Test to transfer WordPress blogs to blogspot

 TESTING, TESTING: Trying Out A Way To Preserve WordPress Blogs Without Recreating Each One From Scratch

I used to have my blog on blogspot, which is a Google product. It comes free with my Google account. There was a "blogger" app available through the Apple app store that I could use on my iPad when we traveled. The blogger app was discontinued  in 2019, so I switched to an account on WordPress that came with free 3 GB storage and an app in the Apple app store.

The 3 GB free storage lasted until October 2025. I paid $50 for an annual subscription for 6GB of space, thinking that it would take another 6 years to run out.

WRONG

I hit the 6 GB limit in August 2026 - the 3 GB didn't even last a year, probably because iPhone photos are getting bigger and I post a lot of photos.

I've been using my full macbook when we travel for a couple of years now, since my husband, Andy, kindly offered to schlep my computer in a carry-on backpack. 

The next level subscription is $600 per year for 50 GB. Nope, nope, nope. That's too much for an occasional travel blog, and at the rate I'm going 50 GB won't last long.

I decided to revisit blogspot. Turns out: it's still there, still works, and as long as I use the blogspot interface to upload photos (that will compress them), the blog photos will not count towards my Google storage.

NEXT QUESTION: What do I do with my WordPress blogs? I don't want to continue to pay for a space I'm no longer using. The goal is to preserve the WordPress blog without having to recreate each one from scratch.

This blog post is my first solution - print the WordPress blogs to a PDF, store the PDF on my google drive, and post a blogspot blog with a link to the PDF. PDFs are tiny; even a lot of them won't make a serious dent in my Google storage. BUT - the PDFs' appearance may be a little klugy due to the embedded WordPress formatting.

SOOOOOO

Please click on this link to see my blog from May 16, 2019 - the first day on a Mediterranean cruise starting in Rome.

Please let me know if you can see it. 

May 16, 2019 Arrival in Rome

Amy & Andy's Excellent Adventure 2026 Part 2: ¡España! August 10, 2026 - Montserrat

 August 10, 2026 - Montserrat

Where We Drive To The Top Of A Mountain And The Breeze Is Delightful

Another day full of amazing photos! Our tour guide du jour (Carmelia) picked us up just before 8:00 a.m. this morning. The hotel had arranged a box breakfast for us, because had to leave before the breakfast room opened. I love this hotel!

We are on our way to Montserrat, a mountain monastery about an hour outside Barcelona. I actually wasn't sure what we were going to be experiencing when we got there. The last part of the drive involved a lot mountain curves. When we arrived at the parking lot, Carmela was able to get authorization for us to drive all the way up the hill to the entrance, which was a huge relief. That hill was daunting.

The view from below on the mountain road

We would have had to walk all the way up this hill, and there was another one after the entrance.

The walk up to the entrance

Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia, so he pops up everywhere. Here he is with is sword, but no dragon.

It was a little confusing to me at first as to where we were going. There was a long flight of steps up, but there was a very slow chair lift to the top, where we saw this statue:

Angel of the Annunciation, created in 1978 by the Catalan artist Apel·les Fenosa. 

We followed the flow of people to the Black Madonna of Montserrat in the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey. She is a 12th century wooden sculpture in a Byzantine-style chapel behind the Basilica's main chapel. It is tradition for people to touch a sphere that the Madonna has in her hand. It's the only part of the statue that is exposed. One theory as to why the Madonna is black is due to the hundreds of years of candle smoke that permeates everywhere.

The steps up to the Madonna

The Black Madonna

The view from the Madonna

We exited on the other side of the Madonna and headed towards the Basilica of the Santa Maria de Montserrat. Stunning stained glass windows!

Close up of the floor

Next we walked outside into the courtyard of the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey basilica on our way into the basilica.

Inside the basilica, we could watch people walk by the Black Madonna.

The church was decorated with many beautiful lamps donated by other countries.

We saw a couple of tombs on the way back out to the courtyard.

The idea was for us to finally get to eat the box breakfast that the hotel gave us when we left in the morning before the restaurant opened, sitting somewhere in the courtyard. Pretty amazing view.

But a guard came up to us and told us we couldn't eat there. We shuffled off to the exit and sat on a bench while we ate. We noted that the temps and breeze up in the mountains were just delightful!

Walking back to the meeting point for the car, we saw some amazing views.

Funicular

Train

Possibly a view that appears in Episode 2 of "Andor" on Disney+

The Hermit Chapel at the site where the Virgin Mary was first sited in 880 CE.

Back in Barcelona, we had some gelato for "lunch", did some shopping, and decided to visit the Santa Maria de la Mar church right near our hotel. So many marvelous windows!

Since I'm writing this almost a week later, I have no memory of what we did for dinner, though we probably followed whatever advice from the front desk.

Tomorrow: Transfer to Valencia!

Amy & Andy's Excellent Adventure 2026 Part 2: ¡España! August 9, 2026 Sagrada Familia

August 9, 2026 

Where We Accomplish The First Of Two Goals We Have For This Adventure:

Visit the basilica Sagrada Familia During the 100th Anniversary Year of Anton Gaudi’s Death.

We fell in love with Anton Gaudi’s work in 2010 when we visited Barcelona for the first time. We were on a round-trip Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona. We stumbled across his work accidentally, when we saw a photo of the Sagrada Familia on a postcard in a gift shop.

We’ve been big fans of Anton Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia ever since. Gaudi died in 1926 when he was hit by a tram in Barcelona. The basilica was still in the early stages of construction even after 40 years.

In 2010 we decided we’d come back to Barcelona to see the basilica in the year it was planned/predicted it would be finished – 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death.

We’ve been back to Barcelona a few more times since 2010. I think the last time we visited inside the basilica was 2019.

So today was the day we returned to the Sagrada Familia. No, it’s not finished; no surprise there. But Pope Leo came on June 10, 2026 (exactly the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death) and declared the Sagrada Familia the tallest church in the world, because the Jesus tower is now complete. There’s still stuff to do on the inside. More towers need to be built, but at the moment there are apartment buildings standing on the land where those towers are supposed to go.

Our tour guide, Alicia, met us at 9:00 a.m., and we started our tour of the neighborhood where our hotel is located. It’s called the Gothic quarter; it’s the oldest part of the city. Of all the times we’ve visited Barcelona, this was the first time we ever saw the old quarter.

This is a small section of the original Roman city wall. The large stones at the bottom are Roman. The smaller stones higher up are medieval. 

a

We continued walking through the gothic quarter towards the cathedral

This building dates from 1410 - it is the first "skyscraper" in Barcelona

We eventually arrived at Plaza Nova, the main square, with city hall behind us.

Barcino is Barcelona’s original name back during Roman times.

 

We continued on our way to the Plaza de la Seu where the cathedral is located. It's commonly called "the Barcelona Cathedral", but it's formal full name is "Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia", a 14th century Gothic church. The facade is modern - it is a neo-Gothic facade added at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

We took a brief visit at the Palau de la Musica, mostly for a bathroom break before heading over to the Sagrada Familia, but also to take a look at the parts on the main floor that don't require a ticket

 

Front facade

Old ticket booth

The following are interior shots

On the back side of the building

We took a taxi over to Sagrada Familia. We had asked our tour guide if we could arrange the tour such that we could stay at the basilica after the official tour was over and stay as long as we wanted.

It's very difficult to show in photos how amazing this building is. It's constantly changing - it's been under construction since the 1880s. The original goal was for it to be finished by 2026 in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's untimely death in 1926. The story goes: he was hit by a tram, but no one knew who he was, because he dressed modestly and not like a wealthy famous person. He died a couple of days later on June 10, 1926. Good bet he might have survived the accident if this had happened in 2026.

Gaudi's signaature design feature is how he takes inspiration from nature. Everything about this basilica reflects that. 

This is the entrance or "happy" side, with the birth of Christ.

This is a closeup of the Christmas tree.

This is the back or "sad" side with the passion and crucifixion of Christ.

This is the "back"  or "sad" facade with the passion of Christ. You can see the crucifixion in the shadow between the two center columns. Everything in white or lighter color is new, and the darker color is older. The Jesus tower - recently completed and blessed by Pope Leo XIV in June as the tallest church in the world - is in the center of all the towers up on top.

Not sure what this structure is, but it wasn't there when we last visited in 2019, when we were able to walk into that small building in front with the red tile roof.

This is a closer view of the Mary tower (with the dove on top at the left) and the Jesus tower (with the cross), and lower decorative towers with fruit at their pinnacles.

Here's a bunch of photos of interior stained glass windows:

Eastern wall - blues to greet the morning sun

Oranges and reds for the afternoon sun

Glow from the western windows.

Rose windows

Rose windows

The top most pane is still unfinished

More unfinished windows

These are photos of interior structures.

Ceiling photos

These photos are from the museum attached to the church, which was, thank G0d, air conditioned.

This is the original model for the design

He used tiny bags of rice hanging on strings to engineer the towers. Since it's hanging down, it's the reverse of how the towers appear in reality

Gaudi's tomb is under the museum and is not for viewing by the public. Except for the pope, that is. This is a photo of a photo of his tomb.

After our visit to Sagrada Familia, we had lunch at a place recommended by our front desk guy, Fajad. I don't seem to have any photos of what we ate, but it was awesome, as all our meals have been. 

Then we wandered around a bit looking at souvenir stores in the area, until it was obvious that the heat was getting to me, and it was time to get back to the hotel and air conditioning.

Tomorrow: Montserrat