Spain

Jeff and I spent some time in Spain over the spring and I am just getting around to sharing some of the images.  We traveled to four cities sampling food and wine and visiting several art museums and just experiencing the culture.  I can say that we had some great wine, saw some incredible art and architecture and I feel that we did get a really good sense of the culture.  We stumbled our way through communicating with the locals and proudly made it through the whole trip with our best recollections of the spanish language.  Spain wasn't exactly a vegetarian's paradise so I ate many a cheese sandwich and was more than happy to return to NYC's restaurant scene and even my teeny-tiny, local supermarket.

We began our trip in Barcelona and stayed at a cute little hotel right off Las Ramblas.  We spent a lot of time just walking the city, eating and drinking.  We also visited Park Guell, which was originally designed as a private housing development by Antonio Gaudi.  Barcelona was brimming with his art and architecture and we also visited two apartment complexes which he designed.  His work is unmistakably unique.  From the park to the apartments to the church he designed, la Sagrada Familia, his work is unlike anything we had ever seen.  It was quite overwhelming and the Barcelona art scene really seems centered around him and his work.

(The churros here were the best of the trip!)

Our next stop was Granada, which was obviously much smaller and different than Barcelona.  The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra, an enormous, ancient Moorish palace.  We were not able to get into the Alhambra for a tour during the day.  The demand for tickets is extremely high and if you want to visit the palace, it would be wise to buy your tickets months in advance.  We did however tour the gardens in the evening so we got a very small glimpse of the palace from the outside.  We also took a bit of a walk/hike to a vista point where we could see the whole palace over the city of Granada.  Jeff had done a great job scoping out restaurants in Granada and a few of the places he found were really ecxellent (see menus below).  Overall, Granada was a charming city and I really enjoyed the time we spent there.