Iberian Groundhog's Days

It's embarrassing how we sound like a drunken Rick Steves in our praise of this peninsula, but every morning we saw our shadow and it was another day of blissful experiences in Spain and Portugal, earlier posts here https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2019/06/walk-this-way.html and  https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/search/label/Lisbon

We rolled into Madrid early with the sunrise on a red eye bus from Lisbon surprisingly refreshed (Nick) and not cranky (Patricia) and ready to explore. We popped on the incredible subway system-clean, efficient, extensive, self explanatory with detailed maps, upcoming trains/stations announced in digital displays.  All wonderful, just like Lisbon.  Madrid made an immediate impact and we tried to hit the ground running.

Our airbnb loft had complimentary red wine and ham, our first time receiving wine despite often seeing people reporting receiving it in Air B&B review (but, at the price range we hunt for with our lodging, even a bottle of Ripple would be unexpected). We left the ham. 

Unknowingly, we were situated in the hip area of town or do we just bring it with us?

But, every neighborhood that we walked through in Madrid was vibrant, bubbling with activity. As in almost every other city- fabulous varied architecture but this city just felt even grander; Royal Palace, Retiro Park, all  just very pleasing, but more noticeable was just the general feel of the city was electric with a positive energy;  

 

 

except maybe the bullfighting ring which although visually attractive, was still kind of creepy. 

We may have suffered slight museum overdose cramming 3 impressive, massive  museums (Prado, Reina  Sofia, and Thyssen) into two days. The Madrid museums had broad collections from all eras-ancient, medieval, renaissance, modern and contemporary plus from all of Europe (and US) but they really showcased  Spanish artists. We left with a far richer appreciation of El Greco, Goya, Velasquez, Picasso (in particular, his/Spain's national tragic treasure wall sized painting "Guernica"), Gris, Miro, etc. but we were a little numb and nauseous at the end, there’s only so many paintings of St. Sebastian with arrows in his side over the centuries that you can take in two days .  

We successfully weaned ourselves from the museum art with park sculptures and street art.

Madrid was clean, well cared for and just stunning. Walking through the many museums and neighborhoods made you think about the historic wealth of Spain, the building up and then falling down of empires (starting to hit too close to home). We felt like we just skimmed the surface and we will be back. 

Atocha- Bus-Train Station

Our bus ride to San Sebastian (Donostia to the Basque) may have been our most memorable. The foothills along the edge of the Pyrenees was the most stunning scenery from a bus or train, yet.  Landscape intense enough to have us look up from our bus tv's. Our bizarre media options included episodes of “House” and Power Puff Girls in Spanish, as well as dubbed Woody Allen's Coney Island movie "Wonder Wheel" (bad in any language).

San Sebastian was probably our most highly anticipated site, as we consistently heard it was the most beautiful place in the world from a number of people with distinctly different tastes.  It  had everything we usually like; a Victorian seaside resort (our favorite kind), beach, medieval churches (combined with contemporary art), 

plus beautiful buildings and bridges

San Sebastian/Donostia is in the Basque Region of Spain, with a mix of both French and Spanish influence, the end result is it's own unique flavor.
Unfortunately, it also had it's fair share of tragic history, old and recent-burned down in 1489, 1839 and the Basque area was a frequent target of long time Spanish ruler Generalisimo Franco-e.g. bombing of Guernica.  BTW Generalisimo Franco is still dead!

We enjoyed the local museum detailing Basque history that included a special exhibit (an entire floor) on a local chef and restaurant. 

Our high expectations may have influenced our impression, while it was extremely nice, it was not unforgettable, jaw dropping or breathtaking as say Dubrovnik, Croatia or Trier, Germany or even Zagreb, Croatia (which was former Soviet sexy ugly). It didn’t have the historically /ancient fascination of Paphos, Crete, or the great personality of Bristol, England but it wasn't just another very pretty city on the coast. 
It was really pleasant, just, maybe slightly overhyped. What's the expression?- date San Sebastian, marry Madrid, actually would date and marry Madrid, and be good friends with San Sebastian.

In San Sebastian though, the true highlight was discovering  Supermarket Gazpacho in a box or bottle.  It became our major sustenance through the rest of our Spanish travels.

Barcelona was similar to Madrid with distinct, nice neighborhoods to walk around, but while Madrid was consistently beautiful, Barcelona’s neighborhoods were more inconsistent. The Plaza Catylonia, Piesag Gracia and Gotic areas were impressive, but they definitely were more touristy feeling and crowded.

 

Can’t talk about Barcelona without talking about Gaudi and perhaps his influence and uniqueness contributes to the appeal of Barcelona.  We went to Park Guell, famed as the park with the tiled salamander benches and fountains, but which actually was a planned development similar to Los Angeles's Valencia, San Francisco's Park Merced or Portland's Ladd’s Addition. It  was pretty amazing and original especially when you consider that it was  devised in 1900, but ultimately it was a commercial failure and only two of the planned 60 residences were ever built.  Today, the park is one of Spain's most visited tourist sites.  Note: the word gaudy is not derived from Gaudi despite what some may have expressed (but not us, we loved it!)

We,  along with countless other tourists, stared in awe at Gaudi’s masterwork- Sagrada Familia with the backdrop of Taco Bell/KFC/Burger King and McDonalds. 

Gaudi's park, church and few buildings scattered through the city were wonderful to see,  kind of Flintstones meets Candyland, but again big crowds diluted the ability to relax and enjoy.  

Greets you right when you get off the subway 

Fortunately (because it was so expensive to stay in Barcelona) we actually stayed about 30 miles south of Barcelona  in Sitges easily accessed by commuter train (again great public transit system).  We  blindly chose to stay at a hotel, a rarity for us,  but it was a great find, right on the beach, nice pedestrian old town center, and most importantly the best breakfast buffet ever! It even had gazpacho. 

This was just one table, there were 4 more plus 3 different coffee machines and unlimited Mimosas

The town was hopping because it was the start of almost 2 weeks of Pride Festivities and Sitges is apparently the gay capitol of Spain so everyone was in a party mood. The beaches filled up with international partiers,  and way too many pale skinned Brits turning gazpacho colored, (painful to see as a dermatologist).

It’s hard not to compare cities, especially in the same country.  The  cities we saw in Spain, were each uniquely wonderful.

Like meeting people, when coming to a new city you get a gut feeling and a first impression. What creates the feeling of a city? The old monuments? The stately buildings? The peeling paint? The crowded cafes?  How does entering at a nondescript bus station on the edge of town compare to arriving at a fin-de-siecle elegant train station in the heart of the city influence your view? 

Some of Spain's cities were love at first sight while we left others with an emerging appreciation. Unfortunately because of the Schengen Visa rules  https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/search/label/Schengen, we could only stay long enough to just have a Spain appetizer.  Looking forward to coming back for a full Spanish meal. 

This week's photo of  topless old man looking out window contemplating his life "I just finished off a whole carton of regret."