Travel by Clark

Spain was more my wife’s trip than mine, as she is a big fan of Antoni Gaudí’s architectural designs in Barcelona. That was the main goal of the trip, though it made sense to expand it into a bigger vacation and include Madrid. Thus, we started the trip in Madrid and ended in Barcelona. Here’s the full breakdown:

Day 1: Madrid

We arrived in Madrid with enough time in the afternoon to see at least one thing, which was the Temple of Debod. This is an Egyptian temple that was donated and relocated to Spain to help preserve it. The wait to get inside can be quite long (about 90 minutes for us), so a quick look at the outside might be all you have time for:

Day 2: Art Museums

For our first full day in Madrid, we wanted to visit two separate art museums. The first, the Reina Sofía, was a bit of a letdown. The layout of the museum was confusing, and there just wasn’t much in there to get excited about.

The second museum, the Prado, was much better. Alas, they didn’t allow pictures in this one! Some notable exhibits were a room dedicated to Bosch, some early wax figures, and a copy of the Mona Lisa done by a direct student of da Vinci.

Day 3: Park and Palace

This was our favorite day in Madrid. We spent several hours walking through El Retiro Park, which is basically the Central Park of Madrid. There are many nice photo ops here, but my favorite was probably the Palacio de Cristal:

We had booked a tour of the Royal Palace for the afternoon. You might not find much enjoyment in seeing room after room of overindulgence, but it’s still interesting. Just make sure you also visit the armory. It is not part of the main tour and is easy to miss!

Day 4: Barcelona and Gaudí

In the morning, we took the 2-hour train from Madrid to Barcelona. In Barcelona, we bought the Modernista tourist card that grants you free public transportation and access to a handful of mostly Gaudí-related venues. Between the things we saw this day and the next day, and the number of times we took the subway or bus, we definitely got our money’s worth.

We were only able to fit in two of the venues on this day, though: Casa Batlló and La Pedrera-Casa Milà. These were homes designed by Gaudí. For me, Casa Batlló was a bit too silly-looking. Casa Milà was better. Here’s a look at the front of the building and the rooftop:

Day 5: All Things Gaudí

Every vacation needs a cram day, and this was definitely ours. We had to justify buying the Modernista card, after all! The day started with the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall:

We also visited Güell Palace (another Gaudí home), the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau (old hospital grounds), and Casa Vicens (Gaudí’s first big project in the city):

The main event, though, was the La Sagrada Familia cathedral. This was not part of the Modernista card and requires a reservation, but it was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. Yes, this place has been under construction for over 100 years, but most of the remaining work to be done is on the outside. The interior is 99% complete and packs a lot of wow factor:

Day 6: Figueres Day Trip

For our last day in Spain, we made a day trip to a smaller city called Figueres. Figueres is about an hour’s train ride from Barcelona, and the main attraction there (or rather, the only attraction) is the Dalí Theater and Museum. This theater-turned-museum was designed by Dalí as his final legacy and resting place, so it’s a very interesting (and at times weird) experience:

Because Figueres doesn’t have much else going on, we returned to Barcelona early enough to visit the Picasso Museum. Frankly, we did not care for this museum. It is more about Picasso’s early works and his friend, Joan Miro. We wished we’d skipped it and squeezed in one more Modernista freebie instead.

Stockholm was almost where I took a job before I ended up in Oslo, so I’ve always been interested to see “what could have been.” This weekend trip was mostly just to get a feel for the city and experience the highlights. Many travel blogs had suggested that two days are enough for Stockholm, but after a jam-packed Saturday and Sunday, I would argue that you should squeeze in one more day yourself. Here’s what we did:

Day 1: Gamla Stan and Skeppsholmen

The Gamla Stan islands represent probably the most famous area of Stockholm. It’s where the Royal Palace is located, as well as the picturesque old town square:

We visited the Nobel Prize Museum in Gamla Stan, which was interesting but a little small. There’s really not much to it. Pro tip, though: check out the chairs in the cafe. Nobel Prize winners who have visited the museum in the past have also signed the bottoms of some of the chairs.

Gamla Stan itself is a fun neighborhood to walk through. The different buildings and churches are neat, if you haven’t seen much European architecture before. And there are many photo ops nearby, like “Stockholm’s narrowest street” and the tiny but cute Iron Boy sculpture.

To the east of Gamla Stan is another island, Skeppsholmen. The main reason we headed to this island was to see the Toy Museum. If you have any interest in old toys and comics, then it’s a fun visit. The presentation of some of the toys is sometimes better than the toys themselves:

Lastly, if you head farther south on Skeppsholmen, you can also see the Kastellet citadel:

Day 2: Djurgården

Djurgården is another island even farther east of Skeppsholmen. This is where many of the city’s most popular museums are. We were able to fit in three museums that day.

The first museum, the Vasa Museum, was our favorite museum of the whole trip. This well-preserved 17th-century warship is a sight to behold and has a fascinating history:

Down the road is the Viking Museum, which I felt was a little underwhelming at first. I was about to rank this museum as my least favorite… until we visited the second floor that has an amusement park style ride through a series of dioramas:

It’s funny that an otherwise unassuming museum would have something like this in it, and it certainly elevated my opinion of the museum overall.

The last museum we visited was the ABBA Museum. I can’t say I am a huge fan of ABBA’s music. Aside from a few cutesy, interactive displays, there really wasn’t much here for me to get excited about. But I know other people love this museum, so don’t skip it on account of me.

Overall, it was a good trip, but, again, I wish we had spent one more day there. It would have given us a chance to hunt down more food options and possibly take a boat tour around the islands.

I’d been wanting to visit Switzerland for a while but waited to base my trip around seeing a favorite band play at a festival. This meant spending more time in the Lake Lucerne area than I would probably recommend otherwise. Sure, we still enjoyed everything we did there, but the Jungfrau region is much more scenic and deserves more of your time than we gave it. So keep that in mind as we go through the day-to-day breakdown:

Day 1: Lucerne

Our flight arrived in Zürich first thing in the morning, but we skipped Zürich altogether and immediately took the train to Lucerne. The main things we wanted to see in this area were the mountains and lake, but this day was more about exploring the city itself. Highlights included the Lion Monument and Chapel Bridge:

We also visited the Glacier Garden, since entry is free if you have a Swiss Travel Pass. The museum isn’t very big, but the glacier potholes and other glacier-related exhibits are fun to see. For instance, there’s this beautiful diorama built into the side of a small cabin:

Day 2: Mt. Pilatus

Nearby Mt. Pilatus is probably the main attraction of Lucerne. There is a “golden round trip” you can take to get there, starting with a gondola + cable car up the north side and ending with a cogwheel train down the south side. From there, you can take a ferry back to Lucerne. It’s a fun journey, and the views from every mode of transportation are great. We were there on a cloudy day, though, so visibility at the top was hit or miss. We did the “Flower Trail” hike, and one side of the mountain was a solid cloud while the other side drafted in and out:

There’s also a toboggan run at the gondola / cable car transfer point, so don’t head up to the top of the mountain before checking it out!

Day 3: Mt. Rigi

We only stayed in Lucerne for one night, then moved to the smaller town of Weggis across the lake for the next two nights. This was purely in service of the music festival, and I would recommend sticking with Lucerne for everyone else. There just aren’t a lot of food and lodging options in Weggis. It did provide easy access to Mt. Rigi, though, which is another popular mountain excursion.

For Mt. Rigi, there is a cogwheel train that will take you to the top, then you can walk back down as far as you like. Most people probably only go down as far as the Rigi Kaltbad station. That’s where the most food options are, as well as a cable car that can take you directly to Weggis. Just make sure you grab a trail map and follow the routes for the “floral trails.” There are two of them, and they offer the best views of the lake:

Day 4: Interlaken

Interlaken was our next hotel destination and entry point into the Jungfrau region. It was about a 3-hour journey from Weggis to Interlaken (which, again, can be cut down if you keep your home base in Lucerne). We only wanted to see one thing in Interlaken proper: the Harder Kulm lookout. There’s a funicular that takes you to the top of the mountain, where you can see the two lakes that surround the city:

We intended to ride up and hike down, but the attendant warned us that the hike is steep and strenuous. So we skipped the hike. Instead, I tried the Elfenweg Trail that loops around the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, it, too, was on the strenuous side and didn’t offer any better views than what you get at the main lookout.

Day 5: Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald

Brace yourselves, this was a jam-packed day. It also highlights the fact that the Jungfrau region really deserves more of your time. We could have slowed down and easily filled an entire week there.

First, we took the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen was one of the places I was most excited to visit but ended up being somewhat disappointing. By mid-July, many of the 70+ advertised waterfalls had already dried up. It’s still a lovely walk through town and into the nearby fields, though:

On the city outskirts, there are the Trummelbach Falls that make for an interesting stop. Yes, it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but this series of inner mountain, cascading waterfalls is still a unique experience.

Afterwards, we took the train up to Wengen, a smaller city that overlooks Lauterbrunnen:

Wengen is certainly beautiful, but it was merely a transfer point on our way to Grindelwald. From Wengen, there is a cable car that takes you to the top of Männlichen, where you can hop on a gondola to go down to Grindelwald. The attendant in Wengen’s tourist office suggested that we hang out in Männlichen for a little while, though, and do the “Royal Walk” hike before departing. I’m glad we talked to her, because the Royal Walk had probably my favorite view of the entire trip:

Then it was off to Grindelwald. The main thing we wanted to do in Grindelwald was the First Cliff Walk, but the gondola up to the First summit stops running at 6pm (and we arrived in Grindelwald just after 4pm). So we booked it up the mountain, snapped some pics from the Cliff Walk, and headed back down before the gondola closed.

I would have liked to spend more time up there, as there are other hikes you can do besides the famous cliffside walkway, but I wasn’t willing to gamble on losing my ride home! In retrospect, we probably should have started the day in Grindelwald and ended in Lauterbrunnen to avoid being so rushed.

Day 6: Zermatt and the Matterhorn

The last thing on my list of Switzerland to-dos was the Matterhorn near Zermatt. It takes 2+ hours to get from Interlaken to Zermatt, though, and the Matterhorn is best viewed in the morning. My original plan was to just do things in town the day of our arrival and see the Matterhorn the next day. However, the forecast predicted a storm to roll in, so we immediately jumped on the Gornergrat cogwheel train and headed up to the summit. Alas, by afternoon, a cloud had formed around the Matterhorn peak and simply would not leave for the rest of the day.

Gornergrat was not a wasted trip, though. Yes, the main goal was to see the Matterhorn, but the other nearby glaciers were much more fascinating. I mean, how often do you get to see a glacier producing meltwater right before your very eyes?

From the summit, you can hike back down as far as you like and then hop on the train whenever you get tired. We chose to hike down to Riffelsee Lake near the Rotenboden station. If you can get to Riffelsee Lake early enough, the Matterhorn’s reflection would be spectacular to see. Of course, we were not so lucky.

Day 7: Miscellaneous Zermatt

One of the things I wanted to do in town was visit the Matterhorn Museum. I forgot that it’s only open in the afternoon, though, so we had to skip it. Fortunately, the weather ended up being perfect (so much for that storm, eh?), and strolling through town provided lots of great photo ops of the Matterhorn:

We also visited the Gorner Gorge on the south end of town. It felt similar to the Trummelbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen. Not as impressive but slightly more enjoyable for being quieter and more open:

And then… we started the long trip back to the Zürich airport to go home!