The first real update of our trip! I will try and keep it short, because you can probably read a more informative, and better-written account of Spain in multiple other places...
So we started our day yesterday in Madrid with an awesome hotel buffet breakfast. I could get used to staying in fancy hotels... We only have 2 weeks of this though, before we have to start sleeping in the back of our hire car!
We spent the day exploring Madrid. We caught the metro from our hotel into the central part of the old city. We only had vague ideas of what we wanted to see, so just ambled around through the streets, taking in the atmosphere. Here are some photos:
Puerta del Sol
Stu, infront of a statue of a king (i forget which one) with the Real Palace in the background.
We went to the Prado Museum in the afternoon, which has something like 10,000 pieces of art. We only saw a tiny fraction of that - didn't even make it to all the floors of the museum - but it was enough to fry my brain! So we had to go to the nearby park for icecream...
Me, in Madrid.
We met the tour group in the evening, and then went for a walking tour of the old city followed by a fancy dinner at a 150 year old restaurant, with a opera singer for entertainment. The city tour covered a lot of what we had seen earlier in the day, but we got the commentary as to what we were looking at, which was really good :)
Today, we drove to Granada via Toledo. I loved Toledo - would have liked to spend some more time exploring, but that is the rub of doing a tour.
Stu and me with old Toledo in the background.
So we are now in Granada, and have a couple of hours to amuse ourselves. Except that it is 40 degrees outside (at 5pm), so we are using the time to sit and catch up internetting in our air conditioned room.
This evening we are heading up to the hills above Granada to be entertained (gypsy dancing) by locals that live in caves - homes built into the side of the hills.
Ok, that's it for this update. :)
(I'm having trouble uploading photos, so there's only 1 for the moment... will get the others up as I can)
So we started our day yesterday in Madrid with an awesome hotel buffet breakfast. I could get used to staying in fancy hotels... We only have 2 weeks of this though, before we have to start sleeping in the back of our hire car!
We spent the day exploring Madrid. We caught the metro from our hotel into the central part of the old city. We only had vague ideas of what we wanted to see, so just ambled around through the streets, taking in the atmosphere. Here are some photos:
Puerta del Sol
Stu, infront of a statue of a king (i forget which one) with the Real Palace in the background.We went to the Prado Museum in the afternoon, which has something like 10,000 pieces of art. We only saw a tiny fraction of that - didn't even make it to all the floors of the museum - but it was enough to fry my brain! So we had to go to the nearby park for icecream...
Me, in Madrid.We met the tour group in the evening, and then went for a walking tour of the old city followed by a fancy dinner at a 150 year old restaurant, with a opera singer for entertainment. The city tour covered a lot of what we had seen earlier in the day, but we got the commentary as to what we were looking at, which was really good :)
Today, we drove to Granada via Toledo. I loved Toledo - would have liked to spend some more time exploring, but that is the rub of doing a tour.
Stu and me with old Toledo in the background.So we are now in Granada, and have a couple of hours to amuse ourselves. Except that it is 40 degrees outside (at 5pm), so we are using the time to sit and catch up internetting in our air conditioned room.
This evening we are heading up to the hills above Granada to be entertained (gypsy dancing) by locals that live in caves - homes built into the side of the hills.
Ok, that's it for this update. :)
(I'm having trouble uploading photos, so there's only 1 for the moment... will get the others up as I can)
Well it "feels like -3" here and once again is snowing!! Am working from home today. Dad managed to land in Christchurch in the early hours but 2 of his attempts to fly home got cancelled. He is trying through Wellington in a couple of hours time in the hope that a bigger plane will make it! Snow even covered Wellington yesterday evening which was crazy. You got out at the right time :)
ReplyDeleteYour trip sounds like it is going fairly well which is good. Are Stu's hands doing ok? Met any benefactors yet? Lol.
Looking forward to seeing the photos. The gypsy entertainment sounds awesome. With our Thursday night programmes you will have some idea of what to expect... Maybe?
Safe and happy travels xx
nice pic :-)
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