Seriously Seductive Spain (Spain Wrap up)

See the full Spain photo Gallery here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88007&id=603243044&l=f76a06632a

Spain is an amazing place. Its mix of Islamic/Moorish and Catholic/European influences have given it a truly individual feel. It’s history seemed largely unknown to us, indeed had it not been for Monty Python we may well had never heard of the Spanish inquisition. It amazed us to find that Spain was a fascist dictatorship until recently, even into our lifetimes. But that Spain is thoroughly banished to the history books and tourism is the new big thing. Andulusia, the southern, old Moorish kingdom in the south of Spain quickly became our favourite province with amazing places like Granada and Tarifa. Hugging the Mediterranean coast from there on we missed the capital Madrid, but coastal cities like Valencia and Barcelona more than filled our big city appetite. We finished with a quick trip over to the Atlantic coast at San Sebastian before heading north into France.

Having spent some time in South and Central America Spanish is probably our best “second” language. We certainly found life easier with our basic understanding of the language, and having basic conversations with local Spanish shopkeepers etc really did make our days more enjoyable. Moving on to France has really made this point evident. In terms of food and wine Spanish wins big points for its tapas. It just seems to make sense to try a little of everything instead of eating a lot of one thing. The wine’s main selling point was it’s price (plenty of choice for two Euro’s) although writing this after visiting France could be a little unfair. Also not having much background on Spanish wine, we weren’t the best prepared of gourmet travellers. Still, we came to Spain with high expectations and the country delivered, in more ways than we’d anticipated. We expected beautiful beaches, great food, and friendly people but we hadn’t counted on interesting art, stunning architecture and intriguing, fairly regionalised cultures. Andulucia’s culture is particularly fascinating, it being moulded by hundreds of years of opposing Islamic or Catholic rule.


Days spent in Spain:
Alcohol Free days: ? (not many)
Items lost or stolen: USB drive, likely left in Granada.
Items Purchased: Ryan: boardies, hat, sunnies. Kelly: Travel pants.
Coffee: Stong! But generally ok.
Beaches visited: 5
Cathedrals visited: 5
Best place: Granada
Best meal: Pintxos in San Sebastian
Worst place: Anywhere not in Spain!
Worst meal: Paella from a market in Valencia, cheap but not really that tasty.