on foot for the old part of the city, which was a pleasant walk from the train station in the cloudy (and chillier than advertised, hence Madelaine complaining about not taking her scarf) (Madelaine: This scarf was my life line, key component two of two for the entire trip) weather. There was a bit more traffic in the narrower streets than Madrid, but it was still easy walking.
Quite a spacious bench in Seville.
We traversed a nice park and emerged in an old section of narrow alleys that then opened into a series of plazas with the towers of the Holy Church Seville Cathedral visible.
We ended up walking almost all the way around the huge building (The brochure says it takes up 23,500 square meters, which is pretty huge, I guess, and it is the “largest Gothic cathedral in the world.”) before finding the cathedral entrance, where we waited outside in a line that moved very slowly. Inside it was fairly dark, but it was still pretty, with the main attraction Columbus’ tomb.
The principal figure in the most influential cultural event in the history of the world, for better or worse, has his remains in there.
The best part of the cathedral was the ascent to its roof: a continuous ramp that went up inside a tower with 90 degree turns. Once we got back outside, there were nice views, though overall it was not that scenic except for the look down on the palace across the plaza, the Real Alcazar. There was a strange white thing that went high up at an angle near what looked like a shoreline, but I never could tell what it was.
The walk down was easy and we only had a short stroll to the Real Alcazar entrance, where there was a line for those who had not paid in advance. While waiting we were badgered by hawkers with umbrellas, as a light rain started to fall, and young men on Segways trying to get us to go on tours.
The Real Alcazar has nice rooms, lots of elaborate tiles, and lovely gardens, but my enthusiasm was dampened by the steady rain now falling. The brochure traces its history back more than a thousand years and calls it “one of the most complex and important buildings in the world.” Kelsey found a spot from Game of Thrones and posed there, so at least we got that done.
Then we left and found a really good tapas place for lunch. I’d hoped the rain would slow while we were eating, but it got worse. After a brief stop at another, smaller cathedral,
Kelsey pointed us to the Museum of Fine Arts, and it was dry and had some nice exhibits, especially of a project of Murillo’s for an altarpiece that was brilliant and well displayed. It was free and the staff were very pleasant despite us being all wet (we weren’t the only ones, though it was not that crowded).
Back on the streets, we went to the main shopping area, which was nice, other than the rain. We didn’t go in many shops but we did go into an Amorino, an excellent chain of gelato and sweets shops Madelaine and I loved in Paris. (Madelaine: Gladelaine) I got a great hot chocolate and some delicious gelato macaroons. This was the moment we made the worst decision of the trip: to cross the river and look for a neighborhood that was allegedly “cool” on the other side. In a steadier rain we walked to the river and then found a bridge, but we were farther away than we thought as we traversed the other side. My pants were soaked through (I refuse to use an umbrella off the golf course) (Madelaine: I was wearing a raincoat, turtleneck, jeans, and NO SCARF all soaked through). There was nothing scenic at all except for the other side of the river from where we walked (Madelaine: MADelaine), and eventually we got to the bridge back over by the Golden Tower, an important building for the shipping industry to and from the new world, of which Seville was the main Spanish hub despite its location up river from the coast.
The Golden Tower, unfortunately taken just before they turned on the lights, making it much more appealing, but I was over it by then.
It was now getting dark, and we were desperate for shelter, a bathroom, and some food before our 9pm train back (it was around 6pm at this moment). We went into a restaurant, but they were not serving much, so we used the toilet (AHHHHH!) and went back into the rain. We found a good enough tapas place a little farther from the river and on the way to the station and ate there. It wasn’t that great, especially compared to where we ate lunch. The best part was a dessert I thought would be cake, but it was a selection of chocolates and goat cheese and honey, all of which were delicious. (Kelsey: The best part was actually when “Africa” by Toto came on and revived me and Madelaine.) (Madelaine: Gladelaine)
We got to the train at a perfect time. This time I sat in front of Kelsey and Madelaine, and I hoped to sleep some, but it was a very rough ride, with the train rocking back and forth nearly constantly. It was too dark to see anything, so I got a lot of reading done (my Kindle has a light). When we exited the station, I couldn’t see the area to get a taxi, but Kelsey, with some urging (Kelsey: Now’s a good time to add that I dislike speaking Spanish), asked a bunch of policemen who were standing around and they pointed it out. It was a few hundred yards away, but I was happy to get in the taxi and very happy to get back to the hotel. (Kelsey: We walked 13.5 miles.) I was in bed in 10 minutes but needed to read for a bit to settle down. It was a good adventure for a day, but the rain took the edge off what Lonely Planet had called the one city to visit in 2018.
Day 5, Wednesday, January 10th, Madrid:
After a better night’s sleep, I started our last full day in Madrid with a run across the city to the Retiro Park. The route I took didn’t have too many people to get around and got me right to the main entrance, from where I started a clockwise route around the inner periphery. It was nice, though one lookout was under construction. I found a much nicer outdoor gym and did two sets of pull-ups and two sets of dips and then got a little lost, but I managed to get back to the hotel after 6.75 miles.
I thought the girls would be ready when I got back. I’d made the command decision after the long and wet day Tuesday to let them sleep in, and they maxed it out, still both asleep when I got back at 10am (Madelaine: Probably the second time in my whole life to sleep in this late). We were still out the door at 11, heading again east through the downtown on a scenic route.
I was very conscious of not having eaten anything since 8pm the night before. We finally stopped at a crepe shop that was uncrowded, and I got a crepe with nutella and granola, a yogurt, granola and fruit parfait and a hot chocolate – all delicious.
We went into the Cibeles Palace, which we’d passed several times, and went to the roof, which had great views.
After many photos, we descended a floor at a time, passing a soundscape exhibit (meh), another comparing Paris and Madrid, and finally using public spaces for art (meh minus).
We wandered about and finally stopped at a frozen yogurt place. It was more authentic yogurt than in the US, so K&M didn’t like it much (bit bitter), but I thought it was great. From there it was streets and alleys to the big cathedral near the palace.
As we stood at the corner facing it, Kelsey saw a sign for crypts. Kelsey has a love-cringe relationship with death/bones/cemeteries, so we had to go down there. (Kelsey: I’m a sucker for a good crypt.) It was down a hill from the main cathedral. I can’t remember if we had to pay (Kelsey: We didn’t), but it was worth it: lots of columns, lots of little chapels, and many people interred in the floor and in other areas. It was dimly lit, so not the greatest for photos, but it took just the right amount of time.
The main cathedral was underwhelming. Big, yes, but not much art other than some carvings and an elaborate, nearly kitschy altarpiece you could view up close. I made up names for some of the statues I may or may not have taken photos of: Jesus of the Golden Underwear, and Mary of the Holy Handbag, for example. It did not have roof access. Madrid, I’m just saying, low hanging fruit.
Just across a (huge) plaza from the main entrance was the Palacio Real de Madrid. It is a vast complex, with a large, stone plaza inside its fence that could hold a good sized stadium.
We got in line, while others went right in. After a long wait and the line not moving, we started to talk about it, and some Americans in front of us (we had no idea – and they admitted to listening to our conversations) told us it was free after 4pm, and it was nearly 4pm. After all that waiting, though, it was free only for EU passport holders. We paid 25E.
The whole complex is most analogous to Versailles, but there is much less gold and gilding and far fewer mirrors. The color schemes were excellent and the genius, Tiepolo, painted most of the ceilings in his trademark heavenly style, with robin’s egg blue skies and fluffy clouds. There were tremendous portraits scattered about and a really clever Christmas exhibit depicting a miniature old village at that time of the year. (Kelsey: Don’t forget the Stradivari violins on display.) Photos were mostly forbidden, but it was overwhelmingly pretty and a great expression of Spanish culture. (Kelsey: Bonus - King Charles III died in one of the rooms!) It started to rain as we got ready to leave, so we killed some time in the store (it was nice) and it worked out well, as the walk back was fairly dry and short.
After a brief rest, and for K&M, a social media recharge that may have started with the robust belly laughs associated with a photo of Kelsey on the roof of the Cibeles Palace in the wind, we headed out into the evening gloaming, walking very crowded streets up the hill just past the hotel to where there was an Egyptian Temple moved en mass from Egypt to Spain in appreciation for some good deeds, perhaps during a flood of the Nile or a famine. It was really spectacular, and the light and reflections very nice. I wish I’d taken more photos, but what I did turned out great. I couldn’t get the camera to pick up the pink tones to the sunset, but it was a fitting last evening in Madrid. (Kelsey: Mine were better.)
From there we walked all the way to the east side of the old city to a restaurant that had rave reviews online, billing it as a don’t miss. We were there with very few patrons (I thought it would be jammed), and I immediately didn’t like the menu. There was much hovering and service, and the food was good but not great. Finally we made our escape after Kelsey heard them saying to keep trying to get us to buy some drinks or more food. It was hard to find a good dessert place, and we settled for a crowded bakery, but it was certainly enough food by then, and we were soon back in the hotel.
(Kelsey: We were very sad to leave Madrid's superb tap water and our room's powerful shower behind.)
Day 6, Thursday, January 11th, Madrid to Barcelona;
I got up at 6:30 on our last morning in Madrid after another poor night’s sleep. I wanted to run the other direction along the nearby river, which looked like it had paths on each side. I crossed and recrossed the river and ran nearly all the way around the main football stadium before crossing the river and heading further south on the west bank. There was a fantastic bridge that looked a bit like a coil or slinky.
I ran across it at the most distant portion of the run before heading back. I ran a bit harder on the way back as the footing was better and stretched it out to 6.3 miles with a bit extra in a park near Principe Pio. M&K were still in bed when I got back, but even with me going downstairs for breakfast, we were well ahead of schedule.
We got to the station in plenty of time by taxi and were able to board the train to Barcelona early. It was a very scenic ride, with desert like terrain in parts before entering areas with more small towns. It was only a few minutes from getting out of the train to the taxi and from there to our hotel, the Hotel Gaudi, right across the narrow street from one of Gaudi’s buildings.
We had not eaten lunch, so we headed out for the beach and to get something to eat. Barcelona was sunny and warmer. Kelsey and I made the spur of the moment decisions not to wear jackets (it was mid-50s), and we quickly regretted it, as there was a brisk wind once we were out of the shelter of the alleys. Madelaine rubbed it in a little (Madelaine: Karma for telling me not to bring my scarf to Seville I suspect). The famous street, Las Ramblas, was only a few steps from the hotel entrance, and we walked down that, bypassing plenty of places to eat, settling to sit down for a late lunch at a restaurant on the main road by the harbor and beaches.
We had an interesting meal, with me trying tripe (to be honest, yuck, though the sauce was delicious) and getting several other tapas that were good, before setting out for the beach. We saw a gelato place on the way and got some. It was a longer walk than I’d figured, not helped by the wind and the chill. We had to pass many, many street vendors on the way, though they were not annoying, and finally, we could see the Mediterranean Sea.
M&K took off their shoes and waded a bit in it. They were good about not complaining too much, though Kelsey had to stop later to get a bunch of stuff out of her socks and shoes (Madelaine: I was resourceful while using my water bottle to wash my feet off and my beloved scarf to dry them). We didn’t go very far, but it was obvious it was a pretty place where a lot of people converged.
As usual, by the time we got back to the hotel, all our bladders were straining. We took a bit of a break to collect ourselves and settle in before heading back out. It was still light, but fading, and we went to the roof for a view of the city and the Gaudi house across the street. The views were enthralling; such a different idea of how to build and decorate a building! By the time we got to the street it was getting dark.
We went right into the crowd of Las Ramblas and headed north into the city. Lots of beggars, hucksters, and people were milling around. We didn’t want to eat yet as it was too early, so we kept walking up to see more of Gaudi’s buildings at night, first the Battlo (the best one) and then across the street to La Pederera,
before we decided to press on to see the Sagrada Familia at night. It is hard to say the Sagrada Familia could ever be a disappointment, but the lighting wasn’t all that good (it still looked fantastic) (Madelaine: Disappointedelaine). We headed back on what had now become a very long walk, past the Arc di Triomf, which was beautiful at night (and had an odd group of people exercising near it).
Now desperately hungry, we finally stopped at a place that looked like an American diner. The food was good, but it otherwise had no ambiance. It was a nice walk back to get in before 9pm and to bed early. Another day with a lot done.
Day 7, Friday, January 12, Barcelona:
Big day today, as we headed out early to make it to Sagrada Familia for a guided tour set to start before it opened otherwise. We started walking in the dark and eventually stopped for breakfast at a smallish place that didn’t have much I would like. I got a whole grain croissant and an OJ, and then had an adventure with the bathroom, which had an anteroom with a sink and then another room with a toilet and a hard to find light switch. I only closed the second door. Kelsey jumped to the conclusion I’d gone elsewhere (Kelsey: I assumed he had been murdered), so they were relieved when I emerged and they both used it, since we didn’t know what was in store at Sagrada Familia (to save my typing, henceforth SF).
When we arrived at SF, the rendezvous point was not obvious. I asked a man who looked like he worked there and he said it was around the other side. We hustled around and stood near a floppy haired guy who eventually asked us if we were looking for him by flipping his phone over to show the name of the tour company. His name was Jordy, and soon a number of others turned up and the tour started. First we crossed to an adjacent small park to talk about the building in general, which was now being lit by the early morning sun quite well and reflected on the small pond in front of us.
Jordy was very informative. He talked nearly the whole time and rarely entertained questions. He had some delightful verbal tics, including pronouncing “height” as “heith” and referring to distances as “seven dot five” for 7.5 meters. He was truly passionate about the building and its principle architect, Antoni Gaudi, and well versed in Gaudi’s devotion both to nature in design and powerful faith as well as his constant use of symbolism. SF is easily the most impressive house of worship I have been in and around. There is nothing like it anywhere: beautiful stained glass the colors of the various seasons, curvilinear designs and shapes all over, statues placed in compelling spots, and vast open areas bordered by towering concrete pillars branching out in arboreal webs as they approached the ceiling.
I could have stayed there for hours and taken a thousand more photos. The tour was over in about 90 minutes, during which we looked at both entrances and much of the interior. We left Jordy and took the small elevator to the observation areas on or about the roof. Once it is done, it will be even more spectacular, but the decorations and angles are absolutely entrancing.
From there we walked down a quite narrow and tightly twisting staircase to the ground floor, with Madelaine gripping the railing for dear life (it is easy to forget that underneath Madelaine’s goofily endearing self-absorption lies many of the typical O’Rourke anxieties passed down from her mother) (Madelaine: In my defense this was a tight spiral staircase with only railings on the left side, one misstep to the right and you’re a goner for sure!). (Kelsey: Jordy, on coming down from the top: “There are 400 steps down from the top. Or you can try the one-step method, but I don’t think that’s safe.” What a funny guy.)
After looking at the outside from several other spots,
we toured the rest of the exhibits there, including a sacristy with some of the implements designed by Gaudi and a museum with models and other displays (Gaudi liked to study the effects of gravity and light directly by building models and using string and other objects to measure the forces, a very time-consuming, but ultimately very accurate and innovative way to design something like SF). In one corner there were small windows through which we could see Gaudi’s tomb, which made Kelsey happy. Gaudi, who had significant hearing loss as he got older, was tragically killed by a trolley car he did not hear coming as he crossed a street. (Kelsey: Jordy, on Gaudi’s death: “He died the way he lived - the most efficient way.”) His vision for architecture and the light-hearted results shape much of Barcelona’s charm and vibe, probably to a greater degree than any other architect or designer does in any other city.
We started back towards the south, again passing the Arc di Triomf, which is lovely on a sunny day with blue skies (as nice a day as you will get in the city)
and a few parks en route to the Picasso Museum. We stopped at a nice little restaurant on the way and got mini pizzas (good!) before finding the museum, which was not anywhere obvious, tucked instead in a series of alleys. Madelaine and Kelsey loved it, succumbing to the charming photos of the older Picasso and his various family and friends and many of his lesser known but still delightful works (especially from his early career). I was a little less impressed, having managed to get my own urine all over my underwear in a hard to explain bathroom incident prompted at least by trying to pee with too many items in my hands. Still, the merino wool dried out well and I was able to enjoy some of it. His pottery was fantastic and I was moved to buy a lovely bowl later to use as my cereal bowl back home. It is something I thoroughly enjoy looking at every day (#bestsouvenir). (Kelsey: The real #bestsouvenir is my micro puzzle of Guernica, but the cereal bowl is also nice.) (Madelaine: I got a silk screened t-shirt of Picasso’s “Paseo de Cuadrillas”, any type of printmaking is my favorite kind of artistry.)
We were back at the hotel with plenty of time in the afternoon for me to go on a run. I planned to go to the park where the Olympic stadium was, Montjuic. I thought it would be flat, but it was on a huge set of hills. I had a devil of a time getting up there, including running through a long tunnel with noisy traffic and seeming unending ascents. I finally arrived at a fort overlooking the harbor, with its massive shipping vessels and cruise ships. I took my smaller camera and stopped from time to time to take a few photos, especially of the gondola that came up on the other side.
The roads were very narrow and twisty – the logistics of getting all the people and athletes to and from the stadium must have been forbidding. Somehow I found an easy way back down that kept it from being too long (5dot7 miles), and I was gushing with pleasure at having climbed those big hills and taken the photos on such a lovely day.
I got back while M&K were gone shopping. (Kelsey: We had also taken a Spanish siesta for a bit, falling asleep so quickly that Uncle Terry hadn’t even left for his run yet before we were out.) They felt like it was a risk and I might get upset, but that was a great idea, something I would not have wanted to do otherwise. (Kelsey: We walked past a cellist in the Gothic Quarter that moved Madelaine to tears.) (Madelaine: It was so beautiful, it truly felt like a moment out of a movie and I was about to meet the love of my life.) I didn’t have to wait long for them, and we rested a bit before setting out for some tapas, which were really good. (Kelsey: This was our best meal of the trip. The menu was very creative - shrimp croquettes with saffron aioli; zucchini ravioli stuffed with tabbouleh, goat cheese sauce, sundried tomatoes, and almonds; spinach crepes with salmon tataki and cinnamon, pistachio, and mascarpone sauce; the list goes on, but suffice it to say that we ate like “reyes” - kings.)
On the way back I got my aforementioned bowl. We did a pit stop at the hotel and then headed back out for more walking and nightlife and, of course, gelato. This night we found an Amorino (Madelaine: Gladelaine) and I wanted gelato and crepes. I asked the server, a young man, why the menu only said two scoops of gelato with crepes, when there was a photo of three scoops in crepes on the menu. He explained that was “El Irresistible,” which was three scoops with whipped cream and caramel sauce. I had to have that!
We ate our orders while sitting on La Rambla on nice chairs before walking back. Another day packed with enjoyment and finally blessed by great weather.
Day 8, January 13th, Barcelona:
As so often happens to me when I travel, I started to get sick overnight with a sore throat and then terrible post nasal drip that kept me up for hours as it hurt too much to manage the drip. I finally got up and went to the bathroom and used my nasal spray, which made a huge difference and let me sleep until after 8am. I ran down La Rambla to the roads near the beach and finally to the beach itself, where I was actually passed by a guy (getting passed almost never happens to me) while I was still warming up. I then tried to catch another guy who was running a decent pace along the waterfront heading east, catching him just as I was turning around at the 3.25 mile point. I ran harder on the way back and saw the start of a half marathon and the various packs following pacers holding flags coming the other way. I was distracted and missed the turn back into the downtown, but it was a nice day and the harbor was a good place to run. 7dot3 miles. For once M&K were up and ready, so I rushed a bit and got ready fast. There was a great breakfast place just across La Rambla where I got delicious yogurt and muesli with a smoothie and they got crepes. They had a neat machine that made the orange juice and she made the crepes right where we could see them (inspiring me to make crepes for our video and slideshow party once we got home – not as good, but certainly not bad).
We went through the Gothic Quarter, the area they had been shopping the day before, and it was a neat mix of alleys and old stone buildings finally opening up into a lovely plaza with a huge cathedral on one side. The cathedral had a nice exterior, with lots of people milling about.
Adding to the ambience was a really good band busking just down the church steps, an electric violin, bass guitar and acoustic guitar (Madelaine: this is also where I got overly emotional by the instrumental playing of “Cheap Thrills” by Sia). Anyway, they were great, and the violin guy could really take it up another notch, making me like Coldplay for a short time. Madelaine was really excited (Madelaine: Excitedelaine). We went into the cathedral and it was nice, a bit low on quality art, but pretty.
We were in one of the last groups to be able to take the small elevator to the roof, which was well worth it. There were benches and nice cityscapes in addition to the towers around us. We watched the band more after we got down until they took a break.
Our next destination was the Park Guell, a Gaudi-designed park many people called the highlight of Barcelona. We took the Metro for the first time and got off at a stop that looked like it was the closest, but there was no sign of a park from there. We climbed a big hill much to the chagrin of M&K and seemed to be lost. We kept pressing on and came to some trails and followed them around until we finally found a map. We’d come in the back way, which was also the hilliest. We found the main parts of the park and had to ask a few times where to go, but we finally got that straight and went into the areas where Gaudi’s smaller buildings and plazas were.
It was fascinating, but also quite crowded, with long lines for most of the exhibits. The one house was definitely not worth the long wait in line, but his benches are simply the best – perfectly angled for the back and legs of any height. We took lots of photos as we wandered around, and while trying to get a selfie of all of us, Kelsey almost fell and it got them laughing so hard they had to take more selfies of the tears on their faces (!).
We ate at the little café on site, which was also crowded but had good food. From there we exited out the front and went down the hill to a different Metro station, where our day pass wouldn’t work, so we had to buy more tickets.
When we got back to La Rambla it looked like rain so we took a break before heading out to try to catch the light show at the fountain in Plaza Espana. It was a nice walk. We got there early and got good seats after walking up the hill to the steps of the Catalan Art Museum.
The weather didn’t look good, and the time for the show to start passed, and after waiting even longer, we were finally disbursed by a steady rain. After seeking shelter there, we walked back down, assuming they’d canceled the show without telling anyone. It was raining hard enough we didn’t want to walk all the way, so we took the Metro again back to La Rambla and found our way to another plaza where we ate at a place called Oceana. It was my favorite: good music, comfy chairs and I got oysters (also pea and asparagus soup and pumpkin tortellones). We tried to get a cheesecake I’d lusted after earlier in a shop, but it was gone. I got a lemon meringue tart and a caramel/nutella pie (only the tart was good, the pie was guilty of disproving my theory of how good great things combined can be). We got back to the hotel and packed, enjoying our last night in Spain.
Day 9, Sunday, January 14th, Barcelona to Pennsylvania:
We had to leave too early for me to run, so we got a cab to the airport and then got breakfast there. The flight back left on time with only the usual hassles. We got back to Newark and had no major trouble getting back into the US, avoiding Kelsey having to take another photo at passport control. (Kelsey: On our way back from Italy, I took a photo so ugly that the people behind us laughed and even the U.S. Customs guy smirked. I’m proud of it.) Madelaine and I said a sad good-bye to Kelsey, who had to wait many hours for her flight back to Pittsburgh. (Kelsey: By the time I got home, I’d been up for almost 24 hours.) We got to Madelaine’s car, which she was very worried about, and it was fine (Madelaine: I left a magnetic key holder under my car with the spares inside just in case something happened to my keys we brought along, plus you never know with the wackos in Newark). We drove back and stopped at a Panera before getting to her apartment. The trip took way longer than I thought and it was already dark. It had snowed while we were gone and my great park job made it very hard for me to get my car out. I had to go back and forth multiple times before I was free of the snow mounds, and then the car didn’t handle well until I was almost back to Danville, with the roads often icy. I was really tired and spent only a few minutes at my parents before getting back in the car for the last 30 minutes of the ride to Selinsgrove, where I had to work the next morning. It was a hard trip back, but a great week of traveling with two really fun young women I am lucky to have as nieces and companions. I hope we can go somewhere else soon.
