2011 Europe – Page 2 – JACKMAN ESCAPADES

We’re In Madrid

Madrid, Capital Of Spain …
We checked out of our hotel in Seville on Sunday morning and walked across to Santa Justa Station for our trip to Madrid on the AVE high speed train. A fantastic trip in absolute luxury being continually served refreshments and breakfast during the course of the 2 1/2 hour journey. We arrived in Madrid Atoche Railway Station at 11:15 AM and within 30 minutes were checked in at our hotel. Our studio apartment hotel is located in the exclusive suburb of Salamanca adjacent to Retiro Park and close to the Retiro Metro Station.

The amazing Atoche Railway Station in Madrid

We were lucky enough to arrive in Madrid on Sunday as it is a real family day and a fun place to be. We walked from our hotel up to Plaza Mayor and then by Metro back to Retiro Park. Families were everywhere enjoying the fine weather and the continuous array of street entertainers which were great fun. At the end of this post is a video of this ugly baby.

One of the many street entertainers

In the Palacio de Velazquez in Retiro Park there was an art exhibition by artist Leon Golub which we took the opportunity to visit. It was very confronting as he depicts images of war and conflict in a very dramatic way. The painting shown below was about 10 meters long and 2 meters high and depicted conflict during the Vietnam war.

Painting by Leon Golub depicting Vietnam War

A Little More Culture …
Following an early breakfast on Monday we visited the Reina Sofia Museum which is devoted to modern and contempory art, particularly Spanish artists. It features work from Picasso, Juan Gris and Dali. One of the most famous paintings in the collection at Reina Sofia is Picasso’s “Guernica” which is an extremely complicated and confronting masterpeice. Also displayed is many of Dali’s works that really extend the mind, the most famous probably being “The Masturbator” which attracted a lot of attention.

Picasso’s “Guernica” in the Reina Sofia Museum

A Walk Around Madrid
Following our visit to Reina Sofia we walked around many of the streets in the old section of Madrid. Retail shops, restaurants and tourist shops are a plenty in this section of town which stems out from both the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. We enjoyed lunch at the Museum of Jamon (Ham), a unique restaurant where you stand at a counter with many other diners and order a variety of ham rolls and beer or wine. A really fun experience in Madrid and very popular on weekends.

Rob enjoying lunch at the Museum of Jamon

Off To The Palacio Real …
Our main activity on Tuesday was a visit to the Royal Palace of Madrid, the residency of the King of Spain, but now only used for state ceremonies. This Palace stands on the site of the former Alcazar(Fortress) of Madrid which was destroyed by fire. The Baroque style building contains hundreds of rooms with amazing decoration which varies considerably depending on the desires of the resident King. It also features an armoury featuring weapons and armour from the 15th and 16th century.

Palace of Madrid

Time For Lunch …
From the Palace we walked down to Plaza Mayor and just behind this plaza is a unique market called “Mercado de San Miguel” which is a market just for lunch and dinner. The market is over 100 years old and was reopened in1999 as a food hall with independant stall holders selling a wide variety of Spanish delicacies. If you are in Madrid do not miss this dining experience, all at very reasonable prices.

Mercado de San Miguel – A great place for a casual lunch

Museo Nacional del Prado
The Prado Museum was opened in 1819 making it one of the oldest public art museums in the world. This magnificent building houses 21,000 works of art from the 12th to the 19th century. We spent 5 hours in the museum and only managed to see a small fraction of the works but did manage all of the Masterpieces.

The Magnificent Prado Museum

An Intriguing Painting …
One of the paintings that really intrigued us was called “The Family of Felipe IV” by Diego Velazquez. It is interesting because the artist himself is in the painting and appears to be looking at the subjects of his painting which are reflected in the mirror at the back of the room. It is considered the artists greatest masterpiece and the principal work in the Prado’s collection. The infant Margarita is the centrepiece of the picture and is the daughter of Felipe IV. On either sides of her are maids of honour and a female dwarf.

“The Family of Felipe IV” by Diego Velazquez

Our Final Day …
On our last day in Madrid we took a bus trip to Avila and Segovia. Avila, located about 100 km from Madrid is a world heritage site made famous by the best preserved 2.5 km long fortified wall in all of Spain. Built in the 12th century, the wall has 90 towers and 9 entry gates.

Avila fortified wall

On To Segovia
Segovia is another world heritage listed city as it was an important Roman military site and boasts a well preserved magnificent Roman adqueduct nearly 1 km long. This aqueduct transferred water from the nearby river to the middle of the town. In the Plaza del Azoguejo the arches reach 30 meters in height.

The Roman aqueduct in Segovia

The Segovia Alcazar (Segovia Castle) is also impressive. Perched on a rocky ourcrop at the end of the old town the Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then.

Segovia Castle or Alcazar

Our Departure From Madrid …
After 5 days in Madrid, it was time to catch the train to Salamanca which left from Charmatin Station. It turned out to be a Public Holiday in Madrid so a good day to leave the Capital of Spain. Madrid is a great city and we would recommend anyone planning a trip to Spain to visit this beautiful city. It is easy to get around with a clean and efficient metro system, it is a safe city with a high police presence, it has magnificent buildings and excellent world class museums.

Some Humour To Finish This Post
As mentioned earlier in this post there are a large number of very entertaining street performers in Madrid, many of which are very talented. We thought the following was very humorous and watched him for a considerable time.

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Location:Madrid, Spain

Seville – Our Last Stop in Andalucia

And On To Seville …
We drove from Antequera to Seville, 160 km, and arrived to find the temperature had plumetted to a beautiful 20 degrees, so much cooler than the weather we had been experiencing. We returned our hire car and walked the short distance to our hotel adjacent to the Seville Santa Justa railway station.

A Warning Sign On The Autovia

Seville, Our Final Stop In Andalucia …
Seville is a big city and our hotel was well positioned to walk into the old sector of the town. Our first stop was the Cathedral of Seville. We spent 2 hours in this amazing building which was built over a 9th century mosque. Inside the cathedral there are over 500 artistic treasures from 16th century to today.

Magnificent ceiling of the Seville Cathedral

We climbed the 35 ramps, not steps, to the top of the Cathedral Spire for a view over Seville to be greeted by a massive storm complete with lighting and thunder. Added to this, it turned 3:00 PM and the bells started to toll and we were only 2 meters from these monsters. Apparently the church elder who called the people to prayer could climb to the top of this spire on his horse rather than walk.

View from the Cathedral spire

There are lots of narrow cobbled streets and alleyways to explore in the old town and more English speaking people than in the past 10 days. The area is packed with restaurants and souvenir shops and remains lively till well after midnight with people dining and socialising.

An Architectual Marvel …

Plaza de España In Seville

On our second day in Seville we decided to visit the Plaza de España. The Plaza, designed by Aníbal González, was built in the 1920’s to showcase Spain’s industry and technology. The complex is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over a moat by numerous beautiful bridges. In the centre is a large fountain. By the walls of the Plaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. Today the Plaza de España mainly consists of Government buildings but also contains an excellent Military Museum which we took the opportunity to visit.

Plaza de España In Seville

Down To The River …
Our next stop was down to the river (Rio Guadalquivir) for a short 1 hour cruise to see the city from a different perspective. As well as seeing many of the older features of the city it also gave a great view of many of the more recent constructions including the new exhibition centre and the Isla Magic, a mini Disneyland.

Torre de Oro – Home of the Naval Museum

A Touch Of Local Culture …
A late lunch following our cruise then back to the hotel for a short rest before heading back into the old town for some traditional flamingo music and dancing. This one hour show with a guiarist, singer and male and female dancers featured very traditional music and dancing rather than the more popular forms seen in many tourist establishments.

Traditional flamingo dancing

Our final meal in Seville was the very popular tapas with a glass of Spanish white wine before heading back to our hotel in preparation for our train trip to Madrid early the next morning.

Our Overview Of Andalucia Province
So after 10 days in the Andalucia region what are our impressions. The road network including Autovia’s (freeway’s) are fantastic and equal to anywhere in Europe. It makes for very easy and safe driving. The Spanish drivers are very courteous and patient, they even stop at pedestrian crossings. The country side is spectacular with high mountains and undulating plains with olive trees as far as the eye can see. One thing you are not prepared for is how dry the region is.

Alcohol and food is about 1/2 the cost of Australia. A slab of beer (24 cans) ranges from €10 to €14 ($14 to $20). So once you are here the cost of living is very cheap. Restaurants are inexpensive. Our most expensive night out at a classy restaurant was €50.00 for two courses, a round of pre dinner drinks and a nice bottle of wine. A coffee in a bar is typically €1.00 to €1.50 and a glass of beer around the same price. Prices are a little higher in Seville but still very reasonable.

Our rental car. €23.00/day

From a tourist perspective the towns are spectacular, always with a “Centro Histórico”, or old town area with ambling streets and then a more modern commercial/retail sector. So if you were visiting this region and had limited time, here are the towns in our order of preference. Seville, “Cathedral and Plaza de Espana are spectacular as well as the night life”. Ronda, “The spectacular gorge and new bridge”. Malaga, “A wide range of excellent tourist attractions and fantastic retail precinct”. Granada, “The Alhambra”. Antequera, “A hidden gem without the tourists”. And finally Cordoba, “Worth a visit but not a high priority”.

Oh, by way of explanation: Our rental car is the one in front of the red Ferrari. Sorry about that!

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Location:Seville, Spain

Farewell To Antequera

What A Setting For Dinner …
We decided we needed to catch our breath and spend a rest day in Antequera. A casual morning in our local bar drinking coffee and catching up on emails, an afternoon siesta and a swim in our pool and we were ready to venture out for a nice dinner. The owners of our villa recommended a restaurant with a traditional Spanish menu and a fantastic outlook. With a balmy 20 oC and a light breeze, we enjoyed a romantic dinner in this beautiful setting outside the Church of the Santa Maria la Mayor.

A Romantic Dinner in Antequera

Granada …
After a rest day in Antequera it was off to Granada for two days with the key objective of visiting the Alhambra. Construction of the Alhambra commenced in 1237 by Muhammad I al-Ahmar and continued under Arab rule for 255 years until 1492 when the Alhambra was surrended to the Catholic monarchs. Construction during the early period was strictly to the Arab style of very plain exteriors to the buildings and palaces and extremely ornate interiors. From 1492 onwards construction was in the Spanish Renaissance style with strong ornate exteriors and plain interiors. It is this variation in styles and the sheer size of the complex that makes the Alhambra one of the most visited historical sites in Spain.

Ornate interior of the Comares Palace in the Arab section

Contrasting style of the Charles V Palace built from 1526

Our second day in Granada was spent visiting the rest of the city including the Albaycin district (Jewish Quarter) with its rambling narrow cobbled streets and the downtown area where the Cathedral is the centre piece.

The amazing Granada Cathedral

Albaycin District – Jewish Quarter Of Granada

Malaga – What a surprise …
We returned to our villa in Antequera for a well earned rest before our next adventure to the coast to the city of Malaga. This city took us by total surprise as we were of the impression it is more a commercial and industrial centre being the capital of Andalucia. It turns out that it is a beautiful city with lots of tourist attractions and probably the best tourist information we have seen in any city. Our starting point was coffee outside the house where Picasso was born followed by a visit to the Picasso Museum which we both really enjoyed.

Woman with raised arms – Picasso 1936

Our next stop was to the Roman Theatre. This is another example of fantastic tourism with an ultra modern interperative centre that gives you a multi screen video presentation followed by touch screen images and text explaining how the Romans used their theatres for entertainment, meetings and political debates. You then went down a ramp into the theatre. All for free and with a really fun guide, who with broken English gave us an excellent explanation of the site and other tourist attractions in Malaga.

Roman Theatre with the Alcazab in the background

From the Roman Theatre it was off to the Muslim Alcazaba (fortress) of Malaga. Much smaller than the Alhambra in Ganada but many similarities as it was again built by the Arabs during the eleventh century.

Steps leading up into the Alcazaba Palace

From the Alcazaba it was into the retail area of Malaga for lunch and a quick look around the shops. What a surprise this turned out to be as the marble paved streets with beautiful designer shops is equal to any in the world. Clearly this is a very wealthy city partly as it is the capital of Andalucia Province and also supported by tourism as many cruise boats dock here during cruises of the Mediteranean.

Calle Marques de Lanos in Malaga – The Main Shopping Street.

East Along The Coast …
From Malaga we decided on a drive along the coast road east to Nerja. This area is where a lot of the British head for holidays. It is densly packed with holiday apartments and very few car parks and would certainly not be our choice for a holiday, although it does have great weather. Nerja is a nice coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea. If we were heading for the coast for a Spanish holiday, I think this is where we would pick.

View of the Malaga Port from Alcazaba

Our Departure From Antequera …
With sadness we departed the beautiful city of Antequera. I have no doubt we will return one day for an extended stay as we really enjoyed the villa, the town and the spectacular countryside. It was also a great central location from which to explore many of the towns and cities in region.

Central Antequera Shopping Precinct

Church Of Sans Sebastian in Antequera

Location:Antequera, Spain