My Favourite Sites and Sights in Spain and its islands

Flag of Spain

Spain and Portugal
We drove down through France and Portugal to Marbella in Spain. In our car we had a sink and taps from Wickes DIY shop for my late parents' flat in Marbella. On the way we stayed overnight in the pousadas of Portugal and the paradores of Spain, historic hotels rebuilt, restored from ruins, to create attractions for tourists to hop around the previously neglected regions.

My memories of Spain:
Spanish:
Madrid
Madrid art gallery: El Prado
A statue of painter Velazquez greets you on arrival. Then you see his paintings.

Las Meninas by Velazquez, Madrid, Spain.

This striking picture shows the proud child, her head turned slightly sideways as if ignoring yet observing the painter, is dominating the adults, almost all eyes on her, whilst she stands central, whilst the artist is reflected in what appears to be a doorway or mirror observes, but he is behind her, maybe her parents are in the mirror, another figure in the doorway. All trompe l'oeuil. Artist in mirror paintings were popular. Rather like film horror and suspense film director Hitchcock hiding yet wanting to appear as a side figure in all his films, challenging the viewer to find him.

Spain -Summary or wishlist
Madrid, the capital city: art gallery, The Prado.
Two of the most visited sites are:
Royal Palace of Madrid and El Escorial.
Statues - war monument, Valley of The Fallen.
Miro by sculptor Botero.

Barcelona: Basilica La Sagrada Familia Cathedral by architect Antoni Gaudi
The city with the promenade of Las Ramblas. Where you ramble.

The architecture of Antoni Gaudi.

English: Close-up of Casa Batlló, Barcelona
Source	Own work
Author	Anonymous

Antoni Gaudi. First the cathedral. Then also see other unusual buildings with curves and statues.

You can do the hop on hop off bus tours. You can buy a two day pass and do it once in English and once in Spanish.

Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum.

Seville
Alhambra house and gardens.

Spain - Costa Del Sol
 It is the sunny coast in the south). I recall the contrast of Marbella's five, four and three star hotels (my parents had a flt on the seafront) with Butlins in Torremolinos. (I wrote about Butlins for Parents magazine); Puerto Banus, a tiny port with big boats.
Along the coast is Gibraltar, where they speak Spanish as well as English.

Spanish speaking Island of Majorca
A British favourite. Cheap and nearby.
Caves of Drach in Majorca.

Spanish Paradors
Wonderful cool paradors in Segovia with Jewish quarter view of Roman aqueduct from near the city, and from the hotel dining room; Avila, Toledo, and Jerez de la Frontera and several more.

Statue of Maimonides in Cordoba, Spain.

Maimonides went on the run from one set of Moslems, hopped from country to country and found refuge with another group. Became physician to the rulers. He was famous for saying that he would rather release 1000 guilty men than execute one innocent person. He wrote in Arabic and was and is revered by both Moslems and Jews.
Also see the former Jewish sites and Cordoba mosque cum church.And a Jewish Museum.

Rioja wineries.
Wineries together in a grand circle around the old former railway station: Lopez de Heredia, Muga winery shop and tours; Contino remote winery by appointment.


Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel From Wikipedia.

Drive out to the
Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel,which  is a luxury hotel located in Elciego, Spain. The hotel was designed by Frank Gehry. Everything is odd. The shape.

Inside, equally odd. Strange lifts and staircases and doors. Instead of room numbers we had our room number written in chalk on a slate board.

Bedrooms are odd. No room has straight walls. Everything from beds to chairs is curved and strange.  Bath in the middle of the room with a curtain like a hospital cubicle.

Food in restaurant served from a strange shaped trolley. Tables odd shapes. Napkins odd shapes. Napkin holders odd shapes. Lighting fittings odd shapes. Toilet doors odd shapes.
sbury.blogspot.com/2017/03/madeira-madeira-wine-portugal-and.html

Spain's Camino De Santiago
No car? Try walking. The Pilgrims' Way has easy and difficult sections, marked by souvenir shell pictures which you collect. The entire route within Spain may take longer than your holiday allowance. Some people do it over two holidays or two or more years, filling in their passport for the sections until they reach the end of the trail at the cathedral. Santiago, is Saint Iago or Saint James.

The route ends at the
 Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The cathedral contains the saint's relics and is adorned with many statues and is shown on Spanish coins. Other parts of the pilgrims' way are in France and Portugal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

The cathedral at the end of your many days of walking. Spain.

Spanish Landmarks To Visit
https://www.visitacity.com/en/barcelona
Mallorca - Caves of Drach

SPAIN
Paradors (Hotels in historic buildings with local cuisine)
https://paradoresofspain.com/

Spanish Tourist Board
https://www.spain.info/en_GB/informacion-practica/oficinas-turismo-embajadas/turismo-exterior/oficina_de_turismo_en_londres.html
https://spainguides.com/spain-travel-guide/tourism-offices-spain/
https://wikitravel.org/en/Balearic_Islands (Sparse but could be handy.)

Paradors (Hotels in historic buildings with local cuisine)
https://www.touropia.com/best-places-to-visit-in-mallorca/


MEXICO
Mexican Tourist Board
https://www.visitmexico.com/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancun
Tequila has tequila distillery tours.

USA
Notice the Spanish names of the cities Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Paso (the pass).

UK -
Tapas bars and Spanish restaurants.
LIVING IN SPAIN
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain


Duolingo
duolingo.com


Memrise
Memrise.com


About The Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning Spanish and other languages see previous post and posts. Also see other articles such as Botero statues in Colombia. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.