A Travel Blog
We wandered through some of the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes
The complex sits within the Jardines del Turia, the park created from the former Turia riverbed. It includes an IMAX theater, a planetarium, an opera house, an aquarium, a sporting and events center, and an interactive science museum — among other things.
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A museum of ceramics might not sound particularly enticing, but the Museo Nacional de Cerámica in Valencia is housed in an 15th century building that was re-modeled into a dramatic Rococo palace in the 1740’s. It’s impressively overwhelming — if gaudy to modern eyes — and well worth the €3 admission.
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We visited the Museu del Patriarca (Museum of the Patriarch) in Valencia’s old town. The museum is located inside a seminary constructed in the late 1500’s, and includes a cloister courtyard and a small chapel.
Read the full post »The Scottish National Gallery is located within the Princes Street Gardens. Opened in 1859 in an imposing neoclassical building, the gallery houses an excellent collection of paintings by “Old Masters,” including many that relate to Scottish history. Admission is free.
One of the smaller sights we visited in Granada was the Carmen de Max Moreau, a traditional house high in the Albaicín that was the former home and studio of Belgium-born painter Max Moreau.
Moreau lived in this house for the last 30 years of his life, until his death in 1992. He left the house to the city of Granada and it was opened to the public as a free museum in 1998.
We both brought art supplies with us on our trip, and had ambitious plans to do lots of drawing and painting while away. But the reality of travel is always more exhausting than the ideal, and it’s often hard to find the energy. That said, I did manage to complete three small 4″ x 7″ ink and acrylic sketches of some of the places we visited.
Our time in Seville is dwindling. Since our last post of photos from around La Macarena neighbourhood where we are staying we’ve become even more familiar with this quieter area full of low-key cafes, bars, art spaces, independent boutiques and markets
There’s an art school around the corner from the apartment called Centro de Arte Acción Directa. Through the door we can see sculptures in progress and people painting on easels.
Seville is a city with no shortage of luxurious Andalusian palaces to wander through. This week we visited Casa de Pilatos (“Pilate’s House”) and filled our cameras.
The Real Alcázar (Royal Alcazar) in Seville is a Royal Palace constructed by a succession of Moorish Kings beginning around the year 913.
It is now a sprawling complex of beautiful buildings, gardens, fountains, and baths, and is one of the most visited sites in Seville. The royal family still uses some of the upper levels as an official residence.
The Seville Cathedral (formally the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede) was constructed on the site of a former mosque beginning in 1401. It took roughly 100 years to build and is considered the largest Cathedral in the world (but not the largest church — it’s complicated).
From the outside, the Cathedral has the feeling of a fortress, with solid stone walls rising on all sides. It is intimidating rather than welcoming despite the ornamentation that hints at what is inside.
On our second evening we visited the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla (Museum of Fine Arts of Seville) located inside a former convent building constructed in 1594.
Although non-EU residents are supposed to pay €1.50 to enter, a friendly guard gave us our two tickets at the entrance for free.
After an overnight flight on Aer Lingus (good experience, would fly again) we arrived very early in the pre-dawn drizzle of Dublin. Since we’re just on a short layover, for minimum hassle we stayed at the shiny new Holiday Inn Express on O’Connell Street, located on the north side of the River Liffey. Free breakfasts and Wi-Fi are nice touches, and we can walk everywhere.
