I’m attempting to look back at photos from the trip that I took using my Fuji camera. Unlike Dan, I really don’t find it easy to do that: the trip is over, and that’s that. But … well … I’m going to work hard and doing a better job of looking at them and perhaps posting things now and then.
These are from our stay in Hotel Torre de Villademoros in Valdes-Luarca, Asturias, Spain.
This first image is at our lodging … just a look at the lovely wall and the beautiful agapanthus:
I took a walk and looked back at our place. If you look at the building to the right of the red roof, our window is the upper right one. I remember texting Dan to say I could see our place from the path I was on. I also said I was returning to change shoes. He then came on the walk with me.
We wound up here, looking out at the Bay of Biscay.
I won’t be posting daily, and probably not even weekly, but I’ll post when I get around to looking at more images. I must say it is a joy to look at them!
Side Note: I don’t know why images put up as single ones can’t then be larger if you click on them. Hm. I’ll have to research that. Meanwhile, I will put all three images below as a collage and I’ll bet you can then see them larger if you click on them.
Side Note #2: I do believe I’ve figured it out! Hoping it works for others as well: if you click on an image you are taken to the image larger. Now if I can add a plugin it might be even better, but I’m not sure I can do that on this site. Time will tell.
(UPDATE: I just realized I used that same subject header in another post. That is just how fried my brain is these days!)
It’s so strange to think that we’ve been home for almost two weeks now, yet in some ways I feel as if the trip never happened … until I look at this site and see the photos, anyway!
I’ve not had much inclination to look at the shots I took with the Fuji camera (everything I’ve posted so far has been from the iPhone). I wonder if I’ll ever really get through all the photos, to be honest. This happens every trip — getting home I have to jump back into music mode, attempting to get my brain (and embouchure) in shape. It’s never easy! I also started teaching three days after arriving home. That was a wee bit of a challenge, but I managed to stay awake for the students. Whew!
It also took longer than I expected to adjust to the time change. Jet lag is somewhat easier when going on vacation. Coming home? Not so much!
Dan and I have talked about things we’d not take next time, and both of us would definitely take less! I know some people told me they’d grow weary of wearing the same things over and over, and it can sometimes get tedious, but at the same time it’s not a big deal to repeat outfits, and even had I been more selective I’d still have had a number of combinations of clothing I could have worn. Besides, as some YouTube folks who post about traveling light say, “NO one cares!” It’s not like someone is watching us every day to see what we are wearing. BUT I’d never again take some of the tops and pants I brought for hot weather travel. They were just too uncomfortable. So next time it’s linen as much as possible, and other lightweight fabrics that breathe. Yes, linen wrinkles, but oh is it better for the heat and humidity!
Never again do I bother with makeup unless I’m doing a fancy event: I ended up tossing all of that in the trash at some point. It was just extra weight and, for us, every ounce counts! I won’t bother with jewelry either. I wore a necklace on the first flight. That was the last time I wore it. So never mind. I’m just not a makeup or jewelry person.
I’d also like to find a way to travel with only an iPad. If I can learn how to upload my iPhone photos, use Lightroom to size them smaller, and then put them on this site I’d gladly leave the laptop at home. (Shoot, part of me wishes I could just bring an iPhone, but I suspect that would mean giving up writing this blog.)
Oh … and perhaps just one lens. I probably only need one lens. I did force myself to put the macro on a few times so I could justify using it (and today’s post on my photography site is showing one of the photos), but I’ll bet I wouldn’t miss it … not too much, anyway!
Anyway (or “anyways” as most people write these days), I will attempt to look through photos and post something on occasion that is from the “real” camera. (Will I ever feel as if the iPhone is a real camera? Dunno!)
This first shot is from our time in Donostia / San Sebastián, when Dan and I took a walk while Meghan and Jameson enjoyed time on the beach and in the water:
Today was an early rising kind of day due to a 10:40 flight, and including an airport we had never gone to before. We caught a taxi (he was early but that is fine by me, as I’m always concerned about being late), and got to the airport much earlier than we expected. Security at the Barcelona airport was tighter than most places we’ve been so far, aside from Sagrada Familia and, I think — how have I already forgotten?! — one other spot here. But we got through just fine, and went to our gate.
As it turned out our flight took off about an hour later than scheduled. Kind of figures, don’t you think? I found it so interesting that not one person went up to the desk to ask why the flight was delayed or to complain. (I did suggest to Dan that I go do that … only joking to him, mind you!) We were on Singapore Airlines, and the plane was quite empty: most were boarding for the flight to Singapore in the next city.
Goodbye, Barcelona!
The flight was fine. Short. Easy. And the seats were awfully nice. Food was not great, though, and (ACK!) they played the same looped music over and over. THAT was pretty awful!
I had a window seat so I shot a few iPhone photos, both of the interior and then, of course, what I saw through my window.
Anyway, we made it to our next stop and, yes, we are in Italy. But where, you might wonder? Or maybe you don’t. I’m going to tell you anyway.
We’ve landed in MILAN. Now when you land “in” Milan you still have a train ride to get into the city, but that was easy enough. Funny story (kind of): a man asked if he could go in front of us because he was about to miss his train so we motioned him ahead. Well, HE made the train. We missed it and had to wait another 30 minutes. Heh.
Milan wasn’t a city we had really thought a lot about, as I read it was the bank and fashion capital. If you know me, you know I’m not considered a fashion kind of person, and banking? Forget it! But someone (thank you, Greg!) told me it wasn’t ALL about those things, plus it’s where we could fly from Barcelona without a lot of trouble, using a Star Alliance airline. So here we are!
Our place is nice — a bit of a step up from our 1 star hotel in Barcelona. (But truth be told, I’m realizing a 1 star isn’t the horrible thing I feared it would be, so I think I could consider those.)
We’ll rest up a bit and then head out to investigate our area. We are a walk away from The Last Supper and, thankfully, I read quite a while ago that I should order tickets ahead of time. The book suggested a month, but I checked things out much earlier than that and already there weren’t a lot of available times for us. I grabbed what I could, even though it meant paying a bit more for some sort of talk after. (There weren’t any time slots left for just viewing the work.) We will go tomorrow for our 15 minute appointment (Yes, that’s all they allow.) and talk.
But what else are we near? I’m really not sure! Sadly I didn’t do as much work as I should have before we left: I guess I ran out of steam. I did manage to purchase tickets to the Duomo, as well as La Scala just this morning. Of course we are here at the wrong time for performances (typical of our travels), but at least we get to see the hall.
I’m not sure if I’ll post more later tonight or not: it depends upon what we do and whether I take any photos. But Italy, we are happy to be here!
Time seems to go by so quickly — at least during the day! At night, when I can’t sleep, it’s a bit of a different story. This time I got up and shot an iPhone phot through our hotel window. I mean … why not?
In the morning we woke, headed upstairs for the coffee they said we could have — but were told the machine was broken. Oh well. Instead we headed to the market I wrote about earlier. It was pretty amazing and I totally forgot to take any photos. Oops!
Later we headed to another Gaudi sight, Park Güell. We learned after the fact that we took the long way with lots of stairs. At least we got our steps in! We spent a good amount of time there … loads to see, and tremendous views. Plus the playfulness was there … I just love Gaudi whimsy!
Then it was back to our hotel for a short rest before we headed to Sagrada Familia. And just WOW. I’ll not write more at the moment because we have to get to bed … we say goodbye to Spain in the morning and fly elsewhere! But I’ll share some iPhone shots.
We began our day with coffee and croissants, which is not all that uncommon. Then it was off to the Palau de la Música which included an audio tour. Turns out they are fixing some things on the exterior, so we really couldn’t get a good shot of that, but after we did the inside we walked around and I found at least a little spot where I could attempt an outside building shot. It’s not great, but better than nothing. In addition we missed out on a few things they audio tour talked about. I’d have thought they’d warn people about this when purchasing tickets online, but it wasn’t a huge deal, so I won’t grump too much. But what a fabulous place! SO much to photograph, but as always I won’t post everything here. There were people on the stage and they occasionally were doing work with lights and color. I don’t know what that was about … sadly there are no concerts while we are here, so I don’t believe it was for any performance. At certain times the organ would play (I’m going to guess it’s a recording), and I must say that was quite fun for several reasons. First, I just love to hear a good organ, but secondly (and rather important), I’ve been having distortion in my left ear, but when the music was playing I didn’t have it at ALL. I’m so glad that was the case!
After the concert hall we had a light lunch. Again it took us a while to decide on a spot. We will never change, I guess! Then it was off to the hospital.
Worried yet?
Well … okay … it was a hospital, but it’s not any longer. We opted to visit it as well because the same architect that designed the Palau de la Música, Lluís Domènech I Montaner, did the hospital as well.
First we had to figure out the Metro, though. So far we’d only walked everywhere in Barcelona, but the two mile walk didn’t appeal to us considering the horribly humid day. Seemed easy enough to get our tickets, and got on the first train. Then, stupid me, I managed to read things wrong and we exited the subway. Well, our tickets were good for two hours so surely we could just go back to catch the second train, right? NO. Because I did something with my ticket on the way out — tagging it or something — and it wouldn’t work then. But Dan’s didn’t either, so maybe it was something else that was a problem. In any case, those tickets were useless. We bought new ones, but getting smart we bought the 48 hour card that will also get us to the airport on Wednesday when we leave Spain for … well, I’m not telling yet!
We arrived at the former hospital, now called Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, at least according to my tickets. I sure wish we had hospitals that were as whimsical and creative as the one was. Sadly much of it is now in disrepair, but there were workers there, and I think they are attempting to restore and repair it. But what a place!
From there we took the trains back to our hotel. We needed a rest and we definitely wanted the A/C.
Finally it was dinner time. Our plan was to go to the Mercado and have tapas there. Turns out the market closes at 8:30. And we were trying so hard to be like the locals and eat late. Heh. Never mind the market. We walked around and finally found a nice spot called Tosca Palau. It was a bit of a fusion type place and it was lovely! No photos, though. I was too busy eating!
We are hoping to get brunch or whatever we will call it by the time we get out to the Mercado. Then it’s more Gaudi! Stay tuned! (Because not being tuned is kind of crummy.)
This morning we woke up and shortly after went out to get to our 10:00 time slot for Gaudi’s Casa Batlló. What an amazing place! I won’t post all the photos I took, but I have to share some because it truly is something to see!
Okay … must move on! …
Then it was lunch — tapas at what appears to be a food chain. But it was close, and it was air conditioned. And we needed that!
From there we walked up to the next Gaudi place, La Pedrera – Casa Milá. This, too, was mighty amazing, but I must admit I am more enamored with Casa Battló, even while it appears that Gaudi considered Pedera his masterpiece.
At both places we ended up on the room. I handled the first one pretty well, but on Pedrera I had to get off of it rather quickly. What is nuts to me is that originally there were no fences up on the roof at all. Eek! Dan stayed up longer … but I simply couldn’t! Prior to the roof we saw one apartment in the place. I can’t imagine living in something like this, but I’d certainly move in if it were offered to me! (Just no roof visits, thank you very much.)
Prior to the roof visit we were in the “attic”. Even there I was a little freaked: something about knowing we were so high up, I guess. But it was so interesting. Every arch is different … they say no two are exactly alike. I guess the maids did laundry up there. (I’ll gladly take a maid along with an apartment there.)
Prior to my freaking out and heading down some stairs that I wasn’t supposed to take (and it became so dark I had to pull out my phone and use the flashlight!), I did manage to take a few photos.
Can you imagine being up there with NO fences? I sure can’t.
I raced downstairs. No. I’m lying. I slowly went down the stairs … and had to take photos there as well: even the stairway was interesting! Then I was down in one of the two courtyards, waited for Dan, and we both saw the second courtyard before heading back to our hotel to enjoy some A/C and rest.
We headed to the Gothic Quarter for some dinner. I’d researched and read about a place that wasn’t supposed to be as tourist-y so we searched for that. On our way there someone from above dumped some water on me. At least it only appeared to be water! Was it just someone who likes to do that to tourists, I wonder? In any case, it definitely got my attention. Dinner was at La Vinateria Del Call. I really enjoyed it, and was glad we got in early so we had a quiet dinner for a while. From there we walked home, although I confess we did have ice cream cones. But hey, we walked a lot today, AND I was on TWO roofs which I think probably means I burned a lot of calories due to major fear.
& now goodnight! So far we have no plans for tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll figure something ut.
This morning we woke up, had coffee and croissants at the hotel, and went back to our room. We finished up the packing and said goodbye (not literally, mind you), to the hotel.
Then we took a taxi to the train station (I nearly typed a train to the taxi station … I’m sort of tired!). Of course we were early, but I’d rather be early and not worry. We did have longer lines both for security and to get on to the train, so the early bit was maybe a good thing. Then off we went …
to Barcelona!
We are in a rather funky hotel in the middle of the action. I think it will be fine, but it’s probably the lowest rated of all that we’ve stayed in, and it is older and somewhat odd, but honestly we don’t spend enough time in a hotel room to really care as long as it’s clean and safe. We spent time figuring out our Gaudi plans (I foolishly hadn’t made reservations earlier but, as it turns out, we ended up getting better deals in a strange way: Dan was online and plugged in one destination and I did the same. It was cheaper on his phone than it was on my computer or phone. We made reservations for two places on his phone. For the next it was cheaper on my computer! Very, very odd, but we did get things done and then headed out to check out the area.
We wandered in a rather random way and ended up at a Gothic cathedral. I knew it had to be important … heh … but didn’t realize this was the Barcelona Cathedral. (Via Wikipedia: The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Catalan: Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia). I love how we just randomly end up at important spots … it happens in nearly every city! I have to admit the clowns and other people dressed up seemed so odd in front of what many would think of as a rather sacred space, but what do I know?!
We attempted to find streets that were less crowded, and happened upon an event that was just such fun … double reeds included. I wish I could post the video, but it didn’t work, so you only get stills, and it’s nearly impossible to see much. Sorry!
We also headed to the water.
Then it was back in search of dinner, but going slowly both because it was a bit too early for dinner and because people just walk more slowly here.
As always it took us a while to find our dinner spot, but we did finally find a place, and enjoyed a tapas assortment. Prices here are definitely higher than other cities, but we were prepared for that. By this time the crowds were just enormous. And it was 9:30 or so.
Now we are back in our room and as soon as I post this I think I’ll try to sleep.
We decided to go on an adventure today and see Toledo. It’s only a 35 minute train ride, so that seemed doable. Dan and I walked to the train station, which was a mere 1.6 miles (downhill), so that was pretty easy. Then we had to figure out how to use the machine to order train tickets. Well, we just weren’t quite sure we were doing it right so we found a Renfe ticket place and stood in a long line only to find out that was for the local trains. The person there directed us to where we had to order our tickets, but we were confused and finally decided to try the ticket machine again. No biggie … tickets were easy to get! We killed a bit of time since the earlier trains were no longer available, getting coffee and a somewhat light breakfast. Oh … and the bathroom was pretty darn funny and worth the €1 it cost: they had some sort of ambient sounds with birds and whatnot. Dan shot me a text of what they (“One Hundred Bathrooms) are about so I must share it here:
When I came out of the bathroom I told Dan I was just so relaxed. Truly a magical experience. (I’m joking, I’m joking.)
Then it was off to Toledo on a lovely train. (Dear United States, you need to get your act together and have better trains!)
As I was telling Dan, trains, planes, and automobiles cause me to fall asleep and, sure enough, I slept a bit on the train. Still, I did manage to see some things out the window for a time. Unfortunately I only took one iPhone shot, though.
We got off the train and headed up the hill to the old part of Toledo. In hindsight we might have opted for the rather inexpensive taxi that would give us a bit of a tour of the area, but the walk was probably good for us. I guess I didn’t take iPhone photos on our walk — I had pulled out the Fuji at that point— but below are images from the station.
Then … well … walk, walk, walk. Plus lunch (I had gazpacho and bread). And more walking. What a fun little area! So much to see. I also went into a shop to see if I could find a dress. I really want a linen dress with NO waist (because I think I’m rapidly losing my waist on this trip). I didn’t see just the right thing, though. The funny thing was the shop clerk asked me something in Spanish and I told her I only spoke English and she said, “Just looking?!” I suppose she’s heard that a lot from us English speaking folks.
Here are a lot of photos from the day:
When I hit the wall we stopped and had a snack of olives, iced tea (well, I think Dan maybe had sparking water), and ended with coffee. Then we ambled back to the train.
Our train was listed to be on track 1. It was on track 2. Go figure. And yes, I slept … nearly the whole ride this time! We got back to Madrid, took a taxi back to our hotel (it was uphill and we were tired!) and by then it was time for dinner. We went back to the Mercado and had a bit to eat, and after that kind of spoiled ourselves with dessert. Now I’m stuffed, and quite exhausted.
Tomorrow we are off on another train ride to our next destination. Stay tuned!
(And yes, if you subscribe I DID write “Milan” at first. I tend to do that but usually correct myself before publishing. Oops!)
Today was a garden/museum sort of day. But first … breakfast! We indulged in the churros from what I think is the oldest churro spot in Madrid. We had to figure things out — ordering inside, but trying to get a server’s attention then to hand him our order. NOT an easy task! But it was fun to try “real” churros rather than what we later learned were most likely thawed frozen ones we had earlier. I can’t say they are something I’d want to have a lot of, but hey, when in Madrid … do as the tourists do?! (Hah!)
(Churro shot by Dan.)
We then walked to the Real Jardín Botánico, and enjoyed not only the flora, but also a few photography exhibits. The garden itself had very few flowers, but I enjoyed seeing the variety of trees they had. I think we’ve confirmed that a tree we have is, indeed, a laurel tree — just not a bay laurel as I thought when I bought it many years ago. The exhibits were okay, but nothing to rave about … aside from that cute guy looking at them!
Next up was lunch, so we headed to a place near the museum we were going to. We made our order (sandwiches and sparkling water), ate, and then attempted to get the attention of a server for coffee. THAT was a huge challenge! I would have thought we were just doing something wrong as Americans, but the family next to us, who spoke Spanish, finally left because they weren’t getting served, so maybe it was just the place.
Lunch:
In any case, we finally did get our coffee, and then went right next door to the Museo Reina Sofia. We were mostly there to see Picasso’s Guernica, but of course we spent a good long time seeing even more. Now I need to read up on what exactly occurred between 1936 and 37 … but really even more than that. My history knowledge is rather pathetic, I’m sorry to say. There are no photos of the inside of the museum, but I did take one of an inside hallway and a bit outside.
Then it was back to our hotel for a bit of respite (yes, I snoozed ever-so-briefly!). I also have a sun rash now, which is something I’ve avoided for years since I always wear long sleeves on my walks when I’m at home. I had gotten sunburned (missed a bit of skin on my left arm) the other day and that means the sun now causes me to blister. It doesn’t hurt a lot, but it sure looks rotten! Tomorrow I will wear my long sleeved linen shirt, no matter the temperature.
Lovely, right?
Finally we went to a restaurant, El Pato Mudo, I’d read about that was very close to our place and had good reviews. (And now I’m laughing! I ran “El Pato Mudo” through Google translate and it says it means “The Dumb Duck” — how appropriate for an oboist! (The decor included tons of ducks but sadly I neglected to take a photo. Doggone it! Or is that “Duckgone it”?!) We had paella, with chicken, seafood, and some veggies, and it was quite delicious! It was fun to be in this lovely restaurant with barely anyone there yet. The locals won’t go there until much later, I’m guessing, but the tourists are missing out on a lovely place: I saw a number of them walk by, probably going to the tourist spots in Plaza Major where they will have “meh” food. (I know — we were there our first night!)
We aren’t yet sure what we’ll do tomorrow. We could take a train to Toledo, a nearly two hour train ride … but we’ll see how adventurous we are. I’m guessing we should go, but … well .. two hours both ways? I dunno. If we don’t go, I guess we’ll just have to return to Spain sometime. I can live with that.
Well, we did it again: it took us quite a while to find the restaurant for dinner. Go figure.
First, though, we headed down to the Mercado again, and braved it and tried a few tapas (olive tapas were fabulous!), with a small glass of vermut. One other tapas stand and we were ready to leave.
As we left we remembered there was a place to wash our hands nearby so we headed there. A man walked by and commented on my beautiful hair. Sweet. At the fountain he was also there so he started up a conversation. Talked about how he lives in Italy, but he’s from Senegal. Said my yellow top was “like the sun”. Talked about a child but I couldn’t quite catch what that was about. Nice guy. And then … placed a small red elephant knick-knack in my hand and explained how I was to use it, and a bracelet in Dan’s. Heh. Yeah, we fell for the whole thing until then. Of course it was all about getting money from us. So never mind. We laughed, handed the stuff back to him, and walked away. You’d think we’d have caught on sooner, but I’m going to blame the olives.
From there we walked to a busy street thinking we’d find a place to eat. Nope. We aren’t interested in fast food (yes, lots of Burger King spots as well as other junk food), so we headed up, past our hotel. Took us eons to decide where to eat. We finally wound up in a little place where the server spoke no English. We could sort of work things out, but when she came back she asked us a question and we were at a loss. Thankfully the couple next to us spoke English and explained she was saying three of the pintxos were cold but two could be heated. At that point we ended up in conversation with the couple, and Dan ended up giving them his card because they said they’d like to return to our area (they visited pre-Covid). Never know … might see them in California.
Two of the pintxos (they were huge):
Then back to the hotel we went. At that point it was nearing 10:00, I think. The area was buzzing. So many people out and about late at night here, and so many places stay open until midnight if not later.
Today we are planning on another museum — the Reina Sofia, where we will get to see Picasso’s Guernica, but first the Real Jardin Botánico. It’s quite clear there is too much to see in Madrid and we can’t see it all, but isn’t that how it goes everywhere? It seems so.
