Next Stop...Segovia, Spain

This was my most favorite of the cities we visited in Spain.  It is a small, fortified city, with a huge Roman and Moorish influence.  A very interesting mix!  There are three things to see in this town, the roman aquaduct, the Cathedral and Segovia's castle.

 Entering Segovia...

 you see the aquaduct.  This is one of the longest aqueducts Rome built.  Most of it is still standing, and it is all joined rock...no mortar was used.  It impresses me that it is still standing!  It lies on the northern most edge of the old town, or fortified walled part of town.  On the other side is where real life begins, people live, go to work, and school...but on this side, the side we are on, things quiet down and magic begins!

 We found a delicious dessert shop facing the aquaduct...we decided to stop for a treat.

 I loved all the detail on the buildings, that date back to the moorish occupation.  Every building had it's own design stamped into the stucco of the walls.

 The Cathedral was impressive too...but despite all the opulence outside, it is very simple inside.

 Segovia's Castle or Castille

This is what you see as you walk up to enter the castle.  There is a remnant of a mote, and you cross a draw bridge to enter the courtyard.  This is not the "impressive" side of the castle...on the other side the castle drops off, as it is built on the edge of a cliff.

 Anya loved all the different kinds of armor

 I loved all the spanish tile work...part of the moorish influence.  Each room had a different ceiling and different tiles around the base of the room.

 The boys loved the Horses...yee haw, they would yell....as it echoed through the rest of the castle!

 We climbed the tower and got this beautiful shot of the cathedral and city.   We were told it was 500 stairs to the top...the kids were a bit daunted at first.  When we got to the top, the kids were like, that wasn't 500 stairs, it was too easy.  I guess the 1300 stairs we climbed in Montenegro makes anything look easy!

 Leaving the walled city of Segovia.

It was so quaint, I loved it there!

 Here is our little "people mover" the call it, we rented in Barcelona to get up to the Madrid area.

Yes, we all fit...barely!

 As we left town, we drove along the back side of the castle...so I could get a picture of the back side.  This is the angle that is on the front of the calendar I used last year!

 I thought this angle was impressive as well...

Then we drove past the aquaduct one last time, and I took a farewell shot of that as well!

It was a fun, relaxing day!  The town walk was enjoyable, the food was excellent, and the people were very friendly!

Matt is really enjoying using all his Spanish skills again!

Spring Break in Spain! (warning, lots of pictures)

Day 1 of Spring Break: Barcelona

We actually flew into Barcelona the night before, but that evening wasn't very exciting.  Just train rides, metro rides, finding dinner and walking to our hotel.

The real fun started the next day as we toured Barcelona like we were on fire!  Looking back through the pictures, I can't believe how much we got done in 1 day.  I was pretty impressed with us!  We really had no agenda for Spain, we kind of just wanted to walk around and soak it in.  If we saw something, or read something we wanted to see...then we would head off to try to find it.  The first part of the day was our Antonio Gaudi part...This guy was a very imaginative architect!

 La Sagrada Familia Basilica

This is probably Gaudi's most famous works.  Even though he wasn't the first Architect  he came on after the structure had started being built, and he wasn't the last...because, even now... a century later, it is still unfinished.  8 of the 12 spires are complete...so you can still hear stone masons chipping away at stone as the work on the unfinished spires.

 The girls liked it.  There is a lot, visually, going on, on this building.  You could probably stare at it for hours and still find something new to see!

 The girls love flea markets and tourist stands!

 Matt found an Argentine Materia! 

He was so happy! They also served the best empanada's ever...it was a very delicious lunch!

 So far, Barcelona has been full of color.

 Another Gaudi structure.

This is an apartment building he designed.

 This Gaudi building was designed to look like a dragon.  Kind of an ode to St.George I suppose.  The roof is the dragon scales, and the balconies are the skulls of the dragon's victims   This was on the "block of discordance", basically a bunch of architects trying to out do each other with their designs...and there were some pretty funky ones too, but also some pretty ones...

 A pretty one...

A funky one...

 

We then took a cable car up to Barcelona's

Castille de Montjuic

It was a fortress we had seen on the hill top as we flew in over Barcelona the night before.

 Beautiful views!

For our evening we decided to do a walking tour of old town Barcelona.

It started in this Plaza...where a massive pillow fight was going on.

Not sure what the significance was, but there were feather's and pillow fluff everywhere.

 As I was trying to take a picture of this alley way with Matt....

 This lovely gentleman photo bombed my picture.  He laughed and laughed when I snapped the picture anyway.  It was a fun moment.

 I love the spanish tile on the fountain...this used to be the main water source for horses as you headed out of town.

 Part of the old Roman wall that surrounded Roman Barcelona...then called Barcino.

The arch and the oversized stones are Roman...the rest was build around it.

 Cathedral of Barcelona

 Outside the Cathedral this gentleman was playing some Spanish Steel Guitar...it was wonderful.

 For dinner we wanted to try some local cuisine. 

We were served an assortment of Tapas (like appetizers...but in Spain they make a meal out of them), to include clams, squid and some items I didn't recognize!

 We also had some delicious Paella...a spanish rice dish.  This quickly became my favorite dish in Spain!

It was a memorable first day of our Spring Break...I think what made it most memorable is Hannah...our pickiest eater, tried clam and squid.  And she lived to tell about it!

Karlovy Vary

The Saturday before Easter we went to a town in Czech near us called Karlovy Vary.  I should have figured, but wasn't planning on it, so was pleasantly surprised to find an Easter Market going on.

Very similar to a Christmas market...but the booths sell Easter themed wares.

 Some of the eggs are so intricate!

They are mostly blown eggs, so very fragile...they would not hold up in our house!!

 This is a resort/spa town because of the natrual hot springs here.  It seems in Europe, wherever a hot springs is, a spa/healing town pops up.  They truely believe the water has healing properties.

 Here is one of the fountains piped from the Hot springs

 The main fountain "drag".  There are maybe 7 fountains in this corridore...each in varying temperatures.  The temp. is displayed on a plaque above the fountain.

 People come from all over to drink this water.  You buy these special cups with a straw attached at the bottom, go to which ever fountain you want to drink from, and fill you cup.

yum!

Here is a pic of a bunch of locals and tourists filling their cup...I talked to one man, and his cup had been in his family for 4 generations.

 We decided to hop on the band wagon.

Here we are filling up our cup...

 Tasting...

Tasting...

 It tastes....interesting.

Cora thought it tasted like blood?!!  She went on to describe that it is the taste in her mouth she has after loosing a tooth.  It was very metallic tasting.

 All the high rise hotels above spas along the river...

 Where the Hot springs meets the river flowing through town

 We found these yummy wafer things, they were only like 15 cents or so.  The kids loved them!

 We also got to see some locals perform some traditional Czech folk songs.

When I heard there was a Russian Orthodox Church in the area...I had to stop by and see it.

Isn't it pretty.  Not as ornate as some you would see in Russia, probably, but still pretty amazing.

Happy Easter

Easter in Bavaria is magical.

Not as magical as Christmas, but still very unique and inspiring.

About a week before Easter, all these Easter "fountains" and trees start popping up.

They take hundreds of decorated, blown out, eggs and decorate the towns fountains and hang them from trees.  It is a fabulously festive sight!

I had ordered Easter dresses, and outfits for the girls and boys.  The girls dresses did not arrive...so they wore something from the back of their closets.  

 I thought the boys looked especially debonair in their new Easter duds.

 The girls looked great too.

Not the coordinating dresses I had pictured in my mind, but they still are beautiful.

I guess now I can return the dresses I ordered, since Easter is over...