Through Spain by Train

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 1

Back in the olden days when I was young - long before e-books and iPhones and iPads were even a twinkle in anyone’s eye - I read a wonderful book in old-fashioned hardcover form, a masterpiece called Don Quixote de la Mancha. Now if you’re fortunate enough to have read this book, you already know that the story involved several windmills. So after spending some wonderful time in Holland during the summer of 2007, the veritable land of windmills, and learning all I did about these marvels of engineering, I was anxious to see if I could find at least one of the windmills with which Don Quixote had jousted during his famous Quest.

So in 2008 I met with my travel agent again – he was the same travel agent who helped me plan my trip to Paris in 2006 and my visit to Holland in 2007. He suggested that I make a journey to Spain in 2008. He went on to tell me that in addition to seeing a windmill that Don Quixote had encountered, as long as I was in the neighborhood, I could also see some of the magnificent cities of Spain. Since I always like the idea of killing two birds with one stone, I was all ears.

I was very anxious to dive into the adventures my travel agent was describing because I like to learn some new things every now and then – things I can’t learn on Facebook or on Twitter or on that really educational television show Wipeout, or even while hanging around in the Devils and Dragons Tattoo Parlor.

By the way, if you haven’t already seen the story of my visit to Holland, it’s right here in the LitNet forum:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54574

Returning to the topic at hand, it got very exciting in the travel agent’s office as he pointed out places I could see like Madrid and Barcelona and Valencia and Toledo, as well as a few other cities to see in this glorious country. And to top it all off, he said I would be able to take the train for all my travels between cities. Now if there’s any mode of transportation that stands above the others in my mind, it’s the train. The train is so relaxing, with that hypnotic ti-ti-to, ti-ti-to, ti-ti-to, ti-ti-to as the wheels hit the junctions of the rails, which is accompanied by the gentle rocking of the train from side to side. I find it easy to sit and stare out the window watching the countryside pass by, where minutes can easily turn to hours.

Of course minutes turning to hours applies more to train travel in the United States than to travel in Spain, where the cities aren’t all that far apart and there aren’t too many hours involved. Nonetheless, no other means of transport rivals the railroad.

Well, I did have to take an airplane to reach Madrid, since I live in the United States and there aren’t any trans-Atlantic railroads that I’m aware of. But after that, it was trains all the time.

After arriving in Madrid, I checked into the hotel which would be my base of operations for the five days I would spend here. However, I can’t reveal the name of this hotel because I apparently caused the Ritz Hotel’s management considerable embarrassment by telling everyone that I stayed there during my visit to Paris. The Ritz manager told me I didn’t measure up their rigid standards, and so I don’t want to subject my Madrid hotel to the same kind of embarrassment.

We will start the sights of Madrid with the Royal Palace. It is the official residence of the King of Spain, but he doesn’t actually live here - it’s used mainly for state functions, and parts of it are open to tourists. Before we start talking about it, we’ll take a peek at the exterior from a few angles:

First from the east, which I think of as the front:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Palacio_Real,_Madrid_6.jpg

There is a changing of the guard ceremony that takes place here, and they must take their guard work very seriously because you can see that their rifles have attached bayonets:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Changing_of_the_Guard,_Royal_Palace_of_Madrid_-_foot_1.JPG

And then from the west, what I would call the back - a view that would rival the fronts of many other buildings:

http://www.euroclasstour.com/cms/images/stories/madrid-royal_palace.JPG

There is a very nice bird bath out in the backyard:

http://madridteacher.com/fotos/mods/royal-palace-from-campo-moro-mod.jpg

Now we’re not going to get into a detailed study of Spain’s glorious history, because that would be a lot more than a simpleton like me could pull off. But I guess we have to consider at least a little history, just to maintain a little perspective. Most Americans are aware of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella because they were so instrumental in getting Christopher Columbus over to the New World. I think most of us older folks here in the United States know that this happened toward the end of the fifteenth century. I just remember that back in those days of yore when I was still a student, we had to know that In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I don’t know if they still teach that in schools today, or if they have moved on to something else like they have in so many other matters.

But back in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, Madrid had not yet reached its current prominence, so the Royal Court was somewhere else. It wasn’t until 1561 that King Philip II moved his court to Madrid, but there aren’t any poems to help us remember that. The original structure burned to the ground in 1734 - on December 24, in fact, so I have to wonder if maybe they used candles on their Christmas trees, which is always a dangerous practice. This new building was completed in 1755, as you can see it isn’t something that could just be put up overnight. King Charles III was the first monarch to take up residence in this magnificent building.

There’s quite a bit to see in the interior, and tourists are allowed into some of these areas. We won’t look at them all because that gets to be rather overwhelming, but we’ll look at a few of the rooms.

For example, monarchies have a different connotation of the term Throne Room than do we who are not ruled by kings or queens:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Sal%C3%B3n_del_Tono.JPG

And a Dining Room that beats most of ours:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/625/diningroomroyalpalacema.jpg

And in this country with so many elaborate cathedrals which we’ll visit later, the palace has its own Royal Chapel:

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8567/chapelroyalpalacemadrid.jpg

By the way, here’s a suggestion for getting the maximum effect from the pictures – none of which I took – they’re all on the internet. You have to read the entire suggestion before you start doing anything, or you’ll get yourself stuck and won’t know how to get out of it. The F11 key at the top of your keyboard is a toggle switch that will bounce you back and forth between full screen and normal view. If you hit it once, while viewing a picture, it will give you a full screen display, which makes the pictures much better. But you have to hit F11 a second time to return to a normal display, so you can then close the current picture and return to the story. Don’t hit F11 until you understand that you will have to hit F11 a second time to get out of the full screen display mode. Try that approach – again, hit F11 once for full screen, and then hit F11 a second time to return to normal display.

Or even better, but it might depend on your computer’s operating system and your browser, so keep the above method in mind, just in case this doesn’t work on your computer. After hitting F11 the first time and going to full screen, when you’re ready to close the full screen picture, move your cursor to the top right corner of your screen. The top toolbar should re-appear – at least it does on my machine – and you can close the picture by clicking on the X in the top right corner. In this way, you don’t even have to bother with hitting F11 every time – at least until you’re finished with the part of the story you’ve been reading. You keep getting full screen displays, which you can close by positioning your cursor to the top of your screen and making the toolbar re-appear.

Sometimes it takes a few seconds for the toolbar to re-appear, so don't give up too quickly. But if you wait a while and the toolbar doesn't re-appear, just hit F11 again.

We will continue with more sights of Madrid in our next episode.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 2

Just to the north of the Royal Palace are the Jardines de Sabatini, which I learned was Spanish for Sabatini Gardens, with Sabatini being one of the architects of the palace. I don’t think any of the other architects were immortalized in this way.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Jardines_de_Sabatini_(Madrid)_01.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk303/diegodbs/xmagen009.jpg

The Plaza de la Armas is situated between the Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral. We’ll briefly discuss the plaza before proceeding to the cathedral. There are two life-size statues, one on each side of the main entrance to the plaza. These statues honor the two native emperors from the Americas, Montezuma, leader of the Aztecs in Mexico, and Atahualpa, leader of the Incas in Peru. These two were in charge of their respective civilizations when the Spanish Conquistadores were expanding the influence of Spain and filling its treasury with gold and silver from the New World during the early sixteenth century. Of course, most North Americans remember Montezuma best from his place in the stirring Marine Corps Hymn – "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli . . ."

I couldn’t find any good photos of the plaza or of the statues of the Indian leaders on the internet, but here is a painting entitled The Meeting of Cortez and Montezuma – the painter is unknown, and this work is on display in Mexico rather than in Spain:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/kislak/images/kc0026_1s.jpg

In case you aren’t familiar with these megastars of yesteryear, the Spanish explorer Cortez is the one with the silver-colored outfit and the Aztec chief Montezuma is the tall fellow under the chupah – or canopy, for those of you who may not be familiar with Jewish weddings.

The Santa María la Real de La Almudena is called the Almudena Cathedral for short, just so you don’t spend too much time calling it by its real name. Of course, if you’re texting then you can call it SMLRDLA (or actually smlrdla so you don’t have to use uppercase letters which is a lot of extra work and who needs that?), because AC (for Almudena Cathedral) is already used for other scientific things in electricity and in temperature control.

When King Philip II brought the Spanish capital from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, Madrid was somehow lacking a major cathedral. Planners started discussing the construction of a suitably grand cathedral right away, but somehow it took quite a while for the environmental impact studies to be completed, and the actual building process didn’t start until 1879. It is built in the Gothic Revival style of architecture, and the work dragged on quite a while. In fact, construction had to be halted during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, and the building wasn’t actually completed until 1993.

Here is the façade seen from the southeast:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid3/Almudena-Cathedral.JPG

The north façade:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Catedral_de_la_Almudena_(Madrid)_06.jpg

And an interior view – you will note that being relatively modern, this interior is much less ornate than the older cathedrals we’ll be visiting later on in this story:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid3/Almudena-Cathedral-interior2.JPG

Just to the east of the palace lies the Plaza de Oriente, thanks to Napoleon's brother who ordered its construction while he ruled Spain as King Joseph I from 1808 to 1813.

http://scw.hk/images/2004COE/DSC_0976.jpg

The Teatro de Real – or Royal Theater in English – is actually the Royal Opera House, which has been around since 1850.

The exterior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Teatro_Real_(Madrid)_01.jpg

You can’t tell from looking at that recent photo of the exterior that in 1863, Giuseppe Verdi visited here for the Spanish premiere of his opera La Forza del Destino, but maybe you can take my word that he actually did this.

Seating in the performance hall:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Teatro_Real_(Madrid)_02.jpg

Here is the Royal Box, which I wasn’t allowed to use:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Teatro_Real_Madrid_royal_box.jpg

The Plaza de Cibeles is best noted as the home of the Palacio de Comunicaciones, which I think is somewhat misleading in that this was actually the General Post Office for most of its life. It’s the nicest looking post office I’ve ever seen, and I understand that it's been described as the only post office in the world that looks like a cathedral. It dates back to 1917, when the art of designing buildings was still alive. A year before my visit, this building was converted to Madrid’s City Hall, to which its grandeur is more suited. I didn’t learn until after I came home from my visit that it’s considered the symbol of the city. Here you can see why:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid1/6-palacio-de-communicaciones.JPG

In this closeup of the statue in front of what is now City Hall but used to be the General Post Office, you can see a chariot carrying Cybele (Ceres), the Roman goddess of nature. The chariot is pulled by two lions, but I don’t know the lions’ names:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid1/7-fuente-de-Cibeles%20.JPG

If you head south from this plaza, you will come upon the Fountain of Neptune, in which Neptune is riding a paddlewheeler but it’s horse-driven rather than steam-driven, so I don’t know what the paddlewheels are for. Maybe he only uses the paddlewheels when the horses get tired, as I’m pretty sure they would tire more quickly running through the water than they would if they were running on dry land.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Neptune_Fountain_Madrid.JPG

If you head north from City Hall, you will reach the Banco de España, where they keep a lot of the money in this country. I would certainly have great trust in a bank that looks this magnificent, but then, I don’t have all that much money:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Banco_de_Espa%C3%B1a_(Madrid)_02.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Banco_de_Espa%C3%B1a_(Madrid)_06.jpg

Opposite the Banco de España is the Palacio de Linares. This baroque mansion was built in 1873 by a rich banker who didn’t like to commute, so he built his home across the street from his office. It is now the home of a cultural center and art gallery. The building is said to be haunted by the rich man who built it in the first place, so I wasn’t about to go in and find out if that was true, or just a rumor.

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4865370.jpg

It’s a shame I was afraid of the ghost, because that kept me from seeing lots of the fantastic features of the palace, such as the grand staircase:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4865347.jpg

We’ll see some more sights of Madrid in the next episode.

[Buh4Bee]

This is spectacular architectural and historical tour of Madrid. This is the best waste of my time on LitNet in quite some time. This reminds me a bit if Virgil's blog when he and his family were going through the adoption process in Kazakhstan. I think his blog was more informative about the daily life.

Friendly Observation: This is not getting the traffic that it should. Maybe you can blog about it and link it to this page.

[DickZ]

This is spectacular architectural and historical tour of Madrid. This is the best waste of my time on LitNet in quite some time. This reminds me a bit if Virgil's blog when he and his family were going through the adoption process in Kazakhstan. I think his blog was more informative about the daily life.

Friendly Observation: This is not getting the traffic that it should. Maybe you can blog about it and link it to this page.
Thanks, jersea - it's always great to see an actual comment on something I've posted. Comments seem to be very rare, and I appreciate your kind words a great deal. As for getting the traffic, I have written several travelogues like this, and the traffic builds up slowly, but steadily. I guess it takes a while.

I don’t want to point out all of my other travelogues which are here in the LitNet forum because there are ten of them, but two of the more popular ones are:

A Grand Tour (tour of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, London, Rome, Jerusalem, and a few other places, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32270

The City of Lights (tour of Paris, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45227

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 3

The Edificio Metrópolis, or Metropolis Building, is an office building dating back to 1911. It is in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, which is my favorite. The building is one of the more well-known sights in Madrid; here’s what it looked like shortly after its opening:

http://kurioso.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/metropolis_byn.jpg

And here’s what it looks like now - happily the same as it did before, only in color:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3417867735_c185f07662_o.jpg

Note that the four columns each support statues above, with the statues representing Mining, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce, a good combination of activities for one wanting to be productive and profitable. The rounded tower at the top is covered with 30,000 leaves of 24-carat gold.

A closeup of the uppermost portion:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7219452.jpg

And the building looks fantastic at night:

http://www.portalviajar.com/europa/espana/madrid/madrid%2043%20-%20edificio%20metropolis.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Calle_de_Alcal%C3%A1_(Madrid)_04.jpg

The Parque del Retiro is a beautiful park which opened in 1767, and at that time, access was limited to just royalty and the aristocracy. About a hundred years later, a welcome was extended to everybody. Remember that there was almost continual movement to improve the lives of regular folks throughout the 19th century all over Europe. There was a raucous round of revolutions all over Europe in 1848, and Alexander II freed the Russian serfs in 1863. All the monarchs were finally getting the subtle hint that their days were numbered if they didn’t start easing up on their citizens.

Here’s the Monument to Alfonso XII, which is the centerpiece of the park:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Monument_to_Alfonso_XII_of_Spain,_Madrid_-_general_view_1.JPG

If King Alfonso XII has temporarily slipped your mind, I’ll remind you that he was King of Spain from 1875 to 1885, which would be around the time the park was opened to the public. He died of tuberculosis before he even turned 28, so this monument is probably more of a testament to the time he came to the throne rather than to all the wonderful things he did.

Here is a view that shows some of the other portions of this lovely park, including a monument to honor Jacinto Benavente, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid4/jacinto-benavente-parque-del-retiro.JPG

There is also a Crystal Palace in the park, which was inspired by the edifice of the same name in London that was the home of Prince Albert’s Exhibition of 1851:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Palacio_de_Cristal-Retiro.jpg

The Paseo de las Estatuas (Statue Walk) shows several kings of Spain who didn’t rate a major monument like King Alfonso XII, but who are still remembered nonetheless:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Paseo_de_la_Argentina_(Retiro,_Madrid)_02.jpg

The Museo del Prado (Prado Museum) is known to all who do crossword puzzles regularly, along with the Tate in London, as these two are the most popular museums in puzzles. But since the Tate is in London, and we’re now exploring Madrid, we’ll confine our attention to the Prado for the moment. The building was commissioned in 1785. Here’s its lovely exterior, which we’ll check out before we go inside and start looking for art:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Museo_del_Prado_(Madrid)_04.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Prado_Museum,_Madrid_2.jpg

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/137997.jpg

We’ll check out a little of the artwork on display here, but you have to keep in mind that I have a hard time spelling the word art, so you shouldn’t rely on me as any kind of an authority on this stuff. The Prado is known mainly for its paintings and sculpture, but there are also drawings, prints, coins, and medals on display. When I say on display, I should also point out that for every item on display, there are six more in storage or traveling to other museums around the world. And you saw just how massive the building is when we looked at the exterior views just a minute ago.

The artists whose work is on display are from all over the world, but we’ll concentrate on the three Spanish ones since this story is about Spain. The best known painting currently on display is Las Meninas (which translates to The Maids of Honor), by Diego Velázquez. This painting has been extensively analyzed by experts, but I’m not even close to being in that category, nor would I ever want to be. In fact, I usually start getting sick when I hear extensive analyses of artworks, so you won’t have to worry about having to skip over my long-winded discussion of any painting or statue.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Las_Meninas.jpg

This painting represents members of the Spanish court during the reign of Philip IV. The young girl at the focal point of the painting is Philip’s daughter the Infanta Margarita, and the man at the left with a paintbrush in his hand is Velázquez himself. Some of the subjects in the painting look out directly at the viewer, while others look at people within the picture.

Velázquez lived from 1599 to 1660 and was a leading artist in the court of Philip IV. His work is considered to have been a driving influence on some of the impressionist painters who came much later, most notably Édouard Manet. Velázquez is quite important to the museum and was instrumental in bringing most of the Italian paintings held by the Prado to Spain. Outside the museum is a bronze statue of him:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Vel%C3%A1zquez_en_El_Prado.JPG

And here is the statue from a distance so you can see it in relation to the building's façade:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Prado_Museum,_Madrid_3.jpg

One of his other better-known works is his The Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, also a daughter of Philip IV:

http://www.esacademic.com/pictures/eswiki/68/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez_030.jpg

It would be easy to get bogged down on a single painter like Velázquez, but we’ll just keep moving. Later, I’ll point out the Prado’s website so you can check out anything you want to in more detail.

I always wondered why a Spanish painter would have a name like El Greco, until I found out that he was born on Crete and had Greek origins. He even signed his paintings using Greek characters. He lived from 1541 to 1614.

My personal favorite of his works is called View of Toledo and here’s what it looks like. It turns out that this Toledo is the one in Spain and not the one in the Ohio with a minor-league baseball team called the Mudhens.

http://frmarkdwhite.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/view-of-toledo.jpg

You can see that a storm is about to explode and there are all kinds of complicated explanations of how this represents some sort of conflict between the heavens and the earth, but as I said before, I won’t get into any kind of analysis of what the painting is supposed to convey.

El Greco spent lots of time in Italy, and when he was in Rome, he was so taken aback by Michelangelo’s painting The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel that he suggested to the pope that he should redo the entire picture. Lots of other painters had made similar offers, because Michelangelo had dared to show people without their clothing, but fortunately none of them were allowed to change anything, and the painting still stands today as it was when Michelangelo put his finishing touches on it.

El Greco’s The Burial of Count of Orgaz is considered his most popular piece today, but I have to question his choice of titles. I just have to wonder, if you’re going to criticize Michelangelo about painting nudes, why would you want to paint someone with a name like Orgaz?

http://www.lib-art.com/imgpainting/4/4/11644-the-burial-of-the-count-of-orgaz-el-greco.jpg

This painting is in Toledo, and it depicts the funeral of a wealthy man who left money to enlarge and decorate the Church of Santo Tomé, which El Greco attended during his years in Toledo. The Burial of Count of Orgaz is now on display in that church. El Greco painted himself into the picture - he is the seventh from the left.

The last Spanish painter we’ll touch on for now is Francisco de Goya, who lived from 1746 until 1828. He has more than 140 paintings now held by the Prado. He considered himself to be a disciple of Velázquez, even though he wasn’t even born until more than a century had elapsed since Velázquez passed away.

My favorite of Goya’s works is Charles IV of Spain and His Family – actually in Spain they call him Carlos IV:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2977/goyacharlesivfamilyc180.jpg

Just like in Las Meninas, the artist is in the picture – on the left in the background, barely discernible and looking at the viewer, even though he doesn’t have a paintbrush in hand the way Velázquez did in Las Meninas.

You can almost feel the cold and wind in The Snowstorm, on display in the Prado:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_016.jpg

A beautiful Goya painting of a rather controversial topic which we’ll eventually have to cover anyway since this story is all about Spain – The Bullfight, which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan:

http://www.oceansbridge.com/paintings/artists/special/art/new/big/Francisco-de-Goya-XX-The-Bullfight-XX-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art-Manhattan.jpg

Well, we’re going to knock off the discussion of art here, because not everybody is that interested. If you want to do some more exploring on what’s available at the Prado, here’s the official website (English version):

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.museodelprado.es/&ei=TWy8TI2tPIKKlwfQp-mWDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dprado%2Bmuseum%2Bmadrid%26hl%3Den%26r lz%3D1W1ADBR_en%26prmd%3Dmi

We’ll continue with more sights in Madrid in the next episode.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 4

The Basílica of San Miguel is a Roman Catholic church, and it was completed in 1745. This means it is even younger than the Spanish missions built in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas, because ours were built in the 1720s and ‘30s. The basilica has some very striking architecture, both inside and out.

The exterior of the Basílica of San Miguel:

http://www.losestudiantes.org/images/s0601.jpg

And the interior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Bas%C3%ADlica_Pontificia_de_San_Miguel_(Madrid)_02 .jpg

A closeup of the altar:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Bas%C3%ADlica_Pontificia_de_San_Miguel_(Madrid)_03 .jpg

The Plaza Major (pronounced my-ORE) dates back to the time when the Hapsburg dynasty was still in power - back in sixteenth century - when the Spanish influence on the world was still way up there. Like piazzas in Italy and places in France, plazas are important municipal squares. The main feature of Plaza Major is the Casa de la Panadería, which is a rather elegant casa, or as the young folks say today, it’s like totally awesome, dude:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Plaza_Mayor,_Madrid.jpg

Literally, Casa de la Panadería means something like the Bread House, and this used to be one of the bread distribution points back in its early days. It seems pretty grandiose to be a place for handing out bakery products, but I’m always glad to see an elegant building.

Here’s a view that shows a memorial to King Philip III:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Plaza_Mayor_de_Madrid_01.jpg

And a view that looks best on a wide-screen monitor:

http://www.panoramatrip.com/panoramas/plaza_mayor_of_madrid_spain.jpg

The Convent of the Salesas Reales dates back to the eighteenth century. While it initially served as a convent - and hence the name - it is now used a parish church, so the nuns had to move somewhere else. Here’s the exterior - I couldn’t find any good interior views:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Convento_de_las_Salesas_Reales_(Madrid)_01.jpg

Puerta del Sol means Gate of the Sun and it’s another plaza, similar to Plaza Major that we discussed previously. This particular plaza marks the zero point for the radial network of Spanish roads, and it is Madrid’s equivalent to New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Notice the clock tower on the Real Casa de Correos, the prominent building of the area.

http://www.especu.com/galeria/espana/puerta_de_sol.jpg

This building originally served as a post office - way back in 1766 - but it’s now used for municipal functions of the city. Here are some other buildings in the area of Puerta del Sol:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Puerta_del_Sol_(Madrid)_01.jpg

Now if you’ve read any of my other travelogues, you already know that I disdain shopping, and therefore it’s quite difficult for me to discuss Gran Via, a major shopping district. However, I will accept the pain that comes with this, just so I can say I tried to be as complete and fair as I could in describing the city’s features, because lots of other people are very interested in shopping. Also, it has many beautiful buildings, which I like even if I’m not a fan of shopping. Because of all the activity on this street, it’s known to some as the Spanish Broadway.

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid1/street-view-madrid-gran-via.JPG

http://www.juncadella.net/barcelona/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/gran-via-madrid.jpg

The Plaza de España is at the western end of the Gran Via. The major attraction of this plaza for me is the monument to Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. You may remember that the primary reason I had for visiting Spain was to find a windmill that Don Quixote had fought with during his adventures. Here is a statue of Cervantes seated in the plaza, watching my hero Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza on their way to attack the windmills:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Plaza_de_Espa%C3%B1a_(Madrid)_04.jpg

And a closeup of Don Quixote and Sancho:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Plaza_Espana-Madrid.jpg

Casa Gallardo is an exquisite building near the Plaza de España. It dates back to 1911, and I don’t even know what it’s used for. But it’s so beautiful I want to include it:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Casa_Gallardo_(Madrid)_01.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_AS94G8h9lbg/SuBHN9zkBzI/AAAAAAAAFpU/fe0mZi-j-8o/Madrid+y+Toledo+(Oct+11-17)+918+-+Copy.JPG

The Puerta de Alcalá is a monument in the Plaza de la Independencia ("Independence Square") but I could never find out exactly what independence the plaza celebrates. I don’t remember any major wars that Spain fought to gain independence from anyone, unless it was maybe from the Moors, although there were lots of wars fought against Spain by others to obtain their own independence from the Spanish Empire. Alcalá is the name of a nearby town, so this gate must lead to that town. It’s as nice a gate as you’ll find anywhere:

http://www.hdtimelapse.net/content/HDtimelapse.net_City/HDtimelapse.net_City_1559_hirez.jpg

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid4/Puerta-de-Alcala.JPG

The Monasterio de la Encarnación (Monastery of the Incarnation) dates back to 1611, but the present building was completed in 1767. There are still nuns here, but they stay out of sight during visiting hours. Here is the outside:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Real_Monasterio_de_la_Encarnaci%C3%B3n_(Madrid)_01 .jpg

And the interior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Real_Monasterio_de_la_Encarnaci%C3%B3n_(Madrid)_02 .jpg

Here is the National Library, or as you can tell from the picture, the Biblioteca Nacional. I tried going inside and reading some of the books, but most of them were written in Spanish. I’m sorry to say that despite growing up in San Antonio, Texas, I never learned Spanish.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5634/nationallibrarymadrid.jpg

The Plaza de la Villa, with buildings dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Plaza_de_la_Villa,_Madrid.jpg

And here is a view of the plaza that shows the statue of Admiral Don Alvaro de Bazán, who led the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto when Spain defeated the Ottoman Empire fleet in 1571:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid2/20-plaza-de-la-villa.JPG

Another nice view showing the statue, taken at night:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/484274859_0b46cc3de6_o.jpg

Now at first I thought that San Jerónimo Church celebrated those who are brave enough to parachute out of airplanes, but it turns out that it’s actually a Roman Catholic church dating back to medieval times - long before airplanes or parachutes even existed. It dates back to 1528, but there have been continuous renovations and improvements made right up to the present time.

The exterior:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid4/san-jeronimo-el-real-church.JPG

And the interior:

http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/photos/madrid4/san-jeronimo-el-real-church-inside.JPG

We’ll continue with more sights in Madrid, including the dreaded topic of bullfighting, in the next episode.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 5

Bullfighting is a very controversial topic, as there are many of us who object to the needless torture and slaughter of innocent animals. Apparently we are opposed by those who consider this to be some kind of “manly sport” just because a man might be grazed or gored by a bull once in every two hundred encounters, while the bull winds up dead in all two hundred of those meetings. Well, we aren’t going to delve deeply into the philosophical aspects of bullfighting, but we should at least take a couple of peeks at it because it is a major aspect of Spanish life. Madrid’s Plaza de Toros is the largest bullring in Spain, and it was built in 1929. It holds 25,000 lunatics, but then again, we won’t get into judgmental aspects of all this. At least it is an elegant structure:

http://www.ecofuel-eurasia.com/fileadmin/img/tourfotos/bildergalerie/2009-10-06_madrid/2009-10-06_plaza-de-toros_madrid02.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Plaza_de_toros_de_Las_Ventas_en_Madrid.jpg

And here are some of the courageous warriors:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/CorridaTorosDesfile.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Matador.JPG

We’ll now move on to the Stock Exchange and will point out the Financial District. Remember that Spain has many years of experience in dealing with financial matters, as their far-flung empire dating back to the fifteenth century gave them lots of practice. Madrid has a very palatial Stock Exchange Building:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hqpOkqN1oMk/ShXytdPaA8I/AAAAAAAAAOc/aUuHI3yngRY/DSC00609.JPG

And the inside of this building:

http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/488/wm/pd1156834.jpg

And while the days of their empire are long gone now, there is still a Financial District. However, we won’t dwell on this area too long and you’ll see why when you look at these typical buildings. When I look at buildings like these, I always wonder if the architects are actually proud of their work. How could they possibly be anything other than totally embarrassed?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Plaza_castilla_madrid.jpg

Madrid has a Royal Botanical Garden, which occupies about 20 acres, so it is dwarfed by many other botanical gardens throughout the world. But it still has a great sampling of trees, bushes, and flowers from all over the globe:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Royal_Botanical_Garden,_Madrid_-_view_09.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Royal_Botanical_Garden,_Madrid_-_view_03.JPG

Spain of course has quite a glorious maritime history, so it is quite fitting that there would be a Naval Museum to capture some of that glory of the distant past. Probably the most prized possession is what is called the Mappa Mundi of Juan de la Cosa, which is Map of the World - it is from the year 1500, so it doesn’t have things like Las Vegas, Nevada or San Francisco, California, despite the fact that these places have Spanish names. Juan de la Cosa was the captain of the Santa Maria, one of the caravels in Columbus’ expedition to what became known as the New World after they figured out that it wasn’t actually India, which Columbus was hoping to find.

Since Mappa Mundi is a generic term, I should point out that there are several maps which use this name, so you have to be careful and distinguish which Mappa Mundi you’re talking about when you talk about it. Here is the Mappa Mundi of Juan de la Cosa:

http://static.atlasobscura.com/images/place/juan-de-la-cosa-map.9224.large_slideshow.jpg

The museum also has lots of naval charts, scale models of ships, original figureheads, and paintings of famous sailors and of famous naval battles. Since I was in the U.S. Navy myself, I was particularly interested in these displays.

http://www.modelships.de/Museums_and_replicas/Museo_Naval_Madrid/gmIMG_2483.jpg

http://www.modelships.de/Museums_and_replicas/Museo_Naval_Madrid/gmIMG_2485.jpg

Well, it’s now time to move on to our next stop in Spain - Barcelona. Before we climb aboard the train to Barcelona, you can take a brief virtual tour of Madrid here, just to get a quick refresher on what we’ve looked at in this grand city:

http://www.virtourist.com/europe/madrid/index.html

The Atocha Railway Station has been in existence since 1851, but the first structure burned down and was replaced in 1892 with what we have today. Here is the exterior:

http://www.madridteacher.com/fotos/Atocha-railway-station-in-Madrid-by-r0x-sm-on-flickr.jpg

And inside, a nice waiting area that makes you think maybe you’re in a tropical forest where it doesn’t rain:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Atocha_2004Nov.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/52/119740449_0a20eda7a5_o.jpg

Next stop - Barcelona.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 6

We arrived at the Barcelona Estació de França Train Station, which was built in 1929. I think it’s much nicer than the newer and more modernistic Barcelona Sants Station, which we’ll see later. Here’s the very nice exterior of Estació de França:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_telJVVYvGRc/R-QNNSAFYII/AAAAAAAACnM/jtRSnchNQTM/P1010011.JPG

And the graceful and classy waiting room:

http://freephotooftheday.clientk.com/wp02/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/barcelona-train-station-lobby.jpg

I was a little surprised to hear that Barcelona trails only London, Paris, and Rome in annual tourist volume for Europe, but that seems to be the case, according to those who carefully count the tourists.

Barcelona’s history goes back quite a way - to the days of the Roman Empire - much farther back than we’ll be discussing in this piece.

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is a massive Roman Catholic church that has been under construction since 1882 but is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a Basilica on November 7, 2010 when he visited Barcelona.

While some of the architecture at least faintly resembles the Gothic style, most of the building is considered to be more modern architecture, as you’ll see when we check out some pictures. This is particularly noteworthy because most of the design was developed before 1880, but it’s almost on a par with the ultra-pathetic buildings that have been put up in the 1990s and 2000s.

Some exterior views, where you can see it looks just fine from a distance:

http://rivere.net/2010medcoast/sagrada1.jpg

http://frogandprincess.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/sagrada-familia.jpg

But when you get closer, things start going downhill really fast. I guess this is supposed to depict something worth depicting, but I don’t know what it is, unless it’s supposed to show what some of the rooms in Carlsbad Caverns look like:

http://www.tunliweb.no/Bilder_SM/_album_Barcelona/Sagradafamilia-2.jpg

Here is an interior shot, and you can tell that even when the scaffolding is removed, the picture isn’t going to get much better. In fact, it will probably get worse as the scaffolding is likely masking some tacky object that will come into glaring prominence when it is uncovered. We’ll see some churches later on that are much more impressive and awe-inspiring than this place:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MycUO7H-ugU/SG0D5GIViII/AAAAAAAAASk/UuQ7YXzmgd8/Spain-278.JPG

A closer look at the decorations on the columns - they almost look like cogwheels:

http://0.tqn.com/d/cruises/1/0/J/K/5/Barcelona_La_Sagrada_Familia_07.JPG

http://www.cjwalsh.ie/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sagrada-familia-11_march-2009.jpg

A controversy has arisen recently between the Ministry of Public Works and the builders of the church. The ministry would like to route a tunnel for a high-speed train just below where the principal façade of the church stands. These public works bureaucrats claim that the rail project will in no way affect the church, but anybody who has ever stood near a train and felt the vibrations that come rumbling through when the cars pass would understand the folly of all this.

The Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music) is a concert hall that was completed in 1908. Note that Barcelona is in the region of Spain called Catalonia.

Many world-famous symphony orchestras and conductors have visited here, and I’m sure they all enjoyed their visit because these facilities are on an equal footing with any other concert hall around - with the sole exception of the Paris Opera House - at least in my opinion. It holds 2,200 concert-goers, all of whom should be somewhat in awe of the hall’s splendor.

Here’s the exterior - note that because it’s located on a cramped street, you can’t really get a good shot of the entire building:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14143072.jpg

A detail of the exterior - called The Catalan Song:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Dom%C3%A8nech.i.Montaner.Palau.Musica.Catalana.8.B arcelona.JPG

And a closer view of the columns high up on the façade:

http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/9655/palaucolumns.jpg

Here’s the wonderful interior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Palau_de_la_M%C3%BAsica_-_Interior_general_(2).JPG

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7716378.jpg

A detail of the interior:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/335549007_5ce56e50c0_o.jpg

It has a particularly nice stained-glass skylight, which you may have noticed in the first interior view. During the daylight hours, this is the only illumination for the concert area:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Palau_de_la_Musica_Catalana_-_interior_2.jpg

The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul) used to be an actual hospital, as one might infer from its name. It was built over the years 1901-1930, and it’s now being converted into a museum and cultural center. From these views of the exterior, you can see why it might be better suited as a museum than a hospital:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/20061225-Barcelona_Hospital_de_la_Santa_Creu_i_Sant_Pau_MQ. jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/20061225-Barcelona_Hospital_de_la_Santa_Creu_i_Sant_Pau_4_M Q.jpg

Here’s a nice combined panoramic view of what we saw separately in the two pictures above:

http://www.tertulia.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/9158954-Panorama_021.jpg

A closer view of the main entrance:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2679868.jpg

I guess the Barcelona Pavilion gets its name from its host city. It was built in 1986 by some Spanish architects, but was based on an earlier design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose motto was “less is more.” I personally think he sold someone a bill of goods with that clownish motto and with his pathetic architecture, yielding this thing called the Barcelona Pavilion, which is assuredly less, but certainly not more:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Barcelona_Pavilion_exterior3.jpg

We won’t waste any more time on this sorry excuse for a building, nor will we end this episode on a sour note like this.

We’ll proceed from the silliness of the Barcelona Pavilion to the grandeur of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, which is often shortened to just the Barcelona Cathedral. This was completed in the fifteenth century, long before butchers like Mies van der Rohe arrived on the scene and started producing practical jokes that we’re still stuck with.

The cathedral has a neo-Gothic façade:

http://www.bikertony.org/6YearTrip/PicSpain1991/05.jpg

It has a splendid interior which matches the grandeur of its exterior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Cathedral_of_Santa_Eulalia_Barcelona.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mjXvbc6Hz_I/SXVxEqx2rGI/AAAAAAAAXss/Try2JX2usKM/DSC_0046.JPG

And the cathedral houses the tomb of Saint Eulalia, who came from Barcelona during Roman times and was martyred:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Tomb_of_Saint_Eulalia,_Cathedral_of_Barcelona.jpg

We’ll continue with more sights of Barcelona in the next episode.

[AuntShecky]

I didn't wait until this thread was complete before posting a comment, so I am sorry if it interrupted the continuity of your excellent travelogue. I haven't looked at the photos yet, but I shall do so when the PC "Pong II" isn't as balky, as it seems to be today. (Taking even longer than usual for
postings and edits to appear. It's Pong's fault not the LitNet's, I think.

I know you are grateful for the opportunity to have traveled the world so extensively. That you have taken the time and effort to share this with us shows a fine generosity of spirit, methinks.

By the bye, I envy you the fact that you actually have a travel agent. I don't have one myself, unless you count the municipal bus drivers, who have, on a couple of occasions, given us a bum steer.

I read the part about bullfighting of which I know little except for what can be found in a couple of works by Hemingway. I wonder if the sport --if that's what it is--will lessen in popularity or what. (As I say, I don't know enough about it to venture an opinion.) Bullfighting may someday, perhaps become politically incorrect.

Speaking of politically incorrect, you mentioned in your vignette about Ferdinand and Isabella if schoolchildren are still being taught about Columbus. Because of the deplorable history that followed Columbus's discovery, such as the exploitation of native peoples by European invaders (some of whom you mentioned), various groups have objected to glorifying some of those historical figures and conquistadores, because of the suffering byso many innocent indigenous people because of colonization. I think they have a point. Still, we can't revise history-- it has to be taught. But maybe with a sense of balance, by giving the whole story, not just part of it.

As is characteristic of your writing, the useful information comes with witty comments with no extra charge. I liked the jokes, especially the one about Cortez and Montezuma
(not the one we're all familiar with!) and how the name of the museum, The Prado, turns up in crossword puzzles all the time.

I have to confess that this isn't the first travelogue about Spain that I've read. The previous one, which I read about 5 years ago when I still lived within walking distance of a public library was in the Library of America's edition of the
works of Washington Irving. You might like to check it out sometime.

Finally, thanks for posting this, DickZ.

[DickZ]

Thanks, Auntie, for taking the time to comment. So few readers do that, and I have to find gratification in the fact that the viewer count on my travelogues seems to climb steadily, as you have already pointed out elsewhere.

It's too bad that Pong limits your ability to look at the photos - there are some fantastic photographers out there posting their work on the internet. If I had to confine the photos I show to the ones I took myself, we'd be in sad shape.

Yes, it would be nice if bullfighting were to go the way of fox hunting and be formally banned, but I'm afraid that's highly unlikely.

And I'll have to check out Washington Irving's travelogue on Spain. Thanks for pointing that out.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 7

Santa Maria del Mar is a church built between 1329 and 1383. It celebrates maritime exploits, as del Mar means of the Sea. As was the case with the Palau de la Música Catalana, cramped streets make it hard to get an overall perspective of the entire façade:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/SantaMariaDelMar_9257.jpg

The grand interior is in line with what one might expect from a church built in the fourteenth century, and there’s lots of natural light streaming in from the beautiful stained-glass windows:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/4046320876_9daffc56fa_o.jpg

This picture must have been taken on cloudy day, but it gives a great view of the massive interior:

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2523/marinadelmarbarcelona.jpg

Just compare this church interior to that of the more modern Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família that we discussed in Part 6, to see the direction in which architecture is regressing as time marches on.

The Columbus Monument was completed in 1888, just in time for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona, which was sort of a world’s fair in those days. It of course celebrates the adventurer who led the expeditions to the New World, even though he was looking for a western route to India. After the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, they made navigation via the traditional outbound eastern route more dangerous. The monument is located at the site where Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the New World, and where he reported his findings to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Fortunately for Columbus, the monument was completed long before he became vilified for his outrageous behavior after arriving in the New World. In the USA, there are usually protests on Columbus Day, so certain people can vent their anger at all of Columbus’s evil deeds. They can participate in these protests only by taking Columbus Day as a holiday from work, which I find to be somewhat ironic.

We have a lot of funny people here in the USA, and the guys who take a holiday on Columbus Day to protest Columbus certainly aren’t the only ones. We also have people who protest Nike shoes and the way the company exploits child labor in distant lands to make their products, but most of the protesters wear Nike sneakers while they are protesting, and can’t even understand what’s wrong with that.

We have others who loudly protest the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign countries, but these protesters always buy outsourced goods for themselves, because they are much cheaper than products made here in the USA. These protesters say they don’t want to pay the high prices that result from American labor union wages and generous health benefits, but they are still outraged about the outsourcing and continue to protest it. All this, despite the fact that they would never buy an American product sitting side-by-side with an outsourced product.

We have people wearing “Save the Planet” tee shirts who come stampeding out of Costco stores with 3,000 plastic bottles of water on a flatbed handcart to load into their gas-guzzling SUVs, and can’t think to wear something other than their “Save the Planet” tee shirts while they are doing this.

But let’s get back to Spain to continue our visit, because we aren’t here to discuss brain-dead protesters. A bronze statue of Columbus stands at the top of a 197-foot Corinthian column.

http://freephotooftheday.clientk.com/wp02/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/christopher-columbus-monument-barcelona.JPG

Here you can see the column next to the Port Authority Building (which we’ll discuss next). Try to ignore the tour boat in this picture, which is a great photo, but it would be even better without the distraction of the boat:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/1537171250_297c31cf89_o.jpg

Here is a detail on the monument depict people related to the life of Columbus. And four figures on raised pedestals, only three of which are visible in this view, represent the four regions of Spain - Catalonia, León, Aragon, and Castile.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_030eykekqiw/SiEamPZo4EI/AAAAAAAABQM/5yS996RTM8E/DSCF1875.JPG

Near the Columbus Monument, there stands the splendid Port Authority Building, dating back to 1907. At first, it was a maritime station or ship departure point known as Embarcador de Viatgers but in 1918 it was converted to serve as the headquarters of the Board of Public Works. It eventually came to be the Port Authority Building.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_QWdtnAGF5ak/Rn2CYQWfoOI/AAAAAAAAACA/6ZD9ZRWc9uE/DSCN4225.JPG

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1377632.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2674744297_52ed58a6a3_o.jpg

The Església de Santa Maria del Pi is a fourteenth century Gothic church named for the pine tree that stood nearby when it was built. While the pine tree is now long gone, the church still keeps its same name. By the way, the word pi in Catalan means pine tree, and shouldn’t be confused with the letter pi in Greek, which is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

The exterior is dominated by a massive stained-glass window called the Rose Window:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/23909197.jpg

And a closeup of the entrance:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Gothic_Arch_Santa_Maria_del_Pi_Barcelona.JPG

And the altar:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3477/3714945234_9d6212a6f7_o.jpg

I was pretty confused when I learned that there was an Arc de Triomf in Barcelona, because I had remembered seeing something with almost the same name during my visit to Paris in 2006 and I began wondering if maybe I was already bordering on senility since I’m getting up there in age. It turns out that there are actually two different arches, so I’m not senile – at least not yet. The one in Barcelona was completed in 1888, just like the Columbus Monument that we talked about earlier in this episode, in the nick of time for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona, which was a world’s fair. Since the one in Paris was completed in 1836, the French can claim originality with respect to the name.

I still don’t know what triumph Spain achieved late in the nineteenth century to justify the name of the structure, or maybe they were just celebrating much earlier conquests, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. Here you can see that the arch in Barcelona is very nice:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Arc_de_Triomf_Barcelona.jpg

http://www.simonho.org/images/photographs_spain/Barcelona_Arc.jpg

The Museu Picasso is here in Barcelona, to display lots of artworks by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso. I couldn’t get any good pictures of the building’s exterior, but that’s no great loss because the building’s exterior isn’t all that wonderful.

The museum opened in 1963, ten years before the artist died. It’s pretty unusual for an artist to have enough acclaim while he’s still alive to have a museum dedicated to his works. I remember that Vincent van Gogh, for example, sold only one painting while he was still living. Remember that Picasso is a modern painter who lived until the year 1973.

I would guess that Picasso’s most famous painting is Guernica, painted in 1937, which is supposed to show the agony resulting from Germans bombing the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The painting itself is on display at a museum in Madrid, and not here in Barcelona. Picasso’s work isn’t really my cup of tea, but there are lots of people who love modern art like this, so we’ll point it out:

http://southfairfaxstreet.com/Picasso_Guernica2.jpg

We’ll look at the painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, painted in 1907, which is supposed to represent some ladies of the night who aren’t wearing any clothes. I just don’t see whatever there is to marvel at in this:

http://devology.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/les-demoiselles-d_avignon.jpg

Well, that’s about all I can stand of Picasso, but here’s the museum’s website if you would care to explore it more thoroughly:

http://www.museupicasso.bcn.es/en/

Barcelona is also the home to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, or National Art Museum of Catalonia. It resides in a striking building which was completed in 1929 for a Barcelona world’s fair, and it was renovated for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games:

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5523/nationalartmuseumbarcel.jpg

Not being much of an art person, I didn’t find much to get into here, but if you don’t want to let my limits curtail your interest, here’s the museum’s website:

http://www.mnac.es/index.jsp?lan=003

Now as we leave Barcelona to visit Valencia, we’ll use the modern Sants Station, so you can see how disgusting the new station looks when compared to the older and more stately Estació de França Station, where we arrived in Barcelona coming from Madrid. You can see this for yourself so you won’t have to simply take my word for it. Here’s the 1970s vintage train station’s exterior, with an exquisite McDonald’s welcoming you to the building:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_kOAaaEGOSQc/SIVI-2Y_fKI/AAAAAAAAAE4/fbe9pZ7M5l8/030.JPG

And the not-so-lovely lobby and ticketing area; I was lucky enough to find a picture that is somewhat out of focus so you don’t have to see clearly just how bad the interior is:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vyVcXSf3Sd0/SIdjApvo1hI/AAAAAAAAEUI/iwtc5QF9Zl4/DSCN1952.JPG

But here’s one that’s not quite so blurred:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PSNvSDuZKhg/S9CvQtmv0wI/AAAAAAAA3_0/uWY85rOQXrI/IMG_5924.JPG

Next stop: Valencia.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 8

My train from Barcelona arrived at Valencia's main train station, Estación del Norte, which dates back to 1917. It features ceramic mosaics as well as flower and blossom motifs decorating the place. Here’s the imposing exterior:

http://www.alifeinvalencia.com/wp-content/uploads/a-life-in-valencia-Estacio_del_nord_valencia-3.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Estaci%C3%B3_abril.jpg

And a nice ticketing and waiting area, although I couldn’t find any large pictures on the internet:

http://www.jorgetutor.com/spain/paisvalenciano/valencia/valencia2/valencia14.jpg

http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/19309/wm/pd1873729.jpg

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona, and is the home of the famous rice-based dish called paella.

Valencia’s City Hall is a grand old building, but I couldn’t find out exactly how old it is. I know that the city council has been working here since 1934, and that there is a museum and municipal archives in addition to the various current city administrative functions that take place here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Valencia_City_Hall.jpg

http://thegroup3.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/valencia-0291.jpg

http://www.europeupclose.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Valencia_city_hall.jpg

The Cathedral of Valencia has numerous official names that we won’t list individually, and it’s also a basilica. It dates back to the thirteenth century, and reflects Gothic, Romanesque, French Gothic, Baroque, and Neo-Classical architectural styles. New features have been added periodically over the years. I find it to be somewhat puzzling as to why the large stained glass window above the main entrance features a Star of David, or as we say in Hebrew, a Mogen David.

http://thegroup3.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/valencia-2181.jpg

Here is what the Star of David stained glass window looks like from the inside:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/molas/120654792/

The cathedral from another angle:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Seu_pla%C3%A7areina.jpg

The lovely nave area:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Seu_naucentral2.jpg

The cathedral is home to a holy chalice that many historians believe to be the actual Holy Grail, which was the cup used at the Last Supper.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7NPdL_ZDVBw/RxTnM50EwnI/AAAAAAAAAMs/czDgGtmJZSM/IMG_6348.JPG

The Quart Towers are a tourist favorite, especially for the tourists who love ice cream. The towers represent just one of the twelve gates into the city during the period when city walls were used to keep the bad people out. The city walls date back to the fourteenth century, and the Quart Towers were completed in the fifteenth. Napoleon trimphantly entered Valencia through this gate, and you can see some of the battle damage sustained during the Napoleonic Peninsular Wars in 1811 and 1812 in the picture below.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Torres_quart.jpg

While I was there I learned that if Tschaikovsky had been Spanish instead of Russian, and if the Spanish forces had emerged victorious at Valencia as did the Russians at Borodino, then The 1812 Overture would have celebrated the Battle of Valencia instead. I understand that the damage from the Napoleonic wars has recently been repaired, but it seems to me that it should have been left untouched.

La Lonja de la Seda is also called the Silk Exchange, because that’s what those words mean. This building was used for distributing the magnificent silk fabrics brought from the east by Spanish traders. Here is the exterior:

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/pics/hd/0/8664_15.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/11014815.jpg

And the interior, which features graceful columns which hold the ceiling up:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Llotja_columnari1.jpg

http://www.canal-valencia.es/valencia_ciudad/images/La_Lonja_03_Valencia_Ciudad.jpg

A splendid leaded window:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13325911.jpg

Right across the street from La Lonja stands the Central Market, which was designed in 1914. This is a place where the residents of Valencia can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and other wonderful things to eat. The best part, for me at least, is the exterior, from a few different angles to show all the major features:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BBpX9Yxc8SI/TGbmNXaO1rI/AAAAAAAABmQ/O5C2lFUXCSY/s1600/IMG_2332.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oddlfSQZgec/SsuUYWTYlVI/AAAAAAAABWw/tROwVOthNMQ/picture+dump!+alicante+and+valencia+150.jpg

http://thegroup3.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/valencia-00112.jpg

But here’s the part that the building is designed for - the vendor booths, which are all on the inside:

http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/CentralMarket.jpg

There is a complex of buildings called Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, which means City of Arts and Sciences. It contains an arena for concerts and operas, a science museum, a planetarium, and restaurants. Here’s what it looks like. I can’t stomach this place, or anything like it. To me, it looks like a pathetic modernistic representation of what the men in Pequod’s whaleboats might have seen when they had their harpoons ready to launch:

http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/~pjhdent/travels/valencia/Calatrava.jpg

The Palau de la Generalitat was originally built as a tax office for the Crown. It was begun in 1421, long before the voyages to the New World, when Spain was concentrating her maritime commercial exploits in the east. It was essentially completed in 1521, after the expeditions to the New World, but the building has continued to evolve even more since then. It now houses various municipal government functions.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Palau_de_la_Generalitat_del_Pa%C3%ADs_Valenci%C3%A 0_4.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Palau_de_la_Generalitat-_Valencia.jpg

The Serranos Towers were started in 1392, but there are no poems to help us remember that year in the same way we have a poem to remember its centennial celebration. These towers provided a defensive strongpoint in the city walls.

http://thegroup3.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/valencia-torres-00111.jpg

We’ll continue with more sights of Valencia in the next episode.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 9

Colegio del Corpus Christi, also known as Colegio del Partriarca, is a seminary completed in 1615. It is a large structure, occupying an entire block, and features a rectangular cloister as the focal point about which all the other rooms are distributed. The only photo of this central cloister that I could find on the internet is this old post card:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Valencia_Colegio_del_Patriarca.jpg

And you can see the building in the background of this photo, which I believe must be a parade that is passing by, despite the words of that song in Hello, Dolly which tell you not to let something like that happen:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8msHj_wzgHE/SD0-ygr3rQI/AAAAAAAAA-o/_33wwtxfer8/IMG_0024.JPG

An original manuscript by Sir Thomas More, written while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, was brought to Spain by More’s daughter and is still kept in this seminary.

The Vicente Blasco Ibáñez House/Museum in Valencia is where the man who wrote novels such as The Four Horsemen of the Apolcalypse used to live and work. It’s a three-story house with a large second-story terrace overlooking the sea. There are no large images on the internet, but here’s a miniature photo to show you what the house looks like:

http://www.alifeinvalencia.com/wp-content/uploads/a-life-in-valenciacasa-museo-de-Blasco-Ibanez-2.jpg

Here’s a closeup of one of the columns holding the third floor up, thereby protecting the terrace we just mentioned above:

http://www.alifeinvalencia.com/wp-content/uploads/a-life-in-valenciacasa-museo-de-Blasco-Ibanez.jpg

The Esglèsia dels Sants Joans is a church, but it is not named for Joan of Arc, as I believed before the tour guide straightened me out, but for Saint John - the one they called John the Baptist. Some people call it Iglèsia di San Juan, which I would have understood more readily, but those people didn’t come along until after I had asked why Joan of Arc had a church named for her in Valencia. The church was first built in the thirteenth century, but I don’t think that much remains of that original structure. It was destroyed by a large fire in the fourteenth century and was rebuilt. It was also extensively refurbished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Here’s the exterior from a couple of different angles - the first view highlights the baroque bell tower, which I think is the best part of the building:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_i0Xvwy4zgOU/SSIVcUsTOAI/AAAAAAAAC48/wq7ts8sZ-0k/PB120050.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Esgl%C3%A8sia_dels_Sants_Joans.jpg

The Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes (Saint Michael of the Kings) used to be a monastery, but now it’s a library for preservation of historic documents. It’s on the outskirts of the city. The current building dates back from the sixteenth century, but it had a predecessor in the thirteenth century.

http://www.fecoval.es/resources/image/San%20MIguel1.JPG

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/10305752.jpg

And the cloister of the monastery:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Monestir_de_Sant_Miquel_dels_Reis_Monasterio_de_Sa n_Miguel_de_los_Reyes.jpg

A closer view of the cloister’s structure:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1074500.jpg

The Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas currently houses a ceramics museum, but it used to be a residence. I’m not that much into ceramics, but I just adore buildings like this. It dates back to 1496. Here is the building’s unbelievable Baroque and Rococo exterior, which must have been built with the aid of some of that gold and silver coming over from the New World. I’m not sure when the riches from the New World discoveries started flowing, so maybe this building was financed by trade with the Orient, which preceded the Americas:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14660573.jpg

The main entrance isn’t too shabby:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/5028205.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Dosaigues_porta.jpg

And even closer to the door:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Dosaigues_porta1.jpg

And a fabulous foyer:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/3689678082_4596cfe8ab_o.jpg

The Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados also means the Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken. It was completed in 1667. Its most striking feature is its dome, but again, there are only small pictures on the internet:

http://www.valencia-cityguide.com/images/zoom/album2/vlcGuide22.jpg

Here’s a larger photo, but it’s taken at night and you can’t see it as well:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_BF5oZd-FpMM/R3_LOh9U7YI/AAAAAAAADYw/huksd9JZAmM/DSC03588.JPG

Torre Santa Catalina has nothing to do with the former New York Yankees manager Joe, nor the island off California. It is actually the Baroque-style tower of the Santa Catalina church in Valencia that overshadows the church itself. The church dates back to the fourteenth century, but the tower didn’t come along until the eighteenth.

Here’s the tower:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14023099.jpg

And the interior of the church:

http://www.alejandroherrero.com/public/2009/07/2009-07-01-Iglesia-de-Santa-Catalina-Valencia-11-BW1.jpg

When I left Valencia, I used the the second, lesser-known railroad station called Estación del Cabañal to leave for Seville. I made this a quick stop as I didn’t care to linger and admire the modernistic station the way I did for its more elegant counterpart Estación del Norte.

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/8814927.jpg

And speaking of those modernistic styles that make me sick, here is a modernistic chair that I actually encountered a couple of weeks ago at someone’s house - it’s uncomfortable, ugly, and expensive - as even admitted by the actual owner of a piece just like this, who had a pair of these cluttering up part of her living room. What an amazing combination of undesirable features, and it makes you wonder who would buy stuff like this. Of course, I’m not sending this story to the person who owns the chairs like this:

http://www.furnitureanddesignideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/f1-Cowhide-Modern-Lounge-Chair.jpg

We will see the sights of Seville in the next episode, where I got the most memorable haircut I’ve ever had.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 10

Seville is the home of Don Juan, Figaro, and Carmen. It’s also the home of some very stunning architecture. Some of it outshines what you can find anywhere else in Spain, or anywhere else in the entire world, for that matter, at least in my opinion.

I arrived from Valencia at the Santa Justa train station, which is a modern building. I couldn't find an exterior photo on the internet - probably because everybody is saving their film for some of the wondrous sights in this city, with which the railroad station can’t be included. Just look at the stylish platforms where passengers board and leave the trains. Fortunately, the train station platform in Paris where Rick was waiting for Ilsa in the 1942 movie Casablanca wasn’t a modern monstrosity like this, totally devoid of character:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3635/3652966144_3581dcfed5_o.jpg

Despite the lack of an elegant train station, Seville has lots of amazing architectural sights that are definitely worth seeing. Even if you’ve refrained from using the F11 full screen option that I explained in Part 1 to view these pictures, I strongly recommend that you use it now, so you can get the full effect of these magnificent photographs from the internet – maybe the best ones I’ve found yet for any of my travelogues.

The Plaza de España is a building constructed in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, which was a World’s Fair. It is considered as a wonderful example of the Moorish Revival style of architecture, including Mock Mudéjar and Neo-Mudéjar, which I believe are Spanish variations on Moorish fundamentals. Remember that the Moors controlled Spain for more than 500 years:

http://www.citypictures.net/data/media/228/Plaza_de_Espana_Seville_Spain.jpg

http://www.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/known_places/1280x960/Plaza_de_Espana_Seville_Spain_1280x960.jpg

I just learned in doing the research to write this that the plaza was used for some scenes in the movie Lawrence of Arabia. I’ll have to re-watch this movie to find out exactly which scenes, but I would guess it was when Lawrence entered Damascus.

There are magnificent tiled alcoves along the walls representing each of the provinces of Spain – here’s an example:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/PlazaofSpain.JPG

The Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares, or the Traditional Arts and Customs Museum, rivals the Plaza de España’s photogenic charms. This lovely building is situated within the Maria Luisa Park, which also features tiled fountains, pavilions, ponds, and gardens. The museum is just one example of a structure built in what is called the Neo-Mudéjar style of architecture, which originated in Spain, but was influenced heavily by Moorish styles:

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/contests/?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=947807

And here are some sights in the Maria Luisa Park - first a statue with three figures representing love excited, love possessed, and love lost:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/SevillaGlorietaDeBecquer04.JPG

And if Keats had seen this first, he may have written Ode on a Spanish Urn instead of a Grecian one:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1989876.jpg

Alcázar Palace was the first royal palace built in Seville. It’s actually a complex comprised of a number of individual palaces and gardens, and construction was started in 931 AD when Spain was under Moorish control. The palace is now the official residence of the royal family when they stay in Seville, and thanks to the Moors with their early start, it is the oldest royal residence in Europe. Here are some scenes around the palace complex:

http://www.upo.es/econ/SEVILLA%20-%20EL%20ALCAZAR.jpg

http://www.hikenow.net/images/Seville/img/SevilleAlcazar16.JPG

http://www.hikenow.net/images/Seville/img/SevilleAlcazar6.JPG

http://www.hikenow.net/images/Seville/img/SevilleAlcazar9.JPG

An example of the gardens:

http://www.hikenow.net/images/Seville/img/SevilleAlcazar21.JPG

Seville’s Town Hall is from the sixteenth century:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M1pCD2XFPbc/SiPfGDaCnOI/AAAAAAAADFk/LVIsqXRsuA8/P1040159.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ayuntamiento_de_Sevilla.jpg

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, or the Seville Cathedral, is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. It was completed early in the sixteenth century, at which time it overtook the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as the largest cathedral of any style in the world. This cathedral is where Christopher Columbus was laid to rest. It was begun in the early fifteenth century, after the capture of Seville from the Moors. Here is an exterior view:

http://epicureanways.com/images/Sevilla_Cathedral1.jpg

Note that the bell tower on the far right end of the cathedral in the previous view, which was a minaret in the mosque that occcupied this ground before the cathedral replaced it. It has come to be the symbol of the city. You can see it again in this closer view:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Sevila10.JPG

And the cathedral’s exterior from different angles and distances:

http://richardxthripp.thripp.com/files/essays/churches-06.jpg

http://ruchadesigns.com/images/Sevilla.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Sevilla_Cathedral_exterior.JPG

And some interior views:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Sevilla_cathedral_-_interior.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ruvVN7MJ9mU/Sjb34bbS-HI/AAAAAAAAA1c/FKVA0AW2MkY/456.JPG

Here is the tomb of Christopher Columbus:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Tumba_de_Colon-Sevilla.jpg

The Torre del Oro was built by the Moors as a watchtower to defend the city - it now houses a maritime museum:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Anna_Cervova_-_Torre_del_Oro.jpg

The Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of of Fine Arts) was opened in 1914:

http://www.disfrutandosevilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/museo-de-bellas-artes-de-sevilla.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_g6_GPiNU2rQ/SZs0UKOnbUI/AAAAAAAABYw/6qcCDFJiWrI/IMG_1230.JPG

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/2525096483_4c76d20ddc_o.jpg

The Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo was where the first translation of the Bible into Spanish was completed. It was built in the fourteenth century in the Gothic style of architecture. The institution was later dissolved by the Inquisition for straying into areas of religious thought beyond what was acceptable.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/2007.10.03_104_Monasterio_San_Isidoro_Santiponce_S pain.jpg

El Puente de Isabel II is a beautiful bridge in the Triana section of Seville:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Pont_Triana.jpg

Just one more sight here in Seville that I like is the downtown Adriática Building which was finished in 1922 - it must be the Spanish version of New York City’s Flatiron Building. It was built for the Adriática Insurance Company, and now serves as an office building:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/La_Adri%C3%A1tica_Building%2C_Seville%2C_Spain_-_Sep_2009.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Avenida_de_la_Constituci%C3%B3n.jpg

We will proceed to Toledo for the next episode.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 11

The Spanish city of Toledo dates back to the Bronze Age, so I’m guessing that our American Toledo in the state of Ohio just copied that name, rather than vice-versa. I arrived in town at Toledo’s fantastic railroad station which was opened in 1919. It’s built in the Neo-Mudéjar style of architecture and looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Train_station_of_Toledo%2C_Spain_01.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Toledo_(Spain)_Railway_Station_1.jpg

Here’s a stained glass window that rivals what you see in many churches:

http://www.travelinginspain.com/train_station_window.jpg

And a somewhat dimly-lit lobby and waiting room - presumably meant to highlight the stained glass windows:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4523685.jpg

Before we get into the beautiful details of Toledo, let’s take a quick peek at the skyline, which looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Toledo_Skyline_Panorama%2C_Spain_-_Dec_2006.jpg

The predominant building on the left is the Alcázar; the one on the right is the Cathedral. We’ll examine each of these more closely now. And you might remember that the famous painter El Greco lived here in Toledo much of his life. Here is his rendition of the skyline in his painting View of Toledo, but it’s viewed from a different angle than the photo above:

http://frmarkdwhite.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/view-of-toledo.jpg

Toledo’s Alcázar - remember that Seville also has one - is a stone fortification situated on very high terrain, and it has also been used as a palace. It was built by the Romans back in the third century, and has been restored many times since then. It is now used as a library and museum.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LQJYQVW5h5U/TLJqf8H3ORI/AAAAAAAAAeo/5WNt31PwYfw/s1600/IMG_3547.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/1/1e/20081217175046!Alcazar_of_Toledo_-_Toledo,_Spain_-_Dec_2006.jpg

http://v7.cache3.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7364319.jpg?redirect_counter=1

It looks even better at night:

http://templars.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/toledo.jpg

The Primada Santa María de Toledo or the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, and is considered by many to be the leading example of the Gothic style of architecture in Spain. The building effort commenced in 1226, but as for all such buildings in Spain and elsewhere, it has been modified and updated periodically over the years.

Some views of the exterior - from the front - each view getting progressively closer:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/KathedraleToledo.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2680171900_d1c1773dd3_o.jpg

http://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog261/Toledo,%20Spain/toledo-cathedral.JPG

The superb nave:

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Central_Spain/Toledo/Toledo_Cathedral/Images/800/Nave-May06-DC6150sAAR800.jpg

And some fantastic stained glass windows:

http://v7.cache1.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3042151.jpg?redirect_counter=1

The Castillo de San Servando is a medieval castle on the banks of the Tagus River. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t haunted but I didn’t know that before I went in, so I worried about meeting some ghosts the whole time I was there:

http://v3.cache4.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/26362449.jpg?redirect_counter=1

Even if it’s not haunted, it sure looks eerie in this interesting shot - I would guess this effect is achieved by using filters but I don’t take sophisticated pictures myself so I don’t know for sure:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3454/3769453056_1478bae8bd_o.jpg

Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes is originally where religious training was inflicted upon potential Franciscan friars in a Gothic setting. The building was completed in 1504, but it was badly damaged by Napoleon’s troops in 1809, and the damage must have been pretty severe because it was completely abandoned a few years later. The now-restored monastery is back in the business of training Franciscan friars.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_J3MRU_cKSDQ/R55UZ2fMccI/AAAAAAAABYI/q-OhS1q30o8/P1000915.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Monasterio_de_San_Juan_de_los_Reyes,_Toledo_01.jpg

A view of the interior cloister:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/20361213.jpg

And the elegant nave:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/San_Juan_de_los_Reyes_-_Toledo%2C_Spain_-_03.JPG

The Renaissance Museo-Hospital de Santa Cruz was built in the sixteenth century, and maybe you can tell from the name that it was once a hospital. But I guess the idea of having bedpans in a beautiful building didn’t go down well with somebody, so it’s now a museum. Here’s an overall view of the building that must have been taken on an overcast day, but it’s still the best photo I can find that shows the entire façade:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2_dHbTO-oeY/SQ5lkOzgIKI/AAAAAAAACSo/VIE1OzYyhvE/Museo-Hospital+de+Santa+Cruz.JPG

And here are a couple of closeups showing the intricate details at the main entrance:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Museo_de_Santa_Cruz,_Toledo_-_detail_1.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Museo_de_Santa_Cruz,_Toledo_-_detail_3.JPG

The Hospital de Tavera Museum Duque de Lerma is another former hospital that is now a museum. It’s in the Renaissance style of architecture and goes back to the sixteenth century.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2J0HgFAKVfA/TIsYr8CciZI/AAAAAAAADDQ/UTRpDkdlatQ/s1600/Hospital_de_Tavera,_Toledo.jpg

Here’s a very nice antique etching of the grand staircase:

http://image2.onlineauction.com/auctions//36356/xphd-1110788-2.jpg

Iglesia de Santo Tome is a rather simple-looking church, devoid of ornate exterior trappings. It dates back to the fourteenth century, and its bell tower reminds me of the old Spanish missions that are still functional in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/31901901.jpg

In Part 3 of this travelogue, while we were still talking about Madrid and the Prado Museum, the subject of the Spanish painter El Greco came up. His most famous painting, The Burial of Count Orgaz, is on display here in Iglesia de Santo Tome. Just in case you’ve forgotten that painting since our Prado discussion was so long ago, here’s what it looks like:

http://clio.rediris.es/fichas_arte/orgaz2.jpg

Remember that back in the days of yore when Spain was still evolving into what it is now, they didn’t have the wonderful airport security gates that we have now to check out people entering or leaving the cities. However, they did have gates to the city, so here’s where the people coming to Toledo had to go through metal detectors and take their shoes off back then in those long ago times when they just had old-fashioned technology:

First, the Puerta de Bisagra:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Toledo_Puerta_Bisagra_1.jpg

The Puerta de Cambrón:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Puerta_de_Cambr%C3%B3n%2C_Toledo.jpg

The Puerta de Alfonso VI:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Puerta_de_Alfonso_VI,_Toledo_-_view_1.JPG

And finally, the Puerta del Sol:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Puertadelsol_toledo.jpg

Our next stop will be Granada.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 12

Whenever I think of the Spanish city of Granada, I immediately think first of a classical piece of music called Granada, written by the Mexican composer Agustín Lara. Here is a version sung by Plácido Domingo - it’s also beautiful as either a solo piano or guitar piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LL9IGEqjdE

Here is Granada’s modest train station, where I arrived from Toledo:

http://r3.iad09g01.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13979606.jpg?st=lc

The most noteworthy sight in Granada is the Alhambra, a Moorish palace. The full title is Calat Alhambra, which means the “Red Fortress.” It remains from the days when Spain was controlled by the Moors, and was constructed in the fourteenth century, near the end of the Moorish period. A fortress dating from the ninth century was the starting point, and everything else was gradually built around it. And oh yes, that’s Moors - not Moops.

Here’s a distant perspective of the Alhambra:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Alhambra_Granada_desde_Albaicin.jpg

And at night:

http://ejsola.com/imagenes/Granada%20Alhambra%20noche.jpg

A somewhat closer view - back in broad daylight:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Alhambradesdegeneralife.jpg

And even closer:

http://www.atpm.com/12.12/europe/images/Moorish%20Fortress,%20Alhambra,%20Granada,%20Spain .jpg

Here is the Court of the Lions - note the fierce lions guarding the central fountain, but don’t worry like I did – they are just stone lions:

http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Places/Spain/Court-Of-The-Lions-Alhambra-Granada-Spain-1-1600x1200.jpg

A closer view of the lions, where you can now see that they aren’t all that scary:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/El_patio_de_los_leones_de_la_alhambra.JPG

Some ornate column details in the Court of the Lions:

http://www.atpm.com/12.12/europe/images/Columns%20in%20the%20Court%20of%20the%20Lion,%20Al hambra,%20Granada,%20Spain.jpg

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~dwg/photos/alhambra1.jpg

And some elaborate arches:

http://wendyandrobin.com/images/Alhambra_Arches3.jpg

http://academic.shu.edu/honors/IMG_1998.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Atauriques.jpg

There are some really elegant swimming pools here in the Alhambra, but they wouldn’t let any of us go swimming in them:

http://platea.pntic.mec.es/~lgonzale/tic/imagen/imagenes/La%20alhambra%20(8%20bit).jpg

http://www.lets-go-together.com/Travel-destination/Granada-Alhambra-2.jpg

http://theclausito.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/europe2007-169.jpg

And the gardens rival those anywhere:

http://www.ali-cante.com/P6190314.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_au0xzbYwnw4/TJ_f_GmQ21I/AAAAAAAACyU/dEIAfnMY0NE/s1600/alhambra.JPG

The 16th century palace of Charles V is very impressive:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Palacio_de_Carlos_V_Exterior_Cropped.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Granada_Alhambra_Palacio_Carlos_V_Exterior.jpg

The Palacio de Generalife and its impressive gardens, near the Alhambra, were originally built in the early fourteenth century by the Moors. The best known feature here is the Court of la Acequia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Alha_Generalife1.jpg

And a little closer so you can see some of the intricate detailing:

http://www.esacademic.com/pictures/eswiki/80/PalacioDelGeneralife.JPG

The Gate of Fajalauza, also known as Gate of the land of the almond trees, looks all sealed up just like Jerusalem’s Golden Gate:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Ancient_photo_lab_Granada.JPG

And speaking of Jerusalem’s Golden Gate, it’s discussed along with lots of other things in my story A Grand Tour, right here on the Lit Net site:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32270

The Granada Cathedral was built originally as a Roman Catholic institution, as opposed to several others in Spain that were initially Moorish and later adapted to Catholic use. Construction started after the Moors had been ousted from Granada late in the fifteenth century, and continued for almost 200 years. The building was well worth the long wait - here’s the exterior.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2218/1879254350_d672f3b706_o.jpg

And the imposing façade:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Granada_cathedral_-_south_portal.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PKRz7FIOBXA/R0-6mguVtMI/AAAAAAAAAOs/TOizGRs5biA/s1600-R/CIMG2211.JPG

Some interior shots:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Andalusia_hl_20060811_006.jpg

http://woophy.com/images/photos/911/5/l/599444.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/215/471216476_1495903f69_o.jpg

And a great view of the dome from the inside, which also highlights some of the stained glass windows:

http://www.travelswithtwo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/img_0485.jpg

The San Jerónimo Monastery was begun in 1496, and it was the first monastery built in Granada after the Moors were defeated. There are several doctors of divinity who learned their trade at this monastery, and who reside in the vicinity.

The façade looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Granada_san_jeronimo.jpg

And there is a very elaborate ceiling:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vwilliams/5171251958/

The Royal Chapel of Granada houses the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as other great leaders of the nation. The façade:

http://www.granadadetails.com/Granada%20Royal%20Chapel.jpg

And the interior:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/La_Capilla_Real_de_Granada.jpg

http://www.hackstaff.com/images/spain/granada/SP09_granada_3628.JPG

In the next episode, we will visit Córdoba and Ávila.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 13

Córdoba (we often spell it as Cordova in English) used to be the capital of an Islamic caliphate, and it still has a great mosque reminding us of those days when Spain was ruled by the Moors. I arrived at the train station, as the railroads were how I moved from city to city, but we won’t look at it because it isn’t very noteworthy. The rest of the city is marvelous.

The Great Mosque of Córdoba was started in the eighth century, shortly after the Moors took control of this area. Here’s a distant view:

http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/files/2010/11/Cordoba.jpg

As an aside, the bridge in the foreground of the picture above is from the days of the Romans. The Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) has none of its original structure any more. The bridge is still used today, so it has been renovated to maintain safety standards.

Here’s an aerial shot of the Great Mosque – note the bell tower on the farther wall:

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/HST372_2008/GreatMosqueCordoba1.jpg

A closeup of the main façade:

http://actforamerica.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/cordoba-mosque-526430-lw.jpg

A minaret that was eventually converted to the bell tower you saw in the aerial view above:

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Andalucia/Cordoba/Images/Minaret-May06-D3725sAR.jpg

The interior is fantastic, and the arches which are so prevalent in Moorish architecture can be seen in all their glory:

http://khushu.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/cordoba-mosque.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Mezquita_de_C%C3%B3rdoba_Mihrab.jpg

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Andalucia/Cordoba/Images/800/Old-Arches-May06-DC6274sAR800.jpg

http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/tcics/cordoba.jpg

And the inside of the main dome – there seems to be a lot of intricate mosaic work here:

http://terre.sans.frontiere.free.fr/page_a_voir_a_faire/a_voir_a_faire_images/mosquee_cordoba_10.jpg

http://thebluebrick.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mezquite2.jpg

Córdoba also has an Alcázar, but it doesn’t quite rival those of some of Spain’s other cities. It does have some great gardens, though:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Alcazar_of_the_Christian_Monarchs_-_Gardens.jpg

When I saw the following object, I thought maybe it was a precursor to the Ferris wheel that now besmirches London’s once-glorious skyline. The guide told me that I was wrong again, and that it was the Córdoba Water Wheel, which delivered water from the Guadalquivir River to the Caliph’s Palace back in the days when the Moors still ruled:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c5/Cordoba_Water_Wheel.jpg

The Romans ruled here long before the Moors, and there are a few remaining sites. The Roman Temple of Córdoba doesn’t look quite like it must have appeared in its heyday, but at least the columns are still there.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Templo_romano_C%C3%B3rdoba.jpg

And the Roman Mausoleum of Córdoba wasn’t even uncovered until 1993:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Mausoleoromano.jpg

Here’s a nice view of the entrance to Córdoba Fair , where you can see that the designers borrowed heavily from the Great Mosque:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Portada_de_la_Feria_de_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_la_S alud_%282006%29.JPG

It was now back to the train station for my ride over to Ávila. When I was first becoming an avid Boston Red Sox fan way back in 1949, the Cleveland Indians had a second baseman named Bobby Ávila. When I arrived in Ávila after my visit to Cordoba, I assumed that this town had been named for the Indians’ second baseman. However, it turns out that the city has had this name since the fifth century BC, so I guess my theory was wrong. I should probably stop coming up with theories, because I usually seem to be wrong.

As with all the other cities, we won’t go back in time to the fifth century - neither BC nor AD - for discussions, although we will show some photos of really old things. For instance, the city walls of Ávila date back to medieval times, and are still maintained:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3439160311_60332fd2ae_o.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Avila_walls.jpg

Here is the Gate of Alcázar, one of the portals in the old walls:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Puerta_del_alcazar.jpg

The town also has more churches than most other places of its size, and while we will only check out two of them, there are lots more. The Ávila Cathedral was begun in 1095, but the work required to complete the building stretched out for over three hundred years. Some of the original plans were abandoned - for instance, a south tower was never built, which some people think makes other portions of the overall structure look lopsided.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/%C3%81vila_Chatedral_main_view.jpg

An interior highlighting some nice stained glass windows:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/images/avila/cathedral/interior7-cc-guu.jpg

The choir has some pretty ornate places to sit:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/images/avila/cathedral/choir-cc-guu.jpg

The Basílica de San Vicente was begun in about 1130 and honors the martyred brothers Vicente, Sabina, and Cristeta, who died at the hands of the Romans in the fourth century AD. Note that the official name includes all three of the brothers, but Vicente is the only one mentioned in the shorthand version. I guess the others would object if they only knew.

The long colonnade in this view faces south:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4785653703_966800256b_b.jpg

And the Romanesque western façade looks like this:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/37365618.jpg

An interior vault:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Avila_BasilicaDeSanVicenteVault1.jpg

A chapel in the southern section:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Bas%C3%ADlica_de_los_Santos_Hermanos_M%C3%A1rtires-29.JPG

In our next episode, we will visit Zaragoza and Pamplona.

[DickZ]

Through Spain by Train
Part 14

At the risk of short-changing the wonderful city of Zaragoza, which is actually larger than some of the other cities we’ve already discussed, we’ll confine our attention to three places: Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral, and the Aljafería Palace.

Some people call the city Saragossa in English, which made me wonder if maybe it was named for a sea, but then someone told me that it’s the Sargasso Sea and not the Saragossa Sea.

The Basílica del Pilar is actually a short form of the Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar - or Our Lady of the Pillar. It is thought to be the first church in the world dedicated to Mary. Most of the construction work took place between 1681 and 1872. The architecture is of the Baroque style, and it is situated alongside the Ebro River, which is a favorite of crossword puzzle fans.

The building looks particularly elegant when the sun is going down:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Bas%C3%ADlica_del_Pilar%2C_Zaragoza%2C_Arag%C3%B3n .jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Basilica_del_Pilar-sunset.jpg

A couple of beautiful details of the façade:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2475589.jpg

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2475587.jpg

What a magnificent nave:

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/087/2/c/Basilica_del_Pilar_by_atomita.jpg

The intricate carvings behind the altar must have taken most of the 200 years it took to complete the buildings:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Altar_mayor_Bas%C3%ADlica_del_Pilar.jpg

The La Seo Cathedral is also known as the Catedral San Salvador (Cathedral of the Savior), and it was built over a former mosque which dates back to before the tenth century. Most of the added work in changing this from a mosque to a cathedral occurred in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries - back when architecture was still a creative art.

Here’s the exterior, highlighting the elegant bell tower:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/La_Seo_de_noche.JPG

A closer view of the façade of the Romanesque apse with Mudéjar and Gothic additions:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/La_Seo_-_Exterior_%C3%A1bside.JPG

The interior is breathtaking:

http://www.travelinginspain.com/zaragoza/la-seo-interior.jpg

And the chapel of Gabriel Zaporta is even better:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/La_Seo.jpg

The Aljafería Palace was built by the Moors in the eleventh century. Since the Moors are now gone, the building is used by the regional parliament of Aragon. It is also known to the Western world as the setting for Il Trovatore - or The Troubadour - which was first a play written by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez in 1836. That play later formed the basis for an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, completed in 1853.

Here’s what the palace walls look like:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Aljafer%C3%ADa2.JPG

And an ornate structure at the north headwall of the palace:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Estancias_testero_norte_aljaferia.jpg

A nice inner courtyard:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/8558991.jpg

A very nice ceiling in the Throne Room:

http://fr.academic.ru/pictures/frwiki/84/Techumbre_palacio_reyes_catolicos_aljaferia.jpg

And the part of the building upon which the play and the opera are based - the Troubadour Tower:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/La_Aljafer%C3%ADa_-_Torre_del_trovador.JPG

The city of Pamplona is famous for just one day every year - the day when the Running of the Bulls takes place. The participants in this event have a combined brainpower level that’s even less than the collection plate receipts at the Westminster Dog Show when a fundraiser is held to benefit Michael Vick.

Here you can see the wiser folks - behind barricades and just watching the jerks out there with the bulls -

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_bcYfEvcZzYc/SyWzoFliAzI/AAAAAAAAAZU/azkYqS1-f0Q/Spain+Pamplona+1979+%2332.jpg

And here are the mentally-challenged guys:

http://sweetcottagecharm.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/running-bulls-1.jpg

Now if you have a good memory, and can recall the beginning of this story, I didn’t originally plan to visit all these cities; I had only intended to try to find a windmill that Don Quixote might have attacked during his mission of glory. Seeing the cities was just an additional thing that my travel agent suggested I might be interested in - as long as I was already in the neighborhood.

Well, here is the photograph I brought with me to help me recognize the windmill I was seeking:

http://triangulations.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/don-quixote-windmill.gif

I never actually found one that looked just like that, but here are some windmills near the town of Tembleque, in Spain, so I had to settle for these. I spent several hours carefully checking the ground for hoofprints left by Don Quixote’s horse, but I couldn’t find any, so I still don’t know if my hero encountered these exact windmills:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Don_Quixote_Style_Windmills_Tembleque_JD22032008.j pg

Well, that’s it for my tour of Spain, and if you were courageous enough to reach this point, I’ll say THANK YOU for taking the time to read it all.

THE END

And if you got this far, maybe you would consider also looking over one or more of the following tours, all of which are right here in the LitNet Forum. As others have pointed out, these tours allow you to visit lots of places without having to pay a nickel, and without having to go through airport security patdowns either – a double bonus:

A Grand Tour (tour of Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Rome, Jerusalem, and several others, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32270

The City of Lights (tour of Paris, with pictures and videos)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45227

A Dutch Treat (tour of Holland, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54574

A Capital Tour (tour of Washington, DC, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37597

It’s a Wonderful Town (tour of New York City, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43123

The City of Brotherly Love (tour of Philadelphia, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40972

The City by the Bay (tour of San Francisco, with pictures and videos)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40239

Memories of San Antonio (tour and recollections of San Antonio, Texas, with pictures)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38998
[Note that for this one, a website containing many of the pictures has been taken down so those pictures aren’t there. I have an Adobe file of the story with the pictures in lieu of troublesome links, if anyone would like to see it that way. Just let me know by Private Message if you would like one sent to you by e-mail.]

Or maybe even this series of short stories, that started out by finding romance and eating hot dogs at a Washington Nationals baseball game, and kept going from there. These stories are all in the LitNet Forum:

My Baseball Scorecard (first in series of four stories)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33253

Time to Go Shopping (second in series of four stories)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33465

Weekend in Boston (third in series of four stories)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33953

The Dinner Guest (fourth in series of four stories)
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36809

Or the serious story of my uncle’s journal that he wrote just before World War II describing his experiences in the Navy:
The Journal
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31803

Or a serious story about Jewish immigrants who came to the USA in the early twentieth century:
Two Crossings
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30993

Or a story about a Navy cruise to the Mediterranean, including pictures of Athens, Istanbul, and Naples:
The Cruise
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34476

[Jack of Hearts]

This reader admires the devotion and your sense of humor. Sorry you never found Rocinante's hoofprints.


J

[DickZ]

Thanks, Jack, for taking the time to read all this, and to comment.

[Jack of Hearts]

You are welcome. Cute kitty.