20 May 2019 Cloverlea to Melbourne

We have a late night flight to Dubai, so take our time finishing packing before driving the corolla to the Warragul railway station. Louise or Chris will pick the car up from there later in the day, we hope. The first part of the train journey was fine but we slowed down considerably between Caulfield and Flinders Street stations. The Airport Shuttle bus was rapid by comparison. Even the Emirates check in queue where we got both our Dubai and Barcelona bound boarding passes moved faster than the earlier vline journey. For posterity I wish it recorded that our check in baggage weighed 13 kilograms each.

21 May 2019 Dubai to Barcelona

Our flight arrives in Dubai at 5:15 am and apparently it is already 30 degrees outside. It’s a short, driver less train ride to the appropriate terminal and our Barcelona bound flight leaves on time. There’s a long queue for immigration and passport control in Barcelona, but with all the bays staffed, the line moves faster than the recent v line train. We are advised by the Spanish official to take care in this city as there are many pick pockets in Barcelona. I think the official may have been a plant from Madrid. Much to my relief, the booking.com organised taxi (or rather, driver) is waiting for us at the the airport arrivals hall. Following a 30 minute drive we arrive at Apartamentos DV. After settling in we wander around the district and find a couple of small supermarkets as well the local Badal Metro station. The evening winds up with a light dinner and Netflix.

22 May 2019 Barcelona

After accessing Youtube to work out how to operate the electric hob in our kitchenette, we have a delicious home cooked breakfast. We then brave the Barcelona metro and later find our free walking tour guide outside the city's Cathedral. It’s then a wander around the Gothic quarter, stopping for some sangria and pintxo along the way. We are shown a frieze on the front of the Picasso Museum, from a 1950's sketch drawn on a napkin by the artist. Following the tour we wander about the city, not always lost, past the Arc de Triomf and through Estacio Franca. There are beautiful Gaudi buildings about including Casa Battilo. We then wander down La Rambla before catching the metro back home.

23 May 2019 Barcelona

It takes us a little while, but eventually we work out how to get to Mont Juic by public transport. It’s a

combination of Metro, funicular and cable car. At the top of the mountain is a fort and the views across both the city and Mediterranean are spectacular. La Sagrada and the accompanying cranes are very obvious against the smaller city buildings. Later, we walk down the hill to the 1992 Olympic site. The stadium, which is open to the public was built in 1929 for the Exposition and was

used as a refugee camp during the Spanish Civil war. We travel back into town and have paella at one of the many restaurants on La Rambla before metro’ing back to Badal. We leave the station at a different exit to usual and discover a large supermarket near by. Supplies are replenished and quickly extinguished once we get back to our rooms.

24 May 2019 Barcelona

Not only does the rain in Spain fall mostly on the plain, it also falls in Barcelona. We booked our La Sagrada de Familia visitor tickets on line for 9:45 am but arrive 20 minutes early and told to come back at the appointed time. Wandering about in the rain is no fun. Eventually the clock ticks over to the appropriate time and we are allowed to enter. The building is simply stunning and each intricate carving and coloured window is explained through the included audio guide. Some Costa Coffee is consumed following the cathedral tour as we plan our afternoon trip to Park Guell. The rain is getting a little heavier as we board the metro. Following signs to the Park, we climb stairs, ride out door escalators and battle steep paths to reach our destination. Apparently this place was originally intended to be a housing estate, but only a few were built. The raincoats get a real workout during the outdoor parts of the wander and as a result and against my better judgement, we spend more time in the shelter of souvenir shops.

25 May 2019 Barcelona

A lazy morning as we think about what we want to do today. We end up wandering up the road to Camp Nou and visit the museum and stadium. There are a huge amount of trophies won by Football Club Barcelona on display together with a photo of the first ever Spanish Club Championship team. There’s also over a century of other football club paraphernalia. Later we enjoy some tapas at a local cafe before walking back to our apartment. This is the first full day in Barcelona that we haven’t used the metro.

26 May 2019 Barcelona to Madrid

We leave Apartamentos DV at 10:00 am dragging our suitcases behind us. It’s only a few metro stops to the Estatio Sants, which has both a metro and a regional station. Eventually we find the Madrid bound train, after undergoing several security and ticket checks along the way. The train, which hits 302kph is “as smooth as silk”. The scenery alternates between barren landscape, vines or wind and solar farms. The Madrid-Atocha station is a beautiful 19^th century building. It’s a fairly straight forward walk, albeit slightly uphill from the station to our accommodation which has amongst other delights, a washing machine. Next door to the apartment is a tapas bar, which we utilise after settling in. We are very close to the centre of Madrid and as we wander about the narrow streets of the capital, we come across a number of vintage Fiats and one poor, lost Citroen. 

27 May 2019 Madrid

It’s only a short walk to Plaza Mayor where we meet our walking tour guide. Can’t see much of the Plaza because it’s closed off due to preparation for the Euro Champions League Final later in the week. Our tour guide, Irish by birth, shows us the “ugliest” church in Spain as well as the Royal Palace. We see other historical sites including where an attempted assassination of a King and Queen took place last century. After the tour we continue the wander through the palace gardens before meandering back to our apartment after a late (by Australian standards) lunch. It’s strange what you miss overseas. It took us a while, but we did eventually find and buy pimienta negra (black pepper).

28 May 2019 Madrid

Our day begins with eggs (with black pepper) and drip filtered coffee, before walking 15 minutes to the Prado Museum. We think that maybe every painting by Goya resides here, including the “black” ones. There are some Raphael’s, surprisingly a couple of David Roberts and even more surprising, no Picasso’s!!!!!!! We had arranged a visit inside the Royal Palace on line for 2:00pm, so have to leave the museum after only a few hours. Interesting that the usual online sites didn’t have any tickets for today, but the Palace site did. The interior is fancy and has some great historical documents including the abdication of King Juan Carlos. For fancy imagine a porcelain covered wall. We also check out the throne room as opposed to a throne room. Later in the day we find a largish supermarket with the best fresa (sorry, strawberries) ever and they go very well with yoghurt but less so with radlers.

29 May 2019 Madrid

Today we decide to walk to Retiro Park which is just a little past The Prado. The park is green with lots of trees, statues and a lake. There are formal areas such as the botanical gardens complete with peacocks and hens and then there are less formal parts with children’s play areas. There is also a lovely rose garden. During a break in our stroll we discover giant XXL Cornetto’s at a kiosk and I can confirm that they are good. After returning to our apartment for a cool down, we wander down to Plaza Espana to see the Cervantes monument, only to discover that it is a work site. We are having issues with our credit card, so go to plan B to book a day trip for tomorrow.

30 May 2019 Madrid

                                               It's just a short stroll to Neptune square this morning where we catch the coach for our day trip to Segovia and Toledo. Old town Segovia is dominated by the Roman aqueduct. It is an immense structure that continues for many kilometres. We are guided through the narrow medieval streets to he “fairy tale” castle, the Alcazar. Apparently Queen Isabella was crowned here in the 15^th century, so it has historical significance. After a couple of hours we drive to another wonderful medieval city, Toledo, (looks different to El Greco's painting) which sits atop a hill, with the Tagus river far below. Toledo has lots of wonderful winding narrow streets and during our free time, we discover the remains of a Roman bath. It’s been a warm day and back in the Madrid apartment the first radler doesn’t touch the sides.

31 May 2019 Madrid to Cordoba

A strawberry breakfast and then WhatsApp calls to the children. After this, we check out from the apartment, rolling our cases downhill to the station. The train leaves right on midday and we travel at speed past kilometres of olive groves to Cordoba. This station is very plain and not as modern as Sants in Barcelona or as beautiful as Atocha Madrid. It’s warm outside and we walk our way to the accommodation, sticking as much as we can to the shady side of the street. After getting just a little lost and obtaining help from a local, we find our accommodation for the next couple of nights, Casa Angelita. Our host Pepe has almost as much english as I have chinese. After settling in, we wander about and discover the Mezquita only ten minutes away. Following dinner we wander over the roman bridge to the local fair with lots of people, noise and lights.

1 June 2019 Cordoba

                                                                    We just have a room in Cordoba, so have to hunt out some breakfast this morning. We discover a cafe not too far away and the food is good. We then find the walking tour guide and get entertained and learn a little over the next two and a half hours. One of the local roman sights had some restoration work done in 2005 and this work now requires repair. After a siesta at home, we head out to the local Alcazar and wander about the building and it’s beautiful gardens. Later we wander up to Plaza Corredor for dinner with the hope that the Euro Champions League final will be telecast. A tv is setup but only provides updates. We leave the Plaza and eventually find a live telecast of the final at a bar which shows Liverpool crushing all opposition.

2 June 2019 Cordoba to Seville

We wander up to the Mezquita at opening time and spend about an hour walking around the building. The surrounds are huge when you compare it with the church in the centre of the complex. A fruit smoothie at the Breakfast Bar is most welcome after our earlier walk. After checking out of Casa Angelita we have a 30 minute walk to the station and it is only a 40 minute rail journey at 250kph to Seville. After getting a lot lost outside the station and not being able to access mobile data we try the Here We Go app we were recently told about and it is good. Some of the streets we wander through are so narrow they can barely fit a VW Golf that drives past. Our accommodation in Seville is the best so far. Plenty of room, large fridge, washing machine and a balcony. It’s very warm, so we stay inside for dinner, regularly hydrating and with the air conditioner on.

3 June 2019 Seville

After a relaxing breakfast we wander down to the Cathedral for the start of this city's walking tour. We learn about the Cathedral, Alcazar and bull fighting as we wander about Seville. The tour ends up at the magnificent Plaza Espana. We wander about this area, looking at the tile stories for a number of Spanish cities. On the way back home, we stop at the Golden Tower which is both a great viewing point and naval museum. The air conditioned interior is a welcome relief from the outside temperature. For lunch we have a fruit smoothie, made with our own blender. After a siesta we wander about the local area. It’s not cooling down and decide to buy a light dinner from a supermarket and enjoy it in air conditioned comfort at our apartment whilst watching some netflix.

4 June 2019 Seville to Ronda (& back)

                                                                                                         Today we go on a day tour to Ronda. We have two guides. Pedro, whose english is hard to understand and Fabio who speaks english well. Unfortunately Pedro conducts most of the tour. We stop and wander in a small white town before travelling to another, Grazalema, where we have some lunch. There’s also a photo opportunity with sunflowers. Afterwards we drive to Ronda and are awestruck with the precipitous drop from the city edge to the valley, a long way below. There’s a stone bridge which crosses the canyon and offers a great view of the surrounding area. Apparently it crosses a drop of 120 metres. We get back to Seville after 8:00pm and fortunately the local Dia is open so we are able to purchase liquid supplies for tonight's tapas.