Sant Pau Hospital – Barcelona
Before embarking on my Germany trip in September 2022, my friend, Tony, asked me if I would be interested in visiting him in Spain in 2023. A quick Kayak search found a $600 round trip flight which I quickly booked – a bit of a crazy price I was lucky to find.
Fast forward to March 2023 and I was on my way. Considering all of the flight delay and cancellation issues that were in the news this last year, I was again lucky not to have any delays at all. The only small issue with the trip is that the weather was a bit cold the entire week I was there.
Still, we were able to see and do quite a bit–though averaging over 12 miles a day walking took its toll by the end of the trip. The highlights were the food and the museums that we visited. It was also good to be on a train for three hours (and not on my feet) as we traveled from Barcelona to Madrid. Madrid was, at first, a bit overwhelming as the city is much larger than I expected.
The trip highlights were:
- The Prado Museum in Madrid (top of the list highlight) – The Flemish Art and Goya’s Black paintings in particular. Unfortunately, Prado has a no photo policy.
- Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona – Hospital built in the Catalan Modernista architectural style in the early 1900’s that was converted to a museum in 2014. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Simply stunning!
- Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona – Fantastic Romanesque and Gothic art.
- Reina Sofia in Madrid – Mostly Spanish art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The most famous work is Picasso’s “Guernica”, a work he painted in response to the Spanish Civil War.
Here are some photos–mostly of the museums:
I realize there are dozens of other museums worth visiting, but they will have to wait for the next trip.
The other highlight was the wonderful food and wine we got to experience. Lots of restaurants and wine bars on our itinerary. One of them was Ajetreo Restaurante in Madrid. We found this place completely by chance and spent five hours people watching there. I could write an entire post about that experience, but the beers and sherry consumed that night cloud my memory a bit. Still, here are some of the food photos:
I’m not sure what the next adventure will be, but I need a bit of time to recover before I start researching options.
