Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.

taiwan_girl

Spent about 1.5 - 2 weeks recently in Spain and Gibraltar. Quite interesting and historical. President Trump tasked me with trying to negotiate a deal to buy Gibraltar. Told me that if he couldn't get Greenland, he wanted another place that started with a "G". If Greenland does not work out, next stop is Gabon! 555

General random thoughts

most of the semi's have three axels on the back, rather than two that I have see elsewhere.
caps on plastic drink bottles (water, juice, etc.) are made so that they do not detach. You can unscrew them, but the cap still stays attached to a ring around the neck of the bottle.
people still do take a siesta in the mid afternoon
dinner is usually late. Almost never before 7 pm
for the most part, tipping is not a thing there (yay!). You see a price on a menu for example, and it is all inclusive.
Like most of Europe, so much history. A building or location will not make the guidebook or website if it is less than 3-400 years old. LOL
A bit more mountainous than I remembered.
Not so cheap, not so expensive.
People were quite friendly.
Would love to return.

And now to bore you with some pics!!! LOL

Main Plaza (Plaza Mayor) in downtown Madrid

Royal Palace - Madrid

Another shot of Royal Palace - Madrid

Temple De Mod - Madrid. Temple from ancient Egypt that the took down, moved to Spain, and rebuilt brick by brick.

Typical street scene - downtown Madrid

Retiro Park - Madrid

IMG_6803 2.jpeg
Was able to go see a traditional flamenco dance (along with a very good dinner!!). Very similar to ballet in a lot of ways.

Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree - Madrid.
(Ties into this forum thread. https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/37456/statue-groping

taiwan_girl

Some more!! LOL

Famous town of Toledo

Monastery of the Catholic Kings - Toledo

Cathedral in Toledo

Famous bridge in Toledo

blondie

Fantastic pictures! Thanks so much for sharing

taiwan_girl

But wait, there's more!!!

Gibraltar. Interesting that you have to walk across the airport runway to get into town. Long ago, I was there, and there was more car traffic going back and forth, but not as much now. Kind of fun to stand on the runway. Also, walked to the "Top of the Rock"! Definitely felt it in my legs!!!

Gibraltar

The story I heard was the PM Churchill said that the British would be in Gibraltar as long as the monkeys were still there. Well, the monkeys are still there and so are the British!!

Gibralter Botanic Garden

Back in Spain, went to a friend of a friend who had us make paella. Yummy!!!!

taiwan_girl

Spain is quite famous for "white villages" especially in teh south of Spain. Here are a few

Casares

Famous town of Ronda

Famous Roman bridge in Ronda

Grazalema

Wim

Nice pics!
Did you visit the stairs in Ronda? If not then you have a good reason to visit Ronda again
BTW: the plastic caps attached to bottles are mandatory in the EU in order to avoid plastic littering.

Horace

Very cool pictures! I particularly liked the Toledo ones.

taiwan_girl

@Wim said in Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.:

Nice pics!
Did you visit the stairs in Ronda? If not then you have a good reason to visit Ronda again
BTW: the plastic caps attached to bottles are mandatory in the EU in order to avoid plastic littering.

Did a lot of walking and took a lot of stairs in Toledo, but not sure if one set was more famous than another. They were all pretty cool!!

Re: bottle caps. Makes sense!!

AndyD

Love these! Makes me want to go back, this time see Gibralter.
Madrid and Toledo look exactly as I remember from my travels over two Easter weeks in 1985!
Memorable Toledo was medieval except for the railway station. I stayed in a pension near the castle, sharing a room with a young army lad; very hot weather and you could reach out the window and literally touch someone reaching from the bedroom opposite.
Spaniards siesta for 3 hours to avoid the afternoon heat, finish work at 7 and go for a walk & eat in the cool of the evening. Good life as I recall.

jon-nyc

Ha, we cross posted. I’ll have lunch in the Plaza Mayor tomorrow.

Bottle cap thingy is a mandatory annoyance in the EU. That’s what counts for innovation there these days.

AndyD

You don't lose the bottle cap, and can reuse the bottle for water. It's good.

Wim

@AndyD Yeah, but if you like drinking from a bottle, these caps are a nuisance.

Renauda

Lovely photos TG!

Tom-K

Great pictures!!!! That was really lovely. (You take really wonderful photos.)

taiwan_girl

@jon-nyc said in Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.:

Ha, we cross posted. I’ll have lunch in the Plaza Mayor tomorrow.

Great minds think alike. First evening there, had lunch in the Plaza. Nice to sit there, but I was told that the restaurants are nothing special.

If you get a chance, try to have dinner and see the flamenco at Corral de la Moreria. Well worth it.
https://www.corraldelamoreria.com/en/

Axtremus

@Renauda said in Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.:

Lovely photos TG!

+1

Klaus

Very cool photos! I've been to some of these places but not Gibraltar!

Jolly

Pretty girl, beautiful scenery, great pictures.

Mik

TG, your life is nothing short of spectacular. Fantastic pictures! And paella over a wood fire? Wow.

taiwan_girl

@Mik said in Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.:

And paella over a wood fire?

One thing I learned is that the traditional meat in paella is rabbit. I was offered to have it made with rabbit, but I turned it down. LOL

Taiwanese eat some pretty weird things, but rabbits seem too cute to eat. 555

The New Coffee Room

Taste the adventure, then taste the paella – in Spain.