Espana April 2016

It was my dream to visit Spain. Ever since I had watched Spain episode on Gulls-n-Guys show as a kid that I wanted to visit that country. (Gulls-n-Guys was a documentary cum travel guide reality show directed by Shoaib Mansoor. Each country was covered by a different celebrity)
Marvelling at Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona, being awestruck by Flamenco dance(r) in Seville, soaking into Moorish architecture in Granada - This is what Spain is about and much more !

We went with bunch of couple friends having same age-group kids like ours. The exciting part for me personally that I got to travel with the person who gave me inspiration to travel. His name is Owais whom I known him for more than a decade now. He is my Rick Steve minus the hairstyle lol. I look up to him in many ways especially dietary habits lol.
My other traveller buddy is Hisham. I have known him for little more than 4 years but it seems we have known each other for a long time now. He was my inspiration to pursue my Masters

It was a trip of a lifetime. A 10 day trip, visiting 5 cities with 6 adults and 6 kids. We checked out all the landmarks we wanted to visit. Kids had a great time having one another's company. At the end of our trip, Everyone was safe and hearty and best of all we are still talking to one another and taking group selfless :)

I will try to summarize the trip with some key highlights:


Toronto - Barcelona:
- Evening flight that meant kids will sleep in and spare us for some sleep as well. Wishful thinking I tell you. After we landed, we took a bus to our hotel 'La Meridan'. Amazing hotel and breakfast !

- La Ramblas was buzzing with tourists. Metro station was very close-by

- La Boquera Food Market. The famous saying here goes "if you can't find it here, it is not worth eating'.  We had a group "LA BOUKAIRAA" selfie pic here.

- Columbus Statue:
At the end of the La Ramblas street there is a status of Christopher Columbus.

- Port Vell Marina - beautiful waterfront harbour with cable car , beach and Frank Gehry's Golden Fish Sculpture. (Shayaan became raucous as we failed to dissuade him not wanting to wait in the line for the cable car. In the end it was a worthwhile 65 min wait lol)

- Park Quell  - famous work by Gaudi. Its purpose was a residential community for the elites. It was failed project. It is now converted into a park and now is it is the most visited tourist attractions.
We took the bus to get here. The bus was crowded and travelling with strollers and kids was interesting lol. It was over here I had lost Sheza's comfort blanket.

- Sagrada Familia  - still under construction Church is an iconic landmark of Barcelona. Breathtaking architecture taking inspiration from nature. (leaf plane, beetle doom, plant stalk etc). 
We had a group "SAGRADA FAMEELIAAA" selfie pic here.

- Casa Batlló - Another Gaudi's modern mystique masterpiece. It literally means 'House of Bones' because of its organic architecture.

- Magic Fountain - Busy touristy area. 'Bumped' into my friend's brother here. He was also visiting Barcelona with his family. What was the likelihood of meeting him in that part of the world !

- Barcelona vs Valencia game. This was the biggest highlight. Watch Neymar, Messi and Suarez play for one team was a dream come true. Although Barcelona lost but Messi scored his 500th goal. I and Shayaan had bought the Messi jersey. The crowd energy, enthusiasm and the atmosphere was simply terrific. Something that I will always cherish. Thanks to Hisham for the soccer game idea and pushing me to watch it with them !

Barcelona to Granada:
- Took flight to Granada in wee hours of the morning. It was couple of hours flight. We had an apartment there.

- Mirador de San Nicolas was a beautiful view of Alhambra. Cobbled streets, very old buildings, untainted suburban landscape made Granada very interesting.

- We had a fancy dinner here overseeing Alhambra. The tranquillity was soon turned chaotic thanks to Sheza's tantrums lol

- Alhambra Fort was the highlight! We were lucky we had bought the tickets in advance as the line up for tickets was huge. The only bad part was that it was raining. I had not packed any jacket/sweater and Owais had to lend his wind-breaker jacket that I was wearing throughout our trip lol.

- Saba met her middle school from India after 16 years. Her friend was backpacking Spain and thanks to Facebook check-ins got to know their whereabouts. Now what are the odds of that??

- Midnight and it was Saba's 30th birthday again. Aisha and Javairia had arranged birthday icecream cake and showered her with gifts. Saba celebrating her birthday in Spain with friends - #wahwah

Granada to Seville:
- It was a fun bus ride from the station to Seville. We played 'solve the mystery' game in the bus.
- We had an apartment house for our stay. All the people stayed in one place under the same roof. Luckily, we were here only for one night lol
- Seville Catherderal - largest Gothic Church and recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is built on Almohad mosque. It was towering the whole block. 
Spain has 'Siesta' time where everything gets shut down in the afternoon for couple of hours. Churches have siesta too ! (god needs a nap time too)

- Alcazar Palace - another breathtaking Moorish architecture. One can spend all day marvelling at the calligraphy, well trimmed gardens and the Palace itself. This is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

- Plaza de Espana - magnificent area with towers and building built in Renaissance and neo-Moorish style. We had our group 'PLAZA DE ESPANYA' selfie moment here. 

- Saba's birthday dinner was followed next. I had to as I was reminded (read coerced ) 300 times by everyone right after we booked our air tickets in Toronto lol. It was one of the best Mexican food I ever had.

Seville to Cordoba:
- Stopped at Cordoba to visit the eponymous once-a-Mosque-now-Cathedral there. The iconic red and white stripes along the arches are spread all over. Sadly, many chapels have been built inside the mosque destroying the original architecture.
- We had our luggage placed in the locker room before we went to see the mosque. 
- It was Friday and sadly we can't pray over there.
- Allama Iqbal had recited azan here on the permission from the city. 

Cordoba to Madrid:
- Final stop and our hotel name was 'Westin Palace'. One of the beautiful hotels we have stayed.
- Madrid is famous for its gastronomy. The restaurant scene is very alive !

- Took a picture with 'bear and Strawberry Tree' statue (El Oso y el Madroño)

- Strolled Plaza Mayor and El Retiro.

- Mercado de San Miguel  - The historic wrought-iron-and-glass food market building. It is one of the liveliest culinary spots. They have stalls selling fresh produce in tapas bars offering a wide variety of treats such as garlic prawns, small skewers of olives, cucumbers, peppers and pickled onions.

- Sofia aka Choupa (Hisham's daughter) - got fever here. Poor kid was still smiling MA !
- Prado Museum. Only guys went as ladies were not interested. It was a yawn-a-fest ! lol
 - The breakfast place in the hotel was astounding. The décor as well as the breakfast selection. We recorded Sofia's Ameen video message here with the family. It was on same day as the day we were flying out.
Toronto:
The memories created are priceless. Our trip was successful because of the company of our great friends. 
Our good old friend from Ryerson - Rajaram graciously agreed to pick us gleefully.

Food:
Paella being the famous dish. We enjoyed the seafood paella. We had mostly Turkish and Mexican food.

Seafood Paella by the Marina

Amorino Gelato Icecream - we had this in all the cities.

Turkish Lamb Chops

Mexican Food