SephIII' s Three week odyssey
Sep 11th, 2007 | 03:50 PM
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Joined: May 2007
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SephIII' s Three week odyssey
Spain trip 2007
I’m back from Spain about 2 weeks now and just starting to record as much of our three week odyssey as I can remember.
It was a great trip and for those of you who gave me such wonderful advice and information THANKS YOU SO MUCH
For people who are just reading this:
We are a family of three. Two early-mid 50’s parents traveling with our 16 year old son.
We traveled from Madrid to Toledo. Toledo to Cordoba. Cordoba to Seville. Seville to Grenada. Grenada to Nerja. Nerja back to Madrid.
Ok folks here it goes.
Arrived Madrid mid -day Aug 7
Our first challenge Our hotel (The hotel Atlantico) has a free shuttle but where will it pick us up?
I have been instructed to call the hotel from the airport. I have Euros but was unable to get coins in US. We find a place to get coins and locate a telephone. Oh damn can’t figure out how to use phone. I lose two Euros trying. Finally I ask the person next to me for help. She is very nice. Says she has a phone card. She advises it is always better to use a phone card. We don’t have one. She generously dials the call and charges the $ on her card. God I’m so tired. Shuttle to pick us up in an hour and a half. An hour and a half is an eternity. Finally we get picked up and get to the hotel and check in. People at desk seem nice. Why do I feel like I’m not making sense? Probably because I have been awake 26 hours.
We stumble to the room. Room is small. Funny configuration. Two single beds in a room with a separate single on sort of a platform between the bathroom and front window. Beds comfortable I take the separate bed knowing once we awaken my son will want to watch the TV. Don’t want to have him on my bed all the time. Family decides to sleep right through until tomorrow. Fine with me. We will set the alarm for early am and start anew.
Day2; Up at seven. Feel pretty good. I don’t think I even turned over. Shower feels great. Breakfast is at nine. Wow, what a great spread. All types of meats, eggs, potatoes, salads, pastries, juices, croissants, rolls, jams, coffee, fresh fruit, cereals. Time to chow down!
After breakfast plus five cups of great coffee its time to get oriented. Inquire at front desk about using the metro. Great advice… I was going to purchase a three day unlimited ticket for each of us. Better deal…. Ten rides can be purchased at discount and used by each family member as we need them. The metro is only a few blocks away and armed with our mighty map and determination we head out for the Prado.
OK looks easy. Put Credit card into machine to purchase ticket. Machine rejects it. OK…maybe I didn’t do it right…try again…no luck. Try it backwards, upside down, in reverse …not going to happen. By this time policeman sees us and tries to help. He waves us through the turnstile to use another machine. This one claims my card is invalid. Now this is getting really embarrassing. The whole family comes back through under the watchful eyes of the police and we pay with cash. All seems well until we can’t quite figure out which way to put the ticket in. Oh brother! Nice policeman once again intervenes and shows us how to put it in and pass it to the person behind you. Talk about feeling stupid. Many muchas gracias and we are off.
We exit at the correct station. Check our map. It is only a short walk along the Paseo de Prado with a lovely view of the gardens at our left.
We buy the three museum pass at entry (a great deal) and decide to rent the audio tour.
This proves to be a very good decision. It gives us a much broader view and understanding of many of the pieces that without a guide we would not have had. We continued to rent these audio tours at each major historic stop and were always pleased.
How do I begin to describe the wealth of beauty on display in this museum? I have no words. Each room I pass through captures me. I stand before paintings that I have seen in books my whole life but they suddenly jump to life. I am mesmerized as the unknown bishop’s eyes follow me to all places in the room. I am transported into a ghoulish hell as I allow Bosh’s rendition of the garden of earthly delights to impact me.
I stare at face after face of people long dead and question what each of their individual personalities might have been. I find myself inspecting in detail the delicate and beautiful, ornamental inlays of tables.
I do not feel tired nor do I feel any desire to hurry.
Not so my 16 year old son. Although he seems impressed by the 1st floor, shortly into the second he gets that depressed slump shouldered “you’re torturing me” look that any parent of a teenage knows all too well. He also repeats that demanding phrase often heard by mothers of growing sons. “I’m hungry!” So off to the cafeteria we go. After a break and some food I reluctantly promise both my husband and my son to try to finish the museum at a reasonably fast pace.
We exit the cafeteria and notice a sort of dark corridor that leads to a lower level room. On our museum map we see that this room contains a display entitled “The treasure of the Dauphin”. No mention has been made of this collection in any of my tour books. Not expecting much I convince my reluctant family to take quick peek just to see what’s there.
What we discover is a marvelous collection of decorative arts that immediately takes the interest of every member of the family. My son actually gets quite animated and excited about looking at several pieces. We spend a lovely 30-40 minutes sharing our mutual excitement over what we are seeing and debating which piece is our favorite.
On that very positive note we decide to make a quick trip through the gift shop and call it a day. The gift shop is notably unimpressive and we leave without a purchase.
We return to our hotel via the Metro, (This time we use our tickets without tutorial)
We spend our evening walking through the area southwest of the Gran Via through the many small streets. Our goal is to wind up at the Plaza Mayor, and perhaps get our dinner at one of the open air restaurants I have read about. We then want to head to a recommended Chocleteria on Plaza St. Gienes. Somehow or other we get all turned around and totally miss the Plaza Mayor instead we wind up out at Plaza de Oriente. We know we are way off base but are getting pretty tired by now so we head back and choose a small shiskebab place to eat. We order dishes of marinated chicken and souvlaki. Quite honestly this was the only bad meal we had in the whole three weeks in Spain. We call it quits for the night knowing we have five more nights for exploring.
Back to the Atlantico. Another great nights sleep. Up early in the AM again. Again I am impressed with the wonderful, huge breakfast.
Second day: Not wanting to push my son into totally misery I suggest a trip to the Palacio Real. We take the metro there only to realize we are almost exactly where we walked last night.
The palace is a surprising delight. Once again we rent the audio guide and are pleased to get much more information than any tour books has provided.
It is hard to remember all the splendors of each separate room. The things that stand out in my memory: Climbing the monumental staircase that leads up to the entry of the royal chambers. The splendor of the thrown room with its magnificent ceiling painted by Tiepolo and the pair of huge bronze lions standing to each side of the thrones. The amazing chandeliers. The ornate decorations covering all the walls and surfaces. The room that displays several lovely clocks. The two music rooms and the Stradivarius. The extreme opulence of each room. On the one hand the craftsmanship of these beautiful things impresses me with how much beauty man can create. Yet I cannot help but note that much of the wealth that went into making these treasures was that which was plundered from other cultures.
We finish our tour impressed by all we have seen. Take pictures of the courtyard and visit the gift shop where we purchase some nice postcards.
We decide it will be nice to walk back to the hotel and take a nice leisurely stroll back to the Gran Via.
We take a little siesta and arise refreshed.
We decide to head back to find the Plaza Major. We take a nice stroll through many of the little streets and this time have absolutely no problem finding it. How we missed it the other night is amazing. We check out all the cafes and take a great picture of a display of wine and a sucking pig at one restaurant. We decide that we really aren’t ready to have so much food so we do more strolling. We wind up at a kind of combination deli, Jamon place that also has a food counter where people are lining up for an evening drink and ordering little sandwiches. We decide to check it out and are pleasantly surprised to find a special that includes a drink and two sandwiches for around three euros. I choose the Pate’ with an agua con gas. My husband has a combo of Atuna and some vegetable mixture, plus a beer. We both love our meal. Our son who is a picky eater chooses to wait until he can order pizza at a different place. Later we all find our way to the Chocleteria San Gines were we totally pig out on Chorros and chocolate.
Thank you comfy shoes! Great steer.
We order a cup of chocolate for each of us but only two portions of Chorros. I keep dipping the hot chorros into the chocolate while I watch my son and husband start eating the chocolate straight up. I cannot finish my chocolate. They finish theirs and we all agree that it really was too much food. The whole thing cost us less than 9 Euros. If one isn’t worried about looking uncouth I would recommend sharing the chocolate and ordering more as you wanted.
I’m back from Spain about 2 weeks now and just starting to record as much of our three week odyssey as I can remember.
It was a great trip and for those of you who gave me such wonderful advice and information THANKS YOU SO MUCH
For people who are just reading this:
We are a family of three. Two early-mid 50’s parents traveling with our 16 year old son.
We traveled from Madrid to Toledo. Toledo to Cordoba. Cordoba to Seville. Seville to Grenada. Grenada to Nerja. Nerja back to Madrid.
Ok folks here it goes.
Arrived Madrid mid -day Aug 7
Our first challenge Our hotel (The hotel Atlantico) has a free shuttle but where will it pick us up?
I have been instructed to call the hotel from the airport. I have Euros but was unable to get coins in US. We find a place to get coins and locate a telephone. Oh damn can’t figure out how to use phone. I lose two Euros trying. Finally I ask the person next to me for help. She is very nice. Says she has a phone card. She advises it is always better to use a phone card. We don’t have one. She generously dials the call and charges the $ on her card. God I’m so tired. Shuttle to pick us up in an hour and a half. An hour and a half is an eternity. Finally we get picked up and get to the hotel and check in. People at desk seem nice. Why do I feel like I’m not making sense? Probably because I have been awake 26 hours.
We stumble to the room. Room is small. Funny configuration. Two single beds in a room with a separate single on sort of a platform between the bathroom and front window. Beds comfortable I take the separate bed knowing once we awaken my son will want to watch the TV. Don’t want to have him on my bed all the time. Family decides to sleep right through until tomorrow. Fine with me. We will set the alarm for early am and start anew.
Day2; Up at seven. Feel pretty good. I don’t think I even turned over. Shower feels great. Breakfast is at nine. Wow, what a great spread. All types of meats, eggs, potatoes, salads, pastries, juices, croissants, rolls, jams, coffee, fresh fruit, cereals. Time to chow down!
After breakfast plus five cups of great coffee its time to get oriented. Inquire at front desk about using the metro. Great advice… I was going to purchase a three day unlimited ticket for each of us. Better deal…. Ten rides can be purchased at discount and used by each family member as we need them. The metro is only a few blocks away and armed with our mighty map and determination we head out for the Prado.
OK looks easy. Put Credit card into machine to purchase ticket. Machine rejects it. OK…maybe I didn’t do it right…try again…no luck. Try it backwards, upside down, in reverse …not going to happen. By this time policeman sees us and tries to help. He waves us through the turnstile to use another machine. This one claims my card is invalid. Now this is getting really embarrassing. The whole family comes back through under the watchful eyes of the police and we pay with cash. All seems well until we can’t quite figure out which way to put the ticket in. Oh brother! Nice policeman once again intervenes and shows us how to put it in and pass it to the person behind you. Talk about feeling stupid. Many muchas gracias and we are off.
We exit at the correct station. Check our map. It is only a short walk along the Paseo de Prado with a lovely view of the gardens at our left.
We buy the three museum pass at entry (a great deal) and decide to rent the audio tour.
This proves to be a very good decision. It gives us a much broader view and understanding of many of the pieces that without a guide we would not have had. We continued to rent these audio tours at each major historic stop and were always pleased.
How do I begin to describe the wealth of beauty on display in this museum? I have no words. Each room I pass through captures me. I stand before paintings that I have seen in books my whole life but they suddenly jump to life. I am mesmerized as the unknown bishop’s eyes follow me to all places in the room. I am transported into a ghoulish hell as I allow Bosh’s rendition of the garden of earthly delights to impact me.
I stare at face after face of people long dead and question what each of their individual personalities might have been. I find myself inspecting in detail the delicate and beautiful, ornamental inlays of tables.
I do not feel tired nor do I feel any desire to hurry.
Not so my 16 year old son. Although he seems impressed by the 1st floor, shortly into the second he gets that depressed slump shouldered “you’re torturing me” look that any parent of a teenage knows all too well. He also repeats that demanding phrase often heard by mothers of growing sons. “I’m hungry!” So off to the cafeteria we go. After a break and some food I reluctantly promise both my husband and my son to try to finish the museum at a reasonably fast pace.
We exit the cafeteria and notice a sort of dark corridor that leads to a lower level room. On our museum map we see that this room contains a display entitled “The treasure of the Dauphin”. No mention has been made of this collection in any of my tour books. Not expecting much I convince my reluctant family to take quick peek just to see what’s there.
What we discover is a marvelous collection of decorative arts that immediately takes the interest of every member of the family. My son actually gets quite animated and excited about looking at several pieces. We spend a lovely 30-40 minutes sharing our mutual excitement over what we are seeing and debating which piece is our favorite.
On that very positive note we decide to make a quick trip through the gift shop and call it a day. The gift shop is notably unimpressive and we leave without a purchase.
We return to our hotel via the Metro, (This time we use our tickets without tutorial)
We spend our evening walking through the area southwest of the Gran Via through the many small streets. Our goal is to wind up at the Plaza Mayor, and perhaps get our dinner at one of the open air restaurants I have read about. We then want to head to a recommended Chocleteria on Plaza St. Gienes. Somehow or other we get all turned around and totally miss the Plaza Mayor instead we wind up out at Plaza de Oriente. We know we are way off base but are getting pretty tired by now so we head back and choose a small shiskebab place to eat. We order dishes of marinated chicken and souvlaki. Quite honestly this was the only bad meal we had in the whole three weeks in Spain. We call it quits for the night knowing we have five more nights for exploring.
Back to the Atlantico. Another great nights sleep. Up early in the AM again. Again I am impressed with the wonderful, huge breakfast.
Second day: Not wanting to push my son into totally misery I suggest a trip to the Palacio Real. We take the metro there only to realize we are almost exactly where we walked last night.
The palace is a surprising delight. Once again we rent the audio guide and are pleased to get much more information than any tour books has provided.
It is hard to remember all the splendors of each separate room. The things that stand out in my memory: Climbing the monumental staircase that leads up to the entry of the royal chambers. The splendor of the thrown room with its magnificent ceiling painted by Tiepolo and the pair of huge bronze lions standing to each side of the thrones. The amazing chandeliers. The ornate decorations covering all the walls and surfaces. The room that displays several lovely clocks. The two music rooms and the Stradivarius. The extreme opulence of each room. On the one hand the craftsmanship of these beautiful things impresses me with how much beauty man can create. Yet I cannot help but note that much of the wealth that went into making these treasures was that which was plundered from other cultures.
We finish our tour impressed by all we have seen. Take pictures of the courtyard and visit the gift shop where we purchase some nice postcards.
We decide it will be nice to walk back to the hotel and take a nice leisurely stroll back to the Gran Via.
We take a little siesta and arise refreshed.
We decide to head back to find the Plaza Major. We take a nice stroll through many of the little streets and this time have absolutely no problem finding it. How we missed it the other night is amazing. We check out all the cafes and take a great picture of a display of wine and a sucking pig at one restaurant. We decide that we really aren’t ready to have so much food so we do more strolling. We wind up at a kind of combination deli, Jamon place that also has a food counter where people are lining up for an evening drink and ordering little sandwiches. We decide to check it out and are pleasantly surprised to find a special that includes a drink and two sandwiches for around three euros. I choose the Pate’ with an agua con gas. My husband has a combo of Atuna and some vegetable mixture, plus a beer. We both love our meal. Our son who is a picky eater chooses to wait until he can order pizza at a different place. Later we all find our way to the Chocleteria San Gines were we totally pig out on Chorros and chocolate.
Thank you comfy shoes! Great steer.
We order a cup of chocolate for each of us but only two portions of Chorros. I keep dipping the hot chorros into the chocolate while I watch my son and husband start eating the chocolate straight up. I cannot finish my chocolate. They finish theirs and we all agree that it really was too much food. The whole thing cost us less than 9 Euros. If one isn’t worried about looking uncouth I would recommend sharing the chocolate and ordering more as you wanted.
Sep 11th, 2007 | 11:52 PM
#2
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,314
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Readers notice how useful is to ask for help, as in the phone part.
The Metro ticket you purchased is a METROBUS, and you can use it in every Bus as well. It is the best option for a few days' stay.
I share with you that feeling at the Prado: so many art works you see in books, and suddenly...
And the spelling is churros, as a chorro is a spurt, a jet.
Awaiting the next part...
The Metro ticket you purchased is a METROBUS, and you can use it in every Bus as well. It is the best option for a few days' stay.
I share with you that feeling at the Prado: so many art works you see in books, and suddenly...
And the spelling is churros, as a chorro is a spurt, a jet.
Awaiting the next part...
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