Spain, May 2010

In May, 2010, I visited Spain for 2 weeks. Our flight from Toronto to Barcelona was 2 hours late because of volcanic ash. We spent 5 days in Barcelona, 5 days in Madrid (with side trips from both cities), 3 days in Seville, a day in Granada, and half a day in Malaga.

Barcelona

We used the Metro a lot in Barcelona; the stations are reasonably close and convenient to use. The three of used four of the 10 trip cards.

Parc Guell (in Barcelona)

We visited here twice. The first time was in the afternoon and it was very crowded. The second time was in the morning just after it opened, and we shared the park with just a few cleanup crew and an occasional jogger.

Montseratt (near Barcelona)

A day trip by train from the Espanya station (but not all of the entrances to the station connect to where you catch the train to Montseratt). We went on one of the longer hikes above the monestary.

Girona, Figueres/Dali Museum (near Barcelona)

We took a tour bus to Figueres to see the Dali Museum; the tour also stopped in Girona.

Chocolate Museum (in Barcelona)

Near the Picasso Museum, it's worth a visit for a brief break from things, especially if you're traveling with children. The ticket is a chocolate bar.

Casa Mila (in Barcelona)

Probably my favorite tourist site in Barcelona; the main things of interest is the roof.

Block of Discord (in Barcelona)

Near Casa Mila, there is a block with three more buildings of unusual architecture.

Sagrada Familia (in Barcelona)

One of the bigger name things to visit in Barcelona. I was a bit dissappointed with what we saw inside. Definitely pay to go up the one spire. Otherwise, there's not much to see (although the museum in the basement has interesting pictures of the building as it slowly built up to where it is now). The outside is the most interesting, and you can see that without paying to go inside.

From the roof of Casa Mila

Madrid

We didn't care for the Metro in Madrid. We used it to get from the airport to our hotel, and then again to/from the bus station to go to Segovia. Otherwise, we didn't use it, and ended up with 1 ride left on the only 10 trip card we bought.

Egyptian Temple

Toledo (near Madrid)

The three city gates are the main thing of interest here.

Segovia (near Madrid)

The Roman aquaduct is great; the castle on the otherside of the city is okay. There's a cathedral in the middle of the city that's worth visiting if you like cathedrals.

Southern Spain

We took a train from Madrid to Seville, stopping in Cordoba to see the Mesquita. Across the street from the train station is the bus station, with lockers to store your luggage (but beware: while the lockers are a reasonable size, a large suitcase may not fit).

Mesquita, Cordoba

There's more to see in Cordoba than the Mesquita, but we didn't stay long enough to see much of it.

Seville

We spent 3 nights in Seville, planning to take a day trip to the White Villages; alas, our tour got cancelled, and we took a bus to Italica instead. Overall, we didn't find much of interest in Seville, and Italica wasn't that interesting either.

Italica

Granada/Alhambra

One of the things you often hear is that if you go to Spain, you have to visit the Alhambra. We went, but...we didn't find it all that interesting. Yes, there's a lot of intricate carving in the palace, but if that's not your thing then the Alhambra is a let down. Plus the site is over/mis-managed. You have to get a timed entry to the main palace, but don't let that fool you into thinking it won't be crowded because of that.

And your ticket only gets you one entry into the fort, which makes timing your visit awkward: you need to get there early enough to make sure you arrive for your timed entry, but if you're too early that Charles V palace isn't worth too much time and we didn't have enough time to visit the fort before our timed entry.

We found Granada itself more interesting than the Alhambra, and of course from Granada you get wonderful views of the fortress part of the Alhambra.

Malaga

We mainly went to Malaga because our flight back to Toronto left from Malaga. We had an afternoon and we visited the fort/palace, which we enjoyed. If we had more time, we would have also visited the castle further up the hill.

Favorites