Plaza de Espana at Blue Hour
Although this large open square, Plaza de España, may look several hundred years old, it was built relatively recently, 1929, when Seville, Spain hosted the World’s Fair. Access to this plaza and the huge adjacent gardens is free and it is so large it is never very crowded. Great local music was being played and echoing around the tiled hallways as I explored this plaza.
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Flamenco Triptic
Malaga, Spain is not terribly different from some of the other towns we had already visited over the last 30 days. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, but we have explored some of these activities before.
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Alhambra Sunset
The Alhambra is a Moorish palace and fortress complex located at the top of a hill in the city of Granada, Andalusia Spain. It was built in the 8th century by the Moors, or if you are a fan of the Seinfeld Show the Moops.
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Valencia Oranges at the Valencia Nord Train Station
Valencia, Spain is home of the Valencia orange, many olive groves and birthplace of famed futuristic architect and engineer, Santiago Calatrava. One of his larger installations is in Valencia, named the City of Arts and Sciences.
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Arc de Triomf built for the 1888 Barcelona World’s Fair
My previous blogs of Barcelona have highlighted the works of innovative Spanish-born architect Antoni Gaudi, the Segrada Familia Basicilia, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, as well as the Barcelona concert hall (not Gaudi). Now I’ll simply take you around Barcelona for some of the interesting sites and discoveries.
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Sagrada Familia Center Ceiling
The Segrada Familia is a Roman Catholic Basilica designed by Antoni Gaudy. It is one of four major architectural designs in Barcelona, Spain by the famous artist-architect and has been under construction since 1882.
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Barcelona Music Hall Panorama the Palau de la Música Catalana
This magnificent music hall is known to Barcelonians as Palau de la Música Catalana. I walked here late one afternoon in search of tour tickets, only to find the ticket office had closed hours earlier. The walk here took me down some of the many narrow streets which are common in the older sections of the city.
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La Pedrera Warrior and Little Buddy in Casa Milà
It is difficult to comprehend living in Casa Milà, the famous Antoni Gaudí designed apartment building as several families do to this today. There may not be a straight line nor 90 degree angle in the entire seven story complex. Gaudi is where we get the term gaudy, but I do not think that term fits this great innovative architect.
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Town of Madera on the Island of Funchal, Portugal
The Portuguese Island of Funchal is 600 miles from the mainland but is a great introduction to European life when cruising to Europe. Each time we have visited here we enjoyed it so much we contemplated renting an apartment for a while.
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Norwegian Jade Cruise Boat, we boarded in Houston, Texas
Tenth day at sea, another week until we arrive at our final destination of Barcelona… My advice to anyone else looking to follow in our footsteps or those beginning world travelers is don’t fall for a bargain price on a l-o-n-g cruise.
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