14th May 

Spent the morning at the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza. This was my choice out of the three main Art Galleries in Madrid, most of the artwork here was gifted to the State by the Baron T B and I think more has been added. Wonderful exhibition of works by Isabel Quintanilla photo realist works of pretty ordinary scenes/ still life etc worth looking her up as fascinating snapshots of her surroundings. There were paintings by every artist you can think of, enjoyed the more contemporary works but after about three hours the more classic works started to run together… art overload!! 


The afternoon I found my way to Plaza Mayor which was somewhat spoilt by a big sound stage, but worth the wander. Met up with tour group, 10 Aussies and Five from New Zealand a nice friendly bunch and a few hard cases!

15th May Wednesday HOLY TOLEDO!

What an amazing city, a picture postcard on a beautiful day!  We spent the morning with our city guide Elena who took us back in by the bridge you can see to the far left and we climbed up through the old Jewish quarters, and visited a church and what was previously a Synagogue, 



Wandered through the streets, I lunched with a couple from Melbourne who entertained me with tales of their lunch of the previous day when they were not sure what they were ordering - something along the lines of chickpeas - lots of boiled spuds and carrots with very little seasoning. I had a risotto today with mushroom and pork in a little sidewalk cafe - it was lovely. AfterwardsI went back in to the township as my room was not ready and visited the humongous cathedral Santa Iglesia 


Inside It looked a lot bigger and boy was it over the top in some areas - but in others quite beautiful. Was very proud of myself when I managed to lead another couple back two our hotel with no wrong turns !




But my biggest joy for the day is the surprise of my little window to the outside in my hotel room. It is so beautiful, I was going to go to the terrace bar, but I’ve been sitting and looking out my window, even brought out my sketch book! But it is probably time to be sociable again so must away



Comments

  1. KerinMay 18, 2024 at 12:18 AM

    My tour group “viewed “ Toledo from above as the bus was too big to enter-thanks for sharing
    BTB what a guy so much money so many women so little happiness. Michael helped sort out my technical issues-he loved the cat

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nice Monday 8th Sept

Image
  Monday Bonjour! After a total of about twelve hours sleep I am feeling very refreshed and ready to explore, after a yummy breakfast, including a pain au chocolates and hot chocolate, When in France, it would be rude not to. My excursion for the day was a visit to the Musee Marc Chagall. A 3km walk from the hotel, so a little adventure in itself! The garden at the entrance with it’s little garden cafe. Such big paintings, a lot based on the Old Testament, but lovely colours  Including Mosaics and stained glass in the theatre, watched an interesting documentary on home creating the for seasons mosaics for Chicago, or should I say, designing and overseeing the work. Do like his drawings/designs though, a lot can be conveyed with very little. Really enjoyed the visit, walked down into the city centre, and back through some streets parallel to the sea. This is typical of most of the buildings in the older part of Nice , some very pretty iron work balconies, shutters and colours....
Read more

September 27-29

Image
  September 27-29 A quiet weekend and a Monday adventure. Saturday we went to Pensthorpe - A charitable Conservation Trust, Gardens.ponds, wildlife and bird life, plus sculptures Was nice to have a wander around a small portion of the total of 700 acres. Ronda volunteers here doing some gardening, so we got in for nix. This would have been my favourite sculpture that we saw, a few others were mosaic glass and perhaps a little bit bling in the garden space. Some wildflowers below in the millennium garden. I was keen to see the cranes and flamingos, got a photo of two out of the three species, unfortunately the one with the spikes crown was hiding behind vegetation. Then there were the flamingos, this is the time when you need a proper camera, but still a joy to see them. Apparently one of the original ones is over 50 years old, who knew they can live that long? We walked further around towards a more wooded area with some more subtle sculptures. Very beautiful grounds, but we were f...
Read more

Monday Nice to Cassis

Image
Tuesday 9th September Nice to Cassis First up a drive along the coast to Antibes. First sight was Fort Carre, constructed in 1550 under orders of Henry II of France, mostly to protect the citadel of Antibes  from them Italians, We went into the the old town, and up on the walls to wander around, some lovely views, east and west of the calm Mediterranean Sea and coast. There is a Picasso Museum there in the Chateau Grimaldi which was purchased by  the city, because he lived there for 6 months in 1946, but the two members of our group who waited in line were disappointed with what was on show. We made our way to the markets, the produce looks so stunning, I was yet to find an ATM machine though and cash was required. Followed by a wander through the streets onf the old town of Antibes. Napoleon came here after he escaped from Elba, but even they the city had previously supported him, this time they closed the doors to him, Obviously could see he was on a losing streak. Small tou...
Read more