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Sunday, July 16, 2017

A Brief Interlude - Spain: Barcelona, Sitges, Cadaques


Miniatures painting took a back seat for a while as we got ready to head to Spain for a family vacation.  My daughter Carolyn got a travel grant to go, so we packed up the whole family and headed out with her.  It's been twenty years since I was outside of the USA, but I figured we better get out before "the Donald" built a wall of isolationism around the whole country.


Gaudi's Magnum Opus - the Segrada Familia.


The inside of the basilica was amazing.  Filled with light due to the soaring support arches modeled after trees.  It literally moved me to tears.



Looking up.  It is extraordinarily difficult to capture this in a way that shows the sheer scale of these arches!


Roman Amphitheater at Tarragona, south of Barcelona.


The Cable car to Mount Serrat.




The view from our room in Cadaques.  We stayed in an 800 year old home, literally a fifty yard walk down the cobble stoned street to the Mediterranean.  We had the top two floors and the owner had her painting studio on the first floor.  We could not have asked for a finer hostess or place to stay.


Carolyn outside the B&B with one of the many street cats.  The artist Dali lived just outside Cadaques and started a hotel for cats, that was just up the street from us.


A view of Cadaques from the light house


A happy family!


Thanks to Carolyn for providing the inspiration for the trip!


Snorkelling and Scuba (for Connor) from our base in Cadaques.  We came up from our dives into a hailstorm, but our guides kept us safe and got us back home in one piece.


Good think we had on the wet suits - those hail stones packed a wallop!


The final stages of our journey.  On the way back to Barcellona we stopped in Allela and had a tour of a fourteenth century winery.  Got to sip wine under the shade of a mulberry treee with a view of the farmhouse and the Mediterranean - simply amazing!


Just a neat house in Alella


Carolyn was able to stick with her vegan ways, even in pork loving Spain.


One of our best - and cheapest meals - was in Alella.  A fresh tomato salad and locally caught Mackerel for me.


2 comments:

  1. I am thrilled that the Crenshaw clan had this amazing experience! Having been to Spain several times I developed a love for this country and its people that has never waned. I am so glad that all of you got to experience being there.

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  2. Grace, as you say, the people are incredibly friendly, and simply loved the relaxed feel of the Mediterranean - of course we were on vacation so that might have had something to do with the relaxed pace, that and the cheap wine.

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