Ok.... so we're sitting at the airport waiting to board which means that we are at the end of this leg and the end of the whole epic trip. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the people following along, all the people who commented on the blog and on Facebook - knowing... Continue Reading →
For those regular followers, you'll know that I love a door, but rather than peppering the blog with shots of doors and their knockers throughout each post, I thought I would save them all for one post at the end.... If you don't love doors, there is nothing for you to see here. Door lovers,... Continue Reading →
Today - our last full day in Barcelona, and indeed our whole trip, we went in a different direction. I like to take the backstreets. It gets you away from the crowded tourist spots and you always find hidden treasures... and today was no exception. We went out in search for shoes. Spain produces some... Continue Reading →
Yesterday we hit the town to look at one of the major things that Barcelona is famous for - Mr Antoni Gaudi. In most of our hotels our room as been miles away from the lift, or through a couple of miles worth of tunnels.... but in this one - we we're good to go... Continue Reading →
Today is Me Jenny's birthday..... we're going to see if we can find her some Spanish shoes and then we have a special tapas dinner for a special lady at a special tapas restaurant that has a Michelin Star!!! Me Jenny should have her own Michelin Star just for being so fabulous.
Three hour train journey from Valencia to Barcelona - all was normal. We noticed a few stops out of Barcelona that there were police at one of the stops and a crowd of what looked like students, but didn't think anything of it. When we got to the the Barcelona train station, we hopped off... Continue Reading →
Our final tour in Valencia was to the City of Arts & Sciences. Valencia used to have a river running through the centre that used to flood all the time and after the last time in the 1950s they decided to divert the river around the city (flooding rivers seem to be a theme in... Continue Reading →
Today, as the title of today's blog suggests - we were going to learn to make paella.... hopefully better than the one we had yesterday! We walked from the hotel through the old town to get to the school and passed some lovely buildings and parks along the way... First we had to have a... Continue Reading →
This was the carpet that we walked on between the lift and our room in our Madrid hotel - it took 130 steps - Me Jenny counted (every time). Lucky it was pretty carpet..... Then we hit the train station ready to head east(ish) to the coast - to Valencia. I've got to say -... Continue Reading →
Our last day in Madrid. No tours, no early get ups, just an easy wander around and maybe we'll buy some shoes? Who knows? Me Jenny had read about a square not far from us that had a flower market. We found it on the map and headed in that direction. When we got there,... Continue Reading →
Today's cultural activity was a walking tour of old Madrid and then a tour of the Palace Real. Me Jenny and I don't love a large group tour, so have opted for small groups or private tours when we can. I don't enjoy wearing the ear piece and I hear better when I can see... Continue Reading →
One of our organised tours in Madrid was a walking tapas tour which we were muy excited about. Our guide, a lovely French/Irish chap living in Madrid who looked a little like Bradley Cooper in the right light walked us around a few different areas of the city to show us different types of tapas.... Continue Reading →
Our first real full day in Madrid... What to do? What to do? We had some tours planned and wanted to try and avoid going over the same ground, so today we decided to have a little look at the Park Retiro. But first - brekky at the lovely hotel dining room with its magnificent... Continue Reading →
So the good news is that we got to Madrid.... we managed to check out of the hotel, catch the train and arrive at our Madrid hotel all on the correct day! Phew! Madrid Hotel - The Westin Palace.... they tried to give us a room with a 'city view', which we booked, however 'city... Continue Reading →
So yesterday we did our last things and last night we had our last meal in Salamanca - even toasting to our last evening in this beautiful city. We went to bed, setting the alarm with enough time to get up, wash hair and have brekky before our train to Madrid.... We packed our bags... Continue Reading →
Our last day in Salamanca, so we thought we'd best go inside and have a look at the San Estaban Convent - it was across the road after all. Now that I've seen the astronaut on the cathedral, I've been keeping my eye out for any other little quirky additions. There are some very traditional... Continue Reading →
Today was another day of meandering.... she was a little overcast in the morning and even threatened rain, but she held off and it was a glorious temp for Salamanca meandering.... Our first stop was to the Nouveau Art Museum and on the way we stopped back off at the lovely garden we stumbled across... Continue Reading →
Me Jenny and I were sitting in a square today marvelling at some of the outfits people were wearing.... high heels over cobble stones; puffer coats in 25°, matching plaid with stripes and florals and whatever else you felt like, etc... There are a lot of students living in Salamanca attending the university hence there... Continue Reading →
Today was our first train trip. So far we've had car transfers between places which have all been fabulous as it meant that not only did somebody pick us up, help with our bags and drop us at the door, we also got to stop and see some places along the way... However we were... Continue Reading →
Part of our tour to the Mesquita/Cathedral was a walk around the Córdoba Jewish Quarter where we are actually staying. Our hotel is a converted tradition home with a patio (courtyard) in the middle and rooms surrounding it. There are lots of patios in this building, so this would have been many homes joined together... Continue Reading →