Been There Done That Too... » Spain

Cadiz

admin — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:01:52 +0000

Next after Malaga is the charming, picturesque town of Cadiz. It’s compact layout is perfect for wandering. As one of Europe’s oldest cities dating back to approximately 1100BC it’s a true melting pot of styles, including Moorish influences from the 1100-1200s which can be seen in the many tiled entryways.

The city offers wonderful cafes and numerous shopping streets including their own version of the Ramblas with the Catedral de Cadiz at one end. The Cathedral features an impressive collection of treasures.

For those with a little more time, and the will to rent a car, the villages surrounding Cadiz are some of the most picturesque in Spain famous for their whitewashed buildings. Seville is approximately 2:30 by train.

Malaga

admin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:48:16 +0000

After spending a pleasant day at sea we arrived in Malaga, Spain. Similar to the Tourist Bus in Barcelona, Malaga has the Malaga Tour City Sightseeing Bus. You can easily walk to most of the central sites in Malaga, like the Cathedral and La Alcazaba, however the climb to Castillo de Gibralfaro is exhausting. The bus really is the best way to go. It’s about a 10 minutes walk to get out of the port – avoid the taxis at the port they’re pirates charging 25 Euros for a 5 minute (or less) taxi ride). You can either walk over near Alcazaba or the cathderal to catch the bus – or go to the left when you exit the port and you’ll come to a large bus stop. Look for the “city sightseeing” sign. The bus stop to the left of the port is your best option it will put you on the route headed up the hill to – Castillo de Gibralfaro, a great place to start and work your way down, ending up at the Cathedral. After you’ve seen the Castillo de Gibralfaro, work your way down the hill on the bus, stopping at the Picasso Museum, and La Alcazaba and the Cathedral. Save the Cathedral for last the then enjoy lunch at one of the pubs or cafes tucked in small squares next to the Cathedral. After lunch you can easily walk to Malaga’s version of Las Ramblas and do some shopping. From here it’s a short walk back to the port, or you can hop back on the bus and head for the west end of the route and get off at the stop to the west of the port.

Barcelona

admin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:14:39 +0000

I arrived into Barcelona late on EasyJet from Stanted (after taking MaxJet from LAX to Stansted). I had a private transfer to my hotel setup through viator.com because I knew after travelling for almost 24 hours I really didn’t want to deal with taxi drivers. This costs a little more, but is well worth the convenience and safety. You not only have someone to help you with your bags, you know exactly what it’s going to cost and your driver knows exactly where you’re going. No scenic midnight sightseeing trips that get you to your hotel – “the longway.”

Arriving at Hotel Grand Central, they didn’t have my reservation in the computer, but I had my confirmation and they had no problem putting me into the type of room booked at the rate booked. Everyone at the hotel is wonderful. Friendly, helpful and professional. The night porter brought my bags right up to the room, and later also delivered my roomservice (good food). The look of this boutique hotel is very “stylized.” The corridors are dark with accent lighting, and the lobby is very modern and minimalist. It works. The rooms are smart and functional, and the size you would expect in Europe (if not a little larger), but small by American standards. The beds are comfortable and large, a nice flat panel TV, a complimentary minibar, a nice desk, the bathrooms are well appointed, and there’s plenty of closet and drawer space along with a safe. The coolest thing in the rooms are the remote control blinds. You just push a button and you can put them up or down. My room was on the corner and overlooked the street with a charming side view of the cathedral.

Location wise the hotel is ideally situated for exploring Barcelona. Less than a block from where the Bus Touristica stops, the Cathedral is across the street, and Placa Catalunya (the start of Las Ramblas, & KFC) is an easy 5-10 minute walk. In the immediate area there is an abundance of restaurants, small bodegas, and shops.

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Since I only had 2 nights and 1 full day to explore Barcelona I opted for the Barcelona Touristica Bus to get an overview of Barcelona and explore a few of the highlights along the way. The cool thing about the Touristica Bus is your ticket is valid for 24 hours, so if you start at 1pm on Tuesday you can ride it until 12:59pm on Wednesday. There are three differect routes and all of them go through the Placa Catalunya, you can switch between the routes there. Try the upper deck, you get the best view. Just watch out for low branches on the tree lined boulevards. Along with the earbud headphones you also get a map showing the routes and a booklet with brief descriptions of each of the points of interest the buses pass. Feel free to hop on and off at any of the stops, look around, and board the next bus that comes along, or at any of the other stops for the Bus Touristica.

For dinner, I admit I should have done something more “local”, but the KFC near Placa Catalunya just smelled way tooo good. If you’re in the mood, I highly recommend it. I’m not sure what the difference is between the Spanish version of KFC and the US version – but the chicken is really good. They probably use a different oil.

After a wonderful night of sleep I had the morning to explore some more before heading to the port and boarding the Marco Polo. I decided to spend it wandering around the Ramblas and watching all the street performers. It amazed me at the ingenuity of some of them. My favorite was the guy with bike and peddaling skelaton. He had a lot of fun with everyone that stopped to watch. Toward noon I picked one of the many restaurants lining the Ramblas and had a wonderful pizza for lunch while continuing to people watch.

After a short walk back to hotel, my luggage and I were off in a taxi to the port to board one of my favorite cruise ships of all time, Orient Line’s Marco Polo.