Week 2 in Spain: More Great Food, More Driving Challenges, and Finally Barcelona

 We had a second great week in Spain.  After a hot, hot, hot first week, things mostly cooled off except for Granada and the humidity of Barcelona.  Some themes continued to recur: the food was almost always amazing especially when our initial plans didn't work out--the second choices turned out to be great.  This part of the trip involved more longer drives and more tactical stops to break up the drive rather than just many great places each worthy of a day.  Speaking of which:

 Ronda

• One of our fave stops--a town perched on both sides of a gorge--great views.  
• The bullring smelled of horses and bulls, so, yes, the site of historical bull fighting still has it going on.  But not this time of year.  
• Best example of the first effort to find a place didn't work, finding a hole in the wall tapas place with the best smallest dishes.  I kept ordering--it was fantastic.
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

Malaga 

• We stopped here to break up the drive to Granada and to get to the sea.  The hotel was fine, the food at the beach was not despite the great view as we were very much on the beach.
• For future reference, ask if the lobster and rice dish involves shells and whether we would have tools to break the lobster meat free from the shell. 
  

Granada

• 
  We learned that GPS via google does not tell one much about topography as we went on a very difficult uphill walk to get to a mosque (which we didn't get to because, oy, the walk).
• Granada was also the place where distance/travel times were wrong.  Just had the hardest time getting oriented here.
  

  

  I love a good dome

  
  

  
  
• But the Alhambra was pretty spectacular.
• Oh and we experienced an intersection where the lights were green for me and for the intersecting road.  I am still a bit jangled from that experience

 

 

 

 

Valencia

• The drive to Valencia was the longest, which was ok since it also had the most castles.  The last two days we must have seen at least a dozen old castles. 
• Much of the driving reminded me of Southern California--variations of brown, green, hills, mountains, high desert.
• Great rest stop cafeteria--super fresh bread in the sandwiches.  Tasty and easy to understand.  

Barcelona

• 
  Was very DC like the first couple of days--very muggy.  
  
• But beautiful, funky, with so many great restaurants.
• We spent the first afternoon at Park Guell which combined great views with very funky architecture/design/etc.  Reminded me of Mont Royal.
  
• The two middle days here were the reason I came here--the European Initiative on Security Studies conference.  I got to hang out with a pal, meet new people, and learn a lot.  At most conferences, I tend to stay in my lane and just go to panels that are close to my current/recent research.  Here, I attend each session, learning much about a variety of different security issues. The only civ-mil panel was the one I was on.  I got some really great suggestions there and during the lunch beforehand.
• Strangest catering choice--no plates.  Just napkins to hold some terrific sandwiches--the best conference sandwiches I have ever had as the bread was so fresh and fluffy and tasty.
  

  

  Picasso tested the important theory
  that googly eyes make everything better.
  

• The last day, we hit the Picasso museum was good, but reminded me that I prefer Dali. 
• We walked all over the old quarter, which was full of great food and cheesy souvenirs.
• We ran into a Pride parade on the way to our last dinner.

  

  I prefer sangria blanco
  

I was so glad to drop off our rental car on our first day in Barcelona given the tight streets of Toledo, and the intersecting green lights of Granada.  Yet Spanish drivers were mostly quite good--aggressive at times but alert.  Other than that, not much stress--we found we could communicate ok except at the Catalan restaurant our first day in Barcelona.

Will we come back?  To Barcelona, certainly.  But we will probably explore either northern Spain or Portugal the next time.  It was a great trip, and reminds me how lucky I am.  With the sabbatical starting ... today... there will be much more travel with my wife joining me more often than in the past.  

But for now, I look forward to getting home and getting the kitchen finished.