Month: September 2017

Castellón / Holidays

Look at all the Pascuals!

We’ve often observed traditional festivals in Spain, but usually as outsiders. We stand outside to watch parades, we go to museums to learn more, we stay up all night to see the bonfires. In May, we didn’t see any of the official festivities in honor of San Pascual Bailón in Villarreal, but we got to do something even better – we went to a party. The above is the only San Pascual-related photo we’ve got, because we were leaving for a trip the next day and didn’t see how the city marked the occasion. The rest of the post is

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Burriana / Castellón / Museums / Valencia

Valencian Community: sights unseen

We traveled quite a bit our first year in Spain, but sometimes it was relaxing to spend a weekend at home. After returning from a long week and a half traveling to the Netherlands and to Tenerife for spring break, we started the last weekend of April with lunch in nearby Castellón de la Plana before making our way to the city’s fine arts museum when it reopened after the afternoon descanso. At some point during our visit, we discovered Dreamer had become a friolera, the local word for someone who is sensitive to cold. This room was maybe 60°F. There was art

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Andalucía / Tourism

Encore Córdoba: flamenco, mudéjar, and yes: more patios

Our May visit to Córdoba was so full of interesting sights (and resulted in so many photos) that – somewhat to Doer’s chagrin – Dreamer decided the trip deserved a rare third blog post. You see, courtyards (known as patios in Spain) truly are an ubiquitous part of the city; they can be found just about everywhere. While many of the courtyards we visited were part of people’s homes and are only open to the public during the festival, there are plenty of patio-related destinations that are open year-round, including a palace featuring TWELVE. DIFFERENT. PATIOS. But before we get to

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Andalucía / Tourism

There’s more to Córdoba than patios

Though we went to Córdoba for its famed patios festival in early May, there was no shortage of other, non-related sites. Perhaps the most famous monument in the city is the mezquita-catedral, or mosque-cathedral (that is not a typo, as we’ll explain below). Although it was Dreamer’s first visit, Doer had great memories of seeing the mosque 17 years ago. However, he did not remember where to buy tickets… Finally, we found the ticket booth on the opposite side of the entrance, then returned to the entrance with our entradas in hand. Before it became a cathedral, this was a mosque. But before

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