Pais Vasco

This past weekend we took a flight to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim museum and to travel into the Basque region of France. It was a great trip. We stayed in a really nice little cottage on a mountainside outside of Hondarribia a small town on the French border. 

Inside the Guggenheim museum.

The road to our hotel just outside Hondarribia. It was gorgeous there, but slightly stressful to meet another vehicle coming the other way :)

Inside the town of Hondarribia.

The view from our hotel room window- along with the cute little Peugeot we rented.

Out for a walk up the mountain.

The front of the cottage we rented. Our room was the on the top right side. The owner was really funny and was always teasing the guests.

A day trip to Bayonne in France.

The beach in Biarritz.

We went a bit more inland and took the petit train de la Rhune in France and took in the gorgeous views of the countryside.  This postcard suggests that the train is powered by the Brebis (the shaggy sheep of the region). We didn't confirm this.

Here you can see the little train winding its way around the mountain.

Views of the Pays Basque from the petit train.

On the mountain top.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa- una semana de vacaciones durante las que vinieron unos buenos amigos de Calgary para visitar. Fuimos juntos a la Sagrada Familia y a Francia a Carcasona. Aunque ya había ido a Sagrada Familia hace unos años quería visitarla otra vez porque desde entonces había cambiado mucho.  

The week of Semana Santa, or Holy Week which was Spring break this year I had a couple of good friends from Calgary come and visit. One of the nice things, other than their company, was heading to a number of sites in the city. Although I had already been to Sagrada Familia I decided to go again, and since my last visit a lot had changed. 

Unas vistas de la fachada de la pasión.
These are some of the passion scenes from one facade.

Dentro de la catedral los pilares parecen árboles- mostrando el amor que tenía Gaudí de la naturaleza
Looking up in the cathedral- the tree-like pillars show Gaudi's love for nature.

La entrada en la fachada de la pasión
The entrance on the passion facade.

Nuestro viaje a Carcasona donde visitamos la fortaleza. En esta foto se ve una de las entradas.
We also took a trip into France to Carcassonne and saw the fortified city there. This is one of the entrances into the Cite.

Aquí yo estoy en la puente que da entrada al alcázar dentro de la fortaleza.
Here I am on the bridge heading into the Cite.

El espacio entre las dos murallas de la ciudad
The space between the exterior and interior walls of the Cite.

La Ciudad iluminada de noche

Regresando a casa paramos a visitar los cuatro castillos de Lastours. Subiendo la montaña las vistas fueron espectaculares.
Before heading home we made a couple of stops. One was to see the 4 Chateaux of Lastours. It involved a short hike up the mountain to visit 4 castles on top of a mountain. The views were spectacular.

También fuimos a Montserrat y escuchamos los últimos minutos de la misa, había una niebla que descendía y las vistas fueron increíbles.
We also went to Montserrat and caught the last few minutes of the mass they held there. There was a fog rolling in and the views from here at the top of the mountain were fantastic!

Habíamos reservado un Clio pero pedí un upgrade y nos dieron un Audi- me gustó conducirlo :)

We rented a Renault Clio- but I managed to get an upgrade to an Audi, it was fun to drive.

Al día siguiente fuimos a Sant Sadurni para hacer una visita de una bodega de cava que se llamaba Pere Ventura. 

The following day we did a wine tour in Sant Sadurni. This is where Cava the sparkling wine of Catalunya comes from.

The bodega we visited was called Pere Ventura and was fun to see. There was an underground maze of storage spaces for the bottles which were covered in cobwebs. It was something like a haunted house down there, in contrast to their rather formal and modern tasting space above ground. 

Toledo

Toledo es una ciudad pequeña en la comunidad de Castilla La Macha al sur de Madrid. Antes de la época de los Reyes Católicos había tres grupos religiosos allí; los Musulmanes, los judíos y los Cristianos, en 1492 los reyes los expulsaron o convirtieron los que no eran cristianos. 

Es una ciudad con una fortaleza impresionante, yo tuve la oportunidad de visitar una catedral, una mezquita y una sinagoga en el mismo día. Toledo también está conocido por su mazapán que aún hoy está preparado por las monjas. 

Toledo is a small city located in Castilla La Mancha and south of Madrid. It was home to three ethnic groups, the Christians, the Muslims and then the Jews before the expulsion of the two latter groups or forced conversion to Catholicism in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella. 

Toledo is also a fortified city with a number of interesting religious sites, given its rich history. I was able to visit a cathedral, a mosque and a synagogue all in the same day! Toledo is also famous for its marzipan, some of which is still prepared by nuns. 

Una señal de azulejos en la pared de la tienda de dulces del convento. Allí compré unas galletas de mazapán. Las monjas que me las vendieron eran graciosas, las pobres intentaban envolver cada paquete y discutían por la mejor manera de meterlos en la bolsa...
This is a sign made of painted tiles outside of the shop of a convent where I bought some cookies and marzipan. The nuns who sold it were quite the characters, attemping to gift wrap each box and then arguing about the best way to set them into the bag...

La puerta de la bisagra. A gate into the fortified city of Toledo.

Un puente sobre el río Tajo
A bridge into the city, across the Rio Tajo.

La mezquita del Cristo de la Luz y el museo
Cristo de la Luz Mosque and interpretive centre.

Una vista de Toledo y el río Tajo, aquí destaca el alcázar.

A view of Toledo and the Rio Tajo, in this picture the Alcazar stands out above the other buildings.

Detrás de mí se ven la catedral y el alcázar

Behind me to the right the Alcazar, and to the left the Cathedral of Toledo. 

Portugal-Lisboa y Sintra

For a long weekend that I had this year I decided to head to Lisbon with a friend who was visiting. It was an excellent trip, until the last day when all of our stuff was stolen out of the rental car. Since I downloaded the pics from the first day onto my laptop, and it was stolen, I only have the pics from the last two days of the trip.

Aside from being robbed, I thought Portugal was great! I had had the opportunity to visit Porto with a group of friends from my master's and we had a blast there, so I was eager to explore the capital.

Outside of Lisbon a few kilometers lies Sintra- a town of manor houses and palaces. This is a picture of the national palace. The entrance was free that day and the palace was quite nice.

A view of the palace gardens and off in the distance the Atlantic.

The kitchen of the palace and some great copper pots.

A view of the national palace behind me. The two towers are the chimneys of the kitchen.

A view from another palace in Sintra, again spectacular views!

La Boca do Inferno or The Mouth of Hell, it was great to see the waves of the Atlantic crash against the rocky shores here.

A view of Cascais

A view (mostly of the table) in the Fado show we went to. A great meal and even better entertainment. There were four singers, but the same gentlemen on guitars accompanied them. Well worth it!