After my extensive morning in the Alhambra led to a nap for both me and my camera battery, we both awoke recharged and ready to visit the Generalife palace at the other end of the extensive Alhambra complex. The Generalife was the summer palace of the Nasrid Dynasty, and although the buildings that comprise it are less ornately decorated than the ( Read more... )

I could have titled this "Sabbatical 9/04 - Granada", but let's be honest, if you made a list of the top 10 reasons that anyone would travel to Granada, The Alhambra would be numbers 1 through 9. It certainly explains why I was there ( Read more... )

I'd had a great time in Barcelona, but all good things come to an end eventually. On Thursday, September 3, I was slated to fly to Granada late in the afternoon. The hotel was happy to store my bags after I checked out, so I decided to wander through the Old Quarter and snag breakfast from street vendors. While doing that I happened to run into the ( Read more... )

The day before I went to the Museo Picasso. Today I would climb the Montjuic and visit another single artist museum, the Fundació Joan Miró. Ok, so "climb" is a bit of a stretch; I took a funicular, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

By unofficial tourist custom, every day in Barcelona has to involve Gaudí in some way. I hit my quote for the day by ( Read more... )

I had crossed off the most important item on my Barcelona list when I went to La Sagrada Familia, but city has much more to offer than one not quite complete cathedral.

The first order of business was the building that is widely regarded as the second most impressive architectural accomplishment in the city: Palau de la Música Catalan. This ( Read more... )

I had scouted out the city, and it was time to start visiting the main attractions. This led to what was one of the three best days of my entire sabbatical.

First on the agenda was La Sagrada Familia, which had been stuck as an idea in my head since the 1992 Olympics. I rose early and was waiting in line when the ticket counter opened. Alas, the ( Read more... )

When I had dinner with mishamish and babymonkey, they pointed out that Barcelona covers an enormous amount of territory, with tourist attractions at all points. They suggested that I get oriented by taking one of the tourist "hop on hop off" buses around the city on a scouting tour. This seemed like excellent advice, so when I work on Sunday, August 30, I headed to ( Read more... )

I first remember learning about Barcelona during the 1992 Summer Olympics. The establishing shots for that Olympics included a lot of shots of the towers of La Sagrada Familia, and I remember thinking that I would like to see it one day. Upon doing further research, I found all manner of other cool things to do in Barcelona, which is why I ( Read more... )

I slept in after a strenuous night of drinking. Fortunately, I didn't have any particular heavy plans for the day. After a a leisurely breakfast I wandered the city some more ( Read more... )

On my first day in Montpellier, I scouted out some likely places to visit and photograph. On the second day, I had a very nice breakfast in the hotel garden and started doing some of them ( Read more... )