Hasta Luego!

"Leave them wanting more", Darin just said to me as we're sitting here in the warm sun after just having completed a 3hr. tour through Cordoba's Mezquita-Cathedral. This country has enchanted + surprised us and won our hearts... from the cities, both large and small, to the mountains and the valleys and the beaches. Especially by giving a few towns a weeks-worth of our time, we were able to get more in tune with regional differences, both in habit + cuisine. The only real downer we experienced is that the people aren't really engaging to foreigners as they typically have very tight-knit social circles. On the UPSIDE of that, Andalucian's are different, and we had all of our nicest human interaction there.

What's so special about Andalucia? The people are as warm as the weather; The architecture's got that organic, Moorish flair, and it's OLD; They've got salmorejo and 7 kinds of sherry; Flamenco can be heard on almost every corner, and it's just local teens or adults just walking around clapping or singing it unselfconsciously half the time; White-washed homes spilling down to green valleys or the sea; Flowering orange trees, cold sangria, snow-capped peaks and sandy beaches, and some of the tastiest foods I've ever had in my life! I don't mean to sound like a travel ad, but some things are inevitable.

If you have never before been outside the U.S., this is your call to GO!!!

Spain is beautiful, cheap + easy to get around. The people here LOVE to have a good time, so it's ideal to go during one of the many big festivals - Particularly Valencia's Las Fallas, Sevilla's Feria de Abril, or Cordoba's Semana Santa. So get well-rested in advance, arm yourself with a phrase book and book that flight! You will NOT be disappointed.

Back to my story... Later, sitting at a waterfront cafe at sunset, I'm making a mental recap of our experiences in the country. Seems SO long ago that we were in Barcelona standing atop Sagrada Familia in a rainstorm watching a tornado; or staying up all night qnd walking through Valencia's Mercado Central at dawn; or seeing Calatrava's architecture in Valencia during a moment when golden rays of sun broke through the clouds; or hiking through the snowy Sierra Nevadas and coming across herds of Ibex; or Semana Santa processions with 1000's of people out in the streets. These are moments forever imprinted in my mind. Hasta Luego Espana, we WILL return...

BTW, Most all of the Spain pics are up now. The next batch will be posted in the Paris + Holland Album.