Fastball – Miles Zuniga
Crazy Mike – Boo!
Saturday before Halloween
Crazy Mike from the back bar at the Continental Club in Houston does a little holiday shopping at Sig’s Lagoon.
Click for full size
Barcelona – Last Day
It’s our final day in Barcelona. We are taking it super easy as we are pretty much exhausted. Tonight we pack up and we take a 4+ hour train ride back to Madrid where it all began.
Today we got up, got dressed and headed over to the Boqueria for breakfast. We’ve come to love our little cafe there for a cafe con leche and a Spanish omelette.
After breakfast we walked over to the Museu Maritim De Barcelona.
I’ve been to a number of nautical and military museums in my life. This is, by far, the best one I have ever seen. The building itself is the restored Drassanes Reials (Royal Shipyards of Barcelona) and at it’s center is a Full sized reproduction of the galley from which Don Juan d’Austria oversaw the defeat of the Turkish Navy at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 to give Spain mastery of the Mediterranean.
We specifically got there early so I could make sure I got this particular shot of the replica
You really should click to see the full size….especially you, Joe Linbeck!
We’re back in the Hotel resting a bit. We’re going to head out here shortly for another walk around the city.
We’re going to miss Barcelona
Barcelona – Casa Batllo At Night
Barcelona – Wild Parrots
We were walking toward the Sagrada Familia doing some sightseeing when I heard a VERY familiar bird squawk.
It was the squawk of the Quaker Parrot (aka Monk Parrot) which is the type of bird Cynthia owns, the one that hates me.
We walked into the park and sure enough, up in the tree was a Quaker Parrot
As we looked around we saw more and more of them in the park.
They were EVERYWHERE! All up in the trees and waddling along the ground competing with the pigeons for food.
And I am sure they all hated me, just like Mr. Zippers. Just look at them…
Apparently there’s a very large colony of them in that park. I saw at least 4 or 5 dozen birds and one giant communal nest.
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*pictures 1, 2 & 3 courtesy of Cynthia and her excellent telephoto lens.
The Alhambra – Part 2 (The Palace)
The Palace, or The Palacios Nazaries as it is called, was built in the 14th century.
It’s a great insight into Moorish civilization on the Iberian Peninsula. The rooms are decorated with well preserved stucco, wood carvings, tile and molded plaster.
Words cannot do it justice. Even pictures fall short.
Here is what I captured that I wanted to share
I was particularly fond of the carved wooden doors
And of course the gardens and fountains…
Spectacular!
The Alhambra – Part 1
Of course the main reason to visit Granada is The Alhambra. It would seem this is one of the most visited historic sights on the planet. To get in, you have to purchase a ticket and these tickets sell out fast.
Since we had not been able to get tickets online or the day we arrived we figured we should get up early and get in line. As luck would have it, my alarm clock failed to go off and we woke up around 9:00 am rather than 6:30 as we had intended.
We went ahead and had breakfast in the hotel. The owner, who’s name is Manuel, was taking care of the the breakfast orders and is an extremely nice guy. He introduced us to something called Spanish Toast. A piece of toasted bread with a light spread of freshly ground tomato which you then sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt then finished off with just the faintest amount of olive oil. VERY TASTY!
Manuel was speaking with us (mostly Cynthia) about the Alhambra and suggested we go over to the ticket line and then look for an area that sold tickets via a machine that took credit cards.
We hiked up the hill and located the ticket area he was speaking of in a matter of minutes and in no time flat we had our tickets to The Alhambra.
When you purchase your ticket you are scheduled a 30 minute window to enter the palace which is the main attraction of the Alhambra. Once you are in, you can take as much time as you like wandering the various rooms.
Our window was from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm. For palace visits after 2:00 pm you can go ahead and enter the compound and visit the other sights like the Generalife Gardens and The Alcazaba.
We took advantage of the the 4 hours and waled all around taking pictures and climbing the many many stpes to the top of the Alcazaba.
It’s a facinating place. The fort (Alcazaba) is from the mid-13th century and represents the last stronghold of the Moorish king Boabdil.
Aquaducts were the order of the day and this place still has water running through it in the form of small little water troughs that line the paths and feed the fountains. If your quiet and listen you can hear water trickling, gurgling and flowing all throughout the Alhambra.
We climbed and climbed and climbed….
The picture at the top of this post was taken from down there
At the top of the tower the view is amazing…
Next, The Palace!