Eh..It's Spain!

I’m often asked what my favorite vacation ever was. Perhaps they ask me this because by some accounts I’m a professional vacationer. My answer is always the same but couched caveats: Andalucia. Of course, after stating Andalucia, I’m more often than not met with “Huh? Where’s that?”

So for my geography challenged friends, Andalucia is a province in Southern Spain. It’s most famous cities are Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba. Here’s a map of the region if you must know -






The couched caveat to that being my favorite vacation is that it is not my favorite destination but rather the most fulfilling and transporting vacation. I chose to go Spain for one reason – to get to Morocco. Morocco is just over the Strait of Gibraltar which is at tiny azure water dividing Europe from Africa. All that said I came to find that Spain is far less what I had stereotyped as “Spanish” was far more Arabic than I ever imagined despite having some understanding of it’s Moorish history.

At any rate, we spent a little bit of time in Madrid which produced three main Lessons Learned of which I have carried with great sanctity throughout all my subsequent travels:

1. It would be impossible to find any retail shop funnier than “Museo del Jamon” (Museum of Ham, natch)

2. Fanta Limon is a fantastic beverage and what makes Europe great

3. Don’t touch the produce

Number three was a hard learned lesson when I touched a banana at a convenience store near Plaza Mayor in Madrid. I now don’t touch the produce unless I see everyone else touching it. It taught me to observe before assuming my capitalistic pig ways are the retail norm. The interesting fact of Spain is: it’s gross to touch the produce but it’s not gross to smoke a cigarette with an ash hanging off of it while preparing 20 cups of Café con Leche. Café con Leche is a divine drink of espresso, sugar and hot milk and served always in a nice cup and saucer with a churro or in my case, tortilla. More on Tortilla later.

After we finished with Madrid we headed for Toledo, a 2 hour or so drive south of Madrid. Toledo was the one city in Spain I looked the most forward to and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a medieval, walled city and we stayed in a fantastic little slice of heaven, a “secret garden” called “Hostal del Cardenal.” When you look at these pictures, you can see what I mean.

http://www.hostaldelcardenal.com/paginas/ingles/hotel.htm

This is hotel is the home of my favorite shower ever (well, aside from Marie’s bathroom in Germany). Pristine mosaic tiles from floor to ceiling with pristine white grout and sparkling chrome faucets with…water pressure. I stayed in that shower an inordinate amount of time.

Though I recall the most heavenly cathedral that was in Toledo – where a skylight behind the altar was decorated with carved angels and cherubs swirling up towards the sunlight – it was the Hostal that holds the most memories. Here we dined on Roast Suckling Pig and pitcher after pitcher of sweet sangria. We played in hidden alcoves and windows and posed in silly pictures. This one of Lynn, Regina and me hanging out of our bedroom window is one of my all time favorite pictures (click on to see bigger):



This was one of the courtyards at the Cardenal and Lynn had this idea we should all blow into the fountain though perhaps we're spitting. It's hard to tell from this, isn't it? (L-R: Regina, me, Tamara)




We took in the usual sites of looking at Mazipan bakeries and swordsmakers but at the end of the day, it was the strange little things that mattered - like cramming into a phone booth in the rain, or walking down a path of a jagged cliff that leads you into, of all things, a parking garage. I remember greatly also what I didn’t see which was the Toledo Alcazar (sort of a fort) which was closed for an extended siesta. I’ll spare you the suspense and tell you that we failed to go into any of Spains Alcazar’s at all because our arrival generally seemed to signal a siesta. At first it was frustrating but by the time we got to our next destination we had learned to cope with a non-chalant shrug and a our trip motto of “Eh..It’s Spain” was coined.

Next entry is our trip to Sevilla from Toledo.