Thursday, November 23rd – Saturday, December 9th, 2017
Eight cities in 17ish days: Granada, Cordoba, Seville, Madrid, Valencia, Segovia, San Sebastian, and Barcelona, in that order (though some were just day trips). We went in with certain expectations based on friends’ advice and pop culture stereotypes, but left with much richer experiences than just drinking sangria, dancing around la Sagrada Familia… as that Ed Sheeran song has us believe.
Like on all trips, I lose my sense of time. It feels like I was picked up out of my real life and dropped into a separate world, a separate time. And in this new place, I feel no attachment to the reality I had left behind.
The air is cold. We feed ourselves very well. We pick up recurring Spanish words (mira!) and we constantly talk about going to la playa, where the sun would finally warm us up.
The cities each have their own feel. Regions are very proud of their own identities, dialects, and we get a very tiny glimpse of that only when it was explained to us by a local. I’ve learned that I do appreciate historical cities with many stories to tell and reminders of the past preserved all around, but my true comfort lies in the modern city. When walking through dirty, rundown streets, I realize I support modernizing buildings. Of course it’s easy for me to say when I have no attachment to or investment in them…
But enough rambling. Onwards to a summary of our trip.
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Granada
Our first taste of Spain was in Granada. Having just taken a long flight over from the States, we wisely planned to take it chill on our first city The night we landed, we casually watched some YouTube videos about the Alhambra before visiting the next day. It was a great idea that helped paint some context around what otherwise would’ve been just a big, pretty looking mosque.
Did you know? The customs of those times disallowed pictures of animals and humans; so instead, they had to get creative in the intersection of geometry and religious texts with art in order to beautify the mosque. I can’t imagine trying to decorate a whole sprawling castle-sized place of worship without any pictures. With that knowledge, it was much easier to appreciate the walls, ceilings, every hallway we turned into, all decorated with not just intricate but meaningful patterns.
That said, I am reluctant to report back that the rest of Granada was not all that memorable to me. I remember all the blogs telling me how ultra charming the Albayzin neighborhood is, worth spending a half day in for its narrow cobblestone streets and scattering of cute shops throughout. But instead, it felt mostly lifeless to us with not much to see, the most memorable part of it being the crazy hills my poor boyfriend had to climb with a busted ankle.
We also checked off seeing a flamenco show in this city, where I read that flamenco’s supposed to have originated in. Yeah, the performers were each very talented- the singer and dancers I’d best describe as raw and powerful. But the most I could say after it ended was something like, “cool”. It is not something I would need to see again.
What was for sure a memorable experience though was our wild first time getting tapas, at Bar los Diamantes. We arrive and there is this big crowd outside the entrance. Hm, what’s going on here? Before we know it, the owner opens the door and the entire crowd starts storming in… I guess it’s go time, go go go! One after another people are throwing their orders at the two servers behind the bar. We stake our standing table then stare in awe, paralyzed by fear. This is what it’s like to get tapas? We observe. We strategize. Eventually I hold my breath and I’M GOING IN, weave through the masses, get to the counter, the server looks at me and I sputter out my order, and in Spanish dude! Oh my god he understood me. I turn around and walk back feeling like I’ve just conquered a beast with my crappy Spanish.
Contrast that with the second time we got tapas. The owners were a married couple who knew English, not originally from the area. At the bar area, I oversee two fellas ordering this slightly wine, mostly sprite looking drink and think hey, that looks tasty. Emboldened by the fact that the owner knew English, I asked for the same, and by the way, what is this even? Tinto de Verano, it was. By luck we learned this important fun fact that day. Spaniards don’t really drink sangria all day like the way we foreigners assume. Apparently it takes a long time to make and is really only enjoyed during big events. From that event, everywhere we went, we ordered the Tinto de Verano. It occasionally impressed our servers 😉
Cordoba
While on our way to Seville, we took a day trip to Cordoba, where the feel was noticeably different. Much more gardens and greenery, families with children running about, less dog poop which hoho- boyfriend did step in the very first night we landed, and less smoking. Visited Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, this castle thingy where Ferdinand and Isabella signed.. planned? the thing to let Columbus sail to the U.S. You can tell that history always sort of escapes me and when I come back from a landmark such as this, my lasting impression is only of how pretty and well-manicured their royal gardens are.
And memories of how I longed to pick a fresh orange off the orange trees that were *everywhere* we went, along all the streets of Spain, and including the gardens of that castle. We thought- oh how convenient, if these oranges were to feed the homeless people (lol). We wondered why we even saw so many oranges on these trees and how they were not already ransacked for being so easily available. Now whenever I passed them, not gonna lie, I always, always scanned the ground around it for one that looked good to pick up, because I was too polite (ahem- chicken) to pluck it off the trees directly. I really wanted to taste one. Spoiler alert! Later in the trip we looked up these orange trees of Spain and found out they are impossibly sour and mostly used for marmalade. Oof, dreams crushed. 🙁
The other notable bit about this day is that we happened to come on the day of a marathon. Just picture the hoards of people running through these streets steeped in history and this giant digital stopwatch hanging in the middle of this ancient-looking gateway. Or maybe it’s not that ancient, what do I know. But that juxtaposition stood out to me, and it’s cool to see both what humanity is up to now right alongside reminders of what happened there in the past, all in that exact same moment. What was not so cool was the frustration we endured walking in big circles trying to find an entrance through the blockades. We had a schedule to keep!
It was also in this city that we had the most delicious mushroom risotto, at a restaurant called Regadera. Risotto… wait, that’s Italian, right? And thus began our questions of so what the hell is Spanish food anyway? A recurring theme as we visited all the cities. And a question we were still unable to determine by the end of our trip.
Seville
At the end of our day in Cordoba, we took a train over to Seville. Despite what I said about the marathon in Cordoba, this was definitely the city where I could most easily see its rich history preserved wherever we turned. But I may be biased because we took a food tour here, but not only that, our guide also took us through a whirlwind tour of many quirky historic spots. The food on the tour was alright, nothing we didn’t already cover with our copious amounts of research, but the stories from history were very fun. One balcony is said to have hanged the skull of a nun who wanted it to be a lesson, never give up your family for a stupid man. The tomb in the church has only a percentage of Columbus’s remains. There was a lighthouse watching over a port, where all the goods of the new world had to come through, and we walked through a very unassuming street with an arch overhead, where the townspeople got to see what new goods have come in. We circled the streets to shop many many times because we so quickly blew through our list of things to do. Navigating was a pain because it can be easy to make a wrong turn in the tiny wind-ey streets. It was kind of rainy but we evaded it at all the right times. Inspired by all the tapas we’ve had, our search for a cooking book started here. We also stumbled upon a cool looking piece of architecture that was great for viewing the sunset, Las Setas De Sevilla.
All that aside, my most memorable moments are still from the people who display such great acts of generosity. At this landmark, a street cleaner had stopped us from walking away and I was struggling to understand what we did wrong. He walks to his cleaning truck and brings us an old shirt to wipe the wet benches we wanted to sit on. It had been raining and he had seen us walking from one bench to the next, discouraged by the puddles of water on them. Now if I were a street cleaner who came across these rich tourists in my country who I didn’t even know how to communicate with, I would not offer them my shirt to drench with bench water. We recalled the the generous man in Thailand who hailed us a driver for the day and another who spontaneously gave us a tour of the temple. I am amazed at such acts of generosity.
Madrid
It was when we arrived in Madrid that I realized that old towns are nice to visit, but I feel most at home in modern places. It felt so nice not to have to watch where I was stepping, when I got used to watching out for puddles in the crevices of the stone roads. I remember feeling comfortable in this city, probably just an indication that the vibe is a little closer to what I’m used to in the states. Our Madrid itinerary was the most packed, and quite short, as we exchanged some time here to do day trips. But while here, we visited El Retiro park, which is similar in concept to Central Park in NYC but much smaller. If you’ve read my NYC post, I did a more impromptu lookup of what to see here, so in this case, I have learned how to travel better 🙂
There was a famous art museum I consciously planned to visit for only the last 2 hours of its opening, because it was free during those hours! And we know nothing about famous art so it wasn’t the kind of thing we were interested in, except to say yes we have been there. Kept thinking we finished it off pretty quickly but kept on discovering more and more to the museum, so it’s pretty big. Another thing to do in Madrid was shopping on Gran Via, but it is shorter than I had imagined and I was like reallyyy? when I didn’t trust Victor already navigated us to the end. Also worth mentioning that he went on to play poker one night, to no one’s surprise, since it was available here in Madrid.
Segovia
We literally took a half day trip to Segovia because boyfriend was super despondent that we weren’t going to try the restaurant that’s said to serve the best suckling pig in Spain. Sigh, he is such an expensive one to keep. How they carve the suckling pig was a fun thing to see. The waiter literally takes a plate and uses it to *chop* *chop* the pig into quarters in a display of how tender the meat is. While it was good, we decided you don’t *have* to make a separate trip just for this pig.
That said, the city was an unexpected delight. As I’ve hinted at, all I knew about Segovia was they had good pig, so I came with zero expectations about anything other than that pig. But as soon as we stepped out of the train station, we were greeted by such a refreshingly natural snow-covered landscape with snow-capped mountains in the distance. It was a really nice change of scenery after seeing city after city for so long. After arriving, we took a bus to a historical aqueduct that was more beautiful than the pictures online let on. We also spent much time shopping in the clothing stores we stumbled upon. This city seemed cheaper than the rest and shopping is always more fun when things are cheap!
Valencia
We had also taken a day trip to Valencia. Can you guess why? Yes, it was to eat paella in the city where paella originated. How unsurprising we have prioritized food once again. When I hear about Valencia, reviews are usually pretty unenthused. But I actually had a pretty enjoyable day there. Maybe it was my lack of expectations. But if that’s the key to enjoying your days, that’s alright by me. We visited some interesting architecture and took a nice long stroll through a big park that seemed to expand across the city. Let me tell you, our legs were dead tired long before this part of our trip so we tried an exercise in pushing each other forward. It didn’t work so well.
Valencia had the best food market out of them all. I tried 5J black Iberian ham for the first time. I don’t think I’m able to tell the difference but hey it was good. Bought a big chorizo here too hehe.
And of course the paellaaa. We tried the one with rabbit and snails because it’s said to be more traditional. Good, but we also wish we could’ve tried the seafood one too, the one we’d expect to enjoy more. With this meal, Victor found out I don’t actually eat everything, and what I eat is no longer a true superset of what he eats. It’s cuz I could not get over the idea of eating snails. So I had him cut a tiny piece that I wouldn’t recognize as a freaking slug, with their freaking antennas that you could clearly see! By the time I forced myself to eat it, all I could feel was a bit of cold something.
To wrap up our day there, we got to the train station a bit early. There was a bookshop inside where we got to play a bit of where’s waldo. I got my butt kicked 🙁
San Sebastian
This city is said to be one of the best cities for food in the world. While many have not heard of this small city, the more foodie documentaries and blogs you follow, you’ll keep seeing San Sebastian come up again and again, and as we found out, for very good reason.
Right after arriving by train, we dropped our stuff at the hotel then had to hurry over to Akelarre, the 3 Michelin star place we booked (:O !). Unfortunately after seeing how the bus wasn’t coming, we then learned how impossible it was to hail a taxi as we went running through the streets to find one. The whole ordeal made us get there rather late unfortunately. But the two tasting menus we had there were excellent- one their classic and one their either seafood or experimental version, forgot which one we chose. It was one of the few fancy places we thought practically every dish seemed to hit the mark. The chef even came out to greet everyone, but the most we could do was tell him his food was really good and didn’t know what kind of stuff fancy sophisticated people say haha.
After dining, we walked around their balcony overlooking the ocean after and it was beautifully lit as the sky started to grow dark. During that lunch we were discussing how far the bus stop must be from here before we laughed at ourselves because people who come way out here (it was a bit far from town) probably don’t take buses after their fancy pants meal. So yup, after the meal they asked us if we would like them to call a taxi for us and we were like lol- uh, yeah.. ahem. I think this is the first place boyfriend ever liked liver, pretty amazing. (Side note: this trip is the first time he ever enjoyed olives too! Big win for me.)
From lunch to dinner I have no pictures, so I’ve no idea what we did loll, very unfortunate. Dinner we tried to hit up some pinxtos bars but we chose the worst two days out of the week to come to San Sebastian and most places were closed. Pro tip: there are days of the week when Spanish cities practically shut down because I guess they’ve good work/life balance, so plan accordingly! But we then had the best cheesecake ever cuz that place was open.
Something other than food? We finally got some glimpses of la playa here (la playa, Spanish for the beach, was the place where it would be magically warm and wonderful in the middle of winter, in our heads at least). We took a bus that took us most of the way to the top of this hill, then hopped off to do a quick hike for some views, was meh. As we waited for the bus back, I recalled as many “Spanish” songs as I knew so I could wiggle to the 10 seconds of chorus I knew of each song. At night it was more pinxtos, including a bigg steak thing boyfriend was worried I would not approve of because it was normal meal size. It was really good though.
Montserrat
Took the overnight bus to Barcelona then a train to Montserrat. It can be quite difficult to find the hiking paths you’re looking for here. That can make two people quite cranky. Hah, that’s all I’ll say about this one.
Barcelona
The visitors to Spain that I know are always quick to say that Barcelona was their favorite city. You can imagine my surprise and confusion when I reluctantly disagreed by the end of my visit there. It’s especially sad because my mind really wants to give this trip a theme song and starts autoplaying George Ezra’s “Barcelona” when I think of Spain. But it just doesn’t fit when my favorite is such a tough choice between so many of the cities, among them definitely not Barcelona.
Now there were many things to like. The next morning after the Montserrat day trip, I got my first intro into Gaudi’s work, Park Guell, a park that was a failed city he designed. It was very Alice in Wonderland-ish. He had really great ideas that I can appreciate but would not live in. Unfortunately his work is just literally too.. oh dear… gaudy for me.
That day, we went to Tickets Bar for dinner, the whole restaurant themed like a movie theater and they pick the menu for you, a new concept for us! They pride themselves on their innovation here. For my drink, I was told I was the first to try the bartender’s new creation, Yellow Submarine. It was so yummy, the one drink my mind still bothers to remember today. And of course we still remember the unique tapas we had here: the “olives”, “cheese” dessert, actually the whole unique dessert experience. A year after our trip, we watched an episode of “Chef’s Table” on Netlflix, featuring Albert Adrià, the chef behind Tickets. He is a culinary genius.
The next day was all about more of Gaudi’s work, beginning with La Sagrada Familia, the one church in the world I actually think is beautiful- on the inside at least, not sure if I’m so much of a fan of the outside. The sunlight coming in through the colorful stained glass windows really gives a warmth to its visitors. Without much else to do, we bit the bullet and visited Casa Mila as well, later in the day. I liked the famous entryway, I liked that he thought about how ugly rooftop ventilations are so he reconceptualized the whole thing, but not being an architect or anything, the highlights of his work would’ve been enough for me.
For dinner we made a final ditch attempt to have authentic seafood paella in Spain. We found a restaurant on the fairly pricey end, struggled with finding which item on the menu was actually paella, and finally settled on one.. which was definitely not what we were looking for. It was just a big plate of rice with a lobster, nothing like what you imagine seafood paella to be. We could barely finish, it was just rice on rice on rice. And it wasn’t cheap either. I think when we left they must’ve felt slightly insulted, whoops.
Very fittingly, on our last day of the trip, after endlessly talking about la playa, we took a walk by, then finally stepped(!!) on la playa. We did it, everybody!
Now what I didn’t like about Barcelona. It might just be the mark of a big city vs small town, but from our brief impressions, the people just felt colder. Nothing like that street cleaner I mentioned in Seville over here. Las Ramblas wasn’t all that great, just clearly a place targeted for tourists, and la Boqueria market, I don’t remember anything special about it. So between architecture, tourist traps, and most meals being unmemorable, can’t say Barcelona was all that memorable.
On our last day here, also the last day of our trip, we were walking and I wasn’t sure if I felt a tug on my day bag. I turn around and this guy looks away then quickly crosses the street. I think no way and check to see the zipper is open. Did we forget to zip it? My disbelief begins to fade and we realize yes, this man was pickpocketing us. Right before we left on this trip, we heard of a friend who was part of a tourist group. Someone’s phone got stolen someone in the group chase the pickpocket, who led him into a group of them and gave this guy a concussion. So what could we do? Just yelled at him in anger. Luckily we had nothing valuable in there. How bold of him though, there were two of us together. We started testing out how easy it was to pickpocket each other with this backpack. Couldn’t really say.
Well?
Like having a retro, we brainstormed what we would’ve changed about this trip. Maybe not book trains ahead of time because it gives us the flexibility to stay a few hours longer or leave a few hours earlier as needed. Understand that the large amounts of walking we plan can take a toll. Bake into our plan some time to see more natural beauty of the country, rather than just city after city, even if it is inconvenient to do so. I would also have liked if it were a little less freezing and I didn’t have to completely wrap up, scarf, hat, and all every time we went out, but hey, low tourism season does come with its advantages.
I mentioned earlier we spent the whole trip trying to figure out what Spanish food is. Now here we are at the end of the trip. What were our conclusions? Our best guess is that a lot of it is Mediterranean influence and fish. We learned tapas are more of a southern Spain thing and we knew from prior research that the menu of the days are a cheat code to good, cheap food.
The amount of time we planned for each city was about right. Again, if we could’ve adjusted some places by half a day or so by booking train tickets as needed, it could’ve been timed even better. Of course, it’s a price to pay for piece of mind.
All in all, I appreciate we had enough time to experience a little bit of so many cities. It felt like a complete and productive trip!