Ahhh Spain...Mucho Gusto

Ahhh Spain.... Mucho Gusto

It was hard to leave Barcelona - I so enjoyed the architecture, the people, our hotel, and I feel like there was still a lot of the city we did not have a chance to see. (I suppose we’ll have to go back!) I think my favorite thing we did was the “Fat Tire Bike Tour” it was so relaxing, comfortable, & informative. There’s something about riding a bike to the beach and having a glass (or 2..) of sangria that just really works with me….I’m definitely a beach baby. Plus it was fun to see some of the Olympics of ’92 areas.  And begin our tour-de-espana.

Wine tasting was, of course, FANTASTIC!  What a way to spend our 2 year Anniversary!! We rode up the mountain-side (2000 ft above sea level) looking at all the grape vines and so so so many olive trees, the air was crisp and we could just tell it was going to be a wonderful day.  Our driver, Ricardo, was so sweet and would have gone out of his way to make sure everything was perfect for us.  I begged him to come have lunch with us but he insisted it was our anniversary and he will be waiting when we’re done – Is this real life?  Plus the wine was great!  We can now expand our wine collection to start carrying vinos from the Priorat region of Spain….perfecto!  I can’t wait to share our new wine-finds with our friends and family when we return.  Fiesta?

Granada: I’m certain Jesse filled you in on the airport luggage debacle (I haven’t had a chance to read that post.) And to be honest, I don’t get to give my sign of approval on any of the posts (or the pictures!!!) before he lets them out for the world to see.  I did however find a horrible picture he took of me taking a siesta (you didn’t think I took those, right?  Because J hasn’t said anything about my love for siestas, right?) That photo I did get to delete before it was published.  Anyway, we move on to Granada -in my mind Granada was a cute little sea-side town.  I can’t figure out why I thought that but I was wrong.  It’s actually a college town. (Universidad).  It was much bigger than I expected, super busy, and not on the water.  When I mentioned that this wasn’t what I expected (probably only once…or twice…) my sweet husband asked me if maybe I had looked at a map while planning the trip?

Thankfully, even though we walked through the wrong part of town on our first journey (not like going to get jumped by a gang, wrong, just not where all the fun shops and restaurants are.  We were in construction-ville.) we found our way to the great part of town that night.  The town was coming to life and we could see we were going to have fun.  Interestingly, the girls were more dressed up here than in Barcelona.  I guess that’s because it is a college town (I mean, it’s no FSU..).  Which was more fun for me because as you all know I love to get dressed up.

The weather here is much warmer than Barcelona. It is about a 9 hour drive south (thats like Atlanta to Sarasota).  I suppose I didn’t need that Burberry jacket after all!  I’m a bit sad we didn’t really buy anything in BCN or Granada but there’s always the next stop.   I just can’t spend money on things I don’t really like and since we didn’t go into many stores other than electronic ones… I haven’t found much.  Except I did get a bathing suit.  I intend on doing my shopping in Madrid.  Jesse will be in meetings and I will be shopping.  Sounds pretty great to me.

Anyway, we have had nice tapas in Granada (except for THAT ONE, which we are all forbidden to talk about).  Its fun that in this area they are so sweet about making sure you don’t pay for tapas that you can get for free.  For every drink you order you get a free tapas (and typically for us we wanted to order ones that were on the pay-for menu and the servers/bartenders would pick something similar out for us on the free menu). We even had spicy thai chicken w/rice as a tapas at a bar and it was great! And I had an amazing salad yesterday for lunch and I was so grateful for some vegetables! Lettuce, green pepper, carrots, tomatoes, artichokes – yum! This is very much a meat country.  It’ll be a while until I order a ham sandwich (boccadilla de jamon) in the States again.  Or my favorite of theirs ham sammies – the bikini – it’s a grilled ham and cheese…and it’s very good.  But the funny thing is it’s always on the breakfast menu?

Well we are off to Sevilla now – we rented a car and Jesse is driving.  This is going to be fun!!

Salud!

KB