From Rota, where we spent the month housesitting, we took a day trip to the ancient city of Cádiz, which is a lesser known Spanish superstar known for being the “oldest continuously inhabited city” in Western Europe. Although it preludes Rome by centuries, it’s hardly a date in the bucket when compared with a city like Plovdiv, Bulgaria founded 6000…
From Porto, we jubilantly traded in our three words of Portuguese for Spanish as we boarded a 6-hour BlaBla car ride south to Sevilla with a pair of sultry-looking Spaniards, Daniel and Carlos. It cost a whopping $109, but whacked the bus time in half for the same price, which made it well worth it. It also meant we would…
We kind of had high expectations for Barcelona. After all, we had been promised by many people who had visited that, "you'll LOVE Barcelona...even if you're not into cities" or "it's just different...you'll see." So perhaps, the initial problem was...our expectations were too high. But firstly, moving into another giant city was the least of what Mandy's foot desired and…
Segovia, Spain has a rich architectural legacy, including an exquisite gothic cathedral, a castle which inspired Disney, and a stunningly preserved double decker Roman aqueduct. Unlike Salamanca, this UNESCO world heritage city, Segovia is inundated with tourists, which is no surprise considering its one-hour proximity from Madrid and its offerings. It is also the home of the “suckling pig.” The…
For four centuries, the distinguished and elegant university town of Salamanca (population 150,000) attracted prestigious names such as conquistador Hernán Cortés (Yeah, the guy that wiped out the Aztec Empire) and Christopher Columbus who came here in 1486 on a fruitless attempt to get the university to fund his exploration plans. The town, draped in a seductive sandstone, deteriorated for…
