Seville, Spain

One of the things I said I would do on this trip is very cliched, but today was the day. A haircut from the Barber of Seville.

After my 1100 peseta haircut, we got some food from the supermarket and headed into town.

We stopped at Parque de Maria Luisa, which is like Seville’s Botanic Gardens, where we ate our breakfast, before continuing on behind Plaza de Espana. This is where many government offices of Spain are, and the outside of the buildings contain mosaics representing the different regions of Spain.

Plaza de Espana, Seville, Spain

Plaza de Espana, Seville, Spain

We had lunch at an Irish pub just behind the cathedral.

After lunch we went to the Royal Palace. Yet another superb building, with its great architecture, interior design (being Moorish, it was very similar to the Alhambra) and spectacular gardens dating back as far as the 10th century.

Royal Palace, Seville, Spain

After a couple of hours in the palace, we went back to the hostel, cranking up some much-loved air conditioning to combat the 40ºC heat.

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant near the hostel. We arrived at eight pm with nobody around and had finished our meal before another customer had arrived. The meal was delicious and extremely cheap. For 750 pesetas we each got a large spring roll, fried rice, main meal, drink and desert/coffee.

We caught a bus into town after dinner to meet Matt & Jen for a drink. We had a couple at a Tex/Mex bar that they had dinner at, and then moved to a bar down by the river. It was three am before we called it a night, and closer to 4am by the time we got home in a cab. By this stage we were genuinely freezing, even though the temperature had only dropped to 23ºC.

Granada, Spain

Guess what? It’s hot again! We checked out of the hostel early this morning and caught a bus to our new hostel at 9.45 am.

A quick bite to eat, and then we caught the bus up the hill to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a 9th century Islamic fortress built on 132 hectares on Cerro de Sol (Hill of the Sun). This is the north east of the city’s center. This is the phenomenal fortress that I have been waiting to see this whole trip. Mainly because it is the name of a Tea Party album.

We went to four different sections of the fortress. The Alcazabar was where the Alhambra’s military services were kept. Here were military quarters, along with numerous watchtowers. This part of the building dates back to the 14th century.

Next was the Palace of the Nazaris. This is basically the old royal palace. To think that the art in this building, i.e., alfresco, intricate Islamic writings in limestone and marble, ceramic tiles, etc., could last so long, is not really the amazing part. What blows me away is the immaculate detail and sheer volume of it, and when you think what has been destroyed over time due to wear and tear, you can only come to the conclusion that this place must have been the most admired it its time.

Salon de Embajadores, Palacio Nazaries, Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Just outside of the palace is the palace of King Carlos V. This is a simple, square, two-storey building with a round courtyard. The building houses the Museo de la Alhambra, which contains many artifacts from the 12th – 15th centuries, including a 600-year-old Koran, furniture, vases, coins, parts of fountains, to name a few.

Palacio de Carlos V, Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Court of the Myrtles, Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Alhambra, Granada, Spain

From here we walked up to the Generalife, the Summer Palace. Here the palace is not so much spectacular, but the gardens and grounds have been well kept. It is also a great, cool place to be in the heat.

Generalife, Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Granada, Spain

After our visit, on the way back down the hill, I picked up a souvenir book and had lunch at a café right near our place. Roberta then went for a rest, while I headed off to an internet café, so as to not fall asleep. Upon my return I had a small nap (damn it!) before we went out for the evening.

We went to one of the bars from Thursday night for a drink and some tapas.

From here we watched the Alhambra come alight as night fell. We walked up the hill for a couple of photos of the fortress before going to another bar for a drink.

We walked back to Plaza Nueva, where a group of guys were playing some songs to anyone who would listen. They had a fairly good crowd, on top of all the people eating in nearby restaurants. That was until midnight, when the police came and put a stop to it all, to the sound of many boos and catcalls from the crowd. We went across the road, bought ice cream, and then headed home.

Madrid, Spain

We got an early start this morning and found a little coffee shop for our morning croissant.

We continued our walk in a milder temperature – 36ºC. We walked along Gran Via to Plaza de la Cibeles. It is like a huge intersection that has many banks on its’ corners, one of which is topped by the most ornate dome, and Palacio de Communicaciones, a post office which looks like a grand palace, both inside and out. We headed north past the Biblioteca Nacional to the Monumento a Colon (Monument to Columbus). Behind this was another monument, Monumento al Descubimiento, which commemorates the discovery of America. From here we headed south, passing the Museo Arqueologico and the Prado, both of which are closed.

This was the end of the suggested walking tour, but what we did was walk back up Calle de las Huertas, where we stopped for some lunch, through Plaza Mayor, along Calle Mayor, until we came back to Palacio Real. We went in and had a guided tour through twenty of the 2070 rooms of the Royal Palace. Each room is extravagantly decorated (one room taking 40 years to complete), floors are covered in marble, built in the 18th century, some walls are silk lined, most of the ceilings are alfresco painted and the palace boasts twenty square kilometers of tapestries. The tour took an hour, so you can only imagine how long a proper look around would take. Once again, another monarchy shows off its’ excesses. The worst thing about this place is that it is no longer used as a royal residence. It is only used for official receptions and tourism.

Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain

We went back to our room after this, to recover from the heat. We showered before having a siesta. We went and got pizza for dinner, before going to two bars and having a couple of drinks to finish the night off.

St Petersburg, Russia

Breakfast in the hotel was followed by a one-hour drive to the Peterhof Palace. Commissioned by Peter the Great, who was a tsar who lived in Moscow but wanted to be elsewhere, so commissioned the city of St. Petersburg to be built.

This is the palace that he stayed in during the summer and was absolutely huge. I had mixed feelings about being here. On one hand, here I was seeing this most magnificent building, smothered in gold leaf, on over 250 acres, surrounded by dazzling fountains. Yet the excess felt a little too much in a country struggling to come to terms with capitalism. The amount of money spent in upkeep of place, not to mention re-building it after it was bombed in World War II, seems such a waste when the infrastructure of the city is in decay and so many other buildings, although not half as nice, could well use the money for maintenance.

Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

After lunch in the palace gardens, we went back to the city to see the Winter Palace, in which is Russia’s largest museum – The Hermitage. The Hermitage consists of five buildings – The Winter Palace, The Small Hermitage, The Old Hermitage, The Hermitage Theatre and The New Hermitage. The buildings house 2.8 million pieces of art, a collection started in 1764 by Catherine the Great with a mere 225 paintings. It is said that if you spend 1 minute in front of every piece of work in the museum, it would take you 30 years to see everything. Unfortunately, we raced through in an hour and a half, and it’s closed tomorrow so we can’t come back. I spent my whole time wandering around in awe and missed most of the commentary from our local tour guide, Anna, but soaked in enough art and culture to last a lifetime. It was amazing to think that in one day, under one roof, I saw artwork by Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Monet, yet in the same circumstance missed works of Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, and ancient Egyptian treasures, to name a few. But I also think about it the same way I do about the Summer Palace. Exquisite, but excessive! Though I would love to come back one time just to spend a week here in the Hermitage. Such a shame that it’s closed on Mondays!

Back at the hotel, we took the opportunity to confirm our booking in Paris, as well as me buying two Russian soccer shirts, CSKA Moscow and St. Petersburg, for US$10 each – one for me and one for dad. Dinner was at the De Konnick Restaurant. We had beef stroganoff at the restaurant and it was delicious.

Afterwards, some of the tour, Roberta included, went to the Metro nightclub for a taste of Russian nightlife. I, however, opted for an early (midnight) night to catch up on washing and my diary.