Travel Tips

We had been dating for about 6 months and she knew how much I love this country. We went for an 11 day visit, starting in Madrid and hitting many tapas places and sites along the way.

Then we took the AVI to Valencia for Las Fallas and met with my friends and stayed in their apartment by the Mediterranean. Partied in the streets and saw many sculptures around the city...then came the last night - La Crema- when they torched them all. It was pretty intense!

I'm glad we went together and I hope to bring Heidi back there sometime next year. We'll see...

We stayed with my good friends Ruth and her boyfriend, Jose Luis. They live in an apartment about 2 blocks away from the Mediterranean. We had a great time visiting with them and did quite a bit of walking around to see the many sculptures. I think there were probably about 150 or so. We also went to the old Turia riverbed, which is now a huge park, to see the new modern buildings that had been completed since I lived there in 1999-2000.

We hired a rental car and drove down along the coast - getting a bit lost along the way - on our way to Granada. We stayed across the street from the Alhambra and I met my Sevillian friend Aurelio at the train station the next morning. We toured the Alhambra and then hit the town for some vino n tapas. They were some of the best we had during our trip! We also went to the Arab style market for souveniers and got some great deals; Flamenco dresses for the girls, shirts & a club for the boys and ceramics as well.

The tea in this Arabic tea house was pretty good. You could also rent a hookah and smoke some flavored tobacco if you wanted to. We didn't...maybe next time.

We left for Cordoba and stopped at some castles along the way. Andalucia is chock full of castles and when you rent a car, it's easy to zip into a small village to go and check them out. Just make sure you don't get locked inside of one when the workman take their lunch! (We were the first American 'prisoners' held in a long time!)

We lucked out and rented a full apartment including a car park right in the old city! We toured the Great Mosque - it is a World Heritage site and this picture doesn't do it justice! We walked the old streets - more vino & tapas! We also did some more shopping and I bought Heidi some bracelets made from the famous Cordoban silver. I told Heidi 'Te Quiero' (I Love You in Spanish), and the women in the shop got all giggly, giddy and sweet.

We left the next day for lunch in Carmona. It's truly a beautiful southern Spanish town - full of narrow cobblestone roads and white painted buildings. It's one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Spain and is full of history. I highly recommmend visiting, if not spending a night or two here. There is a nice hotel that is just inside the old gate on the other side of the old city. It's partially built into the old city wall. Resaonable prices and a perfect location to use as a base for walking the town.

Left for Sevilla for another couple of days. Went to La Cathedral, Torre del Oro and Triana for ceramics. Had a delicious lunch with Aurelio & his family. Toured the Barrio de Santa Cruz and went to La Carboneria for some Flamenco music. Unfortunately, the Flamenco music left alot to be desired, but it is a very old building with alot of history.

Took the AVI back to Madrid and visited the Museo del Prado. We had an awesome room that overlooked the Puerto del Sol - right dead center of Spain n Madrid! We saw the Plaza Mayor and hit El Rastro - the weekend market full of really cool stuff. We also caught a bullfight which was pretty wild. Had more tapas n vino - our last before we flew back home. Heidi's favorite were the boquerones - tiny anchovies marinated in olive oil, vinegar & fresh garlic. They're the ones on the bottom right.