Figueres is the birthplace of Salvador Dali, and is the site of the Salvador Dali Theatre Museum. The Museum was designed and supervised by Dali, and contains many of his most famous works. No matter how you feel about Dali’s art, a visit to this museum is truly a unique experience.
We’ve been somewhat fortunate these last three weeks since the elections to be in another country on another continent. While we’ve kept up with the headlines, we have generally managed to steer clear of the hand-wringing, OMG-ing and yes, the celebrating that seems to be rather pervasive in the US.
The few conversations we’ve had with locals and fellow tourists have been met with a mix of good humor and confusion, with some measure of concern. The role that the US plays in the world is well known to most people over here, and there is a bit of wariness, but for the most part people are just living their lives.
We had a laugh with three German college guys at a winery in Porto. When the subject inevitably came up, we said that we were very happy to be in Portugal. 😉
The great thing about travel, seeing other places and talking with other people is that it tends to really open our worldview. We know that things might look and sound a little different when we get home, but we know that what is done is done, there is nothing we can do to change it, so we’ll see what happens and figure out how to deal. Who knows, maybe everything will work out just fine!
This past Sunday we visited Girona and Figueres, Spain.
Girona is a city in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, beside the River Onyar. It’s known for its medieval architecture, walled Old Quarter (Barri Vell) and the Roman remains of the Força Vella fortress. Landscaped gardens line the Passeig Arqueològic, a walkway following the Old Quarter’s medieval walls, which include watchtowers with sweeping views.
Kathy & I took a tour to Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey from Barcelona. It was an awe inspiring trip, and the views were incredible. We’re piling up the stories and the photos but they will need to wait until we get started on our way back home! We rejoin our ship on Tuesday and should be home on December 7.
We’re tired and looking forward to getting back to ‘familiar territory’ but are having a blast! 🙂
Today we took a city tour of Barcelona, capped off by a visit to La Sagrada Famila, the love-it-or-loathe-it icon of the city. We loved it, and found it to be truly fascinating and mesmerizing. Words cannot describe the scale and magnitude of the place.
Today we explored the outside of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of Arts & Sciences) in Valencia, Spain. This place is huge! Tomorrow we’ll go back and visit the aquarium, which is supposed to be one of the best in the world.
Thanks to the sound advice of good friend and blog follower James, we made a point of taking a guided tour of La Alhambra in Granada, Spain. It is one of the must-see attractions in this country, and it did not disappoint. I’ve got a bunch of photos from our visit, but this will have to do for now.
We made it to Valencia yesterday. All’s well here in the center city, although we saw lots of signs of the recent flooding on our way here.
Sunrise in Cordoba this time of year is a civilized 8am, so it was pretty easy to get out early and grab this shot of the Roman Bridge.
Cordoba is a beautiful little place with lots of history and interesting architecture. While here we spent a day at the Alhambra in Granada and also visited the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba. Those will be the subject of future posts!
We’ve been in Lisbon for a few days, and in fact will be moving on to Spain tomorrow. I made this photograph of a street car along R. de São Pedro de Alcântara near the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara park and viewpoint. Streetcars, trolleys and funiculars are popular with tourists and locals alike, and they attract budding photographers of all skill (and situational awareness!) levels.
Portugal has been wonderful! We’re looking forward to Spain, but have really enjoyed our time here.
I was fortunate that the one morning I chose to wake early and get out and make photographs in Porto was the right one. I got a lot of nice shots, but this is one of my favorites so far. Interestingly, it was one of my last of the morning.
I was out well before the sunrise but in time to watch the color develop over the skyline. As the morning progressed, I noticed a fog bank forming over the river east of town and up river. I walked up to the Ponte Luis Bridge and made this photo just as a Viking river cruise ship passed. It was pretty good timing.
There are six bridges over the Douro connecting Porto with Gaia, so almost any photograph of the river is going to include one of them. The bridge in this photo is the modern Ponte da Arrábida Bridge, and it adds a nice backdrop combined with the ship and the buildings along the river bank.