Madrid day 2-March 12,2016

I have had difficulties posting my blog posts so I am quite behind...Our second day in Madrid we took a city tour in the morning. Above is the King's palace, not that he was actually staying there.








Below is a bit of the old city walls










A sample of the lovely architecture














Beautiful windows














Statue in honour of Cervantes, the writer












And his most famous creations, Don Quixote and Poncho.











Next to the the famous museum, The Prado, where we couldn't take pictures in the exhibits but we only wished we had more time but learned more about El Greco and Goya especially.











Here is a lovely church just by the entrance!











Here is the museum itself.

It was a great morning

We finally reached Madrid March 12, 2016 a day later than expected

I wrote a post all about our delays with travel so that we arrived in Madrid at least 14 hours later than we were supposed to arrive and had to stay in a hotel in Heathrow Friday night rather than Madrid, but I haven't been able to post it!!!
But eventually we did get to Madrid, more than a little tired. Our hotel seemed lovely, located right across from Plaza Colon (Christopher Columbus Square)





















We couldn't check in until 3:00 so Lola, our Insight tour director, recommended places to see and where to eat so we went to explore into the old town.


















It was fun looking at all the beautiful buildings





















We had a tasty lunch at the Puerto Rico Restaurant just off Grand Via, the Main Street of Madrid. It was a busy Saturday afternoon.













We were happy to see a sign welcoming refugees on Madrid's beautiful city hall.











When we returned we got to put our feet up in our beautiful hotel room at the Gran Amelia Fenix and put our feet off before going off to a welcoming reception and dinner and a bit of a night tour




































The streets were alive with people on a Saturday night.



































Dinner was lovely and our tour group seem very nice.











The streets at night were stunning, even a new moon!!!



































But we were a little exhausted and looked forward to not having to get up at 4:30 am. Stay tuned for the Prada and Segovia!!!

Spain and Portugal

In a few days I will be leaving for a trip to Spain with my friend, Sue.  Almost four years ago Sue and I with other friends spent two and a half weeks in Spain, initially walking the last 100 kilometres of the Camino in Galicia, then renting a car and driving to San Sebastian (the centre of the Basque region) and using that city as a base as we explored that area.   We flew via Dublin to Santiago and then flew out of Bilbao to Dublin where we spent a weekend and then a week in Northern Ireland.  To read about our adventures just click here.

This time we fly to Madrid via London and then will be on a Insight bus tour that you can check our route above on the map.

After an extra night in Barcelona we fly to Mallorca where we will be staying for a couple of days with old friends of Sue's then we fly back to Barcelona and via London home.

I will do my best to keep this blog updated each day.   It's exciting to return to Spain and to see more of this beautiful country as well as a bit of Portugal.  Last year I wondered a bit how I would make out 18 days on a cruise ship, and this time I wonder a bit how I will make out on a bus tour, but always time for new adventures.  I definitely worried  on my first trip to Spain how I would make out walking the Camino with no real time it seemed for training.  I survived of course, and honestly really enjoyed it.

It is always so exciting to see new places!  So I hope you will enjoy virtually travelling with me! Plus you won't have the long flight to endure!  See you here soon!

October 1, 2015-Good-bye Montreal

Note to self, try to get your blogging done when you do travel!!!



Those rainy days and cooler temperatures seemed to cause a few more leaves to turn-here looking out my friend, Linda's door!











It was time to pack up and for Linda's cat to take back a favourite sleeping spot.






I had to admire Linda's garden









After a nice brunch out and a little shopping (I even got Halloween bags) I left the Benoits to head back to the West Island.








It was a beautiful day







I spent sometime again in Pointe Claire Village










I went down to this park by Lake St. Louis








and enjoyed this beautiful first day of October







before






meeting another friend after she finished teaching.




This is a beautiful church, St. Joachin de Pointe Claire with an interesting history.





It was really a lovely way to





spend some time my last day in La Belle Province.






I seem to have an affinity for water!




My trip was a bit brief, and busy, and jam packed.  Even in Montreal it would have been nice to have more time to check out other areas and see how they have changed.  For instance when I lived in St. Henri near Atwater Market it was kind of a slum and now it is a very in place to live!  And I would have enjoyed wandering the streets of Westmount or Le Plateau again.





but I know I will always return





and it was great to see some of my favourite people and places






In September.



And I even had a nice sunset as I was leaving the airport.


On my way back to the West Coast!