Traveling in a Covid reality can be complicated and it’s important to research the requirements of the country you are traveling too beforehand. Fortunately, by the time our Spanish trip rolled around, several of the travel bans had been lifted and all that was required by the government was proof of vaccination and a face mask (returning to the US was a whole other story, but don't get me started on that!).

As mentioned in a previous blog, jet lag is one of my least favorite parts of traveling. Feeling like I’m drugged - my body clock turned upside down, wanting to sleep through the day and then not being able to sleep at night – is not a pleasant experience. However, I have learned to manage the symptoms and shorten their affect by forcing my body to adjust to the new rhythms of my environment as quickly as possible. This means that when I arrive in a new place (exhausted from hours on a plane), and all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep the day away, I only allow myself a short power nap (no more than 30 min).

Exhaustion kept me soundly asleep until 5am the next morning (my usual time to rise and shine). It took Rachael a little longer to rouse herself, but after a fortifying Continental breakfast of fresh fruit, bread still warm from the oven, freshly baked pastries, and a delicious cup of café con leche (Unlike the States, Europe really knows how to do a proper Continental breakfast, and they have the best coffee ever!), we were ready to explore the city.

Costa Del Sol, the Sun Coast, is the name given to the 100-mile strip of coastline that runs the length of Southern Spain. The area is not only popular for its sunny climate, but also for its golden sandy beaches, and of course the warm waters of the Mediterranean.

No trip to Andalusia is complete without a visit to la Alhambra de Granada - not to be confused with Alahama de Granada from my previous blog (https://www.roadtrippin.org/1085416_8-andalusia). Alhambra sits on a spectacular outcrop of the Sierra Nevada’s, on a plateau overlooking the Albaicin quarter of Granada’s Moorish old city.  

By American standards, village houses or small farms in rural Spain are cheap and plentiful - but don’t expect there to be much in the way of facilities like running water or bathrooms. My brother and his wife bought their vacation home in Alhama de Granada for a song, but it wasn’t much more than a stone walled shell and had to undergo extensive renovations to make it habitable.

It took us ten hours to drive from Catalonia in the North of Spain to Andalusia in the South. Andalusia is a patchwork quilt of almond and olive groves, vineyards, and citrus orchards, all set amid the rolling foothills of the mountains. Rocky outcrops are dotted with trogloditas, homes built into caves formed out of sedimentary sandstone - layers of hard, horizontal rock interspaced with softer layers - many of which were originally enlarged by hand. These ingenious settlements allow their inhabitants to live in a temperature-controlled environment without the benefit of HVAC, an important consideration in a climate that can be extreme.

Tramuntana is the name locals have given the winds that funnel off the Pyrenees and sweep through the tiny fishing village of Cadaqués on Catalonia’s Costa Brava. In fact, it is these winds which gave the Wild Coast its name as they turn the normally calm waters of the Mediterranean into a heaving sea of white caps.

The Costa Brava (Wild Coast) is the French Riviera of Catalonia. It has that seductive combination of a good summer climate, natural beauty, golden beaches, and picturesque villages – all of which make it an attractive tourist destination - without the touristy feel of the Costa Del Sol.

If you are a Twilight fan you will love visiting the Medieval mountain villages of Catalonia. The village of Baselu in particular will transport you right into that scene in New Moon when Bella frantically runs through the streets of Volterra trying to reach Edward before he steps into the sun and commits the equivalent of Vampire suicide.  

In Spain family is everything! Families are large, extended, and heavily involved in one another’s lives. I love my warm, loving sister-in-law and all of her hospitable, loud, incomprehensible (they don’t speak English) relatives. Every time I have visited Spain, they have enveloped me in their lives without reservation and made me feel as if I were part of La Familia.