Travel Stories >> Spain

VIVA ESPAÑA.... long life to SPAIN!

		Spain by Train.. a thought piece
Although I was a student in Spain in 1982, then a small business "empresario" in 1985-1988... Every year since then I've returned for weddings, visits, and the births of my friends' children. My life changed when I brought my husband back to Spain for our Honeymoon in May of 1998. The experiences related below of Spain have been the time after our work in Bosnia (Fall of 1998 - Winter of 1999).. it is the brief travelogue of our time in Spain - at every date you can click on the links to read more about the place, sometimes with information about restaurants, hostals, museums, etc.), and see the photos from the region or the city.
	September 1998:
		26 September: THE WEDDING: Julia Elena Mimosa and Jose Manuel Morales celebrated their wedding in Salamanca. I have known Julia since 1985, may God Bless her and her new husband!
		27 September - 7 October: SALAMANCA: We spent some quality time really getting to know the town of Salamanca where I'd lived for some years 12 years ago! A beautiful place...
	October 1998:
		8-12 October: LAKE SANABRIA: Lago Sanabria in the province of Zamora. Dear friends Nati Sanchez de las Matas, and Paco Dorda (both high school teachers) invited us to travel to the Zamora province to spend the weekend in a small hostal on the shores of the great glacial lake, Sanabria. Abundant hiking trails, sweet local towns, replete with myths and legends, this was a perfect time of year to travel there since the summer sunbathers were all at home.
		15 October: AVILA: the great medieval walled city - located less than two hours west of Madrid - the birthplace of the famous Santa Teresa. The stunning walls alone make this a worthwhile visit! The town is famous for its candied egg yolks (called "yemas") which Roger refused to try.
		16 October: TOLEDO: a quote from the Michelin guide says it best, "Toledo stands out dramatically against the often luminously blue Castilian sky: a golden city rising from a granite eminence, encircled by a steep ravine filled by the blue green waters of the Tajo River. It is as spectacular as it is rich in history, buildings, and art..." And it was. Spectacular. A city with a history of great tolerance and understanding - a city where Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived and worked side by side for centuries.
		21 October: SEVILLA: 4th largest city in Spain, a metropolis as well as a site steeped in history and full of the essense of Spain, great bullfighters, great flamenco dancers, the great-great-great (etc.) grandchildren of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the remains of Christopher Columbus in the Cathedral (the largest Gothic cathedral in the world), and a history of great royalty, structures, and culture.
		26-31 October: LA SUBBETICA: Visit RQP's parents outside the town of Carcabuey (Granada province). Through Idyll Tours in Media, PA, (http://www.untours.com) my parents take an "Untour" every year or so. (Their last untour to Tuscany was disrupted by their daughter's wedding!). The Untour puts them in an apartment, or a chalet, or a spanish Cortijo (farmhouse) in this case. "La Cubilla", a beautiful farmhouse in the heart of the olive groves in the National Park of the Subbetica, was the perfect base from which we traveled Andalucia.
		27 October: GRANADA (the Alhambra). Granada is one of the greatest cities in Europe. The Michelin guide says, "[Granada has] prestigious and exceedingly beautiful Moorish buildings, luminous skies, and a luxuriantly green setting..." Today the capital of a generally agricultural province, Granada is home to a fine university. The Alhambra, or "Red Palace" was constructed in Granada by the caliphs of the Nasrid dynasty during the Moorish centuries in Spain. In an attempt to cover the fact that power was slipping through their hands, they threw together a stunning palacial complex. In the true arabic style, the tiled walls, the carved alabaster lintels, the cedarwood ceilings, the cool and aesthetically pleasing patios - water running through it all, is a delight. Visitors gasp anew upon entering each chamber, trying to capture a small piece of the architectural glories in their snapshots.
		28 October: PRIEGO de CORDOBA: The closest town to my folks' cortijo shares a place in history for the variety of churches in the center whose high Baroque altars and ceilings are all a curlique of cheribum and seraphim, the church of the "Asuncion" being the prize. Priego is known as well for a lovely park with a series of "stepped" fountained pools, around which are a number of gargoyled spouts.
		29 October: CORDOBA (La Mesquita): There is much to enjoy in Cordoba, but the guide books all point you in the direction of the great Mosque. Although the Christians later built a hideous cathedral inside the mosque, La Mesquita, 1200 years old, remains the most impressive reminder of the true influences and power that the Moors had in Spain. More than 850 columns of granite and marble, connected by red and white arches create a dramatic effect. La Juderia (the old Jewish Quarter) is worth a visit as well.
		31 October: The OLIVE OIL COOPERATIVE: Site visit to the Cooperativa Agricola "Virgin del Castillo" where over 8 million liters of extra-virgin olive oil is pressed every year. Maria (of course) walked us around and through the factory explaining the processes and seasonality of the olive oil industry. Note: Sadly, most of the wonderful Spanish olive oil never gets to US shelves - and to add insult to injury, the Italians buy up a great deal of the Spanish oil to mix into their own to enhance both the quality and the quantity.
	November:
		1-7 November: EL PUERTO de SANTA MARIA: Back to our "home base", where we've been since mid-October.
		8-10 November: MERIDA: (and a visit with Fini's mom, and grandma) in the Badajoz province (in the "Extremadura" region) was, during the Roman empire, once of the most important imperial cities. An administrative stronghold, Merida produced pottery, glass, coins, and provided a retirement place for the great roman military veterans, Merida's ruins are the best preserved in the country and are beyond impressive if even only for their age (over 2000 years old). The outstanding remains of the theater, amphitheater, various senorial homes, a grand bridge (1 km long), an aquaduct, and a temple to Diana are accompanied by a first rate museum in which are housed some of the most phenomenal mosaics, column capitals, statuary, and other roman bric-a-brac. Merida comes from "Augustus Emertius".
		20 November: JEREZ: Quick trip to visit the "Harvey's" Bodegas (of Harvey's Bristol Cream fame) - great taste testing after the tour!... And then on the train to Sevilla to the Museo de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum) to check out an outstanding exhibit of Francisco Zurbaran - a wonderful Spanish artist of the Spanish renaissance.
	December:
		2 December: RONDA: One of the lovely "White Villages" of Andalucia - Ronda is the village with the most impressive views - built on the top of a high craggy chunk of land, the new bridge of Ronda is what immediately strikes a visitor. Since Fini wasn't working, she took us out for a hike around the city.
		8 December: (Holiday - Immaculate Conception)... a big holiday for Spaniards, although I have a little trouble with the math (Christ born 17 days later?).. R&R met Jim DeMay and Channing Riggs in JEREZ - hoping to do a little sherry tasting (alas, all bodegas closed today) but ended up feasting on tapas for dinner at the bar Juanito (a locale that consistantly wins awards for the quality and variety of tapas they serve - wow!) After delicately fried fish, bulls tail, stuffed mushrooms, boquerones, stuffed mussels (and the list goes on)... we headed back to the Puerto for a break. We walked the beach, took photos of the sunset, and met again in the evening for a repeat of the tapas run, this time in the Puerto.
		9 December: Spent the day with Jim and Channing in SEVILLA, one of our favorite cities, window shopped, touristed, ate (that's really all we do here, eat), and meandered the pedestrian-only labyrinthine streets soaking in the Christmas prep - the lights, the displays, and the creche scenes in every shop window (all out-doing the guy next-door). We bought some Lladro and three Kings statues for our future Christmases!
		17 - 25 December: RQP takes a quick (she thinks) trip home to NJ to take home Christmas, pick up Christmas, and handle some year end bill type issues. She expected to get on a flight on Dec. 21 to come back to Spain in time to spend Xmas with her sweetie, but holiday traffic being what it is, she instead spent Xmas in the bosom (so to speak) of her family, joining Roger in SALAMANCA on the 26th for a late Christmas morning together.
		24 December: HOLIDAYS: In Spain, Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) and Noche Vieja (New Year's Eve) are two big holidays - both are spent at extravagent evening meals ("cenas") with family and friends. This year, since Rachel was in the States (stranded by Air Europa -- and the heavy holiday traffic), Roger spent Noche Buena in the company of the dear Sanchez de Las Matas family in Salamanca. 12 years ago Nati and Rachel met and the friendship with the family has continued strong to this day. Roger et. al. ate pounds of fresh shellfish from the Asturian coast and lots of homemade turron courtesy of Fernando and Esther.
	January 1999:
		31 December - 1 January: NEW YEARS: R&R celebrated the advent of the New Year in Salamanca where they experienced a record snowfall that began at 9pm - dumping some 4" by midnight. This was a not an un-noteworthy event since Salamanca hasn't had a snow like this one in 30 years (some said). R&R had cena with Quintina's family (Los Perez Maestros) and Javier Morocho, and their 1 year old, Carolina. At every stroke of midnight, as is the tradition, we ate a grape and made a wish for the coming year!
		2-5 January: MADRID: .. after saying goodbye to our friends in Salamanca, we spent Saturday afternoon in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (one of Madrid's newest museums - and a real star!) They are in the final days of an exhibit by Joaquin Sorolla (one of my favorite Spanish painters) and the permanent collection is outstanding. Sunday we did a bit of the Prado (Goya and Velazquez primarily), Monday, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (my father calls the "Sophie Doo") which is full of outstanding Spanish artists of this century - some well-known, some who should be!. Tuesday morning we returned to the Prado to finish the Goya, see the magnificent Dutch painters they have collected, and to catch the special exhibit on Felipe II (also in its final days). In addition to the museum-going we treked around central Madrid, had a sushi dinner, spent an evening listening to R&B at the Cafe Jazz Populart, and happy-houred on nachos (any ethnic foods in Spain are rare - and even rarer to find great Japanese and/or Mexican foods!)
		6 January: THE EPIPHANY (The twelfth day of Christmas)! In Spain, there is no Santa Claus. In Spain, the children leave their shoes filled with straw (for the camels) out on the patios on the evening of the 5th of January so the three Wise Men (the Kings = Los Reyes) leave them gifts on their way to Jerusalem to see the baby Jesus. The Christmas season here finishes with a glut of gift-giving that rivals (in a small way) the US mass consumption on December 25th. We were just so happy to be back in the Puerto where the sun shines almost everyday and the daytime high temps hover in the upper 60s-low 70s.
		12 January: SAN LUCAR de BARRAMEDA: We were going to meet some local friends for a tour through the Osborne Bodegas, but ended up going out to the little fishing town of San Lucar instead. A quirky little town on the delta of the great Guadelquivir River (which flows down from Cordoba and Sevilla), San Lucar is where the sherries called, "Manzanilla" come from. It is also the town from which the 'white shrimp of San Lucar' are harvested. If you are a seafood fan, particularly shellfish, this is a Mecca.
		19 January: EL PUERTO de SANTA MARIA: With good friends, Fini, and Joaquin, we take up the offer by some friends, Bardomero and Ignacio, to visit the Osborne Bodegas here in the Puerto.

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