Greetings from Madrid! The journey continues to the capital of Spain! We caught a cheap flight from Porto, Portugal, to Madrid, Spain for $60 Can, about 45 Euros. Even though it was an economy airline, we still received food and drinks! I tip my hat to the airline TAP Portugal!

I apologize in advance for the lack of my own photos in this post. The last two hostels have had rather sketchy WIFI connection, so I can’t connect via my tablet that has all my pictures. We’re heading to Granada (southern Spain) tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have WIFI to beautify the blog!

We’ve been having a blast out here, checking out some amazing museums and cathedrals. Two highlights are the Prado Museum in Madrid, and the Cathedral in Toledo (50 min outside of Madrid). The Prado museum has a vast array of paintings, including the “Garden of Earthly Delights,” by Bosch. Google it! Fantastic piece.

We just got back from Toledo, which was a day trip from Madrid. This used to be the capital of Spain, and has the most spectacular Cathedral I’ve ever seen. The architecture, artwork, and sheer magnitude of the Cathedral is facinating.

I’ve attached a few pics from Google of the Cathedral and the Garden of Earthly Delights. Hopefully I don’t get in trouble for copyright violations… but I suppose it’s tough to catch a vagabond always on the move!

Due to popular demand, we’ve made a Facebook page for the website. I’m told that this means you can like the Facebook page and get automatic updates when Jon or I make  posting. I’ve added a link for this on the site. Until the next posting!

The Wandering Shawn

Garden of Earthly Delights

Toledo Cathedral – altar

Toledo Cathedral

Greetings from Porto, Portugal! Ten days in, and the trip is going strong! Our arrival to Europe was very smooth – one nod and stamp from the immigration official, and we’d arrived!

During our first night in Lisbon we met many amazing travellers, many of whom we plan to meet up once we reach their home countries. The atmosphere of Lisbon was a perfect balance of energy and relaxation. The city is pretty well built on a hill, so we’re starting to get into great shape.

We’ve been enjoying the rich history in Lisbon, including the beautiful winding streets of Alfama, a historic district of Lisbon. You can see the National Pantheon of Lisbon below in the pictures. The market outside the pantheon had all kinds of nic-nacs. Even though I am not known to be an avid shopper, I quite enjoyed the experience.

From Lisbon we ventured onto the university town of Coimbra, a two hour train ride north of Lisbon. We caught the tail end of the graduation celebrations for the students. Man – Portugese students know how to party! We arrived for the festival at midnight, which started with a grande fireworks display! Four different bands and local musicians (including Coimbra’s students) played music until 6am. There may also have been copius amounts of alcohol drank – good times!

By now we’ve been in Porto for two days – which was another 2 hour train ride north. A picturesque city on the ocean that is famous for its Port Wine – a sweeter dessert style of wine. We just finished a Port Wine tasting tour – which was fantastic! I blame any spelling mistakes in this posting on the wine. Note that real Port wine only comes from the Duoro River region in northern Portugal. If you’re ever here, I recommend the train ride from Porto along the Duoro River. The scenery and vinyards are quite the sight!

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback! Don’t be shy! Until next week!

The Wandering Shawn

Our first friends of the trip – Alisha and Winnie

National Pantheon in Lisbon – right next to a fantastic market

Tired of climbing – let’s take a tram

Very deep – and with some of my favorite characters!