We wandered about, walking over the River Nervion and heading to the Guggenheim. Amazing Frank Geary structure that has reflections of light off the curved metal structure. We also got to see the huge dog outside the museum made of flowers 
(Wade says it is basically the world's biggest Chia Pet, and maybe he is not wrong). We wandered the pretty tree-lined streets and landscaped parks full of flowers and fountains. We briefly stopped in a "casino" that has various forms of video poker (because we needed to use a restroom). We walked all around, but most restaurants we found were expensive or needed reservations. We finally stopped at a neighborhood corner bar for a few pinxtos.
We head back to the river front near our hotel and grabbed a seat on the pavement to watch the 10:45 nightly fireworks for the festival. I had figured they would just be small, as they do them every night for a week. But they were huge, running for about 15-20 minutes, rivaling our 4th of July fireworks. I can't even imagine how much they cost to put on for a whole week!
The next day, I headed over to the Guggenheim. There was no line when I went at 10:30am. Wade waited outside and I wandered around for several hours. There were a couple exhibits of interest to me, but I found it to be a bit of a disappointment. 
One piece that was a standout was this enormous painting by Anselm Kiefer entitled "The Renowned Orders of the Sky" with a person laying on dry, cracked earth staring up at the stars of the night sky. I stared at it for about 20 minutes and it may be my new favorite painting. Afterwards, Wade and I headed over one of the many river bridges to try to catch the feats of strength contests featuring rock lifting and log splitting, 
but kept getting sidetracked by other free shows. We missed the feats of strength but saw great street art performers with dancers, juggling, and horns to entertain people of all ages. 
We had a nice lunch in the plaza outside a church and got to take a picture with the festival mascot, a woman with her arms up that gets marched around the city for the week (and then supposedly lit on fire at the end of the festival). After that was time for a siesta. When we woke up, I noticed the jamon store across from our hotel and just put out fresh sandwiches, so of course I had to grab one. We walked a bit and then stumbled on to a great restaurant called Kapikua for pinxtos. A-mazing and highly recommended with so much variety!! A bit of pate on a thin slice of jamon with a berry compote, lemony mousse with a slice of smoked salmon and chutney, tomato salsa with an anchovy and seaweed, and a ham salad with slice of brie, fried cod with sauce, fish on a bed of spiced sweet potato mash, and duck mousse with fried onions. While sitting there, all types of musicians and parades pass and we shared our table with a couple from Freiburg, Germany. Very full, we headed over to check out this singer outside our hotel with a great voice and sat out listening to him for a bit before heading to watch the fireworks again. Finished the evening with a late night coffee in the church plaza before heading back to the hotel.The next morning, we tried to find this massive donut we had seen at a bakery when we arrived for Wade, but failed.
We then visited the Ribera Market before heading to the airport. It was listed as the biggest space of a covered markets in Europe, but it didn't feel all that big. I did have some beautiful stained glass and a nice place for coffee and breakfast pinxtos. Then we headed by bus to the Bilbao airport for our flight to Madrid.Arriving in Madrid, we took the subway and came out in the afternoon heat, but luckily found our hotel rather easily. Hotel Principe Pio is in a great located right across from the Royal Palace. We dropped our bags in our beautiful room, glad to have air con again, a big bed and nice bathroom. We walked to a corner restaurant and had a sangria and food. I tried to order the black rice with seafood without mussels (since mussels are one of the only foods that make me sick). Unfortunately, the waiter did not speak English and when I ordered by saying "No" and pointing to the Spanish word for mussels on the menu, he thought I wanted the seafood black rice with mussels AND an order of extra mussels. Ha! Oh well, it worked out in the end as Mario, a guy I traveled with in Iceland, was right around the corner and he came by to meet up with us and thankfully ate the mussels. Mario was then kind enough to give us a fabulous tour of Madrid for a few hours, walking and driving us around. It was a perfect way to get to know a new city.
The next morning, we woke up and got out before the day heated up. We headed to a garden behind the Royal Palace and wandered around (truth be told, mainly I ignored the historical stuff and chased the many peacocks around the park as if they were tour guides). 
We headed to the city center, visiting the market and then sitting at an outdoor cafe with shade and nice breeze near a plaza park. I had wanted to visit the Anatomy Museum at the University that I had read about, but they emailed me back to let me know it was closed until September. Quick trip across the street to the Robot Museum that didn't look like much, so we just visited the store looking at Star Wars stuff. Siesta and then drinks and food at our little corner restaurant we had visited the day before. The staff remembered us and greeted us, as did the other local patrons who seem to hang out there every afternoon. 
Played a few games of cribbage (I had given Wade a travel board, as we play often) and then scooted off back to the hotel to grab our bottle of cava gifted to us by Lola, our sweet woman neighbor in Barcelona. Took it up to watch the sun set at the Templo de Debod, an Egyptian temple which was gifted to Spain for their help building the Aswan Dam. 
At night, the temple is lit up, bats fly about swooping over the water and there was a fire dancer performance. I can't get over how there is so much outdoor space in Spain for hanging out and enjoying. The spaces are all so well designed, generally free to everyone, and so safe and clean. I love it and wish we had more of it in Seattle. We then took the subway to a new area of town and wandered past cathedrals and through plazas until bed.I was woken up the next morning with terrible news. My dear friend, Tark, at home in Seattle was found dead. He had known heart issues, but it was shocking and I struggled with the loss, as he has always been there for me and I felt so helpless so far away. But I knew I still had to try to make the most of the trip.
We took an easy day, seeing the front side of the Royal Palace and then walking along the river, checking out the wild parakeets that roam the city parks. 
We wandered through a nice rose garden on the way back to the hotel, suggested by a random jogger that showed us the entrance. After a siesta, we went back to our little corner restaurant. While it is not the best food, I like the staff, even though little to no English is spoken. We are now warmly greeted by staff (even my favorite serious, semi-surly but hard working one) and the older gentleman who always has his afternoon cigar and whisky at an outside table next to ours. We even get a white table cloth this time, which must just be reserved for regulars. I was kind of sad that it would be our last time there. But we headed off to the Prado Museum during the nightly 6-8pm free admission time. 
But first we stopped by for me to get a closer look at this amazing building Mario took us by on our tour the first night. Palacio de Longoria is an Art Nouveau palace that now houses the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors. Such detail and beauty in this type of architecture, and being a nature-lover, it is right up my alley. 
When arriving at the Prado,I was afraid we wouldn't get in when first seeing the line for free admission. But the line moves extremely quickly. So much amazing art (but no photos allowed)! A whole room of Hieronymous Bosch work and lots of Goya were the highlights for me. 
We then headed to a yet another nearby very large city park with statutes, a large lake with rowboats, and the crystal palace, which is a large iron and glass building like an empty greenhouse. 
Pretty place to spend sunset and then we headed back towards our hotel and grabbed dinner at a restaurant with sidewalk seating. We had fun playing with a little kid named Kimmie, the son of the bodega mart owners next to the restaurant. Staff of the neighboring businesses all kind of keep an eye on him. He kind of latched on to us, asking Wade to help fix his broken toy. He had waaaay more energy than us, wanting to get lifted up to see every police car and see all the pictures on our phones (he especially liked the ones of Wade in uniform on a horse and the fireworks videos from Bilbao).The next morning, we took the fast train to Cuenca. It is a small town in the hills known for its hanging houses. We checked in to our adorable hotel, Hotel Plaza, which is outside the main tourist area in the new part of town, but is closer to the train station and there is a bus that takes you up the steep hill to the tourist area. Each room is different and our room is designed like a cabin with artistic Moroccan-style detailing in the lights and bathroom sink made out polished rock with shells and fossils in it.
We took the bus up the hill to the old town plaza and checked out the old cathedral which was begun in the 1100s. We enjoyed walking around in the cooler weather, walking down narrow cobblestone alleys that would be lined in colorful houses and the open up to spectacular views over the river gorges 
We got stuck in a torrential downpour as storms rolled through, but luckily it passed quickly. There is lots of artists in the town with many statues and artistic details, even with eyes painted in the hillside that reminded me of the Great Gatsby. We stopped for lunch the only place open, as they take seista time very seriously here and everything shuts down for hours. 
Then we went on a tour of the tunnels under the old town (only offered in Spanish, so didn't get so much out of the tour). After more wandering, we walk down the hill back to our hotel and grab dinner across the street in a plaza surrounded by apartments. It seems many people just come down and eat and the kids stay out playing in the plaza, even at 11pm (which seems typical in Spain). Not many people speak English, but it is a very enjoyable place and a nice respite from the city heat. If doing it again, I would definitely stay in Cuenca for several nights and maybe book a hotel in the old town on top of the hill.Off in the morning on the fast train to Valencia. Back to the heat! We checked in to our centrally located hotel, One Shot Colón 46 , with super nice staff that goes out of their way to assist with anything they can. We wandered the historic area of the city,
checking out some of the older architecture around a big plaza. We wander over to check in on a paella cooking class that I tried to reserve online to make sure we still had a reservation. Then we went to check out the very long city park that runs through downtown. 
It is full of several water features, flowers, art, and play areas. One of these play areas was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Valencia (in addition to the fact we could fly to Grenada without backtracking and it is the birthplace of paella). 
The play area is shaped like a huge Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels. There are stairs to run up and huge slides down. Sadly, it was not closed for maintenance the day we were there. But at least I still got to look at it over the closed fencing :( The park ends at a huge Arts & Science Complex, which are all these interconnected modern buildings. There are interspersed outdoor art exhibits which you can enjoy for free. 
We checked out the photography and statues. We had walked quite a ways, and for some reason, there were no nearby subway stops. Wade talked the very touristy car-train that appears to be mainly for kids to drop us off at the nearest metro stop mid-tour for a small fee (and he had to talk me in to getting on it, as it reminded me og the stupid Ride the Duck tours in Seattle that I hate with a passion). We get back to our hotel area and run some errands and then head off to a paella cooking class we had agreed to take. 
The class at Escuela de Arroces y Paella (School of Rice and Valencian Paella) turned out to be fabulous! It turned out to be just us and one other couple. The chef and translator/hostess were knowledgeable, helpful and funny. Our paella turned out wonderfully. You get the over 3 hour cooking lesson, a hat/apron/and paella-eating wooden spoon to take home, shared bottles of wine, appetizers, 
your paella for dinner with salad and leftovers to take home, recipe and photos, and a diploma. Great evening that Wade and I both really enjoyed the class and it was well worth the money. Can't recommend it highly enough! Hopefully will be able to recreate the paella once we are home.Now we are stuck on the tarmac on an Air Europa flight, trying to get to Palma Mallorca for a connecting flight to Granada. Fingers crossed we get there, as we have tickets to my much anticipated visit to Alhambra tomorrow morning.
Love to all,
Betsy
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