Continuing on our road trip through Spain and Portugal, we bar hop on Calle San Juan in Logroño for wine and pinchos, enjoy wine tastings in both large and small wineries, and are sidetracked by a beautiful hermitage tucked into a rocky cliff on the way to the Frías Castle ruins.
When my boyfriend suggested that we take a road trip through Spain and Portugal, he didn’t have to ask me twice! In part 1, we go hiking in Parque Natural de las Hoces, learn about the history of the book at the Book Museum, and enjoy a spontaneous wine tasting at a little bodega.
After living in Spain for a year and a half, I assumed I would be fluent by now. Not a chance! So why is it so difficult to understand spoken Spanish when I can read and write it fairly well? There’s actually a scientific reason why it’s much harder for learners to grasp spoken Spanish.
In Spain, Christmas dinner is on the 24th and in N. America Christmas dinner is on the 25th, but since my Spanish boyfriend and I were hosting for family both days, we just made the holiday international!
Mi novio español me llevó a la boca de lobo de la experiencia española: Los Escobazos, un festival anual local en un pequeño pueblo donde la gente te golpea con escobas encendidas, "juguetonamente". ¿En qué coño me estaba metiendo?
My Spanish boyfriend took me into the lion’s den of the Spanish experience: Los Escobazos, a local annual festival in a small town in which people “playfully” swat you with burning brooms. What the hell was I getting myself into??
I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner by my dear friends here in Spain. It wasn’t at their home, but rather a pub. An Irish pub. In Madrid. I told them I would definitely be there, because this I had to see.
Back to Jarandilla de la Vera for the weekend! This time we witness Emperor Carlos V parade through the town, explore Granadilla, a preserved medieval “ghost village,” and relax in a mineral pool at Balneario Baños de Montemayor.
Jarandilla de la Vera is a small town in Cáceres province, Extremadura, Spain with a population of 2,845, making it a perfect weekend getaway for two! With hiking, biking and swimming in natural rivers in the day to sipping vermouth at outdoor terraces at night, here’s my story.
From hanging out at the pool to hiking the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, from eating delicious Portuguese cheese to standing on the very tallest point in the country, I traveled from Madrid, Spain to visit Seia, Portugal for a week.
When I lived in the U.S., you couldn’t get me to eat a tuna salad sandwich if it had too much mayonnaise. Ugh! But since living in Spain for the last year, I’ve learned to expand my palate to include these six “weird” Spanish foods.
Now that I’ve lived in Madrid for one year (whaaaat?!?), I thought I’d look back and see how I’ve changed. From bathing suits to a higher voice, from drinking fountains to no dryers, from front page of the Financial Times to being on national TV (!!), here’s what I learned from living in Spain.
Time for another day trip from Madrid! Just 35 km (22 miles) away, Alcalá de Henares is best known as the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quijote—and it even has a street that traces the path of an ancient Roman trade route linking Caesaraugusta to the city of Complutum.
Calle de la Cava Baja is one of Madrid’s most iconic streets, famous for its concentration of traditional and lively tabernas. With 50 bars within 300 meters, this is the place to go on a “tapeo” or tapas crawl (like bar hopping, but there’s always food too). Naturally, I had to try this for myself.
Itching to explore more of Spain, I took a day trip to Ávila, about 90 minutes outside of Madrid. From yemas de Santa Teresa, to walking the 2.5-km medieval wall, to finding the basement-slash-cave St. Theresa museum, here is my experience.
It seems that whenever I ask a Spaniard “What’s the word for…?” there’s a 50% chance that the answer is llevar. So I started investigating Spanish verb definitions… and disappeared into a rabbit hole of Spanish and English meanings for a single word.
My feet were itching to travel again, so this weekend I decided to head out to a little town called Buitrago del Lozoya. The draw? Small town, medieval ruins, surrounded by nature. I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxed weekend getaway…but there were a few obstacles to overcome first.
So far in Spain, I’ve encountered nothing but friendly professionals, whether I was at the doctor’s office, the emergency room, the bank, or even government offices. And then I finally came across…a gilipollas.
In my quest to become a true Spaniard (in heart, if not in government documentation), I have not only been learning the language (grammar, syntax)—I’ve been learning how to speak like a Spaniard. And that means learning Spanish street slang.
From storing eggs to making out, from direct communication to yellow lines on the road, here are some of the differences between Spain and the USA that I’ve been either enjoying or trying to understand.
After living in Spain for five months, I finally started dating — in Spanish. The language I am not fluent in. But who am I in Spanish if I can’t fully communicate and am reduced to simple thoughts and broken sentences?
In the U.S. you usually ask for a glass of wine by the grape, and in Spain you order it by the region. But if you don’t know the regions, how the hell do you order wine in Spain that isn’t just taking a stab in the dark?! Let me take you through my learning process.
I’ve written about all the ways I’m practicing the Spanish language in order to achieve my goal of becoming fluent. But I’m also practicing another language: the social language of Spaniards. So here are a few ways that I’m learning to be Spanish.
I found myself in Urgencias (the “ER”) after moving to Spain. But because of Spain’s universal healthcare, I walked out without paying a dime. This made me think about difference between the Spanish healthcare system and the U.S. healthcare system.
From the small Lope de Vega Casa-Museo tour to the enormous Royal Palace tour, from an artistic flamenco show to a spooky Halloween wine tasting, take a look at how I show my visiting family a good time in my new city Madrid!
They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it. So when I recently had my very first visitors come stay with me in my new country, I got to put my newly acquired knowledge of Madrid to the test!
I don’t expect to become fluent in Spanish just by living in Spain. So from reading familiar books in Spanish to changing my phone’s default language, from taking private Spanish lessons to simply refusing to speak English, here’s how I’m improving my Spanish.
From calamari and the ruins of a 16th century monastery in Xinzo de Limia, to chupitos at a restaurant near Montalegre Castle and the "Fiesta in Honour of Seafood" in O Grove, my first trip to Galicia, Spain is everything I'd hoped it would be.
After writing about trips to historical monasteries, after-hour tours of the Prado, and trying to meet people in a new country, it’s time to write about something really important. Where the hell do I find all my favorite products in Spain?!?!
In part 3 of our road trip through Spain and Portugal, we visit Robledillo de Gata, a truly interesting town with an unusual village layout and only 89 inhabitants, the walled in Old Town of Ciudad Rodrigo, and at last Porto, Portugal, plus the last of the season’s snow on Serra da Estrela.