Hopefully I’ll remember all the towns I’ve visited.
SPAIN (2000, 2008, 2016, 2017): Beautiful and diverse country with amazing culture, food and wine.
Barcelona– Beautiful city. My first overseas trip, and returned 17 years later. Amazing food! Very cosmopolitan city yet very Catalan. Truly becoming a wonderful world city. La Sagrada Famila is a masterpiece but also very crowded. Pinchos scene is fun and tasty. Metro system is world class. I love this city.
Girona– Pleasant historic Catalan town with a great old town and walls. Very convenient to Barcelona.
Sitges– My first experience swimming in the azure blue waters of the Mediterranean. I was so awestruck that the vivid tropical colors were real. Also found out that Bacalaitos there were not what this Puerto Rican was expecting. Eventually you do tire of beheading your food.
San Sebastian– A movie set! This Basque city was too pretty to be real. A crescent shaped beach, a marble promenade, an island in the middle of the bay, GREAT food and drink culture (yay pintxos!), and lovely beaches. Too bad my cousin moved from there. What a great place to live!
Hondarribia– A traditional little Basque town that also looked fake, but felt real. Great old town too.
San Juan de Pasajes– A working little tug boat takes you from San Sebastian to this little town clinging to the side of a hill by the sea. Very Basque and felt like another town.
Loiola– Little town where the magnificent Shrine to St. Ignatius Loyola is.
Seville– Beautiful Andalucian city of tapas and flamenco. Home to the largest gothic cathedral in the world. Beautiful city with wonderful culture, but DON’T GO IN JULY. Super hot. Really!!!
Madrid– Capital of Spain was lovely, bustling and blended the old with the modern. Still, I did not feel this city’s soul. Thyssen Museum is a nice alternative to the Prado if you want to avoid long queues in the hot sun.
Ibiza– Beautiful whitewashed buildings, winding stone streets, and a high old town with a killer view of the Mediterranean. Yet the city has little charm. Completely overrun with shopping and partying tourists. Little sense of local culture. At least some beautiful beaches are nearby.
Talamanca– Suburb of Ibiza Town. Also touristy, but not as much so. There are still pockets of local life here. Nice beach promenade and ferry connect it to Ibiza town. A quieter alternative to stay when on the island.
- Netherlands/Luxembourg/Belgium- Page 2
- Czechia/Austria/Slovakia- Page 3
- Hungary/Germany- Page 4
- Switzerland/Liechtenstein/France- Page 5
- Italy/Vatican City/San Marino- Page 6
- Croatia/Bosnia-Hercegovina/Romania- Page 7
- Ireland/United Kingdom/Iceland- Page 8
- Slovenia/Denmark/Sweden/Norway- Page 9
- Portugal/Andorra- Page 10
- Finland/Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania- Page 10