Dusting off the Pasaporte!

When I left the field of international health, I assumed I wouldn't get any more cool trips. But in May and June, I had three trips. The first was to Philadelphia. I got my cheesesteak fix taken care of. Then I was off to Chicago. I went shopping on the Magnificent Mile. Then I was off to Spain. And as an added bonus, I got a few days to play. And Dave came along too!

So just to recap the higher points from Spain, here's my top ten list:

Number 10: Experiencing the joy's of Czech auto engineering

After some time in Madrid, Dave and I rented a car to head towards Barcelona. The rental car guy said "it's a Skoda Fabia." I had to have him repeat it several times, before I said, "I don't think we have that car." He just shrugged.

The Skoda is cute. It doesn't feel real safe, and didn't fit both of our bags in the trunk, but whatever. It functioned and Dave enjoyed driving stick shift. We held our own against the European drivers.


Number 9: Spanish Style

Most of our friends who Dave and I have spoken with already already know of our amusement with Spanish style trends. Basically, if we use Europe as a harbinger of what is to come in the fashion world, the what we will be seeing with be a really scary 80s flashback. It will include:

• Mullets
• Rat tails
• MC Hammer pants
• Bright colors (as in fluorescent)
  

Indeed, a little disturbing, but amusing to see nonetheless. Not all Spaniards were dressed this way, but the trend was noticeable.


Number 8: Eating enough cured pig products to ensure that I myself will be well-preserved for years to come.

Two words: Jamon Iberico.

I had it for the first time at the conference in Madrid, and Dave knew about it from the exorbitant prices of the stuff that the one guy has at Eastern Market. So the night that Dave arrived in Madrid, we went out for tapas and sangria, and found a place that sold it, basically, by the plate. They do thin strips, and it is so rich, we couldn't finish the whole thing. Dave also got to try a "vermut" or glass of sweet vermouth wine that is a very popular drink in Spain.

Everywhere you went though, there was pork. It was not uncommon to see a ham hock just hanging from the ceiling, waiting til it's time to shine arrives. And shine it did, whether it was by itself on a plate or in a croquet or in sausage form. We had breakfast one day with a spread that included at least 6 forms of the stuff. I have photographic evidence! At dinner the night before, one of the dishes we split had 3 or 4 types. Who knew a pig was so multi-purpose?*


Number 7: "Clubbing" in Barcelona

I put "clubbing" in quotes because I don't know if what Dave and I did could really constitute clubbing. We eagerly stayed up past our bedtimes (even on a Saturday night), and arrived at Club Moog at 12:30am. We were the first ones to arrive. The bartender said it usually didn't pick up til about 2am. Lucky for us, all of the other tourists who had read about the club in the Lonely Planet guide showed up around 1am. Because you know the Spaniards weren't there. We passed them all on our way out of the club around 2am. They were ready to start their evening, while we were ready to get our lame American arses to bed.


Number 6: Modernista Architecture.

Architect Antonio Gaudi et al did an amazing job creating a very unique Barcelona in the early 1900s. We visited (and heavily photographed) several sites, including the famous Casa Batllo and the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral, and the expansive Park Guell in Barcelona. If only someone would renovate a DC condo building to be as unique.


Number 5: The Spanish Parador System; or, spending the night in a castle

Yes, we spent the night in a castle, overlooking the town of Alcaniz, which is roughly halfway between Zaragoza and Tarragona on a Spanish map. It's a small town with not much, but a good sized castle sitting atop a hill.

A website about the Paradors describes them in this way:

"The hotels in the Parador Group were set up by the state to use quality tourism to act as guardian of the national and artistic heritage of Spain and to assist regions with fewer economic resources. "

They are scattered all over Spain, and oftentimes are built from castles (like ours) or monasteries, and are really really nice. I highly recommend them on your next trip to Spain.


Number 4: Art

Well, that's easy enough, isn't it?

I'm not a very high-brow art appreciator, but I remember reading about Picasso's Guernica in college Spanish Class, and I felt like I would have failed something in life if I came to Spain and neglected to see it. It is housed in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, which also houses lots of other cool stuff (Picasso, Miro, Dali, for example) so it was a no-brainer.

I also spent some time in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is a good sized private collection, which has some cool stuff too. I did not see the Prado while in Madrid. I know that sounds shameful, but in general I much prefer smaller museums when I hit these different hot-spots anyway.

In Barcelona, we went to the Museu Picasso, which basically had everything in it that Picasso ever drew that did not become famous. I guess that's not fair. There was some cool stuff in there, but going back to how I'm not a high-brown art-appreciator, I don't have the same interest in the sketches that someone found in picasso's closet that he did when he was 9. Sorry.

And we walked all over Miro... on La Rambla. :-) Joan Miro did a cool, very "Miro" styled mosaic on the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Barcelona.


Number 3: Churros y Chocolate

Ahh the humble churro. All you are is fried dough, but pair you with thick, European-style hot chocolate after a night out on the town in Madrid, and you are something as exquisite as the art I discussed in item number 5.

That is really all I can say.


Number 2: Vino y Queso

Spain is a big wine country, and we were driving right through Cava country. Cava is the Spanish equivalent to champagne. It's light and bubbly and refreshing. Tempranillo and Albarino grapes make really nice red and white varieties as well. We tended more towards the rather informal sangria during a lot of meals, but split a few bottles of white and red here and there too. I had checked into trying to do a vineyard tour, but it didn't work out this trip. A good reason to go back.

Then there was the cheese. From my experience here, Manchego and Idiazabal are both commonly known Spanish cheeses, but we had dinner one night at a restaurant (practically our only non-tapas meal) and we got the Spanish cheese platter as an appetizer. There were ten cheeses on it, and most of them were REALLY good. Our main problem was, we couldn't get any of the wait staff to be able to tell us which ws which, so we will forever be left wondering what it was that we ate.


Number 1: Outdoor dining, Spanish Style

You can't beat the climate. We had left DC in an awful heat-wave and arrived in Madrid with very nice weather, perfect for spending almost every night eating outside in a plaza somewhere. Everyone has outdoor seating, and the weather works well for it. And most of the eating areas were in cute little plazas/courtyards, with mostly pedestrian traffic, and not loud cars or trucks polluting the setting. It almost didn't matter what you were eating - the setting was such that every meal was perfect. Though since most meals involved a pitcher of sangria or a bottle of wine, that may have figured into it too...


So it was a great trip and we saw a lot for the amount of time we had. We also walked a lot. Every town we stopped in was extremely pedestrian-friendly. So in spite of the fact that most of my top ten list is food related, I did not gain a bit of weight since we were walking so much. I definitely hope to go back, but will wait til I have more time and the dollar is doing better against the euro. Even still, I expect that Coca-Cola will always cost more than wine in Spain, but I can handle that.


* Vegetarians, please accept my apologies, but I really can't help it. No tofu-derived product could ever convert me after these experiences.