spaincruisepg1

This trip was in Nov. 04. We started in Madrid and covered Toledo; Barcelona and Montserrat, then atarted on a cruise which covered: Montblanc, Poblet, Cadiz, Gibraltor, Morocco, Madiera, Lanzarote and St. Maartin. (See links below.)

In Madrid we stayed at the Villa Real Hotel. It was a good central location and a lovely old building. The rooms had wood floors, king size beds; even robes and slippers. We toured the Royal Palace (at right), which is used by the Royal family only on special occasions. It has more rooms than any other palace in Europe. The Prado Art Museum (below) features over 3000 paintings including those by Velazques, Bosch and Goya. While in Madrid we also saw a special Gaugin art exhibit.

The tile pattern at the left was taken from a photo of a stone wall in Montserrat.

The Flaminco Show in Madrid cost 29 Euros, and the dinner with the show was 43 Euros. The dinner included: cold onion tart on a pastry round, a piece of salmon, and a small serving of rice pudding with orange sorbet. Not cheap! It did include wine, water, or coffee. The show was OK, but after seeing the spectacular one in Rio, this one was just a little tourist attraction.

At left if the Neptune Fountain in Madrid.

The second day is sunny and cool. We take a 1 hour bus ride to the old city of Toledo. There are several historic sites here including a large cathedral, Cathedral de Toledo.

Toledo has a wall around it. The beautiful gothic style Cathedral was started in 1226 under the reign of Ferdinand III. Below is the main tower and some carved stone designs.

Toledo street

Typical street scene in Toledo.

Figures on balconies

This is the exterior of a building, with life size figures on the balconies.

Wall in Toledo

Wall around Toledo.