So every couple years, Brian and I like to cash in our airline miles (ok, they're really Brian's miles) and travel someplace far, far away on an adventure. This trip, we decided to check out the exciting country of Spain. And when I say "country", I mean Madrid, LaGuardia (a small town in the Rioja wine region) and Barcelona. We left September 30 on a 9 day excursion of these three cities. It was full of sights, adventures, foodie moments, inter-country plane trips, subways, big bulls, exotic Flamenco, and so much more. I took over 600 photos (which, fortunate for you, I will not be posting them all here). Here are some of the highlights, organized by city.
**In case you're wondering, the kids stayed home on their own mini-adventure in Atlanta with Grandma and Grandpa K. We were lucky enough that they were able to come and take the reigns for us so we could get away. (THANKS AGAIN ;) )
We started the trip flying to Madrid. We arrived noontime on Tuesday 10/1. We had several hours before our flight to LaGuardia left so we ventured into the city, hopped on the "hop on-hop off" bus and travelled around the city. We thought this would be best since we only had a few hours before we had to be back at the airport. We grabbed some dinner (or early tapas (appetizers) since they don't eat dinner until 10pm!) and then headed back to the airport. Here were some sights from the bus. There is more from Madrid after our 2 days in LaGuardia.
We arrived in LaGuardia late Tuesday night, but we were up early for our first Bodega (winery) visit. We did 3 on Wednesday. The first was Artadi. They had 3 different places parts to their tour: the warehouse, the vineyard, and the caves where they age the wine (also where we had a tasting).
After there, we roamed around the city, which was so cute! The streets were so picturesque (no cars!). We had lunch and then headed to our second bodega Carlos San Pedro. This was the oldest one we visited and still practiced the process of fermenting the wine in the cement tanks in the caves beneath the city. We also did a tasting there (we tasted a lot of wine!)
After a break, we headed to El Campillo. This bodega was my favorite. The grounds were beautiful, the building they used for aging of the wine was just amazing. I couldn't believe how many bottles of wine they had in this ONE building.
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| They had just harvested the white grapes at Artadi |
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| Artadi vineyard |
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| Laguardia |
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| Carlos San Pedro |
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| Peeking in the cement tank; smelling the wine that's fermenting |
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| Our hotel in LaGuardia |
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| View of the city |
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| El Campillo |
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| That's a lot of wine aging in the barrels! |
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| Half a million bottles....WOW |
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| At El Campillo, they have storage units major companies and organizations can "rent" to store the wine they buy while it ages....pretty cool??!! |
On Thursday, we ventured out to 2 more wineries and saw some more sights in the city. We went to Solar Viejo and Casa Primicia.
Friday morning we got up EARLY and flew back to Madrid. We arrived early, checked in to our hotel, dropped the bags and took off exploring. We headed to the Royal Palace first We did the guided tour which was really neat! No one lives there, they just use it for special events and diplomatic dinners and things. There was also a very interesting church across the way from the palace.
That evening, we headed to a bull fight. This was one of the most interesting things I have ever witnessed. It was like being at an NFL game in the US. They were so into the sport of what was happening. They were yelling, booing, yelling OLE, it was quite the spectacle. While, I didn't quite care for the "end" of the fight, the whole traditional part of the sport was interesting to see. We then headed to the Plaza Mayor and had some AMAZING food, found the "bullfight" bar, and ended the evening with a Spanish classic - churros and chocolate (THICK hot chocolate you dip the churros in) - YUM!!!
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| Royal Palace |
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| Church across from the Royal Palace |
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| Brian is so tiny in front of the palace |
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| Bull Fight Plaza |
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| Inside the arena |
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| And it begins.... |
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| The horses are wearing armor.... |
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| Bull fight bar |
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| Churros and chocolate |
On Saturday, we spent the day at art museums Reina Sofia (where some famous works of Picasso are on display) and The Prado (where some works of famous Spanish artist Velasquez are held. That evening we headed to see some Flamenco dancing. That was quite a show! A lot of my pictures from the flamenco dance were very dark. I have more on my phone that are better that I may post later.
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| Reina Sofia art museum |
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| The Prado |
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| Flamenco Dance |
On Sunday, we woke up early (again) and headed to Barcelona - our final stop. Such a different city from Madrid. We roamed around the city after arriving, visiting the sights, the harbor, the beach! We had a BIG day on Monday visiting all the Antoni Gaudi sights, so we kept it low key.
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| Christopher Columbus statue |
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| The Harbor |
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| My toes on the sea and sand |
Monday was spent at the Segrada Familia, Casa Mila (La Padrera) and Park Guell. These were all works by Antoni Gaudi. The Segrada Familia is the church that he designed, started construction in the late 1800's and is still under construction today. This is like no other church I have ever seen before in my life. It's so breathtaking and amazing. There are different facades to the church that are inspired by the passion and the nativity - both completely with completely different artistic designs. The Lord's prayer is on the inside of the front door (that isn't even being used yet due to construction). The columns and pillars in the church were designed to look like tree trunks and branches. Below are some of the highlights of the Segrada Familia.
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| One façade of the church depicting the Nativity. |
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| The Passion facade |
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| The ceiling of the church showing the columns and how they look like trees |
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| Windows.... |
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| The altar |
Next we headed to La Padrera, or Casa Mila. It orginially meant to be apartment homes designed by Gaudi. We were able to tour it and see what a typical apartment looked like in the early 1900's. Now it is used form offices, tours as well as some apartments. The terrace (on the roof) is quite amazing how he designed the chimneys and water collection tanks. It's like it's own gallery of artwork!
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| Casa Mila |
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| Inside the lobby area |
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| The terrace |
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| View of Segrada Familia from Casa Mila |
Lastly we visited Park Guell. This was originally supposed to be a "neighborhood", of sorts, with lots picked out, land and a house designed by Gaudi. They built a show house,but the lots didn't sell. So they made it into a park dedicated to his works. The house is still there and can be viewed as well as other amazing works like the mosic artistry and the bench overlooking the city.
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| The show house that Gaudi once lived in. |
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| The famous mosaic bench |
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| Ham flavored chips - yes, please! |
On our last day in Barcelona, we had a low key day with only the Picasso museum on the schedule. In the morning we ventured to the Bocadillo - the marketplace. WOW! What an amazing place with endless options of food, drink and culinary experiences!
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| One of the jamon (ham) stands.... |
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| Fresh fruit and smoothie stand |
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| Cactus flower |
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| Octopus anyone??? |
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| The plated octopus! |
Friday morning we got up EARLY and flew back to Madrid. We arrived early, checked in to our hotel, dropped the bags and took off exploring. We headed to the Royal Palace first We did the guided tour which was really neat! No one lives there, they just use it for special events and diplomatic dinners and things. There was also a very interesting church across the way from the palace. 
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