Heading to Spain in a few days ... gone for a week +

I have dozens of photos from inside an out, this thing is amazing. For some reason I can only post 1 photo from my iPad. Gaudi was an astounding designer. He designed the columns to resemble trees, and as trees are different, he used different stone colors to more naturally mimic nature. The stone columns are not immediately noticeably different in color, they are only slightly different in hue, but as you begin to look around you notice the subtleties of the different colors and different types of stone. There are literally so many things to see that you are overwhelmed. An architectural student could study this church for a lifetime.

Overall I'm finding Spain to be poor, inefficient and dirty. Food is excellent, very fresh and seems to be very local. Ice cubes are such a luxury that many places (like our hotel) simply don't have even 1 ice making machine. WTF?

My favorite city, by far, is Barcelona. You can literally keep the rest of the country and just give me a trip to Barcelona. Oh the Cathedral in Merida should be designated as one of the wonders of the world, and there are pleny of individual highlights to see, but the 'whole package' seems to be lacking. No reason to see the graffiti and hovels and poverty in the rest of the country. Lots of countries have old castles, old churches, and majestic cathedrals, but many of them keep their monuments cleaner and in better repair than they do here in Spain.

Am I glad I came here? Yes. Would I miss it if I had never made the trip? No. Will I come back? Highly unlikely, unless its to Barcelona and then skipping to some area that I have not yet seen. Planning a trip? There are better places to go. Unless you are a foodie and enjoy Spanish food, I will admit that the food here is fantastic.

Melensdad said:

Unless you are a foodie and enjoy Spanish food, I will admit that the food here is fantastic.

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That was the reason that my wife loved it. She also loved wandering around the outdoor food markets. It's her thing. It's one of the few places that I've ever seen her eat three meals a day.

I used to fly into Madrid on my way to Equatorial Guinea in West Africa and it was a very long lay over in both directions as there was only one flight a week to Malabo. Once it stretched into days. I used to find my way around Madrid fairly well but I never had a chance to explore the rest of the country. It was a bit like Anthony Bourdain's Layover program on TV. I would pick out an area, a couple of sights that I wanted to see, a hotel that I wanted to stay at or a restaurant that I wanted to eat at and that would be it for my trip. It's one of those things. I enjoyed it a lot while I was there but would I go back? I wouldn't be in a great rush sign up, certainly not just to see Madrid and I'm not sure about the rest of the country. But hey, it's different and I'm glad that you're having a good time.

Home at last. And good to be here.

Here is another photo, this a close up of one of the THOUSANDS of sculptures on the Gaudi church.

Welcome home Bob.
Always GREAT to get home after an extended time away.