Spain: A mediterranean summer exploring the south
“No nation on earth is quite so good at enjoying itself as the Spanish”
~ Miguel de Cervantes
In 2010 I embarked on a 3 month long Spanish adventure. It was an exciting time and I was looking forward to escaping the states for a while. The official reason for the trip was a study abroad program but my personal reasons were for exploration of the region and discovering the Spanish lifestyle.
I ventured into Spain for summer courses of beginner Spanish and political science, which was supposed to last two months, I fell in love with this country and extended, naturally. This wasn’t my first time in the country as I had previously traveled to Ibiza when I was 18, this was different, and my interests have shifted since then, being older and a bit wiser. My aim wasn’t just to party but also to experience the culture, the food, the art, the architecture, of course the wine and so much more. The best interactions were with the warm locals, the lightness and happiness vibrated out from their amazing spirits. Foreigners that I met in Barcelona were super friendly as well, that summer I met amazing people who ended up becoming my friends for life. As I always say the people make the place, and here was no different, they made the place jubilant with small gestures of kindness and an overall positive outlook on life. For god sakes how many nations in the world take a break in the middle of the day for a siesta, of course they are happy people. In Spain, generally in Europe, people work to live not live to work. The latter is the case for most other places in the world, especially in the United States. The result is life just passing people by and leaving them with a ton of regret. After retirement most people don’t have the strength to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of the younger version of themselves. I have always said I would rather do something and fail rather than never trying at all. Not trying will leave anyone with questions of “what may have been” as I prefer answers, solutions and an arsenal filled with cool adventures and lessons learned along the way. One of my favorite quotes which fit the topic perfectly is by Mark Twain “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”.
My apartment was located in the southern part of the country, the region of Cataluña, in gorgeous city of Barcelona. Where the languages (Catalan and Spanish) are spoken with a lisp and the cortado is to die for. This country definitely spoiled me, at least in terms of coffee, as when I came back Dunkin Donuts was not even real coffee but slightly diluted water, at least according to my taste buds. From then on it was espresso only and it had to be good and prepared correctly. Yes, its true, Spain turned me into a bit of a coffee freak, but in reality it opened my eyes to the lack of coffee culture we had in America back then. Thanks to the hipsters the coffee options have evolved in the states with small mom and pop shops as well as decent coffee from Coffee Bean and Teal Leaf outlets. Back to Spain; the food was excellent and of course all-natural sans preservatives and chemicals. The paella with seafood and chorizo was to die for. None of the Spanish restaurants in the states ever came close to properly replicating this authentic dish (in my experience). The best ones were hands down in Ibiza and Valencia, as it’s the original creator of the dish. Mmm finger licking good. As for the Spanish wines, cava (Spanish version of champagne) also deserves praise. I don’t normally enjoy bubbles in my alcohol but here I loved it from the first sip of the rose cava from the vineyards of Berdie family, a few hours drive from BCN. If you happen to be in the area, I highly recommend stopping by the vineyard as the owners are super sweet and the wines are incredible. I discovered them only because this vineyard belongs to our program leaders husband. We were lucky enough to do a day trip to the vineyard as well as an amazing wine tasting and a bonus lesson in their winemaking processes. If you’re after something stronger, Barcelona’s oldest bar is called Bar Marcella, which serves the green ferry juice Absinthe. I’m personally not a fan of the spirit and I didn’t see flying ferries but I did learn the proper way to drink it, dilute with sugar and water (still gross unless you enjoy the taste of licorice).
Since everything is so close in Europe and just a train ride away, I visited the nearby cities such as Tarragona, Sitges (beach town), Girona, Sevilla and Costa Brava. The Salvador Dali museum is located in Costa Brava and it was an incredible highlight, housing his original works of art and being the most unique museum I have ever seen. The Picasso museum in Barcelona is worth a mention for obvious reasons; it’s Picasso's original art duh. As for the street art, this city has a ton of graffiti artists who put up amazing pieces through out the city. It was probably here that I discovered my love for the graf to begin with. As far as architecture goes, Barcelona is famous for building designed by Antoni Gaudi. The unique structures such as Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Casa Batilló and Casa Milà, to name a few, are known, well respected and admired across the globe. People travel from all over the place just to see these architectural beauties in real life.
This was truly an inspirational summer as this is when I realized I need to figure out a way I can travel for a living. After exploring the south of Spain I decided to visit my old friend Ibiza with a few other travelers I met in Barcelona and Portugal. Of course I booked for a week but got lost for a month as the island has a special energy, it pulls you in and it’s very hard to leave (I’ll save Ibiza for another post).
Date: 6/5/2010 – 9/3/2010
Modes of Transportation: Car, motorcycle, scooter, train, plane, bus
Foods to try: Paella, any kind of tapas, café con leche, cortado, crema catalan, charcuterie and cheese boards pair perfectly with Spanish wines, cured pork, cava, bacalaou (cod) dishes and so much more
