Spain Snapshots: My Perfect Madrileño Day

June 9, 2014 by · 17 Comments

Danny and I were on our third glass of vermouth in Malasaña when it dawned on me: Madrid had finally won me over.

Between the barrio life, the collision of old and traditional with new and different and the balmy late spring nights, La Capital is quickly becoming one of my favorite escapes in Spain.

Madrid isn’t as outright beautiful as Seville or as wildly gorgeous as the calas on Menorca. It’s not old and cobblestoned or dripping in Gaudí’s whimsical architecture. It’s a bit grandiose on one block, and a bit gritty on the next.

 Simply put, it’s a Spanish city that encompasses it all and is the epicenter for nearly everything in Iberia.

My most recent trip to Madrid was two-fold: I was coming back from an emergency trip to the US, and I’d be brainstorming and hamming in front of the camera for a project I’m working on with other social media darlings. But as soon as I’d touched down in Barajas, my jet lag dissipated, and I spent the day retracing my favorite madrileño haunts and finding new spots to love.

My perfect Madrid day, unfiltered: Strolling, snacking, meeting lifelong madrileños and other adoptive gatos who have decided to call Madrid home.

Like Madrid? Check out these posts: Mercado de San Miguel // The Saturday City // Casa Hernanz // Visiting Alcalá de Henares

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, Featured, Habla de Tu Ciudad y Vive de Ella, Madrid, photo post, Photographer Sevilla, Places with Encanto, Spain, Spain Shots, Spain Travel, typical Spanish · Tagged: ,

Spain Snapshots: the Feria del Caballo in Jerez de la Frontera

May 12, 2014 by · 19 Comments

Call me a purist, but I love Seville’s April Fair, classism and all. Friends of mine had always talked about the jerezano equivalent, held a few weeks after Seville’s famed fête in mid May. Last year, M and I took the train to nearby Jerez de la Frontera for a day to experience the festival.

Being a celebrated horse breeding and training city, el caballo takes center stage at the fair, with both exhibitions and a horse auction. The biggest difference between the two is that the streets aren’t choked with horse carriages, so there’s less of a chance you’ll get hit by one or drag your dress through horse poop.

But there was plenty more: Jerez’s fair was a fun mix of eclectic and traditional casetas (we danced in a caseta run by a biker bar and drank margaritas at the Mexican restaurant’s tent), many different types of music, and much more wallet friendly. Not having to worry about appearances, we could just enjoy ourselves with all of the adorable, sherry-drinking abuelos.

Not much can hold a candle to Seville’s fair, but Jerez is as damn close as you can get.

If you go: The Feria de Jerez is held over seven days in May, typically during the second week of the month (this year’s festival is the 11th – 18th of May). You can take the train from Seville’s Santa Justa or San Bernardo stations straight to Jerez, with a round-trip ticket costing 17€. Entrance to the fairgrounds in Jerez is free. For more information, check the city’s festivals page.

Have you been to any Andalusian fairs?

Filed Under: Andalucia, Andalusia Tourism, Day Trips, Featured, Feria, festivals, Jerez de la Frontera, photo post, Spain Shots, Spanish Traditions, Things to do in Andalucia, typical Spanish · Tagged: ,

Spain Snapshots: Garganta la Olla, the gorgeous extremeño pueblo you’ve never, ever heard of

April 21, 2014 by · 36 Comments

There was only one real reason why we stopped: it was sunny and just about 1pm, which meant it was beer hour. Snaking down the one-lane highway that led from the Monastery of Yuste, where Holy Roman Emperor Charles V retired to die, we decided to stop in the next town for a while.

That town was Garganta la Olla, a blip of a pueblo that has a larger-than-life legend. The woman behind the bar graciously served us a heaping plate of cured meats and cheeses with our beer as she hummed and wiped a few glasses clean. Garganta la Olla is home to just over 1000 inhabitants, making it yet another sleepy hamlet in the Cáceres region of Extremadura.

I tugged the Novio’s hand as I led him down the main road towards town hall. The wood and stone thatched houses looked like they’d been haphazardly constructed – kind of like the way the sticks fall in a game of Pick Up Sticks. Carvings in the doors mark just how old the village is – some of the constructions date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, when Garganta la Olla was in its heyday, although it’s believed to have been inhabitant for nearly 2000 years. 

The houses reminded me of the sort I might have seen in Haro, La Rioja or even outside of Spain. We walked beneath balconies supported by wooden pillars that housed humble homes. Within 30 minutes, we’d seen the whole of the center leisurely, including the artificial beach of Garganta Mayor, a nice sojourn after Yuste disappointed us (both in price and museum – not worth it!).

As for the legend of La Serrana de la Vera, it’s said that a scorned woman took up residence in the nearby Garganta, or mountain crevice, from which she seduced men and then killed them exacting her revenge against the Archbishop of Plasencia, who broke up their engagement and sentenced her family to a lifetime of dishonor. Miguel de Unamuno, a celebrated Spanish author, penned her legend, which is also accompanied by demon and serpentine figures that make up local lore. Día de la Serrana de la Vera is celebrated each August, and the city retains its medieval feel.

And if you’re into it, there’s also an Inquisición Museum that shows medieval torture tools and a former brothel that now houses a shop with products from the area – cured meats, sweet paprika and sweet breads.

Garganta la Olla is located in the La Vera region of Cáceres, at the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos. It’s about 45 minutes east of Plasencia and two hours north of Badajóz. 

Have you ever spent time in Extremadura? What are your favorite small towns in Spain?

Filed Under: Architecture, Extremadura, Featured, Habla de Tu Ciudad y Vive de Ella, photo post, Places with Encanto, Rural Tourism, Spain Shots, travel photography, Trujillo · Tagged: ,

Spain Snapshots: A Visit to Spain’s Highest Point, el Teide

March 24, 2014 by · 14 Comments

The Megane steadily climbed out of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, past La Laguna and into the plush interior of the island. The pines and windy roads took me back to Colorado, but with an occasional glimpse of Atlantic waters.

Gua guas pushed up the hill slowly, and Forrest swerved around them, comfortable as he shifted into third in our rental car and rode the mountain up. Tenerife was formed by an underground volcano 30 to 50 million years ago, and its highest point, Teide, actually gives the island its name: tene (mountain) and ife (white), joined by an /r/ during the colonial period. The entire island is formed from volcanic rock, in fact, evident from the steep ride up and down, and the white-capped mountain is visible from seemingly every rincón of the largest island in the archipelago. 

Once we reached the national park and UNESCO World Heritage site, we parked the car and took the gondola up the mountain. Most tourists don’t venture up to the top, standing nearly 3800 meters above sea level, despite Teide being one of the most visited sites in Spain. The landscape is almost barren, and the only sign off life we saw after starting our ascent were lizards.

Steep rock stairs have been carved into the rock face, but we still scrambled over boulders, stopping for vistas and water breaks every 10 steps because the air was so thin. 

The great crater caused by multiple eruptions in visible from just about everywhere on the island, but seeing it from a bird’s-eye-view was insanely cool.

From the very top, you can see Gran Canaria to the east and la Gomera to the west. We actually hiked above the cloud level that covers the occidental side of the island, watching them get burned off by the warm midday sun.

If you go: Visitors can take the gondola up the mountain at the cost of 25€. If you want to hike to the top, you’ll need to print off an access pass on the national park’s main page. It’s free, but you’ll have to bring a form of ID.

Be sure to dress in layers, as it’s cold at the top, and wear comfortable shoes. Bring sunscreen, sunglasses and plenty of water, as there are no facilities after leaving the visitors center.

Have you ever visited a national park in Spain?

My rental car was graciously provided by Car Rentals UK. All opinions (as well as the memories of my stomach dropping during the hairpin turns) are my own.

Filed Under: Canary Islands, Driving in Spain, Featured, Geotravel, photo post, Road Trip, Spain, Spain Hiking, Spain Shots, Spain Travel, Tenerife, UNESCO World Heritage · Tagged: ,

Spain Snapshots: A Saturday Portrait of Madrid

March 10, 2014 by · 20 Comments

An eclectic mix of old and new, Madrid is a city that has slowly crept its way into my heart. At first, it was a necessary stop on my way to or from Chicago, but after so many visits, it feels like an old sweater, a city I can navigate just as well as Sevilla, a cosmopolitan exclamation point in my sometimes mundane expat experience.

After all, there is international cuisine in Madrid. And original version movies. And cupcakes.

I must admit that I’m something of a creature of habit in the Spanish capital, often just letting my feet take me down the streets I know and love. There’s the ice cream shop in Plaza Dos de Mayo, the sometimes English-language book carrying book shop off of Plaza Santa Ana, my favorite Thai place on Atocha. As my  trips to Madrid become more frequent, the list of places I love to visit grows longer.

When Kay suggested we meet in another rincón of the city for a midday beer, in Alonso Martínez, we grabbed our umbrellas and set off from T’s house outside of the M-30 ring road. At just one stop from Tribunal – the metro stop closest to the Novio’s childhood home – I was thrilled to find another stretch of street that I didn’t know.

 Calle Fernando VI is a hipster’s dream – barrio fruit shops and tobacco stands are sidled up next to cactus shops, swanky eateries and macaroon shops lie age-old bars. Hayley and I shared a heaping plate of tortilla for breakfast before we sat at the high chairs and shared tables at Lo Siguiente. A Madrid-brewed craft beer is on tap (spoiler: it taste just like madrileño favorite Mahou) and the exposed brick looked like the café could have been in Brooklyn.

Madrid is truly a Saturday city – bars are always spilling customers, and events all around town are full. There are always exhibitions, shows, honking cars, teenagers dressing up to go to discos, traffic, chaos and every other hallmark of my favorite cities.

Later that night, we walked towards Chueca from the Ópera metro, the streets beating with energy and flashing lights. My heart seemed to skip a beat as I bumped shoulders with strangers and breathed in pollution. Madrid always seems to give me a surge of energy and the courage to comerme el mundo.

Maybe it’s being away from Seville and caught up in the frenzy of movement, or just the way the city seems to glisten, even in the rain.

Have you ever been to Madrid? What do you love (or not) about it?

Filed Under: Featured, living abroad, Madrid, photo post, Spain Shots, typical Spanish · Tagged: ,

Spain Snapshots: The Medieval City of Mondoñedo along the Camino de Santiago del Norte

February 10, 2014 by · 19 Comments

Leaving Lourenzá at just past 7am, we’d have a two hour hike before reaching Mondoñedo, where we’d agreed to meet Iván, Claude and Sandrine for breakfast. While we’d stop and feed our bodies whenever we felt hunger pains or a bit of weakness, this day was different – we’d need to double our intake of toast and coffee for a three-hour hike straight upwards into Gontán.

Not only was this the day we had to climb a mountain, but also the day we couldn’t lose MC. Hayley and I both cried silent tears to ourselves from pain, from frustration, from just needing to let out what our emotions were trying to say. It was a long day, and a pivotal one during the trek, where I nearly broke the promise I made to myself to walk every goddamned step to Santiago by checking bus schedules.

As we descended the lush valley into the small city of Mondoñedo around 9am, I took a misstep and felt a weird pain creep up my left calf. Remembering my years as a gymnast, it felt like tendonitis. I grasped at it in pain, trying to sooth the sore area by walking on on my heels and pulling out my mobile to check bus times out of the city.

Mondoñedo is one of the original capitals of the Galician kingdom and a city with more than 900 years of history. Its most famous landmark is its cathedral and rectory, known as a catedral arodillada for its squat spires. It was breathtaking and the backdrop for a lively market that morning under a soaring sun.

Climbing straight out of the city, we turned around to glimpse the village as the sun began to burn off the mist that had become synonyous with our mornings along the Camino. Thankfully, leaving Mondoñedo was quicker than savoring the entrance to it.

In the nearly six months it’s been since we reached Santiago on foot, but the quick stop in Mondoñedo has stayed with me, both for the views and the valley, as well as the day I decided to grit my teeth and prove to myself that I could handle an uphill climb, both mentally and psychically. 

Have you been to the Lugo province? 

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Filed Under: Camino de Santiago, CaminoFTK, Caser Expat Insurance, Featured, Galicia, Places with Encanto, Rural Tourism, Spain Hiking, Spain Shots · Tagged: , ,
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