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SPAIN
Top Things To See
(provided by worldtravelguide.net)
Madrid is a paradise for art lovers. Explore the
city’s three superb art museums. The Prado has one
of the most remarkable art collections in the world. The
Museo Macional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia focuses on modern
art and is where Picasso’s famous Guernica is on display.
The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is one of the most important
private collections of western painting in the world. Discover
Madrid’s Royal Palace, which dates from the mid-18th
century and has more than 20 rooms open to the public. Enjoy
the atmosphere in the area around Puerta del Sol, the heart
of the city, and on Madrid's most historic and popular square,
the Plaza Mayor, completed in 1617 during the reign of Philip
III.
Travel the 30 kilometres from Madrid to Alcalá de
Henares, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the birthplace
of the writer Miguel de Cervantes and the English queen Catherine
of Aragon. The main points of interest are the university,
founded in the 16th century by Cardinal Cisneros, and the
oldest surviving public theatre in Europe - as important
to Spain as Shakespeare's Globe is to England.
Absorb the lively atmosphere of Barcelona, Spain's second-largest
city. A major commercial and industrial centre, it is graced
by several of Antoni Gaudí’s architectural masterworks,
the most famous being the still incomplete church of the
Sagrada Familia (Holy Family). Visit the Barri Gótic
(Gothic quarter), where the buildings date back to the 14th
and 15th centuries. Highlights include the Seu (old cathedral),
the Episcopal Palace, the Palau de la Generalitat and the
Plaça del Rei. Take the funicular to Tibidabo, the
highest of Barcelona's hills, or a cable car to Montjuic
in the southern suburbs. Both offer spectacular views over
the city and have funfairs at the summits. Barcelona's museums
include the Museo Picasso, which focuses on the artist's
formative years, but includes works from the Blue and Rose
periods, the Fundació Joan Miró with works
by another of Spain's most innovative 20th-century artists,
the Museum of Catalan Art, the Maritime Museum, the and the
Zoological Museum.
Frank Gehry’s marvellous Guggenheim Museum has turned
Bilbao, the main city of the Basque region, into a very successful
tourist destination. The museum has been hailed as a masterpiece
of 20th-century architecture. Bilbao’s Old Town is
quite extensive with a Gothic Cathedral and an attractive
Town Hall.
Check out the newest tourist attraction in Valencia, Santiago
Calatrava's City of Arts and Science Park. The Hemispheric,
an amazing glass structure, houses a planetarium, IMAX dome
and laserium, and the Palace of Arts boasts the largest oceanarium
in Europe. While in Valencia's, visit the cathedral. It claims
possession of the Holy Grail. The Fallas (Mar 15-19) is a
major festival culminating in the burning of papier-mâché effigies
satirising famous Spanish figures and a magnificent fireworks
display.
Outside the fiesta season, Pamplona's main attractions are
its old walled quarter, Renaissance cathedral and imposing
citadel.
Seville is the romantic heart of Spain, the city of Carmen
and Don Juan. Lovers of Gothic architecture should come here
to see the cathedral, the largest Gothic building in the
world. Christopher Columbus is buried here. The bell tower,
known as the Giralda from its crowning weather vane, was
originally a minaret and observatory. Seville bears numerous
traces of the 500 years of Moorish occupation. Of great importance
is the Alcázar, the palace-fortress of the Arab kings
and one of the finest examples of Mudéjar (Moorish)
architecture.
Discover the magic of the Alhambra, the palace-fortress in
Granada that was built by the Nasrid rulers in the 13th and
14th centuries. Highlights include: the Palacios Nazariés,
its halls, courtyards and loggias decorated with painted
enamel tiles, delicately fretted arches, stalactite vaulting,
marble sculptures and stucco ornament; the Alcazába,
an 11th-century hilltop fortress; and the Generalife, the
gardens of the summer palace. The Alhambra is the most popular
tourist attraction in Spain.
To the south of Madrid is the ancient Spanish capital of
Toledo. The city is dominated by the magnificent cathedral
and Alcazar. Toledo is justly proud of its collection of
paintings by El Greco, who lived and painted here. Go and
see his most famous painting, The Burial of the Count of
Orgaz, which is preserved in the Santo Tomé Church.
There are more El Grecos as well as works by Goya and other
artists in the Hospital y Museo de Santa Cruz, a magnificent
Renaissance building with a Plateresque façade.
Superbly situated on a plain overlooked by the Sierra de
Gredos, Avila is a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for
its perfectly preserved 11th-century walls and for being
the birthplace of the 16th-century mystic, St Teresa.
The ancient university town Salamanca, 'European City of
Culture' in 2002, is well worth a visit on account of its
many superb Renaissance buildings, weathered to a golden-brown
hue, and the unusual and absorbing Museo Art Nouveau y Art
Deco, with its fascinating collections of objets d'art from
the first half of the 20th century. |
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