Spent the better part of six hours in this turn-of-the-last-century amusement park on the highest peak overlooking Barcelona. Beautiful place filled with antique rides cheek-by-jowl with a state-of-the-art roller coaster. I think my kids went on six times.
Took trains, automobiles, trams, and a 100-year-old funicular to get here and it was worth it. More tomorrow…
Got to take a moment and give Kate credit for copy-editing these blog entries. As you may know, a dyslexic childhood has left me devoid of any spelling or editing skills, and she has …

This is the mighty Panorama, perched high up over Barcelona at the Tibidabo Amusement Park. Take your kids here. Mine loved it.
And this is the fearless Tibidabo Flyer. As you can see from the tail markings, this plane was pressed into amusement park service in 1928, and is still going strong.
Just to show that Tibidabo is not all old-fashioned rides, this one is a state-of-the-art roller coaster, set right into the mountainside trees. My kids said this totally crushed it (and crushed them too, after about 5 trips.)
Here’s the …

Just came home from Tio Parrilla, a small bar in Jerez where they do flamenco almost every night. Flamenco comes from Andalusia, and Jerez de la Frontera is its very birthplace. I’ve only before seen it on TV and the experience is fantastic. I still don’t know much, if anything else about it, but we loved it. One guitarist, one man who sang and stomped, one woman who mostly sang, and danced, another man who danced and acted as master of ceremonies, and made sure we knew when …

Took the Madrid Visions bus tour around Madrid to take in all the sights I was not going to see otherwise. I find it a good way to get the flavor and feel of a place quickly, and then decide what else I want to walk on foot. Got off the bus (the second time around) at the Palacio Real, Madrid’s Royal Palace. Built between 1738 and 1755, it is considered to be the second most incredible palace in Europe, following perhaps Versailles.
Let me tell you: it was cool. …