journal entry: Espana parte cuatro

Just a little note regarding these journal entries... mostly (about 95%), I just copy verbatim whatever I wrote on my journal and then pick some photos I took that day when I post here. However, when I'm dead tired at the end of said day and trying to write on this journal, my grammar usually goes down the drain... a little more than usual. So I do have to make some little edits (corrections) sometimes. Not that what I end up posting is good, I'm just saying that what I wrote in my journal is worse. 😁

I do have to say, typing these journal entries personally leaves me with a bitter-sweet feeling... I am still a little bummed that I had to cancel my recent trip and my heart aches a bit thinking that travel will probably not go back to the pre-coronavirus normal in the immediate future; but mostly, I'm just really really grateful for the trips that I did get to go on and experience and see the things that I did.
So for now, I will have to be content with dreaming of travels past and future. Cheers! 😀

*****

24 March 2019
9:54 PM - Barcelona

Oh my Gaudi! I am in awe.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. train to Barcelona - 7:30 AM train so I had to check out of the hotel early then took an Uber to the train station. Train ride was thankfully uneventful so was able to sleep a little. Then I had to take a Suburban (local train to get me a little closer to the hotel) and walk the rest of the way, luggage in tow. Although check in was not yet available at the hotel, I was able to leave my luggage so I could do a bit of exploring.

2. Las Ramblas. It did get a little hot today but I enjoyed walking down this street. There's a fountain near the start (or end) of Las Ramblas, near Placa de Catalunya; tradition has it that whoever drinks from this fountain will come back to Barcelona. So here's hoping that is true. 😀

Font de Canaletes

3. La Sagrada Familia - so unbelievably beautiful, it literally brought tears to my eyes. I'm not even joking. I mean, I was expecting it to be beautiful, but I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. Wow. Just wow. I am now a fan of Gaudi. The attention to detail, and how each one is largely based on nature, it's simply astounding. So unique in design and really amazing. I would definitely want to come back to see when it's finished (2027). Puhon.
(Note: photos don't do it justice. That's my excuse.)

4. Vasanta Hotel Boutique - my room is really nice, like something I would get on a business trip when I'm not paying for it personally (haha!). But yes, I got a really good deal on this.

5. Casa Mila - again beautiful work by Gaudi. It's just amazing how everything is based on trees or vines or whale skeletons or beehives or sea shells or whatever natural thing or living being, and then just becomes this wonderful man-made work of art. I wish I was staying one more day so I could see more of Gaudi's work.

6. the food - I almost forgot about this. Ciudad Condal for some tapas and lunch and Faborit Casa Amatller for some chocolate and dessert. yum! Casa Amatller is another modernism style building - I didn't have time to go in but it looked really pretty from outside. Another of Gaudi's - Casa Batllo - is right beside it but unfortunately was covered in scaffolding.

Casa Amatller

journal entry: Espana parte tres

23 March 2019
9:42 PM - Madrid

Early train to Barcelona tomorrow so I'll keep this one short.
Today, I am thankful for:

1. Chocolate con porras - back again at Chocolateria San Gines for breakfast 😁, this time decided to try the thicker version of the churro. yum!

2. Royal Palace of Madrid - very impressive and definitely bigger than the Segovia Alcazar.

3. Cocido Madrileño - in one of those outdoor restaurants at Plaza Mayor. I can't even remember the name of the restaurant. The trouble with restaurants in Spain is that not a lot are open for lunch at noon or earlier (well, "trouble" for someone like me who's used to a different lunch schedule). I really wanted to try this dish before leaving Madrid so I thought I'd check online if there are any restaurants open early. I found some that said online they were open but they actually were not. So that's how I ended up in Plaza Mayor just trying to browse through all the restaurants there. It wasn't bad where I had it, but it probably was not cooked/served the traditional way.

4. Retiro Park - very beautiful park. I really actually liked this park. It did get a little hot at one point (and after I've done a bit of walking) but there was an abundance of trees to provide the necessary and much welcome shade. At one part of the park, there was a big group of people just standing there all looking at their phones and I was wondering why so I just kinda pass behind a couple of them and inconspicuously glanced at their phones and guess what.... pokemon go! 🤣 that was awesome!

5. #27 bus - a very nice break from all the walking. It was great to see the modern part of the city - Madrid really is a big city and pretty diverse in its architecture.

taken from inside the bus

6. Cibeles and Gran Via

Plaza de Cibeles

7. Chocolateria Valor - churros and frozen chocolate. The place was packed, which perhaps excuse the slightly non-ideal service. The food was yummy though.

8. Plaza de España

9. Templo de Debod - a lot of people, most of them waiting for the sunset, I think, since this was one of the places highly recommended for sunset viewing. I went there for that purpose but decided in the end not to wait.

view from Templo de Debod park

journal entry: Espana parte dos

22 March 2019
9:17 PM - Madrid

I am exhausted. A little early end of the day today - I was back at the hotel by 7 PM, I think. But good exhausted.

Today, I am thankful for:
1. an early start - left the hotel at 7 am and didn't sleep well last night, but I did find the bus to Segovia easily. And since I was early, I had time to eat breakfast at the station (not Atocha, different station for Segovia bus).

2. Aqueduct -  beautiful. Amazing how it survived and is still well maintained.

3. San Martin church (only from the outside) and Plaza San Martin

4. Plaza Mayor - nice little square with a small grandstand.

5. Catedral de Segovia - beautiful. Spain's last major Gothic building. For me, not as beautiful inside as the cathedral in Toledo, but facade is equally impressive albeit different.

6. Limon Y Menta - had a light early lunch here. I was going to try El Sitio but really wanted to try not to eat meat today (Lent Friday). I actually ended up eating here twice - again, just before going back to the bus station, to try some ponche segoviano and some crocantinos (almond). The ponche was really yummy - the filling kinda reminded me of brazo de mercedes.

7. Alcazar de Segovia - I blame google for making me take the loooong way. What was supposed to be a 15-min walk turned out to be an exhausting 40 min with the sun beating down my back and front, and part of it was not a short climb up. I must have taken a 360° view of the castle before actually arriving there. Was it worth the long hike? Definitely. But I did take the shorter route back. 😁
The rooms were very nice. The stairs going up the tower were exhausting but the 360° view of the town from above was really beautiful - also a clear view of the Cathedral from the tower.

found this pretty little park on the walk back from the Alcazar

8. getting lost again (it's just one of those days) going back to the bus station. This time partly my fault because I didn't save the address, but also partly google's for not returning the right address for my search. 😀

9. The man at the Avanza counter for letting me change my ticket to an earlier time - yes, earlier, even after getting lost twice, I still made it to the bus station earlier than planned so take that... I don't know who, but just take that! ha!

10. The bus back to Madrid - by this time, I was about ready to just crash and slept the whole time (and hopefully, not too noisily) on the bus.

11. Mercado de San Anton (back in Madrid) - this looked better than Mercado de San Miguel, in my opinion, and less crowded too. I found some paella - you normally can't order just for one in regular restaurants so score! - so I had that for dinner.

With the trifecta (Aqueduct, Cathedral, and Alcazar), Segovia, I think, is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen, and one of my favorites.

journal entry: Espana parte uno

With my travel plans cancelled because of this scary horrible pandemic, I find myself looking back (with a little resentment) to my birthday trip last year.

***********

18 March 2019
9:54 PM

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow! You're only a day away!
If you haven't guessed yet, yes, tomorrow I leave for my trip to España... yahoooo!
Today, I am thankful for:
1. work that wasn't as stressful as it usually is before I go on vacation.
2. being about 95% done with packing and bag is still only about 75% full. Nice. Lots of room for souvenirs and other things to bring back from Spain.
3. Spain! So excited!


20 March 2019
9:21 PM - Madrid

Too tired, will write tomorrow, I hope. Thankful for arriving in Madrid safe and sound.


21 March 2019
10:04 PM

Tired. Feet and legs aching. But so thankful for everything I saw and did yesterday and today.

Toronto:
I didn't really have much time to do much. I was planning to go to St Lawrence Market and then to the Toronto sign, but got sidetracked trying to help someone at the airport while on my way to the UP Express train. I was able to get the pea-meal bacon sandwich as planned - it was alright.
No passport stamp for arrival or departure though. Boo.

pea-meal bacon sandwich

hockey hall of fame

CN tower

Madrid (yesterday):
-my old lycamobile sim from Italy didn't really work anymore even though I loaded it before my trip. Bummer.
-found the Aeropuerto Expres bus easily after asking at the airport info desk. Arrived in Atocha station fine but since I didn't have access to internet yet to use Uber, I ended up taking a taxi (and paying €15) to the hotel.
-checked in at the hotel early (11 am). room is fine; small but it has everything I need.
-asked front desk where I can get a sim card, and they pointed me to a small mobile shop a couple of blocks away, where I bought a new vodafone sim.
-light lunch. I had some tapas - bacalao strips and croquette - at Casa Labra.

-followed Rick Steves' walking tour that had the following stops......
-Puerta del Sol - nice plaza with lots of people. Times Square of Madrid, as mentioned by Rick Steves.

-Plaza Mayor - like an inside out castle: a big cobbled square surrounded by 4-story buildings, each side uniform.

-Mercado de San Miguel - a nice market where you can buy different kinds of food. I bough one kind of tapas - toast topped with a tiny fried egg and a chorizo.

-Church and convent of Corpus Christi - just saw from outside. There was supposed to be a door where you can buy cookies from nuns but didn't see anybody doing it so I didn't either. 😁

-Town Hall

-Almudena Cathedral - surprisingly pretty inside. And I say 'surprising' just because I really wasn't expecting anything.

-Royal Palace - really impressive from the outside. Looking forward to seeing what's inside on Saturday.

-Plaza de Oriente

-Plaza de Isabel II

-Calle del Arenal - kinda reminds me of Florida Street in Buenos Aires.

-Huevos rotos with chorizo at Los Huevos Rotos.

-Prado Museum. Huge! Not really a museum person but I enjoyed my visit here.

-I was going to take the Metro back to Sol station but with all the construction going on, I couldn't find the dang station and ended up walking and walking and walking back.

-Chocolateria San Gines - by the time I got here, my feet were killing me so I bought the churros con chocolate to go and headed back to the hotel. The chocolate dip was thick and soooo good.

Toledo:
-arrived a couple of hours early at the Atocha station so explored a bit and had breakfast.

-train to Toledo was fast - just 30 min.
-took a bus to Plaza Zodocover to start exploring the town.
-had early lunch/2nd breakfast at Mercado San Agustin - spanish omelette.. yum!

-Calle Comercial - nice street with lots of stores. I bought some mazapan to eat while walking.
-Plaza Ayutamiento - was an ok square but this is where I got my first view of the Cathedral. Wow! Just wow! very very impressive even from outside.

-Toledo Cathedral - my gosh! sooo beautiful. I would like to say that this was the prettiest church I have ever seen but maybe it's only because it's all still so fresh in my mind. Really beautiful, in and out.
(I can't pick the right pictures to show just how beautiful the inside of this church is so I'm just not going to post any.)

-Jewish Quarter - I really liked this part of the town.

-walked all the way back to Los Cuatros Tiempos (near the Cathedral) where I had suckling pig. Being Filipino, I was thinking it would be a lot like lechon, and so had really high expectations of this famous dish. Sadly, I was not really impressed. I don't know if that's how they mostly taste like or maybe it just wasn't the right place to try it, but that was nowhere near lechon.
(Side note: Suckling pig is supposed to be from Segovia, but given that I was going to be in Segovia on a no-meat Friday, I had to try it here.)

-was early back to train station so explored the area near the station a bit.

-took the train back to Madrid and then visited Museo de Reina Sofia.

I have just realized that I have seen more art works in the past 2 days compared to the rest of my life. 🤣

Now I have to plan tomorrow's itinerary.