Spain – Wander Europe

Madrid

Tiara — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 21:48:36 +0000

Madrid is exceedingly hip. We spent a few days there with our friends Pam and Josh before our week in Morocco, and we returned for a few more days on our own. We stayed near the Malasaña and Chueca neighborhoods, which are full of vintage shops and great restaurants.

A lot of these streets feel just like the Mission or Hayes Valley, but there are some not-so-subtle reminders you are in Spain:

Madrid doesn’t have a lot of famous, picture-worthy landmarks, but the whole city is just really pretty to look at, especially in autumn:

We crossed off several of our must-see-before-we-die paintings, including Guernica and Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. Reina Sofia has one of the most impressive collections I’ve ever seen, and Guernica was totally worth all the years I waited to see it. I really wanted to walk through this installation and ring all the bells:

A few final pictures as we say hasta luego to Madrid:

This bear trying to eat strawberries from a tree is a symbol of the city. J’approve. Even though strawberries don’t grow on trees I admire the bear’s effort.

Toast with tomato and olive oil is my new favorite breakfast.

This cat was creepy.

Rainy Basque Country

Tiara — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 16:15:23 +0000

We took some day trips from San Sebastián to see more of the countryside. It rained everywhere we went, but the towns we visited were all really picturesque and once we gave in and purchased umbrellas we were up for exploring. The northern countryside is dramatic and home to lots of cute fishing villages.

We spent one day walking around Bilbao. The Guggenheim was closed but still really neat to see from the outside.

We warmed up with churros and hot chocolate:

The town of Burgos has an impressive cathedral, which looks cool poking out from behind bright and colorful city squares.

As we began our drive toward Madrid, we passed through several microclimates and Ian took pictures of the changing scenery:

San Sebastián

Tiara — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 09:41:48 +0000

After a few days in Barcelona, we rented a car and drove up to San Sebastián with Pam and Josh and with a plan of eating all the pintxos (that region’s tapas) we could find. Along the way, we stopped in Zaragoza to stretch our legs and have some lunch. Zaragoza had a nice waterfront and some pretty shops and cathedrals in the old quarter. It also had a shopping mall with a two-story tall Augustus statue in the middle. We’re not sure why.

It mostly rained during our stay in San Sebastián but we made the most of a break in the weather by heading up Mont Igueldo for a view of the city.

The weather did not stop us from our primary objective: pintxos. The very best we had were at Bar Zeruko, which was so popular that we had to elbow our way up to the counter to fill our little plates with snacks. There were probably sixty or seventy types of pintxos laid out on the counter and each one was a work of art.

Round 1

Happy pintxos eaters

Happy cider drinker

In between pintxos, we walked around the city and popped into lots of cute shops, including this chocolate shop where you could propose to your partner with a chocolate sheep:

Spain, you do things so very well.

Barcelona

Tiara — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 22:49:23 +0000

It was wonderful to come back to Barcelona after seven years. We really enjoyed the city the last time we were here, but this time we did it even better. We had our good friends from San Francisco, Pam and Josh, visiting us and together we explored cute neighborhoods and fully embraced la hora de vermut.

Cutest hat shop

Pretty fish at La Boqueria market

Ian and I were excited to go back to Sagrada Familia and see the progress since our last visit. The cathedral now has a completion date (2026-2028!) and a lot has changed in the last seven years.

The most magical thing to see was the effect of the light shining through the stained glass on the interior:

A climb up one of the towers was also a great chance to peer out over the city and to see the new fruit sculptures topping some of the shorter spires.

We were extra fortunate to cross paths with one of Ian’s best friends from high school, Adam, and his wife, Alli, and all six of us had an excellent tapas meal together. So much to be thankful for!