Spain on the road

This summer, my family and I decided to spend a holiday in Spain; we will stay on Iberian soil for 15 days, moving with our car carried along on the ferry; the itinerary's main cities to visit are Barcelona, Zaragoza, Madrid and Valencia, and then back to Barcelona. Off we gooo!... On 6 August, having finished loading the car, we set off for Civitavecchia, where we arrive around 20.00; once the boarding paperwork is done, tickets in hand, we queue behind the waiting cars; at 22.30 the ship MV cruise Barcelona of Grimaldi Lines leaves the quay; we will not see land until 18.15 the following day, when, finally, after almost 20 hours, we arrive in Barcelona. We reach our hotel in Sabadell, 26 km from Barcelona, which can be covered in less than 10 minutes despite the heavy traffic; the Aparthotel Valles is in a very quiet, leafy residential area.

So as not to move any further, we decide to have dinner at the hotel tonight, and soon afterwards we go up to our room. The following day, 8 August, we reach the car park (booked online) in Carrer de Mallorca, just 400 metres from the Sagrada Familia; we leave the car and spend these first hours in Barcelona on this fabulous work by the master Antoni Gaudí, who took over the project a year after it began, that is in 1883, devoting himself to the Basilica for the rest of his life and never managing to complete the works; in fact, according to the latest estimates, the Basilica could be finished in 2026, 144 years after the laying of the first stone. Our ticket includes both the visit to the Basilica and entry to the 65-metre-high Nativity Tower; once at the top you can admire all of Barcelona until your gaze is lost in the sea.

To get around the city we opted for the tourist bus; naturally on these buses you have little contact with the locals, and this is entirely a negative aspect, while the positive side is that you can visit all of Barcelona in two or three days; in fact with these buses you are sure to be always near some attraction, and considering the high frequency you waste very little time.

The buses are divided into three lines covering the whole city: the Red line includes the stops for the Olympic stadiums, the Montjuïc museums, Plaça Espanya, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló, Passeig de Gràcia, Plaça Catalunya, the Olympic Port and the Old Port; the Green line takes you through the Sant Martí district, which stretches along the entire seafront, so you can admire Barcelona's beaches from the Olympic Port to the Fòrum; finally, with the Blue line we can visit Plaça Catalunya, the MACBA contemporary art museum, Camp Nou Stadium, the Tibidabo Basilica, Park Güell and the Sagrada Familia, which we had already visited; in fact, as soon as we came down from the Nativity Tower, using the Blue line we reach Park Güell around 13.00, and considering that our tickets are for 15.00 we stop at a small open-air restaurant near the park; in plain view on the menu we cannot help but notice the pae

lla: we order one that is enough for two people, accompanied by two mugs of very cold beer; we finish just in time for entry to Park Güell. This park was designed in the early 1900s by Gaudí on commission from Count Eusebi Güell (hence the name), who, after buying the entire hill, wanted to create a garden city; the project however did not succeed, and in 1922 the city of Barcelona bought it, turning it into a public garden open all year round. Inside there is a monumental area and our tickets are needed to visit it; entry is allowed for groups let through every hour to avoid overcrowding. Once inside, the majestic staircase leaps to the eye, at the centre of which are a fountain and a salamander, the 'symbol of the park'; the staircase leads to a huge terrace supported by 100 columns, and this terrace is bordered by a sinuous 150-metre-long bench that resembles a snake.

We leave Park Güell and reach the bus stop; we sit on the upper deck and, hair in the wind, ride the entire Blue line loop without getting off until the starting stop, that is the Sagrada Familia. We collect the car, by now it is dark, and head back to the hotel.

On 9 August we return to Barcelona, precisely to the seafront near the Mirador de Colom; we leave the car and walk the Rambla de Mar, a long pier that crosses the Darsena and leads to Port Vell; here, besides the many restaurants overlooking the sea, you can take the Montjuïc cable car or, as in our case, visit the Barcelona Aquarium, which, with 11,000 animals of 450 different species, an 80-metre underwater tunnel and six million litres of water, is one of the largest in Europe (personally I love animals in their natural habitat), but to please the girls we plunge into this adventure, and after almost three hours we come out; we reach one of those little seaside restaurants we had spotted earlier, and after tasting tapas, fish and plenty of beer we walk (1.1 km) to Casa Batlló, another work by the master Antoni Gaudí, who, on commission from Josep Batlló (hence the name), a wealthy text

ile industrialist, was entrusted in 1904 with renovating a modest building bought the previous year on Passeig de Gràcia; Gaudí's work was completed in 1907 and considerably changed the appearance of the building, revolutionising the main façade, enlarging the central courtyard and raising it by two floors that did not exist in the original construction. On the ground floor were the stables, later used as warehouses, and the common entrance hall; the first floor of the building, the so-called piano nobile, was used as the home of the Batlló family, while on the other four floors eight apartments were created for rent. If you are in Barcelona, Casa Batlló is definitely worth visiting, but honestly the entrance price of 25.00 euros per person is, in my opinion, a bit steep.

We continue our tour, retracing our steps along the famous Rambla, stopping at the 'La Boqueria' market; as soon as you pass the gate you are flooded by a riot of colours; in its more than 2,580 square metres there are over 300 stalls of every kind: fruit, meat, fish, hams and cheeses. We leave the Boqueria and devote our last visit in the area to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, awarded the title of minor basilica in 1867, which stands in the Barri Gòtic. The cathedral was built between 1300 and 1500 'except for the façade, which dates from 1900'; entirely Gothic in style, it is dedicated to the Holy Cross (Santa Creu) and to Saint Eulalia, the patron saint of Barcelona 'celebrated on 12 February', who suffered martyrdom in Roman times.

Legend has it that she was exposed naked until, in mid-spring, snow fell and covered her body; the authorities of the time put her in a studded barrel and rolled her down a lane now called Baixada de Santa Eulàlia. We collect the car and reach the Font Màgica de Montjuïc, which stands in Plaça d'Espanya at the foot of the promontory of the same name; this fountain was built in 1929 and on set days and times you can admire fantastic water and light displays; naturally 'today, Saturday 9 August' is one of them. After the show we reach, just one block away, an excellent Neapolitan pizzeria run by Neapolitans, and soon afterwards we return to the hotel. The following morning, 10 August, we load the car and, after saying goodbye to the hotel staff, we reach Monistrol de Montserrat, 32 km away; here there is a special station, as the trains are rack railways.

We leave the car in a large covered car park and reach the ticket office. The train covers the 8 km separating the station from the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat in 15 minutes; naturally the route is all steeply uphill and the view as you climb is truly beautiful; halfway along, the tracks split to allow the descending train to pass. As soon as you leave the station, a huge square opens up before us, at the far end of which stands the Monastery; according to legend, in 880 the image of the Madonna was found in the cave and in 1025 the abbot founded the Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat; inside the Basilica, among other things, you can admire a sculpture of the Madonna with the baby Jesus in her arms. In 1409 the Basilica became an independent abbey.

The Monastery is overlooked by the mountain, partly bare of vegetation, which takes on strange pinnacle-like shapes; besides the Basilica there are the monks' quarters, the cloister, the refectory and other rooms used as a museum and for the sale of merchandising. Opposite the Sanctuary there are two funiculars (cable-drawn cabins on rails) — the Sant Joan Funicular and the Santa Cova Funicular. The Sant Joan funicular takes about 7 minutes to reach a height of 1,000 metres, while the Santa Cova funicular, built in 1929, leads to the Holy Grotto; we take only the latter. Having reached the top, we walk a few kilometres on a dirt track and reach the Holy Grotto, the foremost place of them all.

After a short refreshing break, we descend the mountain again, first by funicular and then by rack railway, and reach our car, which, thanks to the covered car park, is nice and cool — no small thing when setting off on the 320 km journey that will take us to Zaragoza, our next destination. We arrive at the city gates shortly before 18.30; Zaragoza is in fact only an intermediate stop between Barcelona and Madrid, but at least one thing deserves to be seen, namely the Basilica of Santa Maria del Pilar. This Basilica is one of the most famous sanctuaries in Spain 'together with the Basilica of St James in Santiago de Compostela'; according to tradition it was founded by James the Greater after Mary, still living in Jerusalem, appeared to him not in spirit but in her body, seated on a pillar (hence 'Pilar').

The present church is a building of gigantic proportions with a large central dome, ten smaller domes and four bell towers; it was built from 1681 to a design by Francisco Herrera the Younger. Inside, we admire the vaults full of frescoes by well-known artists, marbles, bronzes and silverwork; in the holy Baroque chapel shaped like a small elliptical temple is the small 14th-century wooden statue of the Madonna, dressed in precious vestments and placed on an alabaster column (the Pilar). This basilica is one of the two basilicas of Zaragoza and is the city's co-cathedral together with the nearby Cathedral of San Salvador. Traditionally, great festivities are held in honour of the Madonna del Pilar from 11 to 18 October, when the ancient 'jota', a sacred and popular dance, is performed. After the visit and a short stroll we reach the hotel for a well-deserved rest.

11 August: we leave the hotel and set off early; today too there are 320 km to cover. The Spanish motorways (without rhetoric or criticism, just for the record) are by far better than the Italian ones, almost always three lanes and almost always free; in 15 days we covered more than 1,700 km, spending only 27.00 euros on the Autopista, as they call it in Spain; also worth noting is the cost of fuel, on average 30 cents less per litre, but that is another story. We arrive in Madrid and, after putting our suitcases in the room (Hotel Boston), to avoid immediately getting back in the car and doing more kilometres we decide to have lunch at the hotel restaurant.

In the early afternoon we reach our car park in the centre of Madrid (booked online); we leave the car and head for the tourist office to collect all the material (MadridCard and tourist bus tickets), also bought online; once this is done we devote ourselves to visiting the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Kings of Spain, an imposing building made up of 3,418 rooms extending over 135,000 square metres; its construction began in 1735 and was completed 26 years later, in 1761. Inside we admire remarkable tapestries and paintings, including a fresco by Tiepolo depicting the apotheosis of Aeneas; besides the paintings, in the Throne Room there is still the original Baroque furniture of King Charles III. From the immense courtyard of the Royal Palace you can admire the main façade of Madrid Cathedral and the Sabatini Gardens.

Very close to the Royal Palace is the Templo de Debod, a commemorative temple of ancient Egypt; if you can, visit it in the evening, when it is all lit up and truly beautiful. We continue our tour towards the Madrid Cable Car, which leaves from the Paseo del Pintor Rosales and arrives at Casa de Campo; after a quick round trip we get back on our bus and, cutting the centre of Madrid almost in two, we arrive at the Retiro Park, entering through the Puerta de España and reaching the park's main lake, behind which stands the imposing Monument to Alfonso XII. These gardens, like the Royal Palace of Buen Retiro, were designed and created in the decade between 1630 and 1640; the park extends over 145 hectares and, besides the Monument and the lake, you can admire the Crystal Palace, the Velázquez Palace, the Bosque de los Ausentes, the Fountain of the Fallen Angel and the Artichoke Fountain.

Having satisfied our curiosity, our culture and our eyes, we also satisfy our appetite: we sit at the kiosk bar facing the lake and enjoy excellent tapas accompanied by the inevitable cold beer; by now it is evening and, after such an intense day, we return to the hotel. The following morning, 12 August, we return to the centre of Madrid; today's itinerary includes visiting three famous museums and the renowned Santiago Bernabéu stadium. We begin with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, a museum of modern and contemporary art dedicated to all artistic production from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day; it was first inaugurated on 10 September 1992 by the Spanish Royals and is housed in the old General Hospital of Madrid, an eighteenth-century building erected at the wish of Charles III.

Between 1980 and 1988 the building was renovated and enlarged in its spaces, giving it its current appearance; today the exhibition area is 8,000 m2; inaugurated in October 2005, the project by the French architect Jean Nouvel cost 92 million euros. Among the most valuable works on display inside are those by Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Pablo Gargallo and the famous Guernica by Pablo Picasso. We leave this extraordinary museum to immerse ourselves in an equally important gallery, the Museo del Prado; this museum is one of the most important in the world, displaying works by the greatest Italian, Spanish and Flemish artists, including: Sandro Botticelli, Caravaggio, El Greco, Artemisia Gentileschi, Francisco Goya, Andrea Mantegna, Raphael, Rembrandt, Pieter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez and many others.

As already mentioned, inside there are works of the Spanish school, such as those by Goya, including La maja vestida, La maja desnuda and The Third of May 1808, which depicts the shooting of the Spaniards by the Napoleonic troops. Among the many Italian authors are the Pietà by Daniele Crespi and the David and Goliath by Caravaggio, painted between 1597 and 1598.

We leave the Prado and walk along the Paseo del Prado to reach the last (but not least) museum to visit, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza; the roughly eight hundred works currently held there range from the Italian Renaissance to modern painting; the works come from a private collection of the family of the German steel magnate Thyssen-Bornemisza (hence the name) and were previously housed in a museum in Lugano; with the marriage of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza to a Spanish woman, the collection was transferred to a Madrid palace donated by the Spanish government. Among the many works are paintings by Titian, Caravaggio, Canaletto and Van Gogh. We leave the museum astonished; for the whole morning we have done nothing but observe works of great importance and cultural interest.

We reach the historic Plaza Mayor, where we stop for a snack, and soon afterwards we are ready to get back on the tourist bus that will take us to the Santiago Bernabéu; the stadium was designed by the architect José María Castell, construction began on 27 October 1944 and was completed in 1947, and it was inaugurated on 14 December of the same year; originally the sports facility was called Nuevo Estadio Chamartín, but on 04 January 1955 it was renamed Santiago Bernabéu in honour of the former Real player and then president Santiago Bernabéu, who led the club until 1978 with the special privilege of seeing the team play for more than twenty years in a stadium bearing his name. Inside the stadium are the Real Madrid museum and the club's official store, managed by Adidas.

The almost 70 years of the stadium's activity are all too visible; in fact, the project for a new stadium has existed for some years, but in truth inside this stadium you breathe the whole history of the club, a history that perhaps would not be felt in a new stadium.

Unfortunately, with the stadium tour our time devoted to the Spanish capital also ends; over these days we have visited three great cities just a few hundred kilometres apart yet profoundly different from one another: Barcelona, very touristy and trendy, with its seafront and its golden beaches, but at the same time full of history with its Gothic quarter, its many works by the master Gaudí and the spectacular mountains of Montserrat five minutes' drive away; Zaragoza, capital of the community of Aragon, the fifth city by number of inhabitants and a spiritual centre of Christianity with the sumptuous Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, a quiet city cut in two by the river Ebro; and finally Madrid, a city with more than 3.5 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area of almost 6.5 million, which with its museums, its many university institutes, its ancient squares such as the historic Plaz

a Mayor and its many bureaucratic and aristocratic buildings fully lives up to its role as capital of Spain. The following day, 13 August, we leave Madrid and head for the coast; we have to reach the small town of L'Ametlla de Mar in Catalonia, between Valencia and Barcelona. We lengthen the route by about forty kilometres and spend the morning in Valencia, just enough time to visit the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of Arts and Sciences), an architectural complex made up of five different structures divided into three themed areas: art, science and nature.

The structure is truly immense and futuristic; inside, among many other things, there is a 24,000 m2 pond, a 110,000 m2 aquarium housing more than 40,000 different species, a planetarium with a 900 m2 giant screen and an 80,000 m2 interactive science museum spread over three floors; taken calmly, this visit takes up an entire day, but we leave the city of arts and sciences and head for our hotel in L'Ametlla de Mar, where we arrive around 18.00. The property, right on the sea, is not exactly young but all in all it is pleasant; it has every comfort, including a spa, three swimming pools, a garden, a playground, a bar, a restaurant, a garage, a solarium, etc. We put our luggage in the room and enjoy our first evening in L'Ametlla de Mar... After seven days travelling around Spain, we decide to spend the whole of 14 and 15 August at the resort, taking part in its activities.

On the morning of 16 August we go to the largest theme park in all of Spain, and the second in Europe after the one in Paris, located 45 km north-east of L'Ametlla de Mar and 100 km south-west of Barcelona: PortAventura is a fully themed park offering an excellent variety of attractions, some of them built during the Universal management and therefore of the highest quality. It is divided into five different themed areas, among which (in my opinion the best) are those representing the Far West and Mexico. Among the many attractions, absolutely not to be missed are 'Shambhala' (new for 2012), which is still the tallest roller coaster in Europe, the launched coaster 'Furius Baco', i.e.

a high-speed launched roller coaster, the spectacular show 'Templo del Fuego', the drop tower 'Hurakan Condor' and the now dated but always adrenaline-pumping roller coaster 'Dragon Khan', a coaster with several inversions. Throughout the day the park hosts several high-level shows, both indoor and outdoor; there is also an area dedicated to families with small children, 'SesamoAventura'. With a separate ticket you can visit the outdoor water park, which also has an indoor area for use during the winter months. The resort is completed by four top-level themed hotels, among which the 'Gold River', built in 2009, stands out, featuring spectacular western theming; there are also two golf courses, a beach area directly on the sea with numerous pools and two restaurants.

Fans of the genre could spend an entire holiday here, but before evening falls we return to the hotel, tired, satisfied and entertained. The following day, 17 August, we spend the whole morning on the beach enjoying the lovely warm sun, which fortunately around here is almost always tempered by a pleasant south-westerly breeze. In the afternoon we drive out and, thanks to a brochure taken from the hotel reception, we reach Reus, less than 50 km north of L'Ametlla de Mar. As soon as we enter the city our attention is drawn to the order and organisation of the place; we are also surprised that a city that is all in all modest in size, with 105,000 inhabitants, has an airport and a large number of covered public car parks.

But as we move into the city looking for a car park as close as possible to the centre, we notice there are more people around than we would have expected; in fact the city is really pretty and its old town, despite the many people, is very liveable and quiet. We leave the car in a car park under Plaça de Prim in the heart of the city; on this square, in an 1882 building, is the Casino Viena with an attached café on the ground floor. We stop for a coffee and notice that in this establishment, open for forty years, they serve not only coffee and pastries but really appetising sandwiches; we commit that to memory and for now, reluctantly, we leave and begin our walk through the shady little streets of the old town.

We visit a couple of churches, then by chance we find ourselves in front of the birthplace of Antoni Gaudí, discovering that Reus gave birth to the great master of Catalan modernism on exactly 25 June 1852; here, besides the house, you can visit a museum and stroll along Carrer Antoni Gaudí, an avenue named after him. It is time to retrace our steps and reach the Viena café, where we left our taste buds; we sit at one of the many little tables in the square and order, besides a couple of mugs of cold beer, one of the establishment's specialities, 'l'Ibèric', which in 2006 was judged by the New York Times 'el mejor bocadillo del mundo' (the best sandwich in the world) — and they were right; at first sight a simple sandwich, were it not almost thirty centimetres long and stuffed with excellent cured ham and tomato.

Besides the Ibèric we also take a Plais filled with an excellent homemade sausage and tomato sauce. After the excellent lunch of bocadillos we reach Parc de Sant Jordi, where our two girls can play a bit while we relax; after a couple of hours we leave Reus and return to the hotel. After dinner we reach the centre of L'Ametlla de Mar in the company of Manuel and Sabrina, the only Italian couple in the resort 'besides us'; the little town is also known by the name La Cala, and for this reason its 5,000 inhabitants are called the Carles. The economy of the town, and of a good part of the area, is based on tourism and fishing; the port is very pretty and quiet, with few venues, mostly little restaurants where you can eat excellent fresh fish.

While the kids play on the bouncy castles, we stay sitting at the bar drinking some Licor Cuarenta y Tres (Licor 43), typical of the Costa Daurada and much used right here in the Tarragona area; it is rarely drunk neat because of its high sugar content, but it goes very well with citrus juices, so in summer it is very pleasant and thirst-quenching. We end this evening too and return to the hotel. We devote the day of 18 August entirely to nature; we go to the Ebro Delta National Park, that is, where the river Ebro flows into the sea after 930 km. The park was chosen by the European tourism commission as a European Destination of Excellence in recognition of the value given to sustainable tourism.

The total extent of the nature area is 320 km2, of which 80 are designated as a Natural Park; of particular interest is the birdlife, which boasts more than 400 different species, including some of the most important breeding colonies of seabirds in the Mediterranean. The plains give the Ebro Delta an extremely singular appearance; the fauna is very varied, numbering more than 700 species, including the wild goat, an animal that has become the symbol of the park. Depending on the season, here you can find areas cultivated with vegetables, orchards, or, as in March, large marshlands cultivated as rice fields; in the coastal area there are instead large lagoons surrounded by reeds and rushes, while the outskirts of this nature park are characterised by salt flats and large deserted beaches with sand dunes.

In the park you can go on excursions by canoe or small boat, you can use bikes and quad bikes, or you can simply stroll observing the fauna and flora; you can also camp, while right next to it there are various types of accommodation. We leave the Ebro National Park and return to the hotel; after dinner we stay a while by the pool chatting with our new adventure friends. The following day, 19 August, is our last day in L'Ametlla de Mar, so we decide to stay at the resort to recover some energy; we enjoy the beach and the sea, thinking, alas, of all the places visited in recent days, of the people we met along the journey, of the street artists, of all those who work in the accommodation facilities to offer their guests the best, and we also think of the food, the tapas, the paella and, why not, the cold beer.

On 20 August there is nothing left to do but pack our suitcases and load them into the car; we stop to say goodbye to our friends Emanuel and Sabrina, hoping to meet them again, perhaps on a future holiday. The circle closes when we reach the port of Barcelona, where our ship awaits us. We leave Spain with regret but also with the hope of returning soon, to breathe once more the lively atmosphere that accompanied us throughout our journey. Adiós amigos...