I am falling further and further behind in these things. And we had a pretty epic couple of days. So I guess I'd better get this started. Apparently I haven't updated since we arrived in Seville. Seville was really lovely. We wandered around the streets all day. We saw the cathedral and the alcazar and the fancy big plaza. We stumbled across more than one little market and a festival of nations where there was an australian stand selling kangaroo burgers. We didn't try them but were tempted. Odd to have to go all the way to Spain to get the chance when we are usually much closer to the source. Took a break in the afternoon when everything was closed anyway but in the evening Catie managed to drag me along on some shopping (we didn't end up buying anything). In the evening we got some mojitos and sat up on the roof for a while. But we'd had a pretty full day so we crashed fairly early. The next day we had grand plans to go to Granada and see the amazing Alhambra. Didn't work out. It's a giant palace. We've been to a few now. Never have I heard of such a place having a limited number of tickets each day. They were sold out before we got there. So we wandered the town for a bit instead before catching our train to Madrid. We got there late and lost the hostel (spent about an hour walking 3 different wrong ways before giving up and getting a cab. We were really close too, just could not find the right street. And the people we asked for directions either had never heard of it or were completely useless. But we got there in the end.
The next day we headed for the palace because it is free on Wednesdays but we got there an hour before the changing of the guard so it wasn't open at all. We went away thinking we would come back in the afternoon. We walked around the city for a bit. Saw some sub par gardens, a whole row of statues of people we'd never heard of, the outside of a cathedral we weren't willing to pay to see the inside of, the outside of a convent we also wouldn't pay for. Generally had a see the city without any pressure to see specific parts in a particular order. In the afternoon we headed back to the palace to find lines practically round the block (there wasn't really a block for it to go around but it zigzagged across a square a long way). We couldn't be bothered waiting. And the sight of the number of people who jump at the chance to go when things are free made us reassess our plan to go to the Prado museum in the last 2 hours when it was free. So we hopped on the metro to that part of the city and went to check out the botanical gardens (we walked around them...literally, who charges for gardens? They didn't look that much better than the Christchurch ones from the entrance and there was a free park really close by so we didn't choose to enter) and the Prado. Which it turns out students get into for free all the time anyway. I love my ISIC card. It cost Catie €10. But she got more out of it anyway. I can only enjoy art to a certain point. Then my brain becomes saturated and everything I look at just washes over me without leaving an impression. Catie apparently has an infinite capacity for art though. After the Prado we got ice cream and sat in the free park before heading back to the hostel to make some food. Mmmmm... grilled cheese sandwiches. They were pretty epic sandwiches. Salami and olives and emmental cheese on good brown bread (we get free breakfast at most of the places we stay but it is always heavy on the white bread and we miss good bread). And a side of salad because we are good healthy people. So tasty. Anyway, moving on from the subject of food.
The next day we did a day trip to Toledo. We'd heard great things about it and it lived up to expectations. It had a free museum with a bunch of artworks and one small display case of neolithic objects. It had a massive cathedral that just kept going. And marzipan everywhere. We didn't actually eat any because we aren't really marzipan people but we took a picture of a church made out of marzipan. We also got a little lost (in a good way). Then back to Madrid for some free (but not very good) sangria.
The next day I had claimed for a free day. Do anything or nothing. I did a bit of nothing then a bit of anything then a bit of nothing again. Catie went shopping and did buy things this time and I bought a skirt that is completely impractical for traveling in. We went on a dessert hunt that night which proved harder than expected. I guess in Spain they start dinner so late that they don't bother with dessert.
And the next day was the first of two very full days. And I've been writing this for a while so I will abandon you for a bit and come back to that later.
Right, so where was I?
Yesterday. So close to caught up. Except those 2 days were rather busy. Started early yesterday (after a pathetic sleep. Here's a hint if people are sleeping you don't hold a loud conversation about it being 3 am right next to their bed) to get to the train to Segovia. The trains often sell out quite early but for some unknown reason we can't book ahead online because our cards are from overseas banks (after having trouble with the ticket machine I was told that they don't accept foreign cards because if it is lost then anyone can use it but I don't see how that is any different to local credit cards). So we had to go super early. Segovia was lovely. Very different from other things we've seen so far. They have a giant roman aqueduct and a palace that the lonely planet describes as 'fairytale'. It was more or less what you would imagine if you heard fairytale palace. More recent than most of the palaces we'd visited so far. We paid the extra €2 to climb the tower. Just a few steps. Somewhere around 150. But the view was pretty amazing.
We wandered the town without a goal for a bit too. They have a huge number of churches for a town that size. And also a large number of tourists. But we got away from the majority of them (the tourists not the churches) in our wanders.
Then it was back on the train to head back to Madrid. The other art museum, the Reina Sophia, is free on Saturday afternoons so we headed there. It's more modern art. Where the Prado had a lot of Goya and El Greco the Reina Sophia had Picasso and Dali. But mostly Picasso. The guernica has an entire room to itself but there are so many people crowded round it that you still can't see it all that well.
There were a few interesting things and a few not so interesting things. That's just how it goes with modern art I guess. In some ways I preferred the uncertainty of it to the all very comparable works in the Prado. Which might make me uncultured but oh well.
After we finished with the museum we walked around the streets looking for a decent but not too pricey place for dinner. We'd thought paella but it was a bit more expensive in that area than where we had seen earlier and we couldn't agree on one flavour to share so instead we went for the very spanish lasagne. Finally we made our way back to the train station one more time to catch a night train to Lisbon. Which is where we are now.
The night train was better than all of the night buses in Turkey but it doesn't make for the best night sleep and since it was the second night of not enough sleep we were rather weary by the time we got here. But we pushed our exhaustion aside (though not without some complaining) and after dumping luggage at our hostel jumped on yet another train to Sintra. Not a long trip but I almost fell asleep anyway. We applied caffeine before making our way slowly up the very steep town to the castle at the top. There were a lot of hills and stairs in the last 2 days. I have calf muscles. I can feel them. They were never really necessary in Christchurch.
We accidentally took the long way down, grabbed some lunch, checked out some of the cork stuff they had and headed back to Lisbon. Then we took a break and I started this epic account. Then I stopped this epic account and we went for a walk. Oddly there wasn't a whole lot open at 8pm on a Sunday but we had a decent look around anyway. We'll see how different it is in the morning.
And now you know everything. To a very limited definition of everything anyway.
The next day we headed for the palace because it is free on Wednesdays but we got there an hour before the changing of the guard so it wasn't open at all. We went away thinking we would come back in the afternoon. We walked around the city for a bit. Saw some sub par gardens, a whole row of statues of people we'd never heard of, the outside of a cathedral we weren't willing to pay to see the inside of, the outside of a convent we also wouldn't pay for. Generally had a see the city without any pressure to see specific parts in a particular order. In the afternoon we headed back to the palace to find lines practically round the block (there wasn't really a block for it to go around but it zigzagged across a square a long way). We couldn't be bothered waiting. And the sight of the number of people who jump at the chance to go when things are free made us reassess our plan to go to the Prado museum in the last 2 hours when it was free. So we hopped on the metro to that part of the city and went to check out the botanical gardens (we walked around them...literally, who charges for gardens? They didn't look that much better than the Christchurch ones from the entrance and there was a free park really close by so we didn't choose to enter) and the Prado. Which it turns out students get into for free all the time anyway. I love my ISIC card. It cost Catie €10. But she got more out of it anyway. I can only enjoy art to a certain point. Then my brain becomes saturated and everything I look at just washes over me without leaving an impression. Catie apparently has an infinite capacity for art though. After the Prado we got ice cream and sat in the free park before heading back to the hostel to make some food. Mmmmm... grilled cheese sandwiches. They were pretty epic sandwiches. Salami and olives and emmental cheese on good brown bread (we get free breakfast at most of the places we stay but it is always heavy on the white bread and we miss good bread). And a side of salad because we are good healthy people. So tasty. Anyway, moving on from the subject of food.
The next day we did a day trip to Toledo. We'd heard great things about it and it lived up to expectations. It had a free museum with a bunch of artworks and one small display case of neolithic objects. It had a massive cathedral that just kept going. And marzipan everywhere. We didn't actually eat any because we aren't really marzipan people but we took a picture of a church made out of marzipan. We also got a little lost (in a good way). Then back to Madrid for some free (but not very good) sangria.
The next day I had claimed for a free day. Do anything or nothing. I did a bit of nothing then a bit of anything then a bit of nothing again. Catie went shopping and did buy things this time and I bought a skirt that is completely impractical for traveling in. We went on a dessert hunt that night which proved harder than expected. I guess in Spain they start dinner so late that they don't bother with dessert.
And the next day was the first of two very full days. And I've been writing this for a while so I will abandon you for a bit and come back to that later.
Right, so where was I?
Yesterday. So close to caught up. Except those 2 days were rather busy. Started early yesterday (after a pathetic sleep. Here's a hint if people are sleeping you don't hold a loud conversation about it being 3 am right next to their bed) to get to the train to Segovia. The trains often sell out quite early but for some unknown reason we can't book ahead online because our cards are from overseas banks (after having trouble with the ticket machine I was told that they don't accept foreign cards because if it is lost then anyone can use it but I don't see how that is any different to local credit cards). So we had to go super early. Segovia was lovely. Very different from other things we've seen so far. They have a giant roman aqueduct and a palace that the lonely planet describes as 'fairytale'. It was more or less what you would imagine if you heard fairytale palace. More recent than most of the palaces we'd visited so far. We paid the extra €2 to climb the tower. Just a few steps. Somewhere around 150. But the view was pretty amazing.
We wandered the town without a goal for a bit too. They have a huge number of churches for a town that size. And also a large number of tourists. But we got away from the majority of them (the tourists not the churches) in our wanders.
Then it was back on the train to head back to Madrid. The other art museum, the Reina Sophia, is free on Saturday afternoons so we headed there. It's more modern art. Where the Prado had a lot of Goya and El Greco the Reina Sophia had Picasso and Dali. But mostly Picasso. The guernica has an entire room to itself but there are so many people crowded round it that you still can't see it all that well.
There were a few interesting things and a few not so interesting things. That's just how it goes with modern art I guess. In some ways I preferred the uncertainty of it to the all very comparable works in the Prado. Which might make me uncultured but oh well.
After we finished with the museum we walked around the streets looking for a decent but not too pricey place for dinner. We'd thought paella but it was a bit more expensive in that area than where we had seen earlier and we couldn't agree on one flavour to share so instead we went for the very spanish lasagne. Finally we made our way back to the train station one more time to catch a night train to Lisbon. Which is where we are now.
The night train was better than all of the night buses in Turkey but it doesn't make for the best night sleep and since it was the second night of not enough sleep we were rather weary by the time we got here. But we pushed our exhaustion aside (though not without some complaining) and after dumping luggage at our hostel jumped on yet another train to Sintra. Not a long trip but I almost fell asleep anyway. We applied caffeine before making our way slowly up the very steep town to the castle at the top. There were a lot of hills and stairs in the last 2 days. I have calf muscles. I can feel them. They were never really necessary in Christchurch.
We accidentally took the long way down, grabbed some lunch, checked out some of the cork stuff they had and headed back to Lisbon. Then we took a break and I started this epic account. Then I stopped this epic account and we went for a walk. Oddly there wasn't a whole lot open at 8pm on a Sunday but we had a decent look around anyway. We'll see how different it is in the morning.
And now you know everything. To a very limited definition of everything anyway.
Trying again to comment. I think your infinite capacity for ice cream balances her infinite capacity for art. Ha!
ReplyDeleteMomb
It worked!! Look out - I'll be writing more than you. Actually I think that's impossible after than epic post. It sounds like you are still enjoying the museums and castles if not the transportation options.
ReplyDeleteMomb
Hi Peggy,
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoying following your blog. It's going to be a good read for you when you come home, it's as good as reading a novel, no actually it's better as I know the people in it. As for life back here, I know where I would rather be!
Pam