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by Mary Williams
All
went well getting to Spain; the weather was cool and sunny for the first
10 days and we had a good group of 28 people from all over the U.S. and
two from Montreal. We were an interesting group of mostly retired
professional people, all well traveled and many with a number of
Elderhostels behind them. My vegetarian meals consisted mostly of
omelets with a lettuce and tomato salad. Always just vinegar and oil on
the table, and always hard crusty rolls. The rolls got better as we went
along. Madrid
was as glorious as ever (my daughter Kathy and I were there in 1989, but
we had continued to Granada, Segovia, Seville, Cordoba, Costa del Sol,
Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia, then on to the area around Lisbon). We began
with lectures on Spanish geography and early Spanish history and then
toured the city by bus, including a trip to the archeological museum -
all very interesting. Our hotel was on the main square (Puerta del Sol)
in Madrid, very convenient for everything. The next day we went on a
guided tour of the Prado art museum (full of Velasquez and Goya and
other artists – also lots of groups) and a tapestry factory; then with
our afternoon free, Kay and I went to another art museum, the Reina
Sofia, where we saw the Picasso “Guernica” and other modern art,
including a wonderful Calder exhibit.
In the evening we attended a Zarzuela performance in a nearby
theater. Zarzuelas are similar to our musicals and are about the life of
people in century-ago Spain, always with lots of singing and flamenco
dancing. Though we didn’t understand the Spanish, we did enjoy the
very good singing and dancing. The
next day we went to Segovia and El Escorial. Segovia is a small town NW
of Madrid famed for its standing Roman aqueduct, which still runs right
through the middle of the town. We hiked up the hill on winding
cobblestone streets to the main square and to the castle, where we
toured the castle. There was a beautiful view of the surrounding
countryside. El Escorial is nearby and was a monastery built by one of
the King Philips who turned religious in later life. There is a
beautiful church there, royal apartments, library and the crypt where
many kings and queens of Spain and other royalty are buried. In the
evening back in Madrid we walked to a nearby square that had many tapas
restaurants and ate tapas at two of them. Lots of folks were out on the
streets till the wee hours. Our
next stop (by bus) was Valencia. Weather remained cool and sunny (50s -
60s). I loved Valencia with its mix of old city and art nouveau
buildings, but especially the new Next
we went to Barcelona by bus and enroute visited the town of Sagunto and
its Roman Theater that has been restored and is still being used. We
began our stay in Barcelona with two very good lectures on Catalan
history, culture and language and on Spanish Romanesque and Gothic
architecture. Then we toured the city by bus and drove to the area
around the Olympic games grounds – Montjuic; the park is high on a
hill with a great view of the city and also houses several permanent
museums. There we toured the Joan Miro museum and the Catalan art museum
with its good collection of Romanesque frescoes rescued from small
churches in the Pyrenees- very good!
We
had some free time to explore La Rambla – the pedestrian walk with its
many shops and markets, including a vegetable market and bird market. I
was also able to go into the old city to the Cathedral and other
churches and to the Picasso Museum, housed in several old (now
adjoining) palaces of shipbuilders. Again, we were well located.
Our beautiful weather for the first part of the trip disappeared
our last day in Barcelona – rain, wind and chilly weather set in. We
spent our last night at a flamenco show – really an art from
Andalusia, not Catalonia. But it was very enjoyable.
We
flew to Palma, Mallorca for our next visit. It was our misfortune to be
in Mallorca on a weekend, as no one works on weekends and everything was
closed. However, the old
town is very interesting with a combination of art nouveau and 15-19th
century old city and a beautiful cathedral. We also traveled by bus to
Valldemosa and Port Soller in the NW mountains with beautiful views,
cobblestone streets and rugged coastline. We visited the apartment in a
refurbished monastery where Frederic Chopin and George Sand stayed when
they lived here. Our treat in Palma was to be able to view two parades
held previous to Ash Wednesday - on Saturday for the children who were
all dressed in costumes, with lots of balloons, clowns, slides and
jumping things for the kids, goodies to eat, etc. The kids were sure
cute! On Sunday the adults dressed up and there was a two-hour long
parade with floats just below our window. So we had a good view and
really enjoyed it. I wished we could have seen more of the island and
seen the museums that were closed on Monday. Our lectures here were very
good – on the more modern Spain and Franco period, and also on Spanish
music. We
ferried to Ibiza, nearly an all-day trip, though the island is not far
away. Ibiza is a small island mainly known for its white sand beaches
and beautiful people. Well, this was February. It had snowed in the
mountains a few days before and was overcast and boarded up. No one was
at the beach, though a few funky shops were open for the few tourists
there. We did have a very nice hotel there with a great view of the sea,
the beach, pool and palm trees from our window. We had a walking tour of
the old city (all up steps at the top of a hill), an interesting lecture
on the architecture here, which is unique, and a visit to the
countryside. We visited a 17th C. farmhouse with thick, whitewashed
stucco walls around a courtyard. Each room was on a different level. It
had a wine press, an olive press and lots of tools displayed.
It would be nice to be in Ibiza in warmer weather, but then we
would have to battle mobs of other visitors. Oh, well!
Our
trip back was long but we arrived home safely on Thursday, Feb 26.
Highpoints of the trip were getting to visit the creations of the
two architects Calatrava and Gaudi and hearing the excellent lectures by
local speakers. I came away with an enhanced appreciation for beautiful
Spain. This was my fifth Elderhostel, and sure not to be my last. Back to Articles
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In
February 2004 I traveled with a longtime 82-year-old friend, Kay Newman, on
an Elderhostel to “Mediterranean Spain.” We visited Madrid,
Valencia, Barcelona, Mallorca and Ibiza. It included some places I had
been wanting to see for a long time, and I thought the trip was well planned and very
interesting.
City of Arts and Sciences designed by
the living architect Calatrava.
We
were especially thrilled to see all the Gaudi architecture we saw next
and tour his famous Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) church, which has
been under construction for the past 80 years off and on. They are now
saying it will be finished in 2021. I was amazed that they let tourists
walk through a construction site, but we did. Visitor fees are helping
to keep the construction funded. We visited the Guell Park and an
apartment building Gaudi designed as well – La Perdrera - very
interesting - with undulating surfaces, metal sculptures and tile work.
It was also interesting to visit an apartment built in 1906 that we
would call VERY MODERN and see Victorian furniture from that time in it.
We also saw a maritime museum in a building originally used for
shipbuilding, with an excellent exhibit and a real Roman galley (with
about 100 oars) that tooled around the Mediterranean back in Roman
times.