SPAIN

Barcelona
After Montpellier we headed across the border to Spain. Our first stop was Barcelona, where we stayed for 3 nights. What a gorgeous big city. I definitely could have stayed there longer. There is so much to see, and everything's open late.

After settling in our Pension right on 'La Rambla' THE street to be in Barcelona, we went out searching for something to eat and came across this fantastic Turkish restaurant. Right away the guy told us that if we eat there we'd be back, and we were. I think I ate there 3 times in 3 days. Here we are enjoying our Kebap's (with our waiter) from what the restaurant I like to call 'Turkish Delight'



After checking out street performers on La Rambla, and undoubtedly having ice cream (as became a custom, sometimes more than once a day), we called it a night.
The next day we headed out to see the sights. The top of the list was all the Gaudi architecture. There's really no way to explain it, it's art on the outside of the building.
Here's Emily and I outside Sagrada Familia after a slight altercation with the postcard man


I don't think this was one of Gaudi's, but this is outside of a beautiful hospital just down the street from the cathedral


Emily and I outside of Casa Mila (it's an apartment, we think, with a museum of destruction inside it)

This is what the inside looks like


Here we are outside of Casa Batlo

some key photos


We discovered 60cent ice cream at McDonald's across the street. I was happy, but I think Anna was expecting one like the one advertised


Next we went to Park Guell, which I think was my favorite. It's a huge park basically in the middle of the city that is full of Gaudi's work
The gift shop

A different style of Gaudi

an example of the mosaics on the ceiling of one of the canopy buildings

This reminded me of Hansel and Grettyl

Here is the view of the entrance of the park, from the gift shop


We did this quite often...taking pictures of the stupid souvenirs
here's Anna as a Matador


Emily and I spent a few hours in the morning seeing the Dali museum while Anna got herself a temporary passport. Probably my favorite museum of all we've seen. Dali's work is so amazing. Seeing his early work and sketches makes me appreciate his mainstream work much more. I actually prefer his less popular works. It's interesting to me how his work is very art meets science, and religion for that matter. Definitely worth seeing!

The Barcelona Waterfront, near Olympic village

The giant whale

A cow needs a bull like a fish needs a bicycle, like a woman needs a ...


All along La Rambla there were pet shops and flower shops


Sevilla
After Barcelona we headed to Sevilla in the South-West of Spain. This was an cool small city with a lot of Spanish Culture. Spain is full of beautiful parks, here's Anna and I with some of the flowers


Plaza de Espana

the Cathedral (not unlike so many of the others we've seen)


In the evening we were originally going to go to a Flamenco dance, but decided instead on a bullfight.
Emily and I being matadors



Anna and I outside the ring

Although the fight itself was hard to handle, the atmosphere of the ring, and the band were excellent. I just learned to look away


Cordoba
After Sevilla Emily and I went to Cordoba. This city was really cool as it was a melting pot of cultures and religions. While there we visited a Synagogue as well as a Basilica turned Mosque turned Cathedral, called the Mezquita. We also visited a large park with both Roman and Arab ruins. Emily and I spent the whole day walking around int 42 degrees seeing the amazing architecture that is so well preserved. I will definitely post pictures of Cordoba when I get home

Madrid
Emily and I left Cordoba and met up with Peter and Anna in Madrid. Since it was Emily and Anna's last night we stayed out late. We met up with Sophie, a friend of mine from Malaysia, at a typical Euro bar, and after catching up for a while, Peter, Emily, Anna and I went to the square and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria. The next day we walked around town checking out the Palace that Peter will own one day, and once again enjoying the statues



Anna and Emily left at around 10, and Peter and I set out to plan the rest of our week together. After finally getting our train booked for San Sebastian, Peter and I spent the rest of the day checking out the Reina Sofia museum, where we got to see Picasso's Guernica (excited to have finally seen that after Mrs. Stucker in grade four taught us about it!), more Dali and some Miro among other works. When we got back to the hostel, we met a Danish girl, Emilie, and went to a fantastic Flamenco dance together. That is definitely something I can't describe, it is just a must see when in Spain. Afterwards we went out for Sangria again, which apparently is only something the tourists drink.
The next morning Peter and I got on a 6 hour train ride to San Sebastian where we spent time on the beach and walking around town. This place was cool as everything was open really late. We spent our evenings walking around town, enjoying the waterfront, and of course the ice cream. We also found a really good burger restaurant which we went to two nights in a row. Could have stayed longer, but had to move on to Bilbao.
Bilbao is an industrial town, and besides the Guggenheim museum doesn't have a ton for tourists (we really noticed that when everything was closed fairly early). After walking around the outside of the Guggenheim, we headed out to the beach. This beach was a long metro ride, but was well worth it for the huge sand beach and nice Bay of Biscay water.
After two nights in Bilbao we headed to Santander. We didn't have much time here, but headed to the beach one last time. Early the next morning Peter left for France, and at noon I headed to the airport to fly back to London.

Now back in London I'm going to hit Camden Market today before heading in to the Adelphi theatre to watch 'Chicago'

I'll be home Sunday night, and will post all the rest of my pictures as soon as I can.