Wednesday Walk 2nd March

Wednesday Walk 2nd March

By atrekinthesun   09:26   No comments:

As the weather is looking good for walking on Wednesday we will be back in the hills.
This week we are going back up the Sierra de Loja but a new route. We will start from Abadas Services and walk up towards the cross but then we turn left instead of right up to the top of a hill that is used for Parapenting (but not by us this time). The walk is about 12 kilometres long lasting about 3 and a half hours with less than 400 metres of ascent. Bring your own refreshments as no bars on route. Meet at 10:30 at Abadas services on the A92 near Loja on the waste ground just past the petrol station.

Read More

5 Things you MUST do when you visit Madrid

5 Things you MUST do when you visit Madrid

By atrekinthesun   06:55   No comments:

Museo Reina Sofía (Queen Sofía Museum)
This is one of the museums that are known as The Golden Triangle of Art the other 2 being the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Museo del Prado. The museum contains 21000 works of art, including some works by 20th-century artists Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, including Guernica by Picasso, it took us a couple of hours to walk around it but it was well worth it.

Three of Dali's work. You are not allowed to take photos of Guernica by Picasso

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
This museum is a private collection which contains over 1600 paintings consisting of works from English, Dutch & German schools, also Impressionists, Expressionists and European and American paintings from the second half of the 20th century. The museum was opened to the public in 1992. At the moment, you can get free entry to the permanent collection on Mondays between 12:00 and 16:00. It also has facilities for disabled visitors. It had almost 1 million visitors in 2013.

Museo del Prado  
The building was constructed during the reign of Charles III (Carlos III) in the 18th Century but was not opened to the public until 1819 during the reign of his grandson Ferdinand VII in the 19th Century. It had 2.3 million visitors in 2013.

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50954

Las Meninas by Velazquez

Santa María la Real de La Almudena (Catholic cathedral in Madrid)
The building was started in 1883 but was not finished until 1993 when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
In May 2004, the marriage of the crown prince (now King Felipe VI) to Leticia Ortiz Rocasolano took place at the Cathedral.

Cathedral from the Royal Palace

Palacio Real de Madrid (The Royal Palace of Madrid)

The Palace is magnificent and is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family in Madrid but is now only used for state ceremonies such as the investiture of King Felipe VI in 2014 and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. It is the largest Royal Palace in Europe and contains over 3400 rooms (not all open to public). There are also many more paintings by Velazquez, Caravaggio, Goya and many more and the world's only complete collection of Stradivarius string quintet.

Look who we saw in the Palace Gardens

View of the Palace from the Palace Gardens

Read More

Madrid 2016

Madrid 2016

By atrekinthesun   05:41   1 comment:

An early start saw us on our way to Madrid courtesy of Iberia from Malaga. Arrived safely and negotiated the metro to our hotel in the centre of Madrid which took about 1 hour 30 minutes. The room was not ready when we arrived so we went to get some lunch. Afterwards, we checked into the room and then started our sightseeing tour by walking about 2 kilometres to the Reina Sofia (Queen Sofia) museum which contains 21000 works of art, we could not see all of them because only 2 floors were open, but we did see works by 20th century artists Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, including Guernica by Picasso, we walked around for about an hour and then walked back to the hotel and were a bit tired from our early start.

Inside Reina Sofia

Me posing

Let the pictures speak for themselves

Had a rest in the room then went over to a restaurant just across the road from the hotel where they did menu del dia on Sunday night, and it was really good. Our hotel was just off Gran Via which is one of the main shopping areas and all the stops were open until around 10 pm with hundreds of people around, a bit of a culture shock compared to our little village at home.

The Gran Via

Lots of people shopping on the Gran Via

We had a good night's sleep and were raring to go after a nice breakfast at the hotel. Leaving the hotel, we walked around the streets until we arrived at our first museum of the day the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which contains over 1600 paintings and was really good. After coffee in the museum, we started to make our way to the next attraction which was the Palacio Real de Madrid (The Royal Palace of Madrid), on the way there we stopped off for lunch in a nice little bar. When we arrived at the palace the was a large queue so we decided that we would come back the next day and went into Madrid cathedral which was next to the palace. The cathedral was nice and by the time we came out the queue at the palace was a lot smaller so we decided to join it and it only took a few minutes before we were in there. The Palace was magnificent and is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family in Madrid but is now only used for state ceremonies such as the investiture of King Felipe VI in 2014 and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. From there we made our way back to the hotel to get ready to go out for a meal later. We went to a vegetarian restaurant called Artemisa, which was very good and was only 1 kilometre from the hotel.

Cathedral

Royal Palace

Meal at Artemisa

Today we went to Museo del Prado and as it didn't open until 10 am we had a leisurely breakfast before walking there. Got in at 10 am and walked around for about 2 hours before stopping for coffee, which was expensive but was just what we needed. Finished off the rest of the museum then went for a bite to eat before walking around the Parque del Retiro, which was very nice. After that, we went for another walk back to the hotel, where we rested before going out for another veggie meal later. This time, we went to El Vegetarian which was not as good as the one we went to the night before, but it was full. After the meal went to a bar opposite for a couple of beers then walked back to the hotel.

Parque del Retiro

More Retiro

Final Retiro

Today we walked to the Templo de Debod which is located in a park all on its own, apart from a lake. It was donated by Egypt to Spain and when we tried to enter the building were told by a security guard to go and stand over by a nearby wall, no reason was given and we could not see any signs. Eventually, we worked out that they only let a few people into the Templo at a time and we had to wait until the ones in there had come out, after going round I am not sure that it was worth waiting for. We then walked  a few hundred metres to the Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida which is best known for its ceiling and dome frescoes by Goya and is also his burial place. We walked back to the hotel alongside a river then walked around the royal palace gardens which were really nice. Before we went back to the hotel we called in at San Gines which is a famous chocolateria frequented by many stars and had churros and a cup of chocolate to dunk them in, which was okay but way too sweet for us. We had to go there as that is one of the things to do when in Madrid. On the way back to our hotel just across the road they were laying a red carpet and setting up cameras outside a cinema for the film premier of the new Will Smith movie called La Verdad Duele (the truth hurts) and there were people already sitting behind the barriers waiting for him to arrive, we didn't join them. Not sure why Will Smith's name was on the posters as he is not in the movie as far as I could see on the internet,  I think he was there to make an issue about no black actors being nominated for Oscars? Went out for another veggie meal tonight, the third night in a row, we went to Al Natural and it was another good meal.

Templo de Debod

The place to be in Madrid

Sampling the Churros and Chocolate

Had our last breakfast at the hotel, checked out and left our baggage there before walking to our last couple of attractions of the trip. The first one was Real Academia de Bellas Arte de San Fernando which was established by Fernando VI in 1752. Picasso & Dali were both students at this academy which contains works by old masters and many Spanish artists, including a whole room devoted to Goya. The building spreads over 3 floors and contains over 2000 paintings and sculptures. After a coffee to perk us up we walked to the final destination the Caixa Forum which combines an old abandoned electrical station with new construction and on the side wall of the next building to it is a green wall (as in plants growing on the wall) which looked really good. Although it is a contemporary building it contains exhibitions from earlier time periods. As we were going to arrive home late on  in the evening we decided to have a menu del dia, went to Artemisa and had a fantastic meal probably the best ever menu del dia that we had ever had. We then picked up our baggage from the hotel and traveled to the airport.

Flower power or what

Diet plan went a bit too far

Caixa wall garden

Read More

Attacked by Vicious Dogs

Attacked by Vicious Dogs

By atrekinthesun   09:06   2 comments:

Today I was on a nice little walk in the countryside with the Deeming's and some of their friends. I went off on my own following the scent of some rabbits. I got carried away as usual and found myself in an enclosure with some vicious big dogs, by the time that I realized that I was in trouble it was too late and they bit me on my back legs. I managed to escape and hobbled back to the car, and lay down waiting for everyone to come back. They eventually did and saw all the blood on my legs and took me straight to the vets, who did some nasty things to me to stop the bleeding and also injected me with something. I am Okay now in my sick bed so don't worry, I may just stay on my lead from now on as that was a little scary.

Read More

Wednesday walk 17th February

Wednesday walk 17th February

By atrekinthesun   08:06   No comments:

Due to the inclement weather we are doing a walk that is all on good tracks that we have done before. Meet at La Saucedilla at 10:30 to walk to Hotel Rosario for refreshments and then back to the start. The walk should take about 3 hours and is 14 kilometres long and is fairly flat for us with only 230 metres elevation gain.

Read More

Cala San Pedro - Cabo de Gata

Cala San Pedro - Cabo de Gata

By atrekinthesun   05:36   No comments:

Looking down on the beach and settlement of Cala San Pedro

San Pedro is a beautiful isolated beach that can only be reached on foot or by boat, the walk will take around 3 hours in total and there is no shade on any of it. It is an old village that was abandoned by the Spanish many years ago and is mainly inhabited by hippies, who are trying very hard to keep the place unpolluted. So if you visit the village make sure you take a bag with you to bring back your rubbish. The beach is beautiful and is used as a naturist beach (not at the moment as it is too cold but would be great from about May through to September).

Water supply to the settlement

The remains of the tower and fortress 

From the beach looking back at the cliffs which contain the track in

Another view of the tower

Walking back along the track to Las Negras

Read More

Wednesday walk 10th February cancelled

Wednesday walk 10th February cancelled

By atrekinthesun   23:40   1 comment:

Due to the forecast of rain for Wednesday we are cancelling the walk.

Read More

Wednesday walk 10th February

Wednesday walk 10th February

By atrekinthesun   04:59   No comments:

This week's walk will be on tracks from Hotel Bobadilla to Villanueva de Tapia and back. Walking time about 3.5 hours with a break half way in Tapia for refreshments. Dog friendly route unless they go crazy when they see rabbits like Scoobie does. Meet in the parking area at the right-hand side of the hotel at 10:30.

Read More

The results of the cardiovascular walk are in!

The results of the cardiovascular walk are in!

By atrekinthesun   06:41   No comments:

Had a nice walk today with the ones who were brave enough to have some cardiovascular stimulation. We only did one hour of gradual uphill to the Cueva de Toma y Bebe, then the other two and a half hours were downhill, apart from one small incline. It was well worth the effort as we had some fantastic views during the walk.

Top of the climb

The highest point of the day at Cueva de Toma y Bebe 1420 metres

Looks like someone has moved the rocks, but can't see how?

Nice place for a lunch break

Read More