A Plane to Spain

[OZDUCK]

During our Madrid stay we took a day off to go to Toledo by train. It only takes a little over 30 minutes from Atocha Station and cost us €12.90. We spent about 10 hours there and still saw only a portion of the historical sites and sights. When we got on the train a couple of little old local ladies were in our seats but we said no worries and sat in their seats on the other side of the train. They actually had a sinister plan as when the sun rose it was right in our eyes and uncomfortable. They obviously knew about this and had bluffed us out - bad old ladies!

The Toledo railway station built in the Neo-Mudéjar style and opened around 1920.





It is a pleasant walk of about 2 km up to the Old Town. (Buses and taxis are available.)

Looking over the Alcantara Bridge, containing Roman and Medieval elements, towards the Alcazar.



The gatehouse ( built around 1260) on the bridge



Looking back over the river valley with the railway station clock-tower in the distance



The Albergue Castillo San Servando 12th C - once occupied by the Knights Templar and now a youth hostel. This is on the same side as the railway station.



A typical Toledo street - narrow, rough and steep with cars in surprising places.



Looking the other way up the street



The Cathedral sighted through a street

 

[JohnM]

Great stuff!

I have a particular liking of Monet and prints abound in my house. The one you showed, while clearly Monet, was obviously from his later, losing sight, years.

I was in Madrid just after the 2004 bombing at Atocha Station. Very nasty.

 

[OZDUCK]

Great stuff!

I have a particular liking of Monet and prints abound in my house. The one you showed, while clearly Monet, was obviously from his later, losing sight, years.

I was in Madrid just after the 2004 bombing at Atocha Station. Very nasty.

The scanning of baggage etc at Spanish train stations is obviously a result of that attack.

I must admit that the impressionists have painted some of my favourite works of art. We went to Canberra in 2010 to see the Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond. (Musée d’Orsay exhibition)

As a bonus then just for you - 2 more by Monet


Low tide at Varengeville - 1882




The thaw at Vetheuil - 1880

 

[ellen10]

Toledo is on our list for next year.

 

[kermatu]

My family adores Spain. I'm enjoying your TR immensely. Some reluctance in showing this to the Fam. Might be too much of a pull factor to bear.

 

[OZDUCK]

Toledo is on our list for next year.

Well worth a visit. Just don't go on a Monday as a number of sites including the Alcazar are closed - as we found out. But, going by our experience in Segovia, the weekend would probably be very busy.

 

[OZDUCK]

As I said above, we went to Toledo on a Monday and several places, including the Alcazar were closed. However there were plenty of other places to visit. A good option is to buy the "Tourist Bracelet" from the Tourist Information office or one of the participating tourist sights -http://www.toledomonumental.com/touristbracelet.html . It gets you into 7 historic places and saves a few euros plus it adds a bit of convenience to your day. In some of them you may only stay a few minutes or so while others will occupy you for an hour or more.

Saviour Church - a converted mosque, 1180.

Islamic arches supported on Roman capitals with a Visigoth pilaster at the back.



The Visigoth pilaster



St Mary the White - Formerly the main Synagogue of the Toledo Jewish Quarter.- is there a bit of a theme here? Built in the 13th Century, in the Mudejar style, and taken over in the 15th Century. It is a very beautiful and peaceful place inside - once the tour groups leave.

..



Some 16th Century tiles.




To quote "researchers recently found the remains of red ochre paint on a white background with a pattern of chains and circles, a serpent's head and fish. They belong to a Mudejar building that existed before the synagogue"



St John of the Kings commissioned by our old friends Isabel & Ferdinand in 1476 and originally intended to be their burial place. Following the re-conquest they decided to be buried in Granada.





The Spanish Coat of Arms in the church



Shackles place on the outside to commemorate the rescue of Christian slaves from the Moors

 

[amaroo]

Your TR has some pulling power! Today we've taken advantage of a QF fare and booked a family trip to LHR for Xmas, but we're going to spend the great majority of the trip potting around Spain. We were last there in 2012 and can't wait to get going.

Loving the TR!

 

[OZDUCK]

Your TR has some pulling power! Today we've taken advantage of a QF fare and booked a family trip to LHR for Xmas, but we're going to spend the great majority of the trip potting around Spain. We were last there in 2012 and can't wait to get going.

Loving the TR!

Nice to hear.I hope you all enjoy your trip.

 

[OZDUCK]

Carrying on with the Tourist Bracelet visits.

We visited the parish church of Saint Tome whose main claim to fame is the painting, 1586 , by El Greco of "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" 1588 which is a huge painting - nearly 5 metres high. It also attracts a huge crowd and you just have to circulate within the crush. There is no time to stand and "look" at it. Photos of this painting also mysteriously disappeared from our camera.

The Royal College of Noble Maidens - 1554.but rebuilt in the second part of the 17th Century. It was still used as a girls college until the 1990's. A lot of it was inaccessible.

A connecting bridge





By this time there was drizzle which slowed us down a bit - the only time rain affected our Spanish trip. We went into the Jesuits Church but its big attraction was the views from the towers. The low cloud etc convinced us not to make the climb - not to mention that my knees had just about given up. Almost every street in Toledo is on a slope plus most of them are cobbled so it is a tiring visit.

The Jesuits Church - you can see by the colour of the sky and the drop of rain on the lens that the weather had grown worse.



Our final call was to The Christ of Light 999 AD - another church converted from a mosque. I will put a large quote in here because it explains the building better than I could.

"Bab al Mardum Mosque

The mosque is situated next to one of the wall gates and it is one of the most important monuments of Spanish-Moorish and Mudejar architecture in Spain. Just like a small gem, this priceless thousand-year-old building is a unique example of the survival of Al-Andalus art: a mosque or small oratory built in the Caliphate period. Two centuries later it was transformed into a church and an apse was added, following the style of the old building, which lead to Mudejar art, a perfect combination and symbiosis."

Actually, during this visit we ran across something that had also happened at couple of of other sites.The audio guide, while comprehensive and clear,was presented like a romance novel. It chose to tell the story of the building by using a framing device of a romance between the Caliphs daughter and the architect. This basically doubled the length of the guide I much prefer a pretty dry description of what I am seeing rather than having to listen to something like a young woman's diary.

The facade







Looking across the garden



Looking up into the dome - through glass



Uncovered calligraphy


.

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more around Toledo

Sam Martin's Bridge - late 14th Century







Three people were getting ready to do a Zip Line ride across the river near the bridge and we waited to watch them cross. One of them got all dressed in the safety gear, stood on the platform and had the pulley attached before backing out - I wouldn't have even managed to put the safety gear on.







(excuse the raindrops)





Part of another lunch special

 

[OZDUCK]

Our day out in Toledo was a pretty tiring day. We left Madrid at about 08:00 and got back in at about 20:15.When we booked our tickets the ticket seller said we could change our return time at Toledo station but the return trains were so busy there was no way of doing this. We spent about 10 hours in the Old City and only had a break for a quick drink and cake in the late morning and then another break for lunch. Apart from that we were constantly on the move and still could have seen plenty more. However we were a bit damp from the drizzle so decided to leave.


Back to Madrid

The Retiro Park - 1561 - was near to our hotel and it was a very nice place to wander around on our last morning.

It has a very attractive boating lake in the centre - the final day of the coverage of the Vuelta Espana usually shows this lake in the coverage.





But you have to be careful as there are large, dangerous bears there.



As you can see we had great weather again.



These almost made me homesick



Some lovely walks



There was a lovely old (1887) glasshouse - Palacio de Cristal -that was being renovated

 

[OZDUCK]

Some random Madrid photos

Despite the bright sunshine it was apparently a bit colder than we thought. On our last day the temperature here had crept up to a balmy -37 C. (For those who haven't been to Spain recently it is common for shops to display the time & temperature in this way - but usually a bit more accurately.)



Another city, another Triumphal Arch - Puerta de Alcalá - 1778



I wish mine grew as well as these




My wife spotted an odd looking bronze statue on top of a building and zooming in revealed this. Icarus, I presume. (However the sculptor claimed it was not.).



There are some interesting sites on Madrid streets - the Monster from the Black Lagoon, not my wife.. He was obviously feeling a bit of a chill away from the Amazon.



A lovely early cinema building - 102 years old and still showing movies.



The entrance to a theatre virtually across the road.



A few food shots

Mussel and lentil soup



Ham and eggs - the Spanish way



Healthy snacks

 

[OZDUCK]

As all things must, our time in Spain was coming to an end.

We had booked our ticket during QR's J sale last year for about $3,500 each (bought through their Singapore site) - plus $320 for ScootBiz to Singapore.The QR routing was Singapore - Doha - Bacelona (24 nights) - Doha (2 nights) - Perth. If we had used QR from Perth it would have cost us about another $2,000 each. We initially had slightly different plans for Spain which made the in/out at Barcelona logical. In the end it would have been better for us to arrive Barcelona and leave Madrid, but the change fees ruled that out.

The economy cabin on the Madrid - Barcelona train. By the time the train left all the seats were full, and baggage piled everywhere. This was far and away the dearest train fare we bought, costing 85 Euros for the two of us. But as it is about 600 km - 2 hr 51 m - between the two cities and the train often hit 300 km/h it wasn't too bad.





Looking at the landscape you can see why lots of "cowboy" movies are shot in Spain.



There were some interesting sights on the way.



This is the cafe in Barcelona Sants Station where we bought our first meal in Spain. So, it seemed fair to be the last place we bought food as well. The prices are a little dearer than outside but not too bad for a place like this. And they tasted nice.



The Renfe fare includes a "suburban" trip at the start and end of your journey. You type the special code on your ticket in at the local station and a local ticket will be printed out. We took the airport train and stopped at a hotel nearby that had a "free" shuttle service..

We were at the airport at about 06:00 as we were cautious about the processing times at Barcelona - it was actually very quick with pleasant staff. Then we used the "Generic" Business Lounge. It was fine - clean, quiet and with a reasonable selection of light breakfast food. For the first hour or so it was mostly occupied by Australians waiting for the QR flight but started to get busier about 07:30.



A Vueling A319(?) taking off.



A lot of the airport apron was ripped up as they installed new piping, so we were bused the 600 metres or so to the plane - no special J buses.Stairs were at the front and rear doors but everyone was loaded via the front stairway. We were once again on the leased LATAM B787

Special J class boarding - not



But it did give us a good look at the engine. I remember in the 1970's, on the ,apron at Perth Airport, standing alongside B707's with RR or P&W engines and thinking how big they were - how wrong I was.



Our final view of Spain

 

[BriarFlyer]

I'm sorry the trip is over; I feel as though I've been holidaying along with you.

 

[VPS]

Excellent TR - I had nearly 2 weeks in Spain last year and you've inspired me to plan another trip.

Well written and good photos

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks to both of you. I will now do the couple of days in Doha.

 

[OZDUCK]

I complained about the LATAM seats on the overnight leg but they are fine for a day trip. The seat controls are badly placed and the fit out of a lower standard than the QR A350 but as long as you don't try to use the seat as a bed it is comfortable enough.



Our breakfast - the fruit is always nice but this time we also tried the 'Traditional Arabic Breakfast' and are not big fans. It was ok but not really to either of our tastes as a breakfast.






My wife managed to catch this Emirates (?) plane scooting along.



As we came into Doha it was apparent that the skies were far from clear. We asked the FA about it and she said it had been hazy for a few days.





This was about 16:30 and it was dark by 18:00. The haze stayed with us except during the fierce thunderstorm we had on our 2nd day.



We had a bit of a problem as we had a bottle of wine from Spain. I had completely forgotten about the no-alcohol rule in Doha. All luggage is x-rayed on the way in and bags with alcohol tagged. Anyway there was a process to handle it - the bottle was held and I was given a receipt to pick it up again after clearing the outward formalities. The problem that then happened was that at the Boarding Gate hand luggage was inspected for liquids. The old "Australia requires it" problem. QR at the gate were pretty good they let us rearrange one of our backpacks and put it into the hold.

 

[JohnM]

Aaahhhh, the sludge they call air in DOH .

I put up with it because I've become addicted to flying QR Qsuites .

 

[OZDUCK]

We got a room in the Marriot Marquis City Center for US$100 for 2 nights. This was part of the special stopover packages being offered since the "unpleasantness" between Qatar and its neighbours over the last year or so left a lot of hotels nearly empty. The deal is extremely good value and the hotel excellent - the location is in the office area and a little far from many of the sights. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful - even to people who have paid the cheapest possible rates. They all spoke excellent English, but I don't think there was a native-born Qatari among them.

Some views from our room, on the 19th floor. The construction site in the foreground is their Exhibition Centre - the area in front was covered in pavers, complete with a number of palm trees in one day. The storm did blow a fair number of the newly planted trees down.







Me marching along with the hordes of pedestrians. Doha would be the worst city I have ever seen for pedestrians. I know that summer is brutally hot but it is a hassle to even walk from on building to another. There are fences, walls, change of height, no underpasses etc with little thought for anyone on foot. This day was about 32 C and perfectly fine for walking. I don't know why they don't use covered walkways like in Singapore.



Looking back towards the "City Centre" from the park near the Sheraton on the foreshore of Doha Bay.



A view from the the Corniche. The wet pavement shows that it was after the big storm. This was about the clearest the air was for our stay. The Sheraton is the pyramidal building on the far right.



Souq Waqif. It does not feel very historical as it was refurbished and reconstructed around 2008. A lot of it appears to be concrete blocks with a fake mud overlay. We only spent an hour or so in here. We got ripped off on the taxi trip from the hotel to here as. I forgot to confirm the price before we left so my fault.. The taxi trips to and from the airport were good and those drivers used their meters both ways.





Dhows in the bay.



Nest we went into what was the absolute highlight of our visit - The Museum of Islamic Art opened in 2008.