Saturday, 13 September
The Alvars and the Majors got up and went to the train station. We figured out how to buy that day’s train tickets to Toledo, we also figured out how to buy Monday’s train tickets for the Majors and me to go to Valencia.
The train didn’t leave for a while, so we went and checked out the train station. It was originally built in the late 1800’s, was burned down, and then built again. This is where the major terrorist bombing was about four years ago. The building was cool inside. They have created a rain forest inside with tons of turtles. You could watch these guys for hours.
We ate lunch, and then left for Toledo. The train to Toledo was very cool. Toledo is one of the oldest mid-evil towns in fully function today. You can see the status of the classes based on where the people lived. The Palace and Cathedral were on the top wall, the next level of people lived in the next wall, and then you and I would live on the bottom. This is so we would get killed first before the king. Toledo had this perfected – not killing us or the king, but the walls protecting/marking the classes. But the enemies became smarter. Toledo was taken over so many times because the enemy would surround the village and wait for the people to run out of supplies and come out. Toledo is the home of the Man of La Mancha – Don Quiote. Toledo is also known for its silver work. Brent bought his souvenir Spanish Sword.
The cathedral at Toledo is quite remarkable. We arrived with 30 minutes until close – enough time for the Majors. There were able to see the cathedral, watch a baby be baptized, tour the Cloak Room (this houses all of the Cardinal’s Robes since 1400?) and the surrender room (this is were the treaties from the Iberian Peninsula were all signed and the loser would have to hand over his white gloves to the Cardinal – truly surrendering.)
Toledo is quite cobblestoney and very mountainous. We were all exhausted hiking through it. We then got to enjoy the train ride back home. We did try and stop at a store on the way home to buy wine. We were too late – and again – no wine at home.
14 September – Sunday
The Majors went to see Retiro Park and the Flea Market in Madrid. Sunday is “the” day where the Flea Market happens and the Park is alive with street performers and the families of Madrid.
We stayed home to have an amazing day – that will go down in history as a true highlight of our trip. The only problem is that I drank too much – Shocker!!!
Alfonso, Ana, Tomas, y Santiago came over to make Paella for us. Alfonso is the professor who came to live in AZ – and now it is his time to host. Our house is bigger – so everyone is coming here to entertain!!! The Alvar house is always alive!!!
I would say that a person’s paella is his (mostly cooked by men) pride. It starts with a huge pan that is set on the barbeque. Alfonso bought Brent his own paella pan to take home. Brent was also taking notes in his leather bound notebook. The pan is put on the fire. You then get the base of beef/chicken/fish/shell fish/rabbit (your preference, Alfonso used chicken and rabbit). Then you add your broth, then your spices (saffron), then the veggies and rice. It takes a long time and the cooker needs lots to drink – that is why it tastes so good – it is the process!!!!
We put all of the tables out on the patio. We had a beautiful day and enjoyed each other’s company, laughed, drank, and ate the most amazing food ever. As we were getting hot, some of us ended up in the pool by choice – others not so much. This got crazy. We even got to see Brent slip on his back side trying to chase someone!!! That was worth money.
Monday, September 15
The Majors and I got up early to take the wonderful Boadilla/Madrid/Spanish transportation systems to Valencia. Dawn had heard about Valencia through a friend. There wasn’t that much written in the tour guides about it, but let me just say, Valencia is my favorite Spanish City to date!!!!
The train ride was not that bad, the train was a step below the Toledo train. Nicole and I got to sit with our backs to the toilet wall – noisy, stinky, smokey (people smoking in the bathroom), and seats that don’t recline. The train ride was only a few hours. I did watch the movies in Spanish – I can’t tell you exactly what was said in the movies – but they pick scary R rated movies on the train and they are scary even if you don’t speak the language!!!
Valencia is on the coast of the Mediterainian Sea. The reason that it is so cool, is that everything is centered in a small area of the town. It is difficult to get lost. The architecture is great with a centuries old cathedral next to a nouveau building next to a 50’s office building etc. Spain again loves its fountains. The coolest part was that there was a river that used to flow through the town. They built a dam and turned the river bottom into a green belt with fountains, arts, play grounds, and the cultural center towards the sea. The cultural buildings were far beyond incredible. The main building looked like a conquistador helmet on one side, and a huge fish on the other. The aquarium looked like a hump back whale. It was all done in the Guadi white mosaic tiles and was about as calming as can be.
We did enjoy the beach. Cool bars line the boardwalk. The beach was full of bare chests and speedos. I am so a puritan in the American sort of way – it was hard to manage your stare time!!!
Funny of the night. We went to have agua de Valencia (a cross between a long island ice tea and a screwdriver) at a bar called Vivar Sin Dormir “To live without sleep”. We were hungry, but the kitchen was closed. So Kelly, one of the Majors wanted to get olives and nuts. Olives in espanol is aceitunas and when we looked up nuts (still can’t find the general translation) the book said loco (crazy). So she went to the bar and asked for aceitunas loco (crazy olives). She came back to the table very proud of herself – the rest of us died laughing. She finally figured out a few days later, why we didn’t get our olives and nuts.
Monday night we went to the book recommended restaurant. It was fabulous of course. It was even cooler in that it had all of these trendy signs and logos and Nicole was taken. The food was tremendous. We then walked around Valencia trying to find bars to hang out at. Valencia is almost as bright during the day as it is at night – tons of lights and all of the buildings had spot lights on them. We found an all marble plaza – where all of the guys were skate boarding. The place was jammed. Did their city planners know that their precious marble would be so much fun. We did find a nice tapas bar with all of the tapas sitting out – very pretty. With Valencia closing at around midnight, we headed to our hotel and had drinks out front.
I called it a night early at 1:30, the Majors continued on. Let’s just say that the next morning was a little slow for most. We did the green belt. Nicole and I headed back early to get out luggage etc. On the way, we stumbled across a mini green belt with tons of modern fun statues. There were about 2 per Spanish mini block and the parkway was about a mile long. She and I had lunch and tasted the almond drink – very sweet. We then got everyone’s luggage and waited for the other Majors to meet us. They made it via taxi in time to carry their luggage to the train.
On our way home, we stopped for pizza in Boadilla – the only thing open. We tried to order alcohol – beer and pizza, no, too late!!! Again, you can drink in a bar but not at a restaurant after 10!!!
The Alvars and the Majors got up and went to the train station. We figured out how to buy that day’s train tickets to Toledo, we also figured out how to buy Monday’s train tickets for the Majors and me to go to Valencia.
The train didn’t leave for a while, so we went and checked out the train station. It was originally built in the late 1800’s, was burned down, and then built again. This is where the major terrorist bombing was about four years ago. The building was cool inside. They have created a rain forest inside with tons of turtles. You could watch these guys for hours.
We ate lunch, and then left for Toledo. The train to Toledo was very cool. Toledo is one of the oldest mid-evil towns in fully function today. You can see the status of the classes based on where the people lived. The Palace and Cathedral were on the top wall, the next level of people lived in the next wall, and then you and I would live on the bottom. This is so we would get killed first before the king. Toledo had this perfected – not killing us or the king, but the walls protecting/marking the classes. But the enemies became smarter. Toledo was taken over so many times because the enemy would surround the village and wait for the people to run out of supplies and come out. Toledo is the home of the Man of La Mancha – Don Quiote. Toledo is also known for its silver work. Brent bought his souvenir Spanish Sword.
The cathedral at Toledo is quite remarkable. We arrived with 30 minutes until close – enough time for the Majors. There were able to see the cathedral, watch a baby be baptized, tour the Cloak Room (this houses all of the Cardinal’s Robes since 1400?) and the surrender room (this is were the treaties from the Iberian Peninsula were all signed and the loser would have to hand over his white gloves to the Cardinal – truly surrendering.)
Toledo is quite cobblestoney and very mountainous. We were all exhausted hiking through it. We then got to enjoy the train ride back home. We did try and stop at a store on the way home to buy wine. We were too late – and again – no wine at home.
14 September – Sunday
The Majors went to see Retiro Park and the Flea Market in Madrid. Sunday is “the” day where the Flea Market happens and the Park is alive with street performers and the families of Madrid.
We stayed home to have an amazing day – that will go down in history as a true highlight of our trip. The only problem is that I drank too much – Shocker!!!
Alfonso, Ana, Tomas, y Santiago came over to make Paella for us. Alfonso is the professor who came to live in AZ – and now it is his time to host. Our house is bigger – so everyone is coming here to entertain!!! The Alvar house is always alive!!!
I would say that a person’s paella is his (mostly cooked by men) pride. It starts with a huge pan that is set on the barbeque. Alfonso bought Brent his own paella pan to take home. Brent was also taking notes in his leather bound notebook. The pan is put on the fire. You then get the base of beef/chicken/fish/shell fish/rabbit (your preference, Alfonso used chicken and rabbit). Then you add your broth, then your spices (saffron), then the veggies and rice. It takes a long time and the cooker needs lots to drink – that is why it tastes so good – it is the process!!!!
We put all of the tables out on the patio. We had a beautiful day and enjoyed each other’s company, laughed, drank, and ate the most amazing food ever. As we were getting hot, some of us ended up in the pool by choice – others not so much. This got crazy. We even got to see Brent slip on his back side trying to chase someone!!! That was worth money.
Monday, September 15
The Majors and I got up early to take the wonderful Boadilla/Madrid/Spanish transportation systems to Valencia. Dawn had heard about Valencia through a friend. There wasn’t that much written in the tour guides about it, but let me just say, Valencia is my favorite Spanish City to date!!!!
The train ride was not that bad, the train was a step below the Toledo train. Nicole and I got to sit with our backs to the toilet wall – noisy, stinky, smokey (people smoking in the bathroom), and seats that don’t recline. The train ride was only a few hours. I did watch the movies in Spanish – I can’t tell you exactly what was said in the movies – but they pick scary R rated movies on the train and they are scary even if you don’t speak the language!!!
Valencia is on the coast of the Mediterainian Sea. The reason that it is so cool, is that everything is centered in a small area of the town. It is difficult to get lost. The architecture is great with a centuries old cathedral next to a nouveau building next to a 50’s office building etc. Spain again loves its fountains. The coolest part was that there was a river that used to flow through the town. They built a dam and turned the river bottom into a green belt with fountains, arts, play grounds, and the cultural center towards the sea. The cultural buildings were far beyond incredible. The main building looked like a conquistador helmet on one side, and a huge fish on the other. The aquarium looked like a hump back whale. It was all done in the Guadi white mosaic tiles and was about as calming as can be.
We did enjoy the beach. Cool bars line the boardwalk. The beach was full of bare chests and speedos. I am so a puritan in the American sort of way – it was hard to manage your stare time!!!
Funny of the night. We went to have agua de Valencia (a cross between a long island ice tea and a screwdriver) at a bar called Vivar Sin Dormir “To live without sleep”. We were hungry, but the kitchen was closed. So Kelly, one of the Majors wanted to get olives and nuts. Olives in espanol is aceitunas and when we looked up nuts (still can’t find the general translation) the book said loco (crazy). So she went to the bar and asked for aceitunas loco (crazy olives). She came back to the table very proud of herself – the rest of us died laughing. She finally figured out a few days later, why we didn’t get our olives and nuts.
Monday night we went to the book recommended restaurant. It was fabulous of course. It was even cooler in that it had all of these trendy signs and logos and Nicole was taken. The food was tremendous. We then walked around Valencia trying to find bars to hang out at. Valencia is almost as bright during the day as it is at night – tons of lights and all of the buildings had spot lights on them. We found an all marble plaza – where all of the guys were skate boarding. The place was jammed. Did their city planners know that their precious marble would be so much fun. We did find a nice tapas bar with all of the tapas sitting out – very pretty. With Valencia closing at around midnight, we headed to our hotel and had drinks out front.
I called it a night early at 1:30, the Majors continued on. Let’s just say that the next morning was a little slow for most. We did the green belt. Nicole and I headed back early to get out luggage etc. On the way, we stumbled across a mini green belt with tons of modern fun statues. There were about 2 per Spanish mini block and the parkway was about a mile long. She and I had lunch and tasted the almond drink – very sweet. We then got everyone’s luggage and waited for the other Majors to meet us. They made it via taxi in time to carry their luggage to the train.
On our way home, we stopped for pizza in Boadilla – the only thing open. We tried to order alcohol – beer and pizza, no, too late!!! Again, you can drink in a bar but not at a restaurant after 10!!!
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