Spain continued in Southern California

From Madrid, we flew to San Francisco for my biannual family visit. After a rest day, we got in the car with my sister on a road trip, mission: pick up nephew Ian from his school in Ventura County. Since it is virtually virgin territory for us; that is, between Santa Cruz and San Diego, we chose to give Santa Barbara a look on the way.

The one tourist attraction we chose to check out, Santa Barbara County Courthouse, happened to be having a guided tour, so we had a rather thorough visit. The Spanish Moorish architecture of the courthouse made it seem like a continuation of our Spain trip. Afterwards we walked to the water; the palm tree-lined beach again reminded us of Spain.

First thing the next morning, we showed up at Ian's dorm for pick up. Ian just finished the first year at Thacher where each freshman is paired with a horse for the whole school year. Naturally we had certain expectations for such a posh school. Of course, none of those turned out to be true. Everything and everyone we saw was very chill. All my previous concerns all went by the wayside.

Several shots of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse; interior and exterior. Here, the courthouse with clock tower is at center-right, and the jail left.






The highlight of the guided tour was watching the clock (actually 4 clocks; one on each side of the clock tower) strike 3 PM


Stairwell with Moorish ceiling.


View from clock tower to the mountains.


Sun-Ling and her sister on the Santa Barbara Pier.

Worn out in Madrid

It all came back to us. We were really worn out in the museums in Madrid the last time (2000). We were doing it to ourselves again this time.  Taking advantage of free admission we visited and revisited

• Sorolla: our new discovery
• Archaeological: have to allocate a whole day here next time
• Reina Sofia: renewed my interest in Picasso
• Prado: site of exhaustion
• Thyssen-Bornemisza: some collection

When we tried to go back to the Prado on Monday, the line was extraordinary long, a part of us was relieved. We went on a city tour instead, something we love as much as museums.

If our flight was not so early in the morning, we would have returned to Madrid at all.  What dumb luck!   No wonder there are SO many visitors.  Over the last four days in Segovia and Madrid, we saw as many tourists as the rest of Spain combined.   Like everyone else, we loved Spain.  A part of us could not believe the trip is coming to an end.  We will be back for more.

Museo Sorolla and gardens.




MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional. A very fine presentation of archaeological finds and sites on the Iberian Peninsula.




Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía






Flora sculpture near the Reina Sofia.


Madrid at night.






El Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza




Get a free tour at the Plaza Mayor.


Royal Palace with segways.


Architecture.




The very popular Primark department store on Gran Via...


...where husbands and peddlers wait outside the main entrance for shoppers to exit.

Hot Segovia

Segovia is a very old city with great historical significance, yet it has a mere ~55,000 population today, not significantly different from the Middle Ages. While that is not unprecedented, given its geographical location, I found it puzzling.

Segovia is famous for its Roman aqueduct. It is every bit impressive as we expected, for its age and splendor, especially we have seen quite a few on this trip. Partly to escape the crowds in Segovia, where one is supposed to escape to Segovia from Madrid, we went to gardens at the royal palace in La Granja. It was huge and lovely and I could have wandered there all day if it were not for the heat. Temperatures were approaching 90 F, which I considered unjustified when we are at 1000m. Even locals consider it a heat wave. Being a weekend, there are about three million people in the streets, day and night. It was bordering on being crowded.

We left the hostal in Leon in a downpour, walking over a kilometer to the bus station with our pack covers tight and umbrellas up. Later, dry on the bus, we passed scores of Camino pilgrims walking west in the steady drizzle.


The weather cleared as we neared Segovia and from the bus we had a great view of the Segovia Alcazar and Cathedral.


After settling into our hostal and completing the 15-minute Rick Steves walking tour, we decided to walk to a series of viewpoints...First the Alcazar.


Then views of both the Alcazar and the Cathedral from the very nice loop greenway/trail.




The next day: a short bus ride to the Royal Gardens at La Granja. Wow! The photos do not do it justice.








Back in town, we first check out the city walls before inspecting the Roman Aqueduct.
















We could see the aqueduct from our balcony.


There were many tourists from all over the world in Segovia.




Finally, the Cathedral at night.

Undistinguished Leon

Leon is the next big town on the Camino after Burgos; in fact, it is the last big town on the Camino before Santiago. While I loved the Burgos Cathedral, I was not so all impressed with the Leon Cathedral which is known for its acres of stained glass windows.

I was getting a little bored, and at John's prompting I started taking pictures. Then I realized that the Cathedral is so popular because it is very photogenic. My problem is that while I love modern stained glass, I am not a fan of medieval stained glass. While in Leon we also felt obligated to check off the Pantheon Real at San Isidoro (no photos allowed for the medieval frescoes) which I was again underwhelmed. I decided that since I am not a fan of medieval art to begin with; I only like mosaics or stone carvings.

Another thing I realized is that in those towns along the camino, there are an above average number of fit people, presumably having arrived on foot, as supposed to in most other towns with decrepit semi-mobile people arriving in cars, tour buses, and cruise ships!

From the bus window on the trip from Burgos to Leon.




Our hotel in Leon was almost adjacent to the Cathedral so we were always walking by it; thus, a bunch of shots of the Leon Cathedral.
















Cleaning the square in front of the Cathedral.




St Isidore at night.


Cloister - Leon Cathedral.


Leon has some way cool city walls.






Convent of San Marcos.


Football.


Markethouse before the rain.