Italy 2010

July 15 and into Italy, La Spezia - Cinque de Terre

Lazy start again.  Caught the 10 am train to Vernazza, the village where I left off yesterday, and headed off on the last leg of the hike!

This leg is one of the shortest but is to take longer, 2 hours.  Wow. Started off with steps climbing up and up and up!  wow.  Seemed like forever but was about 20 minutes of climbing.  Leveled off a bit and then more up!  The views of  Vernazza and Monterosso (the next and last village) are still amazing.

More difficult climbing/walking and the trails have become much much more narrow.  In many places not enough for 2 people to pass.

Still great.

The walk takes you through many terraces of olive trees and vineyards.  So nice!  Well worth the trip and so nice to be away from a big city. I will get that when I get to Rome tomorrow!

July 14 and into Italy, La Spezia - Cinque de Terre

Lazy start to day.  Caught train to Riomaggiore, the most southerly village of the area.

Head off on the walk.  Very easy going, wide, cobble-stoned paths, with many people in flip flops!  I am finally getting to use my new walking sticks.  I bought them in Kelowna, packed them, and have been carrying every since.  Took a bit to figure them out.  Not sure how many times they tripped me!  No one said you had to be coordinated to use them!  The coast line is beautiful!  Lots of people, including groups of people from cruise ships.  Not sure where they are.

Made it to the next town, no problem.  And off to the next, Manoira.  Another small little village.  The walking is getting a bit harder, fewer people, but still not difficult.  But getting nicer all the time.

It had to happen, actually met a former student, and her husband that work at the college!  Hilarious as she started to scream!  Too funny.  Had a great chat and turns out we probably spent a lot of the time traveling on the same train from Nice!  Amazing!  And we think we will be on the same train to Rome tomorrow!

The whole walk between through the 5 villages should take about 5 hours.  I spend about 3 1/2 hours doing all but the last leg, but I did spend a lot of time having lunch and chatting with a couple of women from Switzerland!

Made it to the next village, no problems, but again the walking is getting more difficult!  Saw a great beach to go for a swim, but it was a long way down.  That part would be easy, the hard part would be getting back to the trail.  But the ladies said there is a nice swimming place in Vernazza.  This is supposed to be the prettiest village of the 5.

And it is beautiful!  After a few steps, up and down, and down and up, finally made it!  This was the end for me!  As the next and last section is the most difficult!

The swim was great.  Cute as there are many colourful boats in the harbour!  Relaxed a bit, had an Italian ice cream and made my way back to the train and La Spezia.

July 13 and into Italy, La Spezia

Shall see if the guy at train station in Nice was right, when he rattled off the 4 changes of trains, and times of the trains for me to get to La Spenzia.  This is the Cinque de Terre area, a national park that had hiking trails along the coast, that runs through 5 cities.  Most of the last part of the trip was spent in tunnels with peeks of the Med along the way.  Looks great.

Arrived no problems, a bit tired, but was able to check in and go off wandering and find something to eat.

Spain and back into France 2010

July 12 Nice, France

Today went to Monte Carlo, Monaco.  It is only and 20 minute train ride!  Very busy as a few of the trains before were delayed.  A young Dr of physic I met on the train told me this.

Monaco is $$$$$$.  Walked around, Boat seem to be about 150,000 euros per meter!  The smallest sign I saw was for one 30 meters!

And then the car dealerships.  Mercedes, Lambogini, and Rolls all in a row.  

It is a nice place, built between the water and the cliffs.  Many elevators that allow you to move from street to street, but at different heights.

Went to go to the casino, but it did not open until 2 pm.  It was 11.  So wandered down the street, and found a small beach just past the main beach.  Went for a quick swim.

Then back to the ferry to go across the bay.  Better to look at the monster boats!  On the other side, a sailboat with Alex Barrier on the side, her solo world trip.!

Back to the casino, you must pay 10 euros to get in!  And then you pay to gamble.  The casino itself is not that big.  Very glamous, at least the public area is.  Many doors say private rooms.  Many tables, roulette, poker, banco, texas hold'em, and a few slot machines!

Well my first 5 disappeared very fast.  Moved machines and put in a 20.  Was down to about 10 and was going to leave, but just one more!  Well ended up at 60!  Played up and down between 60 and 50 for a bit, but it the end, cashed in at 50!  Hey that paid for the trip to visit here.

Back to Nice, shopped and dinner in room!

July 11 Nice, France

Slower start to the day.  Headed off towards the beach.  Walked along until the lift to the park that sits on top of the cliff over looking the city.  I think this is very civilized, as saves me from walking up the hill!  

The weather is hot, mid 30s and very humid!  Not sure why I had a shower this morning.  

The views were great and the city is very 'nice'.  

The beaches are not sand at all.  Mostly small rocks, but in some of the places along the coast, it is just rocks.  But they have put in cement, to flatten out some places for sitting/laying.  Amazing, they have actually created a walkway on the rocks, along the coast for people to use.  They even have made diving platforms on some of the rocks!  To bad would not do this in North America, they just worry about legal liabitilty!

July 10 Back to France, Nice

Normally a 9 1/2 hour train trip but there was also an 1 hour delay!  It was about 8.30 pm when I arrived.  No hotel booked.  The place is packed and it is Saturday night!  Many places are full, or dorm rooms, and I could not do that!  Ended up in a very nice hotel, expensive at 90 euros a night.

Went out for a walk and to find something to eat.  The Hotel is very close to on of the main squares, it has very nice human sculptures that are lit up at night.  A pedistrian mall with many shops, cafes, and bars.  All open.  

July 9 Barcelona, Spain 

Tried to sleep in today, did a bit!

Went to the Arc of Truimp.  Then walked towards the train station and the beach.  In one of the parks, some men were playing a very loud game of what looked like bocci.  They have the areas for playing in most of the parks!

Then spent the rest of the day at the city beach.  Lots of people and it goes for miles!

July 8 Barcelona, Spain 

Up about 7, but the problem is there is not a cafe in hostal, so have to wait until about 9 for coffee!  Was that a long haul!

But found coffee and headed off to the La Sagreada Familia.  Designed by Gaudi, with construction starting in 1882, and they hope to have it finished by 2020!  Not sure about that!  Apparently he was very detailed about the whole building, construction and contents!  It has many different aspects to it right down to the different sculpture sytles, detailed, and 'squared'.  The cathedral will have the capacity of 10,000 people, but also 1,200 in the choir that will be situated on a balcony!  

Took a ride up the elevator to the top of one of the towers!  Amazing views, but also just a lot of scaffolding!  Then took the narrowest spiral stairway down!  Have to do stairs!

Then onto metro again and headed to the Park of Mont Juic.  This is a fortress (Castell de Montjuic) built on the mountain that over looks the city and out into the sea! The best part, no entrance fee!  Which is good as by the time I got finished at the Cathedral it was 20 euros!

To get there, I had to take a tram that runs up the hill, fairly steep, and then on the way down took the gondola!  I think I have covered many modes of transportation today!

Went out for dinner at a nice restaurant, Origins.  The place specializes in local cuisine.  The food was excellent.  Couple of glasses of wine, meal, and dessert, I went all out, and all for only 23 euros!  Not too bad, but will be bread for the next couple of days to make up for it!

July 7 Barcelona, Spain 

Caught the local bus to Palma and then another to the airport.  I allowed 2 hours for the trip to airport, and that is what it took!  Amazing, does not seem to be that many people around but there were 3 buses go by that were full.

Arrived in Barcelona in early afternoon, and after catching the bus into the main city square, Plaza de Catalunya, and just a half block off La Rambla, a very long pedestrian walk way that runs from the plaze to the port!  Amazing, seems everyone walks it!  Was very nice.  Again, lots of different sorts of entertainers along the way.  Monsters, angels, magicians, you name it they are here!

Walked down to the port, and then wandered back through the Barrie Gothic.  The oldest area of the city!  Well, I thought other streets were narrow!  Some of these have signs showing the width of the street!  2 meters was one!  Very interesting place, and the 'streets' just seem to go everywhere!

On way back to the Hostal, I found the one museum I wanted to visit, the Museu d'Historia de la Cliutat.  This museum is amazing.  It is mostly a walk through archeological digs of a Roman city, all of it underneath the main buildings!  Too bad that no pictures were allowed!  It was very good.  Showed the houses, the shops, including the tanner and the wine maker.  

Made it back to the Plaza and wandered around a bit.  Everyone is out!  But of course, Spain was playing Germany in the football (World cup Soccer) and then won!  There were people lined up out of everywhere, as long as they could see a TV!  Was great!

July 6 Mallorca, Spain 

Another relaxing day.  Just took my time over breakfast and then off to wander around, and spend the afternoon at the beach.

Spain

July 5 Mallorca, Spain 

Took the bus into Palma today just to have a quick look around.  Very nice city, with huge boats in huge marinas.   Would that be nice!

 Caught the bus back and then went for a swim in front of the apartment!  That was great!  This is a very nice place, but many tourists, mostly from England and Germany it seems.  

July 4 Mallorca, Spain     

Another very lazy day!  Just drank a lot of coffee and relaxed.  Took a walk into the city centre, only 5 minutes away!

July 3 Mallorca, Spain     

The  owner of the apartment drove me to a beach about 7 km away.  It was very nice.  Lots of sand and rocks, but very busy!  Spent the day walking and exploring and swimming! 
Always have to have an event during the day, so my first swim I got stung by a jelly fish!  And then the next time a wave hit me as I was climbing out of the water on the rocks and a put my foot down on a sea urchin!  Oh well.  Just getting closer to nature. 

So nice, just to do nothing!  Other than that a very lazy day, not a lot of sleep!

July 2 Mallorca, Spain  

Well an easy day.  A 40 minutes flight vs overnight boat....

I arrived and was able to get to the bed and breakfast, in a private apartment, without much problem!  I only missed the bus stop by 1 stop!  But have arrived and the place is great.  Right on the water.  No sand but rocks for swimming from.  It is still very nice.

I arrived and the downstairs neighbours came up for a visit, it was 3 am by the time I got to bed.  Great time even though one of them spoke only a little bit of English.  Turns out they are from Uruguay and live here.  And just so happens that Uruguay won the football match that night so they were very excited.  The one guy even gave me his hat!  I gave him a Canada pin.

July 1 Valencia, Spain    Happy Canada Day from Spain!

And officially my first day of leave!

Off for breakfast and then to travel agent.  I could not bear the though of another overnight long trip after yesterday!  Ended up with a plane ticket to Mallorca and then to Barcelona.
I received an email from a couple on line that had a reasonable bed and breakfast place, close to the beach, in a small city outside of Palma.  They got me at a time when I needed to spend some time not on the go, so decided to try it.  Will see what it is like!

Then off for a walk through the park.  Except this park runs for miles around the city centre.  Beautiful.  There are football fields, tennis courts, walking paths, sculptures and of course fountains.  There is also several fairly new buildings that house the art museum and the oceanographic displays plus other things.  I was headed to the port to see the site of the America's Cup.  Found it after about 2 hours of walking.  Much of the 2007 buildings are still the same as they have the 32nd cup signs everywhere.  Down to the manhole covers are America's Cup!  But there is some 33rd, 2010 Cup.  Nothing around really to see.  There were a few racing boats, most on racks.

Then I went to the beach.  I stopped for a beer on way back to hotel.  Ended up talking to the waiter for about an hour, as I was the only customer!  His english was very good.  He is an masters student of Industrial Engineering, working for the summer.

He told me that the previous weekend was the Formula 1 race, which explains all the tires and stands everywhere. I actually walked down some of the track as it runs by the America's Cup site.  

He also had me try Horchata, a 'famous' Valencian drink.  I have no idea what it is but not too bad.  Like milk with vanilla in it.  I will have to google it when I have reliable internet.

June 30 Valencia, Spain

Up early to catch an 8.30 am train!  Was an interesting ride.  Mostly flat country as the train went back through Cordoba, and then on to Valencia.

Many orange tree groves but also many grape vines, many are very young as they have not yet been staked or wired up.  At least that is what I think they are.

Actually the 8 1/2 hour train ride, turned into 9 1/2 hours.  But fairly entertaining.  A lady sitting in seat across from me was telling stories most of the way that was keeping everyone around laughing.  I have no idea what she was saying, but she definitely had the floor.

There was also a young girl from Bolivia that lives in Valencia now, who was visiting her Grandmother in Seville.  She had some english so there was a little bit of conversation.  Arrived exhausted even though I had done nothing but sit!

Seville Spain

June 29 Seville, Spain  (oops wrong date)

Took a scenic tour by city bus today!  The long way to the city centre!  Met a woman from Scotland on the bus.  Chatted until she got off at La Macarena.  Not sure if related to the dance or not!

Took a walking tour of  Alcazar, a tour recommended by Rick Steve's.  The tour guide, Conception Delgado, is actually pictured in the Steve's guide to Seville.  She was great!  On one mention of your name, she had it.  And any questions you had later in the tour she brought another site to your attention, by name!  It was well worth the tour and I do very much recommend her.  She also does city and Cathedral tours.  I spent another 2 hours just wandering around the site.

It is a Royal Palace and at times they stay on the second floor.  The building itself was initially Moorish, about 900s sometime, but when the Christians took over in 1200, expansions took place.  More additions in 1500 and 1700, I think.  Lots of information!  I needed to have a note book with me!

The one painting is supposed showing Christopher Columbus with the Virgin Mary as well as showing the New and old worlds.

Found out that the marble on the floor is a recent addition, about 4 or 500 years, from Italy.  Much was probably recycled.  The floors were initially clay brick.  The gardens are huge.  Even with peacocks.

Yesterday I thought I had the Coke thing figured out!  Found a place where you could get a full sized bottle for 1.45 euros, cheap!  And cheaper than beer too!  But went for a beer at bar around the corner, damn, 200 ml beer for .80 euros, so moral is, beer is still the cheapest!  Tough break!

Lisbon and back into Spain

June 28 Seville, Spain

Did not do much today but walked a lot!  

Went to the Plaza de Espana.  A huge place that is made of brick and decorated with many many tiles.  Around the lower part are benches with tiles representing various cities around Spain.  Very nice.  Much of the walls, ceilings and columns are also tiled!

Walked around some of the parks near by and then headed to a shopping/restaurant area.  Interesting as not many people out today, not like yesterday as it was Sunday.

Seville sidewalks are mostly made with small rounded river stones.  Must have taken forever to put down.  Very different from the 2 or 3 inch cobbled marble (I think) stones for almost all of the sidewalks and many of the streets.  Both very attractive.

June 27 Seville, Spain

Arrived early afternoon after a relaxing morning.  Only a 1 hour trip.  After a call to hotel for room, but do not know if they had one or not, as no one spoke English, and my Spanish is not enough yet to figure it out!  But found another place, just took the taxi driver a while to find!  Could be a problem!!!!!

But not.  Fairly close to everything.  

Dumped the bags and off to wander around the city.  Walked through a park, and then onto the river front.  Took a 1 hour cruise along the river,  huge boat, maybe 10 people!  But nice, and wind was cool.  Actually an ok trip.  Saw the 1992 Expo site, and a few other sites.  Just very relaxing.

Then hit the bullfight arena.  I had hoped to see a bull fight tonight but there is not one this week.  Took a tour around the arena!  Amazing, prices range from 30 euros to 150!  Also did not know that there are really 6 guys to a team that are fighting a bull, 2 teams of 3, only one is called matador.  That was news.  Now I really want to see one!

Stopped for beer on way back to hotel.  I have given up staying off the beer as it is so much cheaper, and better than Coke.  I am sure I am getting nutrition from them!  

Seems that Seville also has very fancy entry ways into houses.  Many very nice ones.  Lots of tile work as well.  But again there are some streets that are very narrow.  And I swear that streets that are just wide enough for a bike to go down, and have a name!  That is my excuse for missing so many of them!  Believe it or not!

June 26 Cordoba, Spain

Well went for the luxury and caught a taxi after giving the hotel a call.  Turn out to be great.  Quick shower and then off to bar for a drink.

Up this morning and off to the Mesquita - a mosque that had been converted into a Cathedral.  The orginal Mosque part was built in mid 900s with the Christian part built over the Muslim in mid 1200s.  The arches of different stone a brick and the size of the place is difficult to describe.  Not sure how many arches but there were a lot.  Many little chapels around the outside with some remaining Muslim parts to building.  The courtyard was huge as well with orange trees everywhere.  Also 1 old olive tree, not sure how old but the trunk did not look in great shape.

The streets in this city are quite something.  The sidewalk, on each side of road, are about 6 inches wide!  Have to be careful and not have your toes sticking out in the street or you would loose your toes.  They are so narrow!  But very interesting!  I have found that the doorways into peoples houses are very fancy!  Have tried to take some pictures but they do not seem to do them justice! 

A lot of Roman ruins in the city.  Columns, bridge, walls and mill. 

Then in afternoon off to the Medinat Al- Zahra.  An ancient Muslim site.  Built in the mid 900s, and was only occupied for about 75 years.  After this the town of Cordoba grew, with many of the artifacts and then later many of the building stones were taken.  Not able to see the Royal section as under reconstruction but pictures make look great.  Interesting that the arches are similar to the Mesquita.  It is a huge place and they say that they have only dug up about 10% of it.  Many places are still being dug out and many pieces laid about, looking like they are trying to piece together.  The interpretation centre was also an interesting building.  Made of white concrete and iron sheet, with a very low profile.  Think maybe they were trying to replicate the 2 to 1 rectangle of the Al-Zahra.

On way back saw 1/2 of a round about!  A new subdivision that has streets, lights but no buildings.  The half of round about did not go anywhere, and only had 2 streets running out of it.

Cordoba is a must see in my list!  Great place!

June 25 Madrid, again, and Cordoba for about and hour, Spain

Well the earliest train I could catch to Cordoba is 9.35 PM!!!!  So a day in Madrid.  So off to the Prada Art museum.  The line up was huge.  Turns out they have a temporary exhibit of Turner's work!  Ok.  So spent a couple of hours wandering around the rest of museum.  Many arts pieces as well as sculptures.  Goya, Rembrandt, Mori  etc!   The interesting part was the vault in the basement.  Here they had "decorative art"  which means pieces of table ware and decorations to be placed about the house.  Very nice.  Much crystal, precious stones, but also some large jade and some other dark stone pieces.  Must be expensive!

Then spent more time wandering the street, sitting in a park.  Very nice.

Then back to train station.  Will be interesting to see what happens with a 11.30 pm arrival.

June 24 Lisbon, Portugal

What a great bed and breakfast!  Mercada!  Was able to keep key and leave bags in room for the whole day!

So off to the Belem tower!  Great place, but again many stairs on small spiral staircase!  5 floors!  And remember the Europeans count the first floor as 0, so that is really six! 

Tower has great views of river, and was built in the 1100, I think, way too much information!  Over loaded.

After walked along the river.  The stone sculpture of a boat and people is huge.  Inside is a video presentation of the history of Lisbon.  "A city of cities".

As the city was occupied by many different people, the Muslims, the Crusaders, Arabs and the list goes on.  Some of each has been retained in different parts of the city!  Was a great video as explained why the area around the Plaza Commercial is completely on a grid street system.  This area was destroyed by the earthquake in 1755, and this is how it was rebuilt.  Most other areas are still streets going in every direction and many round abouts!

Spent most of afternoon in a park!  I had a 10.30 pm train back to Madrid.  The overnighter again!  But not so bad, talked to a guy from San Francisco for about an hour and then to sleep, most of the way!  Interesting as there was an elderly couple with their bags and not one person offered to help.  I did, and everyone clapped!  Too funny!

June 23 Lisbon, Portugal

Caught the train to Sintra, a small city outside of Lisbon.  Here went to visit the Castle of the Moors. 

This castle was built in about 800 AD and then added to in about 1100.

It sits on top of the hill overlooking the city.  You can also look up to the Pena Castle.  The Moorish Castle was great!  Interesting that many of the castles are similar.  Towers with look outs, and many port holes facing the various directions.  Would have been tough to attach this castle as the ground is steep and very rocky.  Yet again, many steps, up and down, and along the various walls.  There is currently an archeological dig going on in the Church cemetery and a couple of other places in and around the Castle.  Interesting that it was much cooler, yet only about 500 meters above sea level.

Pena Castle was used during the mid 1800s by the royalty of the Portugal.  All the rooms had a lot of furniture of the time!  Many rooms with separate rooms for the King and the Queen.  The ballroom/dining room was actually fairly small with ceiling that may have been 9 feet!  Certainly not like the Palace in Madrid.

Wanted to go to the National Palace, but closed on Wednesday.  Others on the bus found out the same thing on arrival.

Went for a wander around another part of the city today when I returned.  This is a very hilly city with many of them very steep.  I walked up one street, but on the return trip down a different street, found a tram that is designed to go up and down the steep parts.  Apparently there are 3 or 4 in the city.

For dinner went back to the same restaurant I went to last night!  Last night, steak, fresh raw carrots, fries, soup (large) and a beer for 8 euros!  What a deal.  Tonight.  Different steak.  Thought that I ordered the special of the "cafe" but turns out it is 'cafe" or coffee!  Had coffee beans in the sauce.  But also came with jumbo shrimp, with mushrooms and roasted garlic!  Interesting combination, but was very tasty even if the cut of beef was not that great!

Tonight, 10 euros, including the beer of course!

Started to upload new pictures to Picasa, but the internet shut down on me.  Not sure what happened.  Guess it will have to wait until I get back to the Madrid train station.

Spain and into Portugal

June 22 Lisbon, Portugal

Caught the train to Sintra, a small city outside of Lisbon.  Here went to visit the Castle of the Moors. 

This castle was built in about 800 AD and then added to in about 1100.

It sits on top of the hill overlooking the city.  You can also look up to the Pena Castle.  The Moorish Castle was great!  Interesting that many of the castles are similar.  Towers with look outs, and many port holes facing the various directions.  Would have been tough to attach this castle as the ground is steep and very rocky.  Yet again, many steps, up and down, and along the various walls. 

There is currently an archeological dig going on in the Church cemetery and a couple of other places in and around the Castle.  Interesting that it was much cooler, yet only about 500 meters above sea level.

Pena Castle was used during the mid 1800s by the royalty of the Portugal.  All the rooms had a lot of furniture of the time!  Many rooms with separate rooms for the King and the Queen.  The ballroom/dining room was actually fairly small with ceiling that may have been 9 feet!  Certainly not like the Palace in Madrid.

Wanted to go to the National Palace, but closed on Wednesday.  Others on the bus found out the same thing on arrival.

Went for a wander around another part of the city today when I returned.  This is a very hilly city with many of them very steep.  I walked up one street, but on the return trip down a different street, found a tram that is designed to go up and down the steep parts.  Apparently there are 3 or 4 in the city.

For dinner went back to the same restaurant I went to last night!  Last night, steak, fresh raw carrots, fries, soup (large) and a beer for 8 euros!  What a deal.  Tonight.  Different steak.  Thought that I ordered the special of the "cafe" but turns out it is 'cafe" or coffee!  Had coffee beans in the sauce.  But also came with jumbo shrimp, with mushrooms and roasted garlic!  Interesting combination, but was very tasty even if the cut of beef was not that great!

Tonight, 10 euros, including the beer of course!  Hey it is usually cheaper than Coke!

Started to upload new pictures to Picasa, but the internet shut down on me.  Not sure what happened.  Guess it will have to wait until I get back to the Madrid train station.

June 22 Lisbon, Portugal

Arrived!  And actually slept most of the time.  Funny as woke up when the train stopped!

Found the Bed and Breakfast quite easily!  And I think I am in luxury!  Mecado Bed and Breakfast.  Huge room, although the bathroom is down the hall, but I have patio doors onto a big deck!  So nice!  And cheaper than Madrid!  And turns out I am probably the only guest!  Lucky as found last night on the FREE internet at the train station - that is a first!  At least the free part!

Had some coffee, a shower and headed out!  

Caught an old famous tram, #28, and head back towards the city.  The streets are so narrow in places there is only a couple of inches on either side of the tram mirrors the streets are so narrow.  Arrived at the water front and wandered around in the shopping area for a bit and then headed off to the Castle of Sao Jorge.  This is a climb and a half!  But interesting!  Some of the faces of the houses are completely tiled.  

Built in 1100 by the Muslims and added on over the years!  Great views of city.  Was a guitar player there selling CDs, so bought one.  Sounded very good.

Then off to the Se Cathedral.  Very nice inside.  Walked back to the city, and headed out to the 1998 World Expo site.  Wanted to take the cable car ride!     Short, but still was a great view of the river and the Expo site.  On way back on Metro, guy took my map and showed me another church that I had to see,  Not much outside he said, but a surprise inside.  Built about 200 years ago, but then about 60 years ago he said there was a fire!  

Domingos.  Well he was right!  Could still smell the fire!  The stone had been cleaned but you could still see the black.  The roof had been repainted.  Some of the columns had huge chips out of them.  It was very impressive!

Then went to a concert!  A Portuguese traditional music "thing".  A guitar, mandolin and 2 singers.  The guitar and mandolin were great and the singers were good but preferred just the instrumentals.

June 21 Madrid, Spain

Went out to train station to buy ticket for Lisbon, only to find out that it is a slow over night train.  Leaves Madrid at about 10.30 and arrives in Lisbon at 7.30 (hour time difference).  Left suitcase in lock up and headed back to city.  Decided to hit the 2 museums that I missed yesterday!  And there were free on Sunday!  But only to find out that they are closed on Mondays!  Oh well.  Wandered around some more, just putting in time!  It did go by fairly fast!  There are so many people to watch!  More pedlars but also some that are statutes of various people/things, and also perform small acts!  Very interesting to watch.  Walked towards the park and saw the 'famous' wall that is completely covered in vines and flowers!  Very nice.  And the Arches of Independence.  Then headed to park.  Some amazing trimmed trees.  Interesting that in Madrid many of the street signs are of tiles.  All street signs, if there is one, are on the sides of the buildings on the street corners.

Went out to train station and ended up watching Spain in the World Cup.  That explains why all the Spanish flags were flying all afternoon.

June 20 Madrid, Spain

Just more wandering!  But stopped for coffee and a guy stopped to talk to me to practice his English.  It was a bit rough to start but he improved as we talked.  He then decided that I had to meet his English speaking friend, and his English teacher.  First stop, bar!  The Spanish way, have a beer or 2 on Sunday afternoon with some tapas with friends!  That was good, but turned into more than a couple!  Then off to meet the English teacher, for the same thing!  A lot of beer on a Sunday afternoon!  But was good!  Then we went out for dinner.  Fish, tuna steak and some smaller fish that had a light batter and deep fried!  With the heads!  Was good, but just ate the sides of the fish, not the heads!

June 19 Madrid, Spain

Slow start to the day!  Walked through plaza Mayor again, and then off to the Royal Palace.  Not lived in anymore, but is used for official ceremonies and dinners!  Very impressive, with all the marble on the floors, around the doors and on the pillars.  Mosaics on floors were beautiful!

Red is a very over used color, right down to the velvet on the walls!  Still great to visit.  Also went into the Royal Pharmacy, about 4 rooms of jars of herbs, floor to ceiling.  Also the Royal Armory, which showed several years of armour.  Some of the full suits were for some very short men!

Just spent the rest of the day wandering through the small side streets and around in circles on the round abouts!  There are so many!  Each with character of their own, and about a million streets heading out of them!

I guess I will never figure out the traffic!  Now I have been in a round about, with traffic heading in both directions, and stop lights!

June 18 Santander to Madrid, Spain

Not much done today.  Have a mid afternoon train to Madrid, about 2 1/2 hours.  And the weather is looking great, no rain!

Arrived in Madrid, actually found hotel, no problems.  Actually a Hostal,  in between a hotel and hostel.  Room about 6 feet wide and 10 feet long, and then a small bathroom!  At least there is not part cut out of door to make room for toilet, but close!  But is it in between the 2 main plazas, Del Sol and Mayor.  Took a stroll around the area in evening.  Lots of people out and about!  Interesting as police everywhere, and so are all the hookers!  But the police only seem to harass the hackers of sunglasses, hats, horns and flags!  Watched them chase one around with their scooters!  He got away!  He ducked down the stairs into the Metro station!