Back From Spain!

¡Hola!  We are back from Spain.  Spain again, you say.  Haven’t we visited Spain like 2 years ago?  True.  But since we have been dipping in and out of the language for three years – the word ‘soaking’ would have been a vast exaggeration – touring Spain thus becomes one of our favorite choices.  Fortunately, there are lots to see in Spain.

“This is Cynthia and I with Gaudí in one of his houses!”

This year, we have visited one of the Canary islands so far off from the inland that could well be part of Africa.  But they are significant enough to be printed onto a 50€ bank note.  We have also visited the southern part of the country where the territories were lost to the Moors – Muslim from North Africa – and were re-conquered by the Spaniards.  Majestic Islamic influenced architecture monuments can still be seen in southern Spain today.  And since we flew directly from Singapore to Barcelona this time, we have spent some time to cover points of interest that we have missed in our last trip.  To my avid readers, after failing to visit the Picasso Museum in Barcelona twice (due to timing) and the Picasso Museum in Paris once (due to renovation), we have better luck this time.  On top of that, we have added 3 more UNESCO World Heritage Sites into our list.

To be totally honest, while I always look forward to a long holiday break, a fragment of me cringed at the physical demand of traveling in Europe.  The planning of itinerary and the logistics of the hotel and car rental booking, the rather long flight time (24 hours to reach Gran Canaria), lugging my rather heavy photography gears, and getting used to left hand manual driving through the narrow roads in the small towns and the mountain areas.  In no less than three counts, we nearly smashed our car onto the stationary cattle and a dashing deer at night.  Having said all of the above, every trip to Europe has always been a rewarding experience – both in the culture and nature departments.  I hope to share the journals and photos soon.  Preferably a faster turnaround time compare to our last trip to France.  Stay tuned.

A blog entry written on a SIA plane a couple of hours prior to landing in Singapore.