Spain (Madrid & Seville)
March 9th – 13th
A friend from USC was traveling to Madrid over spring break and I thought it would be a great place to visit as well. I haven’t traveled out of Germany since January (that was the time I first arrived here ). I have been to Madrid
before in September 2005 and loved it there, so I am was really looking forward to this trip. We stayed with friends in Spain, Jesus and his fiancé Christina. I haven’t seen better hospitality than that which we got from Jesus and Christina (Photo 1 - in a Tapas bar with Jesus and Christina). They were really awesome, and took care to make sure we had a great time, which of course we did.
I flew with Lufthansa on a special advertised fare from Stuttgart to Madrid. I met Jesus and Roy at the airport in Madrid. Jesus had arranged an apartment for us to stay at. It belongs to his niece Barbara who was traveling out of town that weekend and let us use it in the meanwhile. Also, I got to learn that Jesus who planned our stay in Spain, had ncluded a couple of days in Seville in this visit. So, we ended up spending 2 nts in Madrid, and 2 nts in Seville.
In Madrid, the only thing I really wished to see which I had not been able to the last time I was there, was the Prado museum and the Reina Sofia Museum. I did not mention it though as I did not think that the others would be interested in spending a few hrs in a Museum.. however much to my surprise, Jesus himself recommened that we go to the museums if we have any interest in art. He said that he enjoys art and will go back. So, on Saturday we went to the Reina Sofia. I did not know much about this museum, but It was incredible! I particularly loved Picasso’s Guernica.. <
Photo 1> (I am not necessarily a big fan of Picasso, but this work was really awesome.) I was quite awestruck with the painting.. I never did study or look at the painting closely before but now, looking at it in such close quarters I could see all the different elements of the painting. Also in an adjoining room were all the sketches he had made before the painting ended up in the form it actually is. It really is a must see if one is in Madrid. The other section of the museum I really enjoyed was seeing Dali's works. I have been a big fan of Dali since I was a teenager, but as yet I had not seen any of his original works. I did not realize that the Reina Sofia housed his paintings, and it came as a real pleasant surprise. The paintings were a lot more magnificent than I had imagined. The colors so bright and vibrant… it looked like the painting was just recently completed. Well, yes.. just my day on Saturday would have made my trip worthwhile.. but there was more. My experiences actually just got better every day.
On Sunday, we visited the Museo del Prado… I wasn’t too familiar with most of the paintings in the Prado, but of course the collection was incredible. There was no way we could get to see even a fourth of that museum in half a day. We spent the majority of our time looking at Goya's works. It was really interesting seeing his paintings and especially the radical changes in his painting style with the “black paintings” .. the ones he painted when he was going blind .. and probably insane. Again, it was one of those things that I hadn’t heard of before, so it really was great to be able to see all these masterpieces.
After the Prado, we hopped on the ACE (super fast) train to Seville. The train ride was fun and extremely comfortable. The trip took 2.5 hrs. Can’t believe in such a short time we were in the south of Spain.
Seville is something else! The two days spent th
ere were absolutely perfect! Surprisingly, that also includes the weather. (If you have read my previous blogs you will understand why I am so happy about this great weather) Jesus and Cristina live in Seville.. Actually Jesus just moved to Seville recently even though he still spends some time in Madrid during the week. Their apartment was beautiful. The building was an old monastery that was converted into apartments. (Photo 3: View from the terrace of Jesus's apartment). The rooms, the décor the old rustic furnishings was all so pretty. It really made me wish I had a house too.. gosh how I would love to decorate that! Anyways, back to Seville.. the night we got there, we ate Tapas at a Cerveceria in the square in front of the apartment. (Don’t think I can travel to someplace and not mention food somewhere :). I got to drink my first Sangria in spain in this trip. I had been craving it in Germany, but couldn’t find a place that knew how to make a good one. This was not too bad. However the tapas, those were fantastic. This place had so many v
egetarian options for Tapas.. We ordered about 8 different kinds of dishes and they were all so good. Well, that started the Tapas tradition. Every meal after that night was at a Tapas bar, and I got to have Sangria a couple more times. There is just something about the Tapas bars and the “cerveceria’s” of Spain that is so unique.. I think it is the atmosphere more than anything else. It is hard for me to describe it in words.. it just needs to be experienced. Besides food, Seville is still an awesome town. There is an enormous cathedral, supposed to be the biggest in Europe.. (which Jesus said that Sevillians generally think that everything is bigger and better in Seville) however in this case I do think that they were right. It was a huge cathedral. Because we had limited time, We did not go inside the cathedral, but walked around the old city, soaked up all the sunshine as I had been craving for that for weeks. The city is so incredibly charming. Tiny passages, cobblestoned streets, old houses with lots of flowers hanging from the baconies and windows, small gardens and squares.. it really was awesome!. We also walked towards the newer part of the city which was nice but not as spectacular as the old city. I did enjoy the Place de Espana though, as well as the walk by the river.
On Tuesday I had my flight scheduled from Madrid back to Stuttgart. This was the only downfall of my trip. I am embarrassed to even write about it in my blog, but it is also so funny when I look back upon it. I wanted to book a flight around 7pm from Madrid and thought that it was exactly what I booked with Lufthansa. So, on Tuesday morning we were shopping in the city, we came home at 1pm to collect our luggage and take the 2pm train from Seville to Madrid which would get us in Madrid at 4:30pm at the Atocha rail station. I looked at my Lufthansa flight itinerary to see what terminal my flight leaves from and to my horror, I read that my flight is at 17:00 and not 7pm. Being in Seville there was nothing I could do. The first train I could take was in 45 min .. at 2pm. And getting to Madrid station at 430 would not help as the train station was about 30 min away from the airport. Anyways I did end up taking the train, and then going to the airport. I was hoping that Lufthansa would perform some miracle and I could take the next flight home. Jesus and Christina were in Seville and Roy and I went to the airport together. Everything was all right with Roy’s flight which was at 7:45pm so he checked in and was able to travel. With my flight, I came to find out that it was the last flight to Stuttgart. There was nothing available until the next day. I know from experience that I would have had to buy a new one way ticket to get to Stuttgart as this was entirely my fault, but I also know from experience (and being a travel agent at one time) that nothing is impossible at the airport. So with some sweet talking and a little tears I was able to get the girl at the Lufthansa counter change my ticket to the next morning without charging me anything. Jesus in the meanwhile was so wonderful too. He arranged for me to stay with a friend (actually a friend of a friend) that night in Madrid. So eventually it all worked out. I flew home the next day. It sucked that I had to miss another day of school, but really it could have been a whole lot worse. I guess I need to learn my lesson .. watcj out for the military clocks and the am pms..:) Anyways in spite of the bump at the end of the trip, it still turned out to me by best travel in Europe this year.
March 9th – 13th
A friend from USC was traveling to Madrid over spring break and I thought it would be a great place to visit as well. I haven’t traveled out of Germany since January (that was the time I first arrived here ). I have been to Madrid
before in September 2005 and loved it there, so I am was really looking forward to this trip. We stayed with friends in Spain, Jesus and his fiancé Christina. I haven’t seen better hospitality than that which we got from Jesus and Christina (Photo 1 - in a Tapas bar with Jesus and Christina). They were really awesome, and took care to make sure we had a great time, which of course we did.I flew with Lufthansa on a special advertised fare from Stuttgart to Madrid. I met Jesus and Roy at the airport in Madrid. Jesus had arranged an apartment for us to stay at. It belongs to his niece Barbara who was traveling out of town that weekend and let us use it in the meanwhile. Also, I got to learn that Jesus who planned our stay in Spain, had ncluded a couple of days in Seville in this visit. So, we ended up spending 2 nts in Madrid, and 2 nts in Seville.
In Madrid, the only thing I really wished to see which I had not been able to the last time I was there, was the Prado museum and the Reina Sofia Museum. I did not mention it though as I did not think that the others would be interested in spending a few hrs in a Museum.. however much to my surprise, Jesus himself recommened that we go to the museums if we have any interest in art. He said that he enjoys art and will go back. So, on Saturday we went to the Reina Sofia. I did not know much about this museum, but It was incredible! I particularly loved Picasso’s Guernica.. <
Photo 1> (I am not necessarily a big fan of Picasso, but this work was really awesome.) I was quite awestruck with the painting.. I never did study or look at the painting closely before but now, looking at it in such close quarters I could see all the different elements of the painting. Also in an adjoining room were all the sketches he had made before the painting ended up in the form it actually is. It really is a must see if one is in Madrid. The other section of the museum I really enjoyed was seeing Dali's works. I have been a big fan of Dali since I was a teenager, but as yet I had not seen any of his original works. I did not realize that the Reina Sofia housed his paintings, and it came as a real pleasant surprise. The paintings were a lot more magnificent than I had imagined. The colors so bright and vibrant… it looked like the painting was just recently completed. Well, yes.. just my day on Saturday would have made my trip worthwhile.. but there was more. My experiences actually just got better every day.On Sunday, we visited the Museo del Prado… I wasn’t too familiar with most of the paintings in the Prado, but of course the collection was incredible. There was no way we could get to see even a fourth of that museum in half a day. We spent the majority of our time looking at Goya's works. It was really interesting seeing his paintings and especially the radical changes in his painting style with the “black paintings” .. the ones he painted when he was going blind .. and probably insane. Again, it was one of those things that I hadn’t heard of before, so it really was great to be able to see all these masterpieces.
After the Prado, we hopped on the ACE (super fast) train to Seville. The train ride was fun and extremely comfortable. The trip took 2.5 hrs. Can’t believe in such a short time we were in the south of Spain.
Seville is something else! The two days spent th
ere were absolutely perfect! Surprisingly, that also includes the weather. (If you have read my previous blogs you will understand why I am so happy about this great weather) Jesus and Cristina live in Seville.. Actually Jesus just moved to Seville recently even though he still spends some time in Madrid during the week. Their apartment was beautiful. The building was an old monastery that was converted into apartments. (Photo 3: View from the terrace of Jesus's apartment). The rooms, the décor the old rustic furnishings was all so pretty. It really made me wish I had a house too.. gosh how I would love to decorate that! Anyways, back to Seville.. the night we got there, we ate Tapas at a Cerveceria in the square in front of the apartment. (Don’t think I can travel to someplace and not mention food somewhere :). I got to drink my first Sangria in spain in this trip. I had been craving it in Germany, but couldn’t find a place that knew how to make a good one. This was not too bad. However the tapas, those were fantastic. This place had so many v
egetarian options for Tapas.. We ordered about 8 different kinds of dishes and they were all so good. Well, that started the Tapas tradition. Every meal after that night was at a Tapas bar, and I got to have Sangria a couple more times. There is just something about the Tapas bars and the “cerveceria’s” of Spain that is so unique.. I think it is the atmosphere more than anything else. It is hard for me to describe it in words.. it just needs to be experienced. Besides food, Seville is still an awesome town. There is an enormous cathedral, supposed to be the biggest in Europe.. (which Jesus said that Sevillians generally think that everything is bigger and better in Seville) however in this case I do think that they were right. It was a huge cathedral. Because we had limited time, We did not go inside the cathedral, but walked around the old city, soaked up all the sunshine as I had been craving for that for weeks. The city is so incredibly charming. Tiny passages, cobblestoned streets, old houses with lots of flowers hanging from the baconies and windows, small gardens and squares.. it really was awesome!. We also walked towards the newer part of the city which was nice but not as spectacular as the old city. I did enjoy the Place de Espana though, as well as the walk by the river.On Tuesday I had my flight scheduled from Madrid back to Stuttgart. This was the only downfall of my trip. I am embarrassed to even write about it in my blog, but it is also so funny when I look back upon it. I wanted to book a flight around 7pm from Madrid and thought that it was exactly what I booked with Lufthansa. So, on Tuesday morning we were shopping in the city, we came home at 1pm to collect our luggage and take the 2pm train from Seville to Madrid which would get us in Madrid at 4:30pm at the Atocha rail station. I looked at my Lufthansa flight itinerary to see what terminal my flight leaves from and to my horror, I read that my flight is at 17:00 and not 7pm. Being in Seville there was nothing I could do. The first train I could take was in 45 min .. at 2pm. And getting to Madrid station at 430 would not help as the train station was about 30 min away from the airport. Anyways I did end up taking the train, and then going to the airport. I was hoping that Lufthansa would perform some miracle and I could take the next flight home. Jesus and Christina were in Seville and Roy and I went to the airport together. Everything was all right with Roy’s flight which was at 7:45pm so he checked in and was able to travel. With my flight, I came to find out that it was the last flight to Stuttgart. There was nothing available until the next day. I know from experience that I would have had to buy a new one way ticket to get to Stuttgart as this was entirely my fault, but I also know from experience (and being a travel agent at one time) that nothing is impossible at the airport. So with some sweet talking and a little tears I was able to get the girl at the Lufthansa counter change my ticket to the next morning without charging me anything. Jesus in the meanwhile was so wonderful too. He arranged for me to stay with a friend (actually a friend of a friend) that night in Madrid. So eventually it all worked out. I flew home the next day. It sucked that I had to miss another day of school, but really it could have been a whole lot worse. I guess I need to learn my lesson .. watcj out for the military clocks and the am pms..:) Anyways in spite of the bump at the end of the trip, it still turned out to me by best travel in Europe this year.
posted by Kavita @ 4:32 PM
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