priscilla b. varner | chitter-chatter

in seville...

ok...so i'm trying to finish up spain so we can move on to the next destination. this post concentrates on seville. we traveled up there for the day and checked out the sites. here's a little background on seville:

seville (pronounced se-vee-yah) is said to be approximately 2000 years old.  the area was taken by the moors in 712 and remained under the moors rule until 1248. with that said, you can really notice the strong arabic influence on the area.    

our first stop in seville was the alcazar. the alcazar was a moorish fort that was turned into a royal  palace by the spanish. the upper levels of the alcazar are still used by the royals as their official residence in seville. (thanks wikipedia!)

the train station....

the girls at the entrance to the alcazar and the entry area...

the "front door" so to speak

cool little areas...

a garden area and a really cool fountain...

a meeting room...

the ceiling of one of the rooms.

another ceiling of a walkway and a doorway. you can certainly see the arab influence on the door.

an atrium

this is the entryway to a bedroom. i was surprised at how much of an arab influence there was on spain. then i read some history of the area and it all started to get a little more clear.

looking out to the patio de las doncellas and looking into the patio

detailing in the ceiling. i sure do like taking pics of ceilings and floors. ;)

gold dome ceiling...love this pic!!!

tile work in the hall

another ceiling shot with a nice light fixture

hallway and an amazing door with an awesome tapestry hanging above it.

carving on a bench...

the jardin de la alcubilla (garden of the resevoir)

cool apartments just outside the exit of the alcazar

kinsey and rea taking a rest. :)

so that's it for the alcazar. it was really really cool. next up, seville cathedral and some odds and ends. more to come!

p.

 

 

nearing the end of our journey...

well...thanks for hanging in there folks. we are nearing the end of our nearly month long european extravaganza. we have one more day in belgium and then we are off to the sweatbox...i mean...back home. it will be nice to have a hiatus from daily cultural activity but...i sure will miss all the crap i've been eating. ha ha ha...

so here's a hold me over for you. i have a pic of german clouds. just in case you wanted to compare them to maybe bahrain clouds or american clouds to see if they look any different. ;)

ok...so i have about 4500 images to weed through from our travels. i will start posting as soon as we get home. tons and tons of pics coming your way soon!!!

p.

gibraltar...and those pesky monkeys...

next stop...gibraltar. a wee bit of history of gibraltar courtesy of wikipedia:

An Anglo-Dutch force captured gibraltar in 1704 during the war of the spanish succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain by Spain "in perpetuity" under the treaty of utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the British royal navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.

The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in anglo-spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians resoundingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in referenda held in1967 and 2002 Under its 2006 constitution Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.

to get to gibraltar from spain you have to cross a runway. doesn't seem safe...but it works.

this view is from europa point toward africa. morocco is approx. 14 miles away from gibraltar. this is where the mediterranean sea and the atlantic ocean join together.

the mosque was donated by the saudi king for the 2000 or so muslims that live in gibraltar. it was to commemorate the many hundreds of years the moors ruled the area.

after stopping and desperately trying to see africa...we went off to check out a cave and a bunch of pesky monkeys. i didn't feel like dealing with the monkeys right off...so we went and checked out the cave. it was pretty cool if i must say so. they had flood lights on the major stalactites and stalagmites. ('tites hang from the ceiling and 'mites rise from the ground.) it was super dark in there...so i photographed what i could. also...they have concerts in the cave! that's why there's a bunch of red chairs lined up...you have to walk across the stage to exit.

next up is the piers. the area behind the bay is spain...

and now we have the monkeys. we decided quite early that we liked the fat ones. the young skinny ones would jump all over you, pee on you, steal your food. they were a real piece of work. the fat ones were old...so they didn't try as hard. like this guy. ;) he'd just go up to the drivers and pull their shorts. ha ha ha...i guess he was over 'the game'. ha ha ha

and then this dude was takin' his siesta. i guess he'd scored big with the previous tourists.

little family portrait time with the monkeys. ;)

kinsey and rea LOVED the babies. i think we saw 2 or 3 of them and they were soooo cute!

this was as close to the monkeys as kinsey would get. you see rea wouldn't even get close enough to get into the photo! i was warned before  we went about the monkeys. apparently they tried to 'kidnap' my friends 4 year old son!!! you know me...i wouldn't be havin any of that!

i had no idea that the gibraltar government actually takes care of the monkeys. they have an annual monkey census and they also feed them, tag them and supply them with water. so really...there's no reason for them to run up and snag your bag of chips other than it tastes better than seeds and tree leaves. ;)

there was a fortress in the mountain. this is one of the holes where they had a cannon placed...looking into la linea,spain.

looking up the right side of the tip of spain. malaga should be up there on the right...that's where picasso was from.

more of bahia al geciras, the bay with all the shipping piers.

looking up toward malaga again and then the whole nib of land consisting of la linea and more....

a cool door. had to throw one of those in for ya...and a grungy set of steps. coolness~

no trip to british lands is complete without a photo of the red telephone booths. :)

and some fish and chips!!!

ahhhh. that was a marathon right there! i hope you enjoyed gibraltar. the water was amazing and the sights were really cool, even the monkeys. we went and bought souvenirs just so we could have some gibraltar money to take home with us. i'm so cheesy...but it's different that uk pounds. as i understand, the uk doesn't accept gibraltar money. crazy! any who...next stop? our quick trip to seville...we got to see christopher columbus! who didn't exactly discover america...but he was close. :)

gibraltar...and those pesky monkeys...

next stop...gibraltar. a wee bit of history of gibraltar courtesy of wikipedia:

An Anglo-Dutch force captured gibraltar in 1704 during the war of the spanish succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain by Spain "in perpetuity" under the treaty of utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the British royal navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.

The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in anglo-spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians resoundingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in referenda held in1967 and 2002 Under its 2006 constitution Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.

to get to gibraltar from spain you have to cross a runway. doesn't seem safe...but it works.

this view is from europa point toward africa. morocco is approx. 14 miles away from gibraltar. this is where the mediterranean sea and the atlantic ocean join together.

the mosque was donated by the saudi king for the 2000 or so muslims that live in gibraltar. it was to commemorate the many hundreds of years the moors ruled the area.

after stopping and desperately trying to see africa...we went off to check out a cave and a bunch of pesky monkeys. i didn't feel like dealing with the monkeys right off...so we went and checked out the cave. it was pretty cool if i must say so. they had flood lights on the major stalactites and stalagmites. ('tites hang from the ceiling and 'mites rise from the ground.) it was super dark in there...so i photographed what i could. also...they have concerts in the cave! that's why there's a bunch of red chairs lined up...you have to walk across the stage to exit.

next up is the piers. the area behind the bay is spain...

and now we have the monkeys. we decided quite early that we liked the fat ones. the young skinny ones would jump all over you, pee on you, steal your food. they were a real piece of work. the fat ones were old...so they didn't try as hard. like this guy. ;) he'd just go up to the drivers and pull their shorts. ha ha ha...i guess he was over 'the game'. ha ha ha

and then this dude was takin' his siesta. i guess he'd scored big with the previous tourists.

little family portrait time with the monkeys. ;)

kinsey and rea LOVED the babies. i think we saw 2 or 3 of them and they were soooo cute!

this was as close to the monkeys as kinsey would get. you see rea wouldn't even get close enough to get into the photo! i was warned before  we went about the monkeys. apparently they tried to 'kidnap' my friends 4 year old son!!! you know me...i wouldn't be havin any of that!

i had no idea that the gibraltar government actually takes care of the monkeys. they have an annual monkey census and they also feed them, tag them and supply them with water. so really...there's no reason for them to run up and snag your bag of chips other than it tastes better than seeds and tree leaves. ;)

there was a fortress in the mountain. this is one of the holes where they had a cannon placed...looking into la linea,spain.

looking up the right side of the tip of spain. malaga should be up there on the right...that's where picasso was from.

more of bahia al geciras, the bay with all the shipping piers.

looking up toward malaga again and then the whole nib of land consisting of la linea and more....

a cool door. had to throw one of those in for ya...and a grungy set of steps. coolness~

no trip to british lands is complete without a photo of the red telephone booths. :)

and some fish and chips!!!

ahhhh. that was a marathon right there! i hope you enjoyed gibraltar. the water was amazing and the sights were really cool, even the monkeys. we went and bought souvenirs just so we could have some gibraltar money to take home with us. i'm so cheesy...but it's different that uk pounds. as i understand, the uk doesn't accept gibraltar money. crazy! any who...next stop? our quick trip to seville...we got to see christopher columbus! who didn't exactly discover america...but he was close. :)

a few train pics before we hit gibraltar...

i find trains very interesting. probably because i didn't grow up around them. i just find the grungy tracks and the dirt and grime around trains super cool. :)) it's the little things. ha ha ha...

so...some train tracks and a couple of cute girls!

oh...and a little graffiti

doors of madrid...

and here we are...the tail end of our stay in madrid. we had so much fun roaming the museums that we had to run back to the hotel and rest our feets for a few minutes before starting off our evening. while we walking about i kept spotting all these cools freakin' doors!!!!!!! i couldn't stop taking pics of them. the girls were getting impatient with me...and then i lost the light...so you get what you get. ;)

a hotel next to the reina sofia museum...

more graphic look at the hotel...

our girls being cheesy at our hotel...

and a "fantabulous" ice cream shop we managed to find...

sunset=no more pictures. :( the last photo in this group was from the thyssen museum. we didn't get to hit this museum but its on our list for next time. this museum holds the largest private art collection in the world. it starts off in about the 14th century and progresses all the way to modern art. coolness!

and onto the doors. oh...there are so many more to photograph next time around!!!

next up...the train station and gibraltar!

and the museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia

welcome aboard...next stop, the reina sophia museum spain's national museum of 20th century art. this museum is dedicated to mostly modern spanish artists including salvador dali and pablo picasso. it s a cool museum...super cool walk ways. there are so many little nooks and crannies to get lost in.

here's the entrance...

they re purposed a 18th century hospital for the museum. it was basically a big square with a courtyard in the middle. every floor had these awesome walkways. at the end of the hall you can barely see an exhibit i was DYING to take photos of. there were 4 jane jetson looking dresses made from metal. soooooo cool but...no photos allowed. the story of my life on this trip! ;)

and one of the many dali's...only a few of which could be photographed. :( so go figure it's the 'visage du grand masturbateur'. sounds much less offensive in french! so the story goes with this one...we were looking at tons of paintings just walking in an organized fashion around the room...one after the other and kinsey and rea say "mom! mooooooom! this lady's face is next to a man's <whisper> penis." my reply "and so it is. moving along." i must admit. i'm an awesome mom. i totally missed that one! i did spot the orgy movie that was playing and managed to steer clear of that one...but totally missed the 'the great masturbator'. oopsie!

and here we have one of the few picassos that i was able to photograph. 'guernica' was COMPLETELY off limits...even the less important areas around the painting were off limits...just in case you may have been trying to sneak a photo in. the cool thing about 'guernica' was 1) watching 20 people stand around looking at a painting and trying to take it in but 2) all the photographs opposite the painting that documented picasso's process. cool stuff!

this is picasso's 'les oiseaux morts' also known as 'dead birds'.

i didn't catch the name on this one...it was a visiting exhibit but i almost fell over when i saw it. literally...got dizzy and almost fell over. ;)

the girls we catching up on a charlie chaplin film while i was photographing the picasso. they loved it. i thought that...was hilarious.

the chicas taking a break and resting their feets. i took the opportunity to do some abstract photography of my own during that little break....

one more of the walkway :)

letting my artsy fartsy fly!

so at the end of our whirlwind museum tour, i asked the girls...which one they preferred. kinsey said she still liked the louvre more...she really liked a lot of their paintings but her favorite painter was pablo picasso. reagan said she also preferred the louvre although her favorite painter was dali...she told me her favorite painting was 'figure at the window'. it's a very nice image of dali's sister looking out a window from early in his career. maybe this art stuff is sinking in...more museums! more museums!! ha ha ha...

first stop...the prado

now we're in madrid folks. the girls and i had our first fast train trip ever and we chose madrid as our destination. my friend was kind enough to drop us off at the puerto de santa maria train station and i'm so glad she walked us in. i had NOOOOO idea how to purchase a train ticket! i got a quick review in spanish, i tell you! our original train was sold out...bummer...so we were left trying to figure out how to get the varner's to madrid and fast! we worked with this train ticket atm machine for what seemed like an eternity but finally managed to score us some seat reservations. phew!

so off we went for our whirlwind tour of madrid....the fast train was awesome! and yes...very fast. ;) our first stop was the prado museum. it was ranked as one of the world's top 3 must see museums, the other two are the met in new york and the louvre. 2 out three ain't bad so far. just gotta hit new york now. ;)

unfortunately...no photos in the prado...and let me tell you, they weren't kidding. i got yelled at just for thinking about taking a photo. didn't even have the camera to my eye...simply just had the thought! ha ha ha. damn mind readers! so you get what ya get...sorry. here we go...

the girls on the fast train...

the paseo del prado median, across the street from the museum and plant art, all these plants were on the side of a building

love my grungy stuff :) and a store front that you won't find here in the middle  east. i don't think i've ever seen so much pork!!!!!

 

 

i believe this used to be the main entrance to the museum...

the new entrance area. i've decided to photograph the entrances to all the major museums we visit and make a collage out of them for my house. jason...we've gotta buy a big house...i need wall space!!

another part of the building...

the girls enjoying lunch :)

the girls really enjoyed the prado. they enjoyed checking out the art and seeing "las meninas" by velazquez and we had a quick turn around when we stumbled upon "the garden of earthly delights" by bosch. it started off seemingly innocent, for me, with adam and eve and then got a little x rated as we started to look the right. (it is a triptych.) yikers! hey girls...lets go check out this other painting instead. ;)

after the prado we went to the botanical gardens next door.  i thought the kids would want to run around and be free...but kinsey wanted to draw and reagan wanted to pout. so...the botanical gardens was a short lived venture.  ha ha ha...

i loved this little fountain. my favorite book as a kid was 'the secret garden'. this reminded me a lot of what i'd pictured in my head when i read the book. :)

kinsey drawing....drawing what?? reagan! i love that they love each other...most of the time. ;)

so after the prado we made a quick pit stop at none other than....burger king! i  know, i know. burger king? well...you see...my kids aren't big fans of the spanish jamon and it's in almost everything. i saw the burger king sign and thought...my kids will eat that!!!!! ha ha ha...so please accept my apologies for the burger king faux pas...but i wasn't alone. the line was almost out the door! ha ha ha...

next up...the reina sophia. check back for those photos soon....