A view of Barcelona harbor from the mountains.
This year's adventure was to Spain, specifically Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo. I was excited for this one. Not only for the chance to practice my Spanish but one of my favorite artists, Salvador Dali, built a museum in his hometown, about 90 minutes from Barcelona. This museum is not to be missed. Unfortunately, the tour did not include a trip to see his museum and, as it is a 3-hour round trip drive, I knew it would take a full day. So, I arrived in Spain 2 days before the official tour started so that I could visit.
As always, I picked the Asian Vegetarian option for my overseas flights. I also picked up some packets of dried fruit (at the grocery store the day prior, airport stores will totally gouge you for these) for snacking. That took care of my travel meals. As my travel to Spain was a bit problematic, having extra snacks was helpful.
I won’t bore you with the flights to and from Spain, suffice it to say that they are best forgotten and move on.
But…all the travel hassles to Spain were forgotten when the tour group picked me up at the hotel (I paid for a local tour company to take me to the Dali Museum in Figueres). First, we went to Girona, a medieval Spanish village where you can see walls and buildings that include the old Roman elements, the elements from the Barbarians that attacked several times, and Spanish elements.
The Dali Museum was everything I had been told. I admit the guy had some weirdness in his art. But I seem to like that weirdness. FYI – he and Walt Disney partnered on a short cartoon back in the 1940’s (you can find it here on YouTube), that I recommend you watch. Watching it is a treat for any Salvador Dali fan. There is another museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, for those who don’t want to travel overseas. I have not seen it. But…if it is anything like the one he built in Figueres, please find the opportunity to visit. It is also on my list.
The next day, I still had most of the day to myself until meeting the official tour group. So, I bought a ride on one of those “Hop On/Hop Off” buses to wander around Barcelona. I found a Chocolate Museum! Probably not vegan, but all of the installations were made from chocolate, and they had this video series that explored the history of chocolate. The Hop On/Hop Off buses are a great way to see many cities when you don’t have much time. There is recorded commentary, the full tour lasts about 2 hours, and you are able to get off at every stop to visit places in the area. As most of the places to visit are only a few blocks from the stops, and there is a bus every 10 minutes or so, I was able to visit a lot of places that were not part of my tour package for a relatively inexpensive price, much cheaper than a taxi or Uber.
Then I met my tour group for a nice glass of organic Cava, the local version of sparkling wine, and we trekked to a nearby restaurant for a nice dinner as we all got acquainted. There were a couple of vegetarians and vegans, which made things nice. One of my culinary school projects was to make Patatas Bravas, fried potato pieces covered with a layer of spicy sauce. The restaurant served a slightly different type. I liked how they prepared their potatoes, but my sauce is better.
Our first, included, tour was a bus tour of Barcelona. I was glad I had done a different tour the day prior because it allowed me to see parts of Barcelona that the included tour did not show us. It also included a tour of La Sagrada Familia. Still under construction more than 140 years after Gaudi first started working on it, it is a massive structure. While it was a fantastic example of Gaudi’s work, I didn’t find it worth all the fuss that was made. And the crowd was insane! I much preferred his other 2 buildings in Barcelona, which I highly recommend – Casa Battlo and La Padrera. Please put them on your Barcelona “to visit” list, if you have such a list.
The next day was a tour of Montserrat, a monastery complex about an hour away from Barcelona and then to an organic Cava producer. If you have never toured a winery to see how they make their product, please do so. Many wineries in the U.S. allow this and, if you are a wine lover like me (vegan, of course), you will find it very interesting.
After a tour of Park Guell, another Gaudi work that I also did not like as much as Casa Battlo and La Pedrera, we packed up for our high-speed train trip to Madrid. Park Guell was also too crowded to enjoy in full.
I have found that, if we go to the overly popular (therefore lots of folks wanting to take their selfies for IG) places, the crowds are insane and you don’t enjoy as much as the less popular, but still nice, places. For instance, when I visited Italy, the Trevi Fountain was insane. But the Pantheon, which is also wonderful, had much fewer people. It was the same with the British Museum versus the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Brit was horribly crowded, while the less-known, but way cooler, V&A was almost empty.
The high-speed train was cool. It was my first time on one and I asked several of my English students, who live in places that have high-speed trains, like Tokyo, how fast they go. I was pleased to know that my 2-hour ride would be both comfortable and fast. I think I napped a little.
Madrid was a shorter visit than Barcelona. I only had time to visit the Temple of Debod, the royal palace and garden, and The Prado. But all are worthy of a visit. The Temple of Debod, a gift from Egypt in exchange for Spain’s assistance during the Aswan dam construction, is on a lovely hill that shows you a wonderful panoramic view of Madrid. The Royal Palace is beautiful; there is a cost to tour the palace but nothing to tour the incredibly expansive gardens. So, worthy of a visit. It was very quiet, a sanctuary in the middle of the bustling city of Madrid.
The Prado, though, was epic. If you could only visit this world-famous museum during your trip, it would still be worth a trip to Madrid. There are paintings by many famous Spanish artists (there are several rooms almost totally dominated by El Greco, and Las Meninas by Velazquez is prominently displayed) in addition to some Italian artists and Dutch artists. Several years ago, the museum discovered that it had a lost Caravaggio! Wow!
Our last day was spent wandering the historic hillside town of Toledo, famous for its candy and shopping. I purchased a lovely purse and wallet made entirely of cork! And had some more patata’s bravas for lunch. I discovered Marzipan, luckily a vegan version as some versions can contain milk and/or eggs. I am not a fan of sweets, but I became hooked on this lovely candy. I had to bring some home and maybe it will go on my list of recipes to try.
Ten days in Spain was about 2 days too long to be away from my furbabies, but I had a wonderful time and would be happy to go again. My next adventure (and the deposit has already been paid) is to Paris in July. It will be a shorter visit than my visit to Spain, only 5 days, but, like my trip to London last year, I intend to make the most of it. Send me your suggestions.
Until our next adventure. Adiós!
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