We took a long bus ride to Tarifa today. The town was crowded because of a kite-surfing competition (that we didn’t know about). After checking into our hotel, we walked along the beach, watching the throngs of tourists and locals enjoying the warm sun and sea.

We found a restaurant on TripAdvisor and shared a plate of filet steak and two glasses of tinto de verano. We have noticed that Spanish restaurants do not mind if you split a plate. (However, they do think it is weird if you split a drink.)

Tomorrow, we are headed to Tangier in Morocco!

We slept in until noon and missed our included breakfast. Around 1pm, we headed out for lunch, which would probably be considered an early lunch by Spaniards. We shared a 5 tapas and .5L of sangria combo.

We finally started our sightseeing and visited the cathedral and the royal alcazar. The cathedral is the largest by surface area (according to the Guinness Book), but otherwise quite similar to other large cathedrals. The royal alcazar was even more Moorish and grander than the previous alcazars we have seen. Behind the alcazar is a large garden that would be lovely to stroll through on a warm evening. Alas, we had no time to stroll as it was time for our flamenco show.

The Casa del Flamenco show was a lot like other flamenco shows we’ve seen. There were one male and one female dancer, a guitarist, and a vocalist. The male dancer and guitarist were quite good.

Afterward, we walked to the Plaza de Espana, which Rick did not recommend but was rated highly on TripAdvisor. A beautiful landmark, it is definitely worth a visit, even if only for a couple of minutes.

It was getting late, so we headed to the restaurant directly outside our hotel and shared a plate and some drinks before going to bed.

Today, we took the train to Sevilla via Madrid. On the ride south, Renfe (Spanish train system) played the movie Le nom des gens (The Names of Love) in Spanish and French (with Spanish subtitles). Since neither Valerie nor I are fluent in Spanish or French, we spent a great deal of the movie trying to figure out what was going on in the quirky French film. (We still don’t know.)

After arriving at Sevilla, we walked to our hotel in the Santa Cruz barrio. (In retrospect, we should have taken a bus.) After settling in, we took a Rick Steves walking tour of the barrio, during which we met another couple doing the same walking tour. We also signed up for a Flamenco dance show tomorrow recommended by Rick.

Valerie has been having trouble sleeping on the hard Spanish beds. Since we don’t have any early morning plans for tomorrow morning, we will probably sleep in.

We woke up around 8am this morning to catch our trains to Toledo via Madrid. Rick Steves recommends spending two nights in Toledo, but we only scheduled one, so our tour of the city was abbreviated. Our first stop was the cathedral and its associated museum. Admission is a steep 8 euro, but it’s a slightly more impressive cathedral than most. Our other sightseeing stop was the Santa Cruz Museum, which is free and will be featuring an exhibit on El Greco in the future, but sadly not while we were there. On the way back to the hotel, we ate a dinner of tapas and wine at a restaurant outside the cathedral.

Some of the online reviews that Valerie has read say that Segovia can be seen in a 3 hour daytrip. They are correct.

There are three major attractions in Segovia: the cathedral, the alcazar, and the aqueduct. The cathedral is a lot like other mid-size cathedrals in Europe. Its main draws are that it is close to the center of town and it is technically free to enter (although a small donation is requested). The alcazar is an old castle on a hill and is much like other castles on hills except more Moorish. For an extra 2 euro, one can make the exhausting climb to the top of the tower for a slightly better view. Finally, the ancient Roman aqueduct is a fairly impressive feat of engineering, but we could not figure out how to view the top of it up close. (Although we saw what looked like a person on top of it, so it is possible.)

We have noticed that many restaurants offer a “typical” menu from the area (where typical seems to refer to local specialties). Valerie was excited to try roasted suckling pig, a typical food of Segovia. At the restaurant we visited, the meal also included local beans, local soup, and a bottle of wine.

We are staying at the Hotel Don Felipe, which is a pretty darn nice hotel for being located in the old town. Tomorrow, we are heading out early for Toledo and on Thursday we are heading to Sevilla.

We woke up pretty late today and had to rush to see today’s sights. On our way to the Royal Palace, we picked up two ham sandwiches to go and ate them on the walk over. About halfway through the sandwiches, we arrived at the palace and began our tour. Equipped with a Rick Steves walking tour and a palace audioguide (4 euro), we quickly walked around the palace and its many rooms admiring the frescos, furniture, and matching wallpaper made of cloth (wallcloth?). Like many palaces, the Royal Palace lacks hallways, with each room connected directly to several other rooms. Unlike many palaces, this palace has air conditioning, which provided much needed relief from the Madrid heat.

From the palace, we took metro to the Prado Museum. After 6pm, the Prado has free admission! Using Rick Steves as our guide, we quickly followed his self-guided tour before being shooed out by security when the museum closed. There was a lot of art, which Valerie seemed to enjoy. I enjoyed sitting at the many benches dispersed throughout the museum. Afterward, we picked up a quick meal of pimientos and beer at a nearby tapas place.

Finally, we followed Rick’s advice and took bus 27 to its northern terminus so we could see modern metropolitan Madrid, which was much more city-like than the old town. We looked around for a couple minutes before hopping on a metro back to our hotel room.

Tomorrow, we are taking a train to Segovia.

Today is our first day overseas on this trip! After heading to our hotel, we promptly took a long nap. (I like to think of it as our first siesta.) After waking up, we took a Rick Steves self-guided walking tour of the area around Puerta del Sol, stopping to pick up some pastries that he recommended along the way.

After the walk, we had tapas and beers at several tapas places near the Prado before heading back to the hotel to go to sleep. Tomorrow, we hope to see the National Palace and the Prado Museum.

After packing up our bags, we walked around downtown to find some Chicago hot dogs and Chicago mix popcorn for lunch. We got a bit lost and departed for the airport about a half hour later than expected. Luckily, our flight was delayed for about an hour, so we didn’t miss our flight and had ample time to relax in the airport lounge prior to departure.

For brunch, we ate at The Purple Pig, one of the top rated restaurants near our hotel according to Yelp. The bone marrow smear was particularly fatty and delicious. After eating, we rushed down to Navy Pier to catch a show, Cirque Shanghai. The show involved feats of acrobatics performed by people possibly from Shanghai and was surprisingly entertaining.

After resting a while at the hotel, we headed to Morton’s Steakhouse for happy hour bar bites and cocktails. Tomorrow, we are taking the red eye to Madrid!

Coincidentally, Belinda and Joe were also in Chicago today. We met up with them for lunch at Seven on State, the slightly upscale food court in Macys. Afterward, we walked around Millennium Park. Valerie and I had already seen the “bean” (not its official name) before, so we focused our attention on the “face fountain” (also not its official name), a pair of pillars that display pictures of faces which “spit” water at children who are playing near the fountain. We picked up some beverages from a nearby coffee shop and headed at a comic book store. Belinda purchased several graphic novels, which Valerie and I hope to read when we return to the Bay Area.

We eventually split up from Belinda and Joe and went to Lou Malnati’s for some delicious deep dish pizza. They were able to make a pie with no cheese on half of it so Valerie could eat it too. For dessert, I had a cookie pizza, also delicious.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to eat some more yummy Chicago food and see a show.