2022 Europe trip 2/2 - Spain

This is the second part of our 2022 year end Europe trip, when we visited Spain. See here for the first part.

Seville

Seville was a surprise. We were initially hesitating to go there as we have limited time. But it turned out to be a good decision to come.

Seville is an ancient city with over 2000 years history. It held the 1992 Expo, and the historical sites remain. We were literally freezed at the sight of the Plaza de España. The architecture style of the buildings there are obviously influenced by Islamic culture, and looks refreshing and unique. The second shock was in Catedral de Sevilla. It was not exaggerating to say that it is mind-exploding with so many treasures in one single place. Apart from that, there are a lot more attractions to visit that three days was totally not enough.

An interesting observation is the orange trees in Seville. In Portugal, we saw only sporadic ones. In Seville, they are everywhere. We later learnt that they are actually sour oranges and they were introduced to Spain fom Arabia by a King for the refreshing smell.

Even though we went to Seville in winter, it was warm like fall. Together with the low cost, it could be a good place for retirement.

Caminito del Rey

Caminito del Rey is about 2 hours train away from Seville. We went there for a small hike and the world famous walkway pinned to the steep mountain walls. The wooden walkway was only built not long ago. The original rock way with barely any fences are now under the wooden walkway. About a decade ago, this place was for adventures. After several accidents, the government decided to close it and built the new walkway. We went for a tour with a guide, which took about 3 hours.

The El Chorro town was fairly remote and did not have much to do. Since our train was in the evening, after coming back from the tour, we did a small hike around the village to pass time. Turned out the area was olive tree farms. The trees were full of olives even in winter.

Barcelona

Barcelona needs no introduction. It is renowned for the architectural works by Gaudí. The must-see ones in my mind are La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. Especially La Sagrada Familia. Since it is still under construction, it is worth visiting every few years. Hopefully it can be finished within my lifetime. Other than Gaudí’s masterpieces, there are many other numerous places to visit, such as Basillica de Santa Maria del Mar - a 14 century Gothic style church, Parc de la Ciutadella - a city park with an amazing fountain, and etc.

We noticed a weird log toy that appeared too frequently in the Christmas markets. It is a short trunk with a smiley face on one end two legs in the front. After doing some research at home, it turned out to be from Catalan mythology and is called Tió de Nadal. During Christmas, it poops presents when you beat it with a stick and sing a song.

We were also lucky in that Circo Raluy just started to have performance in Barcelona downtown. We noticed them when visiting the Christmas market in the port. The circus parked their tent nearby, along with old-fashioned wagons and buses, all decorated with old school posters. The show was in a tent and had a small family setting. There were two clowns hosting and interacting with the audience. We did not get most of the jokes as we do not speak Spanish. But from the reaction of the audience, it must be funny. The shows were impressive. The whole atmosphere was happy, festive, and quite different from Cirque du Soleil.

Madrid

Madrid is elegant and clean. It has great museums, numerous fancy sculptures and fountains. Even on Christmas eve or Christmas day, the streets were full of people, and a lot of stores were open. Though most tourist attractions were closed during that period.

We also went for a Flamenco performance on the Christmas night. Flamenco is a rare type of performance that expresses sorrow and anger. The show is usually composed of a few folks playing instruments, singing, clapping and stomping, and one person dancing. The dance tends to be very intense and it always involves the dancer using their feet tapping the wooden floor and making noise. we watched one show in a close setting. The stage was pretty small, and people sat next to the stage.