Spain and Portugal trip

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL TRIP
SEPTEMBER 201

Our adventure began on Friday the 13^th of September.  The date certainly did not detract from a wonderful trip.  A limo bus picked up the Brannens, Bostjancics and Hanleys about noon and took us to O’Hare.  Tony and Riley brought along a stash of candy for the trip. The bus ride there included a champagne toast to a great trip.  The plane (Iberian Air) left about 5 pm. and we arrived in Madrid about 7 am in the morning (with the 7 hour time difference).  Neither Bill nor Linda slept well on the flight.  There were 2 meals served and the movie The Interns was shown.

The Globus rep met us at the airport.  We were also joined by Deb Olson who flew in from Miami (and, boy, are her arms tired).  While waiting, we obtained euros from the ATM.   Exchange was 1 euro equals $1.40.  We motored by bus to the hotel near downtown Madrid, noting much graffiti along the highways. Saw gas stations (Repsol) with fuel for $1.40 euros per liter, equivalent to about $7 gallon. Madrid is a large city with 3.8 million population.  Spain is having financial difficulties with 50% unemployment rate for population under 30. The hotel was a little dated but still nice.  Rather than sleep, the group went on a walking tour of the city.  We ended up at the Puerta del Sol, an open parkway/gathering place surrounded by restaurants.  We had lunch at Pizzelle.   What I thought to be a sausage omelette was a fried egg on top off French fries with small sausages and peppers.  The walk back to the hotel seemed longer than the walk there.

Before dinner at the hotel that night, there was an introductory tour group meeting.  Dinner included sangria and buffet.  After dinner the whole group walked a few blocks to a local establishment for drinks and tapas.  We sat outside and got to know our other companions, Cindy and Carol, better. Conversation included everyone telling their worst vacation story.  Carol’s broken leg in Italy while bike riding was the worst.  Right next to the tavern was a large basilica and fancy secluded residence that was hosting a wedding reception.

Sunday morning began bright and early with breakfast at the hotel.  Long lines for coffee and it didn’t taste like Americano.   New tastes were figs, dates, runny eggs, pork and beans, hamon and other cured meats.   By bus, we went on a tour of Madrid, seeing a statue of Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) in a park and visited the Prado museum.  At the Prado, we saw the works of Goya, Rubens and Greco.  We then headed north to Toledo, a picturesque city known for its metalworking (swords, etc.).  Temperature was in the 90’s (38 Celsius).  Had tapas for lunch in a quaint restaurant.  You choose the tapas you wanted and paid based upon the size of the toothpick in the meal.  We stopped at a store that had swords and other metal objects for sale.  The ride back to Madrid was quite warm as the air conditioning on the bus was not working well.

Spain has a population of 46 million and most live in apartments in the cities.  The areas we drove through were sparsely populated.  Agriculture was primarily olive trees and grapes.  There was some corn, barley, sunflowers, almond trees, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, melons, poplars and oranges.  The soil was pale light brown in color.  In September, it is very dry and almost desert like, similar to Arizona or southern California.  Homes and buildings were usually white with tile roofs.

Deb Olson through the Internet learned that the oldest restaurant in the world was in Madrid.  The restaurant Botin was established in 1725 and is the oldest per Guinness Book of records.  It was a fun night for the Plainfield group of ten.  House specialties were lamb and roasted suckling pig and white asparagus and of course, sangria and vino blanco and rojas.  The evening was festive with several toasts.  Our toasts were not outdone by a competing group of Asian businessmen from China looking to acquire a company with pork facilities (source of protein).  One gentleman came over and had pictures taken with us.  We taxied back to the hotel.

Monday the 16^th started early as we had to have our suitcases out by our doors at 7am.  Same breakfast as day before.  Moved south to Cordoba known for its leather.  Visited a mosque with a Cathedral inside. Saw a large silver monstrance that is paraded on the feast of Corpus Christi.  Had pizza for lunch.  Riley found a Burger King for lunch.

Moved onto Seville (700,000 population), which is where the locals believe Christopher Columbus is buried.  Others believe he is buried in San Salvador.  Seville had a large exposition in 1992 to mark the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage.  We took a boat cruise on the river and saw the expo buildings and unusual bridges, one shaped like a ship mast with supporting wires and one with circular supports designed by Eiffel.

Seville is also known by a Lenten festival in which participants wear white pointed capes.

Dinner in Seville was at the hotel, which was nicer than the one in Madrid.  We sat with Joe, Deb, Cindy and Carol.  For dessert, we had our first taste of gelato.  The lemon was especially good.

Tuesday, September 17—Breakfast brought new tastes, pastries, gumdrops for the yogurt, melon and the same coffee issues.  There was a bus tour of the city and a walking tour of the Al Jezera mosque.  There was a group picture taken outside the mosque.  We climbed in the top of the Metropol Parasol, a steel mushroom shaped structure, that offered a wonderful view of the city.  We returned to the hotel and found a restaurant nearby for lunch.   Lunch was rump meat, pollo or combination plate.  We passed on the meat cheeks (meat from the face of the pig).   While Linda and the other ladies went shopping at the Spanish equivalent of Macy’s, Tony, Riley and Bill went by taxi to the Cathedral de Seville, where Christopher Columbus is buried.  We climbed 34 flights to the top of a tower, for another spectacular view of Seville.  The tower also had beautiful bells that sounded every hour.   The Cathedral was amazing with close to 30 ornate side altars as well as main altars.

For dinner Tuesday, we abandoned the group who attended a Flamenco dancing revue.  Deb O., Brannens and us went tapas hopping.  We sat outside for a drink and bread and cheese.   We watched families out for evening strolls.  The parents did not seem to concerned about the children.  Spaniards still take a 2 hour siesta during the day so dinner doesn’t start till about 9 pm.

Tapas hopping included another stop at a taverna.    We tried the hamon, which the cured hind quarter leg of a pig, that was behind the bar.  The waiter took out a knife, wiped it clean on his apron and then cut very thin slices of ham.  The slices resembled bacon and were tasty.  The waiter also told us about the upcoming bull fight that upcoming weekend. We did not see any bullfighting in Seville, but did see an arena with a statue of Alexander Fleming the inventor of penicillin outside.  Penicillin is vital in stopping infections caused by bull gorings.

The final tapas stop of the night was at Marinos, which we finally found with some help some help from a local senora.   Here the tapas plates included lettuce salad and cavier.

Wednesday, September 18---bussed to scenic Granada and visited the Alhambra, a Moorish palace and fortress known for its tessellations, court of lions fountain and book written by Washington Irving, “Tales of the Alhambra”.  Returned to the hotel and then to a local restaurant for dinner.  Our dinner companions were Bob and Carol, from Pennsylvania.  Dinner was fish, a vegetarian paella and of course sangria.  We walked back to the hotel after dinner, with Masoud and Sohelia.

Thursday, September 19—Motored through the Malaga region, close to the Strait of Gilbraltar and Costa del Sol.  Sighted the Mediterranean Sea.  Arrived in Valencia, known for its oranges.  The oranges are bittersweet and shipped to England to make marmalade.  Had a city tour and saw marvelous architecture—a performing arts center, opera house and garden.  Majestic arches and construction.  Saw two soccer fans fighting in the street and a large police presence as the local soccer team played that afternoon.  Returned to the hotel for dinner with the Indian family contingent of 8.  2 had to return home because of toothache.

Friday, September 20—Bus ride to Barcelona, arriving at about 1:30.  Hotel room includes shower with no privacy only glass doors. Went on a Beautiful Barcelona city tour to Guell  Park, designed by Gaudi.  Saw arches and benches made from colorful tile pieces.  Guell Park was supposed to be a model community, but only two homes were built.  We also saw La Rambla, famous street.  Dinner was at a small restaurant.  Our group of ten made their night as there were only 4 other patrons.  Waitress spoke limited English, but most everyone ended up with a good meal.  Briefly went to a music concert for the town festival for their patron saint.  The festival is called La Merce, lasts five days and is a farewell to summer.  Our hotel was next to a large building called the Suppository (Torre Agbar).  At night it was lit up in beautiful colors including a display of the famous Castellian human tower—which can be six or seven people high.  Cab ride back home.

Saturday, September 21—Bus ride to Sagrada Familia.  Disappointed that our tour was only a walk around the cathedral.  Amazing building—construction began in 1882 and is hoped to be done in 2026, the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi, the designer.  Others think it will take another 25 years after that.  When complete , the basilica will have 18 towers reaching a height of 560 feet.  Masses are rarely held here as construction would have to stop.  After visit here, went to Olympic Village, site of the 1992 Olympics and a spectacular view of the city.  Barcelona was the most visited city in the world with 2 million visitors per year.  It was recently surpassed by Singapore.  Barcelona apartments displayed Castellian flags (red and yellow).  A faction of separatists wants Castelia (including Barcelona) to secede from Spain and form their own nation.  A certain type of flag meant you supported secession and another meant you supported unity.

After city tour that ended in downtown Barcelona, we walked back to Sagrada Familia hoping to be able to tour the inside.   We were not successful because of a one and half hour wait.  We taxied back to the beach and stuck our toe in the Mediterranean and noted some topless bathers. A farewell dinner was held at a restaurant near beach for the entire Globus group.  Yvonne was our Globus tour guide.

Sunday, September 22—The Plainfield group of ten left early for the airport to travel to Portugal.  Cindy left her iPad at the hotel and the bus driver returned so she could retrieve it.  We flew from Barcelona to Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal on TAP airlines.  It was approximately a 2 hour flight.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by our tour guide Susanna, a very pleasant lady.  We had a tour of the city including stops along the Tejo River where the magnificent Discoverers monument was.  Portugal really discovered the New World led by Henry the Explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasca de Gama and others.  We visited St. Jerome Abbey and tasted the famous egg tart (custardlike pie).  We walked to dinner and had the baked salted cod and lobster.  The Portuguese eat a lot of cod.  On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped and listened to some guitarists playing music on the parkway.  The Portuguese seem more receptive to Americans than the Spanish.  A majority of the TV programs are in English with Portuguese subtitles so many Portuguese know English.  Portugal also has a very high income tax rate of 54% on income over $70,000 euros.

Monday, September 23—The Brannens, Deb Olsen and Linda and Bill took a bus trip to Fatima.  We visited the homes of the 3 children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinto. Our tour guide introduced us to a niece of Lucia. The souvenir shops are about one mile away from the site of the apparition on October 13, 1917.  The Fatima site includes a small altar where the oak tree was.  Pilgrims took parts of the tree and destroyed it.  A simple white building by the small altar marks the site.  There is also a basilica and a recently built 7000 seat church.  There is also a section of the Berlin wall here, because of one of the secrets regarding the conversion of Russia.  We also saw a cork tree here.  Instead of lighting votive candles, the custom is to buy candles or candles of body parts and toss them into a fire.

The afternoon was spent shopping and walking. We took an incline ride to a plaza for an overview of Lisboa.  Dinner that night was a restaurant along the river under the April 25 bridge.  Bridge is named for the peaceful military coup on April 25, 1974 that overthrew the dictator.  Carnations were put in the muzzles of the rifles of the army.  The bridge is a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Tuesday, September 24—Took bus ride to mountain area of Sintra to view the Pena National Palace.  Susanna suggested we bring jackets as Sintra has its own microclimate and it was cloudy and chilly when we visited.  The Portuguese royal family lived at Pena from about 1850 to 1910.  Sintra the town is very scenic and the group shopped here and enjoyed the cherry cordials (liqueur in a chocolate cup).  Upon return to Lisboa, we walked back down to the Tejo River  and had drinks and shrimp cocktails.   We also made a lunch stop at a McDonalds.  French fries were identical.  Biggest difference was beer on the menu.

Wednesday, September 25---Early wakeup call (4 am) for bus ride to airport.  Took TAP flight back to Madrid before home to O’Hare.  Return flight seemed much longer than trip there.  Again, two meals and The Great Gatsby movie.  Passed through customs quickly and then home safely to Plainfield.  Wonderful trip!