Las Fallas / Valencia

Is that ninot I see, or is it just a Fallas-y?

WARNING: there is a lot of male nudity depicted in this post! We are not kidding. In March of 2018, nostalgia drove us back to our first Spanish home to experience another Valencian Fallas celebration. First things first: we headed to our favorite fried dough place for an indulgent breakfast. A charanga, or small musical group common to street festivals, entertained the hungry line with that old Valencian classic. Seeing how the bunyuelos were made was equally entertaining. Speaking of can’t-miss Valencian treats, we could’t visit the city without visiting our favorite horchatería, Daniel in Alboraya.  Later, we enjoyed some

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Other Countries

Pinkies out: Birmingham bits and bobs

When we weren’t at the dog show last March, we were exploring the city. We found Birmingham to be a modern British city with a long industrial past – perhaps best illustrated by its 35-mile network of canals, most of which were built in the 1700s and 1800s. The canals were quite busy during the Industrial Revolution, transporting coal, iron, and other heavy goods. Today, many of them have been restored into an attractive network of trails, parks, and urban development. And yes, it rained basically the whole time we were there. Dreamer tries to keep dry. Behold, the ingenuity of

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Other Countries

Look 👀 at all the Buddies: A trip to Crufts

It’s no secret that we are dog lovers. Although we are living a travel dream, we desperately miss our furry companions (thanks, Mom and Jim!). As canine folks, we’re big fans of watching the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on American TV in February, and it has always been our desire to experience such a spectacle in person. Last March, we did one better and took a trip to Birmingham, England to see what is arguably the mother of all dog shows: Crufts. Billed as the largest dog show in the world, Crufts is where the Westminster winners go to

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Holidays / Madrid / Museums

Madrid Winter mashup

As we get cosy during our second Madrid winter, we wanted to look back at some of the museums, visitors, and food experiences we saw during our first year in the big city. The Royal Palace you see in the picture above was lit up for Spanish National Day, which is how they celebrate Columbus Day here. Some high-tech projection technology was involved to get the colors right on the actual architecture. The Plaza Mayor also had a strange suspended art installation. Though night began to fall earlier, the sunsets out our 5th-floor window seemed to become even prettier. We

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Andalucía / Tourism

You say Sevilla, I say Seville-a

Spaniards’ adoration for Sevilla is unparalleled. When we told our friends either where we were going or where we had been in mid-February, they all made goo-goo eyes and made their jealousy known. Set in the heart of Andalusia, it is certainly one of the most classically Spanish cities… muy castizo, as some might say. Nowhere in the city was this influence felt more strongly than in the Plaza de España, an homage to Spanish design. Initially built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, this giant monument of stone and tile, along with its surrounding pavilions, were later repurposed for locals and visitors

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Central Spain / Tourism

20 years later: Doer revisits Zaragoza (with Dreamer this time)

Twenty years ago, a young Doer visited Zaragoza with his friend Daniel, who had lived there as a child. Last February, he returned to the city, the capital of the autonomous community of Aragon and Spain’s fifth-largest city, with his Dreamer. Fuente de la Hispanidad. Doer’s favorite thing from that first visit – a stylized fountain depicting the Americas – was still around and pumping out water. Fountain at night. Before we jump in, however, please allow us a minor detour. Before we set out for the Madrid train station, that age-old conflict: Doer wanted to eat, and Dreamer was worried

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