Barcelona and Back

Ever since I saw pictures of the designs of the architect Antoni Gaudi I have wanted to visit Barcelona.  As it's a nine hour plus drive from Otivar we stopped in Valencia (approx. half way) going and returning.

While in Valencia we got the opportunity to sample the most famous of Spanish dishes:

We had a small but very nice 10th floor apartment in Barcelona:

Around the city centre there are several Gaudi buildings, Casa Mila (La Pedrera) is one of the more recognizable:

No straight lines there.

Another building not far away:

Barcelona has many other beautiful buildings not designed by Gaudi:

His crowning achievement which is still not complete nearly a hundred years after his death, is the Sagrada Familia.  Impossible to do do justice with some amateur pics but anyway...

Not sure which is the 'main' entrance but this is the way we went in:

On either side of the building stained glass dominates, on one side this:

On the other side a predominantly different colour:

The stone work is almost delicate:

Like filigree.

The camera does distort the image but these columns are NOT vertical:

 A view from the other side of the building:

The whole thing seems like a fever dream and he was given the go ahead for this by the Catholic Church well over a century ago.

On our last day e visited Park Guell for a last dose:

Mosaics abound here, above the dragon, symbol for the park.

Another mosaic:

All the buildings here are topped with mosaic:

A view to the ocean with La Sagrada Familia in the distance:

Gaudi was always trying to parallel nature with his architecture:
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However, his house is not quite so 'out there':

Life in Spain

Madrid Airport McDonald's, our first taste of Spain.  They serve beer!!!  Some of their tables are kid's games:

Our first stay is with Nick and Kitty in the Kitty Harri Sculpture Garden.  The bar:

 
It has view:

Yes, that's the Med.

Lunch by the pool:

Carol's talking to two 'helpers' from Sarajevo.  A the back are Nick and Kitty, the other two are artist visitors.

My second day in Spain involved a terrifying drive with Nick up a mountain on a single track dirt road with no barrier and a thousand foot drop.  I did see more goats in this herd than I've ever seen in my entire life:

After a few days we moved to Casa Sofia in Otivar:

To get to Casa Sofia, first you park the car on the road, then you walk down the steps:

Then you walk down the road to the next corner:

Then you walk down the next piece of road to the door at the bottom right:

The front of Casa Sofia:

Note the roof where you hang the laundry to dry - nobody has driers.

It's quite cosy inside:

Sunday afternoon in Otivar, collecting olives from the tree in his garden:

We walked to the top of the hill (mountain) behind Otivar:

Italy concluded

Monte Oliveto Maggiore has walls of beautiful frescos, many painted by Il Sodomo.

I always wondered what a 'loggia' was.  Carol in front of one in Castiglion Fiorentino where we had a good lunch:

Observations on eating out in Italy:
  Unlike when I was there 50 years ago, pizza is everywhere.
  There is only one salad dressing - olive oil.  Maybe some balsamic vinegar to go with it, if you ask.
  Wine is really really cheap, even in restaurants.  In the grocery store as low as €0.79/litre.

Lucignano is another attractive walled city up a steep hill not far from Rigomagno (where we stayed in Tuscany)

Every street for every town/village/city is paved with this:

Makes digging up the road hell.

Couldn't visit Tuscany without seeing Florence.

A roadside panini:

The cathedral is truly magnificent and impossible tp photograph with one shot:

I took a look inside and was unimpressed until I looked up over the altar:

The top of the dome is 375' up there.

The obligatory Ponte Veccio which seems like any other street if you walk across:

Observations on Florence:
 Incredible number of tourists.
 Florence airport sucks.

We rented a Fiat Panda to drive to Padua.  1000cc with a 5-speed automatic transmission - not a great combination.

We actually stayed close to Padua in a an AirBnB in Vigodazere.  It was actually more like living in a show room:

The people who own it went away the whole time we were there, so we had the place to ourselves.

Guess what this is:

A cordless upright vacuum cleaner.

We drove into Venice, left the car on an island and took the vaporetto (water bus):

Approaching from the 'sea':

First famous sight, The Bridge of Sighs:

The Doges Palace

St. Mark's Basilica (quite breathtaking):

The Rialto Bridge:

The view from it:

The Grand Canal:

We traveled by vaparetto a lot, it goes pretty much everywhere and once you buy a pass it's easy - $10 a trip if you don't.

Some weird sights:

and gondolas everywhere:

And the (non functioning) Venice 'Eye':

Observations on Venice:
 Incredible number of tourists, St. Mark's Square was wall-to-wall people.
 Worst and most expensive cappuccino.
 Best idea is to actually stay in the city, apparently it's quiet first thing in the mornings.