A Spanish Change

What We Learned and Loved while in Spain

Tapas bar, pick what you like!

        1.      Tapas Are Delicious- they are a must when visiting a culture that drinks wine or beer all throughout the day. Especially when alcohol costs as much as a bottle of water and sodas are served from glass bottles, not from the fountain.

With a landscape like this, who would want
to work?

     2.     Mañana- that life is too short to stress about things being done today! Spaniards work to live instead of living to work.  There is always tomorrow.

View from the top of Sierra Bernia.
The road up was narrow switchbacks with no guard rail. 

     3.     At Your Own Risk- safety and protection is not guaranteed. You must practice caution and rely on your own intelligence.

Maxing & Relaxing 

     4.      Siesta- created when everyone worked outside and needed to escape the midday heat. Today it does not make sense from an economic point of view but it is still practiced out of tradition. We learned to love it because you need the rest before beginning the late night fiesta.

Sunshine & Palm Trees

    5.     Spain Is the Florida of Europe- with roughly 300 days of sunshine, it is a popular place to retire, and tourism is one of the top grossing industries.  

With Aunt Maria's cooking
we ate like a King & Queen

     6.  Garlic, Olive Oil, & Onions- are the three must have ingredients when cooking Spanish food.  Spain produces more olive oil than any other country.

Flamenco Show in Seville

    7.      Flamenco- is a passionate, soulful, and exotic Andalusian tradition. The artists are    lyrically, musically, and rhythmically gifted individuals.  After watching a Flamenco show, even with the language barrier, we felt spirited, sensuous, and energized.      

Our favorite beach in Moraira 

8.      Seaside Mountains- the best of both terrains side by side! The Mediterranean Sea brings in a dynamite breeze, cooling off the heat of the day. The mountain views are the perfect background for an outstanding Spanish sunset.  

Fundraising Dinner for the Arts
of Calpe. The later the better!

         9.      Mealtime Is Debatable- Traditional Spanish meal breakdown goes as follows: café & baguette for breakfast at around 10:00am, then a late lunch at about 3:00 pm usually the heaviest meal of the day, with such a late afternoon meal dinner is between 10:00-11:00 pm. Re Energizing them for a late night of fiesta.

Lamb, Pork, & Rabbit Paella

10.  Paella- is a delicious Spanish treat; made with convenient local ingredients, rice, and Saffron…i.e. if you live by the sea it usually has fish, prawn, and shell fish…Or if you live in the mountains it would consist of lamb, pork, chicken, or beef. There are as many different types of Paella as there are different types of Spaniards.  

     Words cannot express how much we have fallen in love with the Spanish culture & countryside!  We are very sad to leave but the time has come for our journey around Europe to continue. Next we will visit Barcelona, then hussle through France with limited time to sightsee (we will return to visit France later in the year) because we must be in the United Kingdom by July 1 or we could face problems with immigration for overstaying the Schengen zone 90 day limit.