Click on the photos on this page to see these photos in high resolution

 SPAIN


In june 2002, I went to Girona in the north of Spain with my parents and my sister, this followed on from the Perpignan trip mentioned briefly on the France page.

Here is are some views of the front of the cathedral there and a photo of my mum and sister in the cloisters.

 

In April 2004, I went to Madrid with my parents and David to visit Pam, who was living there at the time. I wasn't sure what to expect weather-wise, but it turned out not to be any warmer than it was at home at the time, and was rather windy.


Here's a monument of Phillip II in le Plaza Maior. He's the one who tried to invade our country with his 'Armada', but instead had his beard 'singed' by Sir. Francis Drake.
  

 
One day we went to the Royal Palace (or Palacio Real de Madrid). Here I am with David in one of the gardens.

The building of this palace was started in 1738, following the destruction of the former royal palace in Toledo. Carlos (Charles) III was the first king to take up residence here in 1764.
Here is a photo taken from inside the courtyard


There were some very fancy ceilings in this palace.

This one is inside the chapel.
In this ceiling painting, Zeus is welcoming Hercules onto Mt. Olympus.

Below are some more attractive ceilngs and furniture.



 







There are a large number of fancy clocks inside the palace, as well as the one outside



This room is called the Silver Hall, for obvious reasons.
Rather suprisingly, there was a Royal Pharmacy

With flasks that you thought only existed in old horror films.
From one Real to another, we were lucky enough to acquire tickets to see a match at the Bernabau stadium, courtesy of my sister's connections.


The match was between Real Madrid and Osasuna (a team from the Basque region). Rather surprisingly, it was a 3-0 victory to Osasuna.
We also took a trip to the Prado museum.
It is an art museum, below are some of my favourite painitings from it.

 

Here is the bachanal, by Titian. On a bit of manuscript paper are written the words "He who drinks and never drink again, does not know what it means to drink"
Here is a painiting by Goya, depicting a firing squad.


There were also several 'dark' painings by Goya.
This chap here looks like he's eaing some soup, or porridge perhaps. I don't think he's capable of eating much else.
Below are a couple more dark paintings.
  

Here is one of the more famous pairs of paintings in the museum, the clothed and naked Maya's, also by Goya.

 
  
There were some paintings by El Greco, who likes to draw thin faces.


Below are some paintings of little people, the crucification and a still llife painting that I liked.
  
 
  
 
Here is a last supper painting by Juan de Juanes which looks good from this angle such that the characters on the left of the painting whom are drawn smaller, appear to be further away as they should.


'Are you hiding something?'

This painting actually depicts the story of Judith of Hermofenes
There were some figurines as well as paintings. This chap looks he might be an athlete, a shot-putter and a relay runner.
 
  
We saw several cathedrals on this holiday, though only from the outside. This is the one at Madrid which was built as recently as  1993.

On the same trip we went to Toledo, originally the capital cty of Spain. The cathedral there is the main attraction. Unfortunately, when wew were there, it was closed for refurbishment.

 
  
We had a quick look inside the monastery 'San Juan de Los Reyes'  (St. John of the Lost Kings). These photos were taken in the cloisters area (photography was prohibited inside the monastery). IN the photo below on of the statues sticking out of the wall looks like a person with his head inside the wall and legs sticking out.
  
 
  
There was a museum in Toledo of El Greco paintings. He was such a well respected artist that Matthew Broderick was one of his models.
Only a joke. He was active in the early 16th century. Here is one of his paintings of St. Bartholomew, holding a little demon in this instance.
 
  
Here is his map of Toledo.
The thrid Spanish city we visited was Avilà. Here is the cathedral, but once again we unable to enter because of the restoration taking place.
 
  
The most famous things about Avila; though are its walls.
And here are more walls.
The walls encircle the city. Their total length is 2516 metres around the city perimeter and a 3m thick. They were probably built at some point during the second part of the 12th century, though of stones were fashioned by the Romans
 
  
Here is David on one of the turrets, where there is a sundial.

There were a lot of storks living in various nooks and crannies of the city.

 
  
Needless to say, we made good use of many of the restaurants on our hols.

BACK to holidays homepage

BACK to main homepage

Forum