Harvest time and day drinking in Spanish wine country

Aah, wine country. Next in line for our “have car, will travel” vacation in early September 2017 was Spain’s wine producing region, La Rioja. And it just so happens we arrived at harvest time. We stayed in the romance suite of a renovated 16th-century monastery in the town of Casalarreina. Everyone in Spain had gone back to work or to school after their August vacations, meaning we had the place pretty much to ourselves; and it was a rather affordable trip to boot. In nearby Haro – capital of the upper Rioja region – we decided we might as well

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Guernica: It’s not so horriffic any more (and bonus: Vitoria!)

We took the Euskotren to Guernica (or Gernika in Euskara) during our stay in Bilbao. The small town became known to the outside world during the Spanish Civil War when Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe dropped bombs on innocent civilians on market day. Picasso later cemented Guernica’s tragic place in history with his iconic masterpiece named after the town. The painting can be viewed at the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid; it’s a very powerful and sobering experience. One can’t help but think about the war in Guernica. General Franco, who would go on to become dictator of Spain for nearly 40 years, ordered the bombardment

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The best bao in Bilbao

Bilbao: that most modern of metropolises (metropoli?), home to the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum, a contemporary city that embraces its ancient roots… We’d heard it all and decided to experience this place for ourselves during our Basque Country road trip. It’s not for nothing that the Guggenheim is one of the main attractions. One of the strangest moments of the trip came when two women approached us outside the museum and started speaking in Valenciano. We’d lived in the Valencian Community almost a year, so we recognized the language, even if we didn’t understand everything they were saying. It’s strange,

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More ham: Rural and French Basque country

Basque Country and culture extends across the Bay of Biscay into Southern France , so we took a day to explore this connection along with a couple of small fishing villages on the Spanish side. We started in Pasai Donibane, or Pasajes de San Juan, a small fishing village near San Sebastián, where we stopped to walk around and have lunch. Apparently water sports, particularly those involving boats, are quite popular in Basque Country. We even had a view of the water at lunch. We then headed across the French border into Biarritz, a glamorous beach resort town. Très chic!

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Learning the art of pintxos in San Sebastián

Back from visiting family in the U.S. and with a month until Dreamer started teaching again, we rented a car and headed to Basque Country in northern Spain. A quick stop for lunch was in order at a hotel/restaurant in Burgos specializing in this sort of thing. The menú del dia is a phenomenon here: started by Franco as a way to ensure workers could get a good lunch at a reasonable price, the tradition has hung on post-dictatorship in such strong fashion that nearly every place that’s open for lunch here offers it, even though technically they don’t have to

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Party in the U.S.A.

We hopped off a plane at MIA, with a dream and our cardigans Welcome to the land of fame excess Whoa, are we [still] gonna fit in? Jumped in the Escalade, here we are for yet another time Look to our right and see the Hollywood (Florida) sign This is all so crazy, everybody seems so famous Our tummys turnin’ (from all the sugary drinks on our connection) and we’re feeling super homesick Too much pressure and we’re nervous That’s when the Dad-man turned on the radio And a Miley song was on… A Miley song was on. So we

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