Spain
Seville, Spain – Day 6
Oh what a magnificent city! It’s sophisticated, romantic, passionate, modern, and ancient at the same time, and all these things seem to fit together perfectly. Though I’ve visited this city (does one day count as “visiting”?), it’s still on my list to visit again, and definitely spend more time here. This is the city where Flamenco reigns supreme, history goes back more than two thousand years, and architecture never fails to take your breath away. And since this is a food blog, I have to mention the oranges. You’ve heard of Seville oranges, right? No? Then let me tell you about them. They’re bitter. That’s it. ...
Stay tuned for the rest from Seville!
Codroba, Seville, Spain – Day 5
Well, it’s been a while since my last post about Spain, so I thought it’s time to get back to that. (Otherwise, at this rate, I’ll finish up Spain after my next vacation, which isn’t even anywhere on the horizon.) Puerto Lapice Today, we had an early wake-up call. We typically have an early wake-up call, so it wasn’t anything new. Our first stop was in a tiny little village called Puerto Lapice. If you’ve read Cervantes, you’d recognize this location as he tended to use real places. This is where the fictional Don Quixote was knighted by the innkeeper. Today, this is a good roadway stop where we used the lavatories and...
Read MoreToledo, Madrid, Spain – Day 4
Toledo Today is the first day of the actual tour (the group and tour director got together for introductions, explanations, and drinks the evening before). After a decent breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way to Toledo. The city sits on a hill, and is generally hilly, and affords amazing views all around. Here, we had different tour guide. She knew quite a lot about Toledo and delivered the information in a conversational, easy manner so it didn’t feel like a class. She also told us of real estate problems; it’s hard to sell/buy apartments in the center of the city because of so many hills and young families don’t want to schlep strollers,...
Read MoreMadrid, Spain – Day 3
This morning was a little slower than I had hoped. I did get up on time but packing the suitcase took longer than I had anticipated. Somehow, the same amount of stuff didn’t want to be confined in the same amount of space as previously. I don’t really understand it, but it all worked out. So once I checked out of my non-tour hotel, I went to my tour hotel (the hotel where the tour participants assemble and where the tour begins). When I got to the hotel, my room wasn’t ready which I expected, since I arrived around 9:30, so I left my luggage in the luggage room and left on my city exploration. I decided to go to the Prado museum, as was per my original...
Read MoreSegovia, Spain – Day 2
I got up bright and early today, hoping to get an early start and see as much as I can. One of the things that was recommended to me was to try “churros con chocolate” at Chocolateria San Gines. This being a very famous chocolateria, I was able to find it online and checked the hours (open all day). So when I got there at around 7:15 am and they had their metal gate almost all the way down, I got a little suspicious. I asked a person who was walking out if they’re closed and he said that they close between 7 am and 9 am to clean. Oh well, it will have to wait. On to the train station I proceeded. (The Spanish public transportation within the...
Read MoreMadrid – Finally! – Day 1
I finally made it! It took a few miracles, for which I’m quite grateful, but I’m finally in Spain! In Madrid, to be precise. I got in somewhat early in the morning, around 9 AM and by the time I double-checked all the directions on how to get to the hotel and made my way there, it was past 10. My hotel (Hostal Las Fuentes) was near Puerta del Sol, so that’s the metro stop I used as my orientation point. Once there, I saw a phone store and went to see if I can purchase more minutes for my phone. Turned out that this particular store wasn’t going to work and they directed me to another, where I was able to purchase a new sim card with 20 minutes on...
