Madrid To Southern Spain
We closed our chapter on Central America with a 10-hour transcontinental flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, direct to Madrid, Spain. We crossed the threshold of our EU Schengen visa as we entered Madrid, and started the clock on our maximum allowable 90-day trip through Europe.
The first order of business was to pick up our brand new - only 3km on the odometer - Peugeot 5008. We bought the car with the assurance that the factory would buy it back at the end of our visit. The deal was quite a bit cheaper for us than renting a car and saves the future owner on sales tax in the secondary market. Win-win! After having rented a few clown cars with questionable safety ratings, we were all glad our 89-day road trip would be a little more comfortable. While transit and intercity trains are good for Europe, the car opened our options to visit villages farther off the tourist path.
Second order of business was to find some cheese. South and Central America are basically void of cheese that isn’t white and mostly flavorless. Upon arriving in Spain, everyone was ready to dine on cheese boards for every meal. We stopped at the nearest grocery, which happened to be an Aldi. It was pleasurable to shop in a store that was familiar to us, but the regional food difference at this Aldi was wonderful and shocking. They had a huge selection of cheese, good wines for astonishingly low prices, gazpacho, and whole Iberico ham legs.
We adapted to the diet in Spain easily. Everywhere we dined, we were delivered a bowl of olives as soon as we sat down then immediately asked what we would like to drink. We learned to not hesitate and not expect a wine list because they have already selected their favorite wines for their establishment and “vino tinto” (red wine), a beer, or Fanta will do the trick. Spain is known for its tapas, which are small plates to be shared at the table. Whatever we pointed to on the menu never disappointed, and we always felt like we would never have room to eat again.
Our route through Spain was to go south from Madrid, across the southern coast to Seville, up through Portugal (our next post). We would then wrap across the northern part of Spain to Barcelona before continuing into France.
Although Spain is a small country by landmass compared to the USA, the cultural differences beyond each mountain pass were noticeable even to our foreign perspective. Each village has its own identity and a sense of local tradition and pride.
Madrid
Madrid shares a lot of characteristics of other capital cities around the world; a large city park, renowned museums, and cultural sites. We never seem to have enough time anywhere we go, and Madrid was no different. The weather in Madrid was perfect for us to wander the town and exploreand neighborhoods of the city dominated by various cliques of the very wealthy, artists, hipsters, and others. We stumbled upon the Mercado de San Miguel and took a leisurely stroll though Retiro Park, ending the day with some frisbee.
We had a wonderful time touring the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum. We saw some familiar names, took the time to look deeper into the abstract pieces, and found some unexpected treats. The kids picked their favorite pieces and we were impressed by their museum stamina.
What struck us most about Madrid was how elements of civilization dating back a millennia were still visible and integrated into a city that also felt very modern and tidy. We came across the old Moorish fortifications and the Muslim Wall, where each layer of block represented the various occupiers of the city over time. A short walk away is the modern Parque de la Montaña where at the center is the Temple of Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple constructed in 200 BC that was relocated to the park in the 1970s. It blew our mind to try and wrap our heads around how old each of these things were.
Castilla-La Mancha
We drove through Castilla-La Mancha from Madrid to Granada with a day trip to Toledo, all the while singing “Man of La Mancha” in the car. Toledo is a beautiful walled city dating back to pre-Roman times and has influences from Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We enjoyed walking through the very narrow streets of the town as well as around the old city walls and down along the Tagus River.
As the La Mancha region is the home of manchego cheese, we could not pass up the manchego cheese museum. We followed the tour up with a tasting. The kids had a lot of fun tasting the cheeses of different ages and discussing the color, smell, texture, and taste of each.
Andalusia
Granada
Arriving on the outskirts of Granada, the Sierra Nevada mountains dominate the horizon. The mountains were beautifully snowcapped in early April and overshadowed the city skyline below. On the ride, Lauren started to mention she was feeling under the weather. After finding a doctor online and making an appointment by phone, Lauren showed up at the office address and was confused to find it was a residential apartment building. Even more unusual was there was just a standard cost and absolutely no mention of insurance for the entire visit.
The iconic Alhambra, a palace known for its blend of Islamic and Christian architecture was one of our most anticipated sights to see. Lauren was devastated that she was too ill to go on the tour. This was the first time this year that we would split from each other, and Jon was a bit anxious to manage the kids with a small tour group. Between Larson’s rambunctiousness, Colette’s penchant for picking beautiful fruits and flowers, and Louise’s impatience with the other two, it just seemed like a recipe for an international incident. However, none of it played out that way. The tour guide was amazing and kept all of us engaged with the stories of each of the individual spaces of the Alhambra. At the end of the tour, our guide and the other members of the tour group praised the kids for their amazing behavior. Jon ended the day a very proud father.
Málaga - Ardales
Ardales was just supposed to be a lunch stop, but turned into a nice walk around town and we even stumbled into a tour of the church at the top of the hill. A volunteer at the church was so happy to have guests in the building that he gave us and a Belgian family a tour of the church and its decor. The whole stop was a happy accident with a walk through a beautiful town on a beautiful day.
Cádiz - Arcos de la Frontera
We wanted to stay somewhere between Granada and Seville, so we booked the best accommodations for a reasonable price between the two. The vibe we got from the town was that it did not receive a lot of foreign tourists. We went for lunch at a local neighborhood bar and although we got some interesting looks from the regular patrons, several warmed up to our group and our kids. Sadly, half the menu wasn’t available for some reason, but the atmosphere was great.
As we wandered the town later in the day, we suddenly realized that we were in the middle of Holy Week activities. In fact, Arcos de la Frontera is known for having one of the more notable Holy Week celebrations in Spain! We climbed to the top of the town where the main church was located and found a massive amount of people lining the edges of the narrow cobblestone street. As the parade made its way through, we saw a band in military uniform, followed by people in red and white gowns with tall pointy hats. From our American perspective, it was eery to see people wearing such garb. We later found that they were part of a Catholic group of penitents. We saw more penitents in Seville leading up to Easter.
Cádiz - Jerez de la Frontera
We left Arcos de la Frontera in huge anticipation to catch up with Jon’s best man, Rob, and Rob’s best wife, Michelle, in Seville. Along the way, we decided to take a quick detour through the city of Jerez de la Frontera, the home of Sherry. Sherry is a popular drink in Andalusia, and many of the patrons to the bars we visited in Arcos were sipping the fortified wine. Sherry was also very popular in the UK in the 1700s and 1800s, which created a huge industry of British-branded cellars, including the well-known Sandeman. We do not seek out sherry as a drink, but decided to take a tour of the Sandeman cellars as an excuse to stretch our legs on the way to Seville. The tour of the cellars was fun for all of us and we had a chance to taste the sherry at the end of the tour. The kids also had a chance to participate alongside us with apple juice. Come to find out we enjoy a nice aged sherry, especially when paired with Spanish cheese and ham! The kids paid close enough attention to learn the holes on the side of the barrels are called “bung holes”.
Seville
Compared to Madrid, Seville felt more traditional old world. In the older parts of town, pedestrians dominate the narrow paver block streets lined with sour orange trees. The fragrant smells from the orange blossoms and crushed oranges made for a complete sensory experience as we wandered the streets. During our time in Seville we were still in the middle of Holy Week, so many of the streets were blocked off for the festivities. The locals were dressed to the nines as they prepared to take part in the parades and ceremonies.
We were all very excited to catch up with our friends Rob and Michelle in Seville and to spend time with them through southern Portugal. With Rob, Jon got his partner for the next week to try out obscure drinks and food at the tapas bars. The girls also found another adult to cling to, and for the rest of their visit, Michelle never had a bare hand.
We wandered the Parque de María Luisa and the iconic Plaza de España. In the plaza, a live performance by flamenco dancers captivated our group for the next hour. The chemistry between the dancers and their live band made it a fun experience. They played covers of popular Spanish songs that we had heard at Rob and Michelle’s wedding, and it added to the overall fun of the experience as we sang along and clapped to the rhythm.
On our final day in Seville, we explored the Alcázar. You could say it is the sister palace to the Alhambra in Madrid, with its intertwining influences from Moorish and Christian times. Throughout the Alcázar are Islamic ornaments and arabesque patterns that you can easily get lost in as you trace the shapes. Adjacent to the Alcázar are the beautifully manicured royal gardens and fountains, surrounded by the old fortification walls of the palace. You could easily wander around the Alcázar for an entire day.
Leaving Seville, we said farewell to Spain for now and headed into Portugal. We were not completely sure of what to expect crossing soverign boundaries and during COVID times, but it was simple as driving right in. No immigration. No border checks. It was just like crossing state lines in the USA, but with a different language. We will talk about our visit to Portugal in a later post.