Thank you Portugal! On my last day there I went to Sintra (not far by train from Lisboa) where it seems the royalty liked to come out and play quite often because the hills of Sintra (I say "hills" and not mountains because they peak at 600m - which I climbed of course!) are filled with palaces and elaborate gardens. An utterly surreal fairy-tale. And paradoxally so, it feels like no matter where you are in town you're nevertheless always walking uphill.
The night before in Lisboa I went to a Fado show with a few others, and Fado (for those not sure) is this deeply passionate heart-felt music much resembling a balad. Very emotional, powerful stuff. Everyone sang, including random people off the street who heard the fado, and the cook (who had two solos)... what a night. So naturally following this up with Sintra just made Portugal that much more incredible.
On one of the grounds a very wealthy doctor who had owned them created this enchanted forest where all was supposed to be in balance, so there were symbols for paradise and hell interwoven everywhere and it was all connected (one of the underground labyrinths of "hell" ended up in the highest spire of the church). I nearly got lost in the maze of underground tunnels because first, its a maze and second its pitch black. So cool.
Today I'm in Mardid (and have actually just said bye to Bridget who kindly put me up for the night), and last night we walked around the center area and had dinner on this beautiful terrace overlooking the city, then drinks (naturally) and in short a jolly good time. Ahhhh, Sangria. Otherwise though, Madrid was a little less impressive than some other places, too shopping oriented although the two museums I visited were amazing. I saw Guernica, the real Guernica by Picasso! It's huge, and when you're standing in front of it, you can really feel the emotion radiating.
Tonight I'm off to Barcelona for three days and then, who knows! (Diana, if you would hurry up and call me maybe I would know! Hint!) but likely Italy via boat (because that would be a beautiful boat ride between the Italian islands and Corsica, clearly much nicer than train.)
Cheers for now,
Petra
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2 comments:
gah. you and your amazing adventures.
hope another pic update is coming soon.
hi my beautiful European Goddess!!! Sorry I haven't talked to you for so long...I haven't had internet access during the weeks and it's been a bitch! anyway.....you're now approaching my FAVOURITE city in the entire world!! I love Barce!! The picasso museum pretty spectacular and you HAVE to go see Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia and his parks, they're really quite amazing....Las ramblas (the pedestrian street) is also wonderful AND stuff is cheap in Spain at this time of year (shoes, clothes) all that stuff....so stock up...ITaly's pricier. If you can't get to the islands via boat....the ferry ride from Barcelona to Genoa ( a gorgeous seaside harbour...with a fabulous hostel!!!! OMFG!!!!) is a cheap and quick way to cross the Mediterranean....p.s. I was uber excited when I saw the little mermaid pic.....you make my heart sing
Luv you and MISS you OODLES
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