Trip to France, Spain and Portugal
Mike and Judy Henderson
September 1 to September 25, 2017
As of today, we're on our own. The cruise finished yesterday and we're going to spend the next week traveling on our own in Spain. I've put up a new map to show our planned travels. We'll go to Granada to see the Alhambra. The next day, we take the high speed train to Madrid and spend two full days in Madrid. Then we train to Barcelona for two full days, after which we fly to London and then home.
9/18/2017 Today, we go to Granada to see the Alhambra. A short cab ride brought us to the Málaga bus station, and we boarded the 10am bus.
The landscape between Málaga and Granada reminded us of the land in Southern California.
There were acres and acres of olive groves.
Soon we were close to Granada - the trip took about one hour and forty-five minutes, so it was about noon when we arrived.
Here's the bus station in Granada. Bus travel is very easy - the buses are modern, clean and quick. Our trip was non-stop between the two cities.
We took a taxi from the bus station to the Alhambra and had a sandwich, which we had made from rolls at breakfast. I had purchased tickets months earlier, as soon as they could be purchased, and we picked them up at the ticket office. One requirement was to show the credit card that we used to make the online purchase. If you go, get your tickets early. They were sold out for the day we went (when we were there).
Here's Judy at the entrance to the Alhambra.
Our guide, Daniel, showed up at 1:30, right on time and took us to get checked in.
I won't try to take you on a tour of the Alhambra. You visit many rooms in the facility but it's hard to get a picture that really shows them. So I'll just do a few pictures and you'll have to visit to really see the Alhambra.
In certain ways, the Alhambra is much like the Royal Palace in Seville. The design of the decorations in the rooms is similar.
We started by going to the garden, the Generalife.
There were many water features in the garden.
It offered a great view of the rest of the Alhambra.
More water.
We walked through many rooms of the Alhambra, but I don't have any really good pictures to show. However, there was one building that was a surprise that I want to show, and that is the Palace of Charles V. Here's the outside.
The surprising thing is that when you enter, you find that it has a circular courtyard, and it has no roof.
That completed our tour and we were on our own. As Judy and I were walking out, she noticed this plaque on the wall. Manuel de Falla was a Spanish composer and she has played some of his works. He lived on this street for two years.
We took a taxi through the narrow streets of Granada to the bus station.
The trip back was uneventful but we were again amazed by the amount of land dedicated to olive groves.
We arrived back in Málaga about 8pm and had dinner at one of the little cafés, then off to bed. We were pretty tired after that day of travel.
7/19/2017 Today, we travel to Madrid by high speed train. The train station in Málaga is very nice - clean and modern. This is a view of the interior, after you pass the security check.
The train was at the station and waiting to go.
We had no trouble getting aboard and stashing our luggage.
Sitting across from us was a woman traveling with her dog. She and Judy struck up a conversation and we learned that Marie was a veterinarian traveling with Lucy. Marie was kind enough to give us some recommendations on what to see in Madrid and good restaurants.
Here's Lucy.
The train station in Madrid is clean and modern. It looks a lot like a modern airport terminal. Our experiences in traveling by train in Europe have been very good, not just in Spain but in all the countries of Europe that we've visited.
Our hotel, "Only You", was across the street and is very modern. They told us it had only been open about a year. The room is nice and is of adequate size. I choose hotels based on the reviews on TripAdvisor and have been satisfied.
We checked in about 3pm and were out walking the streets by 4:30. First, we headed into the Parque del Buen Retiro, a very large park close by our hotel.
We could only see the Crystal Palace from the outside because it was closed while they prepared the next exhibit.
We also stopped by the Palacio de Velázquez but it, too, was closed for a change of exhibit.
From here, we walked to a lake area with a Monument to Alfonso XII on one side.
There was a trio playing classical music on the walk and we stopped to listen for a while.
The Alcalá Gate is at the Northwest corner of the park so we walked to that area.
In that same area is a little cafe that Marie recommended, El Perro Y La Galleta (the dog and the cookie).
We had some croquettes and I had coffee while Judy had a glass of wine.
In looking at the map, we saw that the old town was not too far away, so we headed to Puerta del Sol, not having any idea what it was, except that it was in the old town. Along the way, we passed some interesting buildings. Here's one with a sign in English hanging on it, saying "Refugees Welcome". [update: a reader pointed out that this is the old post office, and is now the seat of the city council. It is known as the Cybele Palace.]
This building and street is the Casa De América. I don't know if that refers to the Americas or to the United States of America. It certainly was not the US embassy.
When we got to the Puerta del Sol, we found that it's a square and it was teeming with people. I couldn't really get an overall picture of the area but this statue was in the square, and a mariachi band is preparing to play.
Here's an aerial view taken from the web.
We walked up Calle de la Montera to the end of the pedestrian area, and then turned around and walked back to the hotel, mostly along Calle de Atocha. By then it was getting late so we had a light dinner in the hotel and went to bed.
Our adventure continues here