Espaņa!

The travel lust grows worse each year, and Spring of 2002 finds me on a plane to Spain with my friend Lynn, who's making her first trip overseas.  Sadly we only had about 8 days to visit this extraordinary place, but we made the most of it...  and got a decent glimpse into the Spanish world.  As always, I kept a journal of our visit.  Pictures from the trip can be found below....

Click on the images for larger pictures.

  Lynn and myself on our first night in Madrid.

  Another shot of Madrid at night.  There were some magnificent buildings in that part of the city.

  The lobby of the kitschy Hotel Monaco.  For anyone ever staying in Madrid, I highly recommend this place.  Neat joint right by the Chueca metro station.

  Obligatory metro photo.  The metro in Madrid was fairly clean and efficient.

  The fascinating city of Toledo.  It's a place seemingly trapped in time.

  Muslim-lookin' arch in Toledo.

  Just me standing in one of the many narrow alleyways of Toledo.

  Photo of the carvings on the face of Toledo's cathedral.

  Toledo's cathedral again...  a very grand sort of place.

  Lynn at the foot of some stairway/alley in Toledo.

  A low, squat, house in Toledo I found rather interesting.

  Lynn and myself at the Argentinean-themed restaurant across the street from the Hotel Monaco.

  Another dramatically lit building in Madrid.

  Anika and Felipe, a couple of very friendly and interesting folks I met in the hotel lobby.  I spent quite a while talking to these two, until the wee hours of the morning... you can read about them a bit in my journal.

  A public fountain near the Prado in Madrid.

  Check out this car!  There were a whole bunch of these lil' buggers in Madrid.  I wonder how fast they can go?

  Inside the Prado.... there were quite a few artists inside who were painting replicas of the pieces...   some of these replicas were astonishing in accuracy.

  A Rembrandt on temporary display at the Prado.

  The most impressive replica I saw being painted during our visit.  The level of detail in this work was amazing.

  One of the many, many Ruben's on display.  Not normally big into paintings, I really liked these dramatic pieces.

  Good ol' Hercules.  (Any of you really good geeks out there will recognize this model/pose from the original AD&D guidebook)

  I just LOVED this bit of sculpture.  Very dramatic, very expressive.  Unfortunately like an idjit I didn't write down the name of the sculptor/sculpture.  If anyone happens to recognize it, feel free to email me.

  More cool buildings in Madrid.

  My obligatory self-noggin-photo.....  this one is the famed bullfighting ring in Seville.

  Display within the bullfighting ring.  The matador's costume below belonged to a 15 year-old boy.  They start'em young over there.

  Here's Lynn posing by a couple nice stuffed bull-heads.  Odd sport, even odder when you learn a bit more about its history.

  Seville's intricately built cathedral.  Amazing place.

  Lynn and myself hanging out at the fountain near the cathedral and Alcazar.

  That's Lynn in the corner of the photo...  nighttime in front of the cathedral.

  Why did I take a shot of wineglasses at this cafe?  I dunno...  seemed like the thing to do.  I had a good bit of vino tinto during this trip.  It's one of the few things I knew how to order in Spanish.  *laughs*

  Seems every country I visit there's bound to be a protest while I'm there.  Perhaps they're protesting me?  Nah, I could never be so lucky.  Anyhow, if anyone could translate that banner for me, I'd be quite appreciative.  Email me or post on my guestbook if you can fully translate that....

  Another picture of the protest.... and more banners.  What are they saying??!?!?!

  One more photo of the protesters as they walked by a gorgeous fountain at night.  It was a very peaceful and calm sort of demonstration... lots of singing involved.

  Flamenco!  Very cool stuff to watch.  This woman was amazing.

  More Flamenco dancers.  A very memorable evening.

  I could spend the rest of my life hanging out at all the cool little sidewalk cafes/restaurants in a place like Seville.

  Mmmmmm, animal parts.  Saw a lot of this at bars and restaurants all over Spain.  Appetizing, no?  (Sorta reminded me of Chinatown)

  Inside Seville's cathedral.  Some beauty stained glass work.  The head in the foreground is a marble statue.

  Tried to give a glimpse of how impressively tall the cathedral's arched ceilings were.  Gotta see it to believe it.

  More interior photos of the cathedral.  I really loved these statues.

  Odd sort of photo... they laid a pretty huge mirror against the floor, tilted slightly to give you a good look at the intricate carvings on the ceiling.

  Obligatory thumb-shot, taken from the high tower of the cathedral which we climbed up for a good view of Seville from above.  Notice all the white houses/buildings.

  Photo from the tower, looking down upon the square and Alcazar...  hell of a climb up there but it was worth it.

  One more photo from the cathedral's tower.

  A quiet little courtyard/pool inside the Alcazar (a palace built when Seville was the home of royalty in Spain).  Note the nifty tile-work/architecture.

  There were a few couples who were having their wedding pictures taken at the Alcazar.  One hell of an impressive place for wedding photos.  =)

  The royal gardens of the Alcazar were quite a sight.

  A pool teeming with fish within the palace grounds.

  Another photo of the royal gardens.  Looked almost jungle-like in density.

  The cathedral from another angle.

  More sidewalk cafes and restaurants in Seville.

  It's Carmen!  This woman did a sort of reenactment/tour guide of Seville taking the persona of Carmen from the Bizet Opera.  You can read a bit about it in my journal.  Probably the most memorable part of the trip for me.

  The mysterious no-8-do symbol that was printed on EVERYTHING in Seville...  from manhole covers to bus stops to public buildings to the busses themselves.  Carmen eventually related a story to us about the former king and a bitter civil war in which the people of Seville remained loyal to him and helped him keep his throne.  With a bit of creative translation, the no-8-do translates roughly to a symbol meaning "You have never left me" - and was a crest/herald awarded to the people of Seville.

  Our Carmen poses by a statue commemorating her.

  Carmen singing her sad story to us, while playing her accordion (which incidentally had a paper Carmen and Don Jose glued to the top.)

  A photo of our funky little mirrored room in the funky little mirrored Hotel Monaco.

  One of the many plazas in Madrid.

  One of the entryways to the Palacio Royale in Madrid.

  One of the hundreds of opulent rooms of the royal palace.

  Intricate ceiling-work.

  An enormous chandelier hanging down beneath that intricate celing-work.

  A rather large table at the palace.... dinner for 120?  All around this room (and most of the other rooms we saw) were precious paintings, tapestries, vases, and sculptures from all over the world.  Spanish royalty had a hell of a spending habit.

  The "modest" little chapel within the royal palace.

  The pious Queen Isabella.

  Me at a fountain between the royal palace, and the tragic Teatro Royale (opera house).

  My last dinner (paella) in Madrid.

Do feel free to write or drop any comments in my message boards.  And thanks for stopping by!

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