Category: Tourism

Strolling / Tourism / Valencia

Sagunto: O’er the Ramparts We Walked

Each time Doer and I make the one-hour train journey between Burriana and Valencia, we peek out the window at the Sagunto stop midway through our route to catch a glimpse of the breathtaking Roman Iberian castle overlooking the city from a hilltop. A couple of weekends ago, we decided it was time to explore the ancient citadel. After disembarking, it didn’t take us long to decide to take a taxi for the very steep climb up to the castle. It’s very possible that our cab driver spends the better part of his shifts ferrying tourists to and from the castle

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Tourism / Valencia

City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia

A few weeks ago, we went to the Santiago Calatrava-designed City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. We’ve passed it on our commuter train journey into the city so many times, we thought it was high time we actually get out and look what was there. Besides crazy architecture and nice park space, there is water (fountains! waterfalls!) surrounding all the buildings: A science museum (which we went to this time) A performance space An oceanographic museum (which we will definitely be hitting soon) The world’s fanciest car parking garage It’s a pretty neat space, especially considering this is a

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Cooking / Food / Galicia / Tourism

Galicia! Day 4

This post begins with a rewind to Day 3 and something I left out: a phone call after we returned home that evening from Mr. M’s sister, Conchita, asking if we’d like her to cook us a meal the next day. Conchita, you will remember, had previously helped cook some of the food at the furancho, to great success of course. Conchita is one of those Spanish mother types I had only dreamed of meeting and learning to cook from. She and her husband, Cito, live on a 40-acre farm about an hour from Sanxenxo. In her words, people come from miles

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Galicia / Tourism

Galicia! Day 3

Sunday in Galicia: a post in which we start by exploring the answer to the question, “Is there such thing as too much seafood?” I will note that we were quite exhausted by our previous days’ adventures. We went to church with M & M in Sanxenxo at 10am and enjoyed experiencing a Catholic service entirely in Spanish, but even this felt like rising early. When church let out, we spent some time exploring the waterfront in Sanxenxo and went back to the apartment to rest and snack a bit. It was Sunday, after all. By the time we were

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Galicia / Tourism

Galicia! Day 2

And so, we arrive at the furancho [link in Gallego! here is a translated version], and Saturday in Galicia. We had been promised an amazing lunch, and this one did not disappoint. All of our friends from the night before were there, plus a few others. We did not grab a picture of the lechón (a young lamb) hanging near the wine fermenters the night before, but it was quite a sight and hinted at something big in store. I had previously asked to see the cooking process, and sure enough: at one point midway through the meal, I was ushered to a nearby bakery where the lamb

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Galicia / Tourism

Galicia! Day 1

We have been having an absolutely amazing time along Spain’s northwest coast the past few days with our friends M & M. A chance meeting during a five-hour delay for our flight from Newark to Madrid a month ago has blossomed into a wonderful friendship. We cannot thank them enough for their hospitality: for driving us around, letting us stay at their place, introducing us to their friends and family, and showing us an all around great (and authentic!) time. This is seriously not an experience your average tourist gets. We quickly realized that upon our arrival, seeing they had

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