Travel Back In Time Into the Wild Wild West

Our next journey was to Granada… Now this end of the road trip set itself apart from the rest of our Spanish adventure. 

Given the dynamic landscapes of Andalucía, we decided to visit it all!  Including the desert where The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (among other famous Western classics) was filmed. 

On our way there, we had discovered an interesting road side rest stop that put us back in the 1950s on Route 66.  With an old statue of Marilyn Monroe greeting you at the entrance, this place boasted of a pool table, a run down and probably not usable beet bop music machine, and lots of antiques from America in its 'heyday.' 

I had read about this restaurant in a Spanish newspaper at a scarcely populated rest stop we'd stopped at just an hour earlier.  It was interestingly started by a Belgian couple who had traveled on Route 66 in the US and loved it.  Then, during their travels in Spain, they came across the Tabernas desert region and decided they wanted to recreate the feel of Route 66 right here in Spain.  Surprisingly, despite the kichy decorations and run-down touristy look, it was a 'go-to' spot for locals. 

While there we ended up having lunch and sitting with a woman named Carina who is from the Netherlands.  She decided to start a new chapter of her life moving to the desert of Spain.  She wanted heat and solitude and she found it here.  She comes to this restaurant every week.  As we chatted, it looked like she wasn’t the only one. Anytime someone new came through the door they greeted each other as if they’ve known each other for years.  Eric and I started doing the same just because it felt so friendly and quaint.  We both started to fall in the love with the environment and the feel of the restaurant and the food was FABULOUS.  Carina invited us to stay at her home for the night, but we were on a mission. 

We wanted to reach Granada by the evening to catch the Three Kings Day Parade and in the meantime had our minds set on seeing the sites of the old Western films.  After traveling another 10 kilometers past the restaurant, we found Fort Brava, a former filming site from the Old Western movies (one of three).  It was pretty much abandoned even though there was still someone at the checkout desk asking for us to pay 19 Euros each for a ticket and a show.  I was thinking, “Who the heck is going to perform?! There is no one else in sight.”  Needless to say, we didn’t’ pay the man the money.  Instead, we started back on our way disappointed that we hadn’t gotten to romp around the old Western film sets.

Then we saw a sign that said “Desert Stars” and pointed towards the direction of a dusty road winding through a trench created by two desert cliffs.  We were curious as to what this could be and began to slither in and out of the winding dusty path without any sight of what could be ahead.  Eventually we saw a trailer.  Then, two dogs started barking violently at our car. 

Despite the protective watch dogs, Eric started up a small dusty hill towards a rundown house sitting at the top.  Already feeling a bit spooked, I started getting jitters in my tummy and immediately told him to turn around.  The combination of the creepy house, barking dogs, secluded location, and those nondescript signs indicating “Desert Stars” along the road, I felt like we were about to drive into the plot of a scary movie. 

And I was having NONE OF THAT. 

So Eric, God bless him, turned that car around on the smallest road imaginable with the back end a mere inches from a drop off, and two dogs circling our car.  The only other option would’ve been to drive all of the way up the hill to the house and then turn around…

And I was having NONE OF THAT. 

Amazingly, Eric turned the car around without driving into any ditches and with both dogs still alive and we “sped” off (As much as you can on a rocky, desert-y road.)

Phew…. I was so relieved to be out of there!

Still a little shaken, and disappointed that we didn’t get to see the Old Western film sets; suddenly I stopped Eric on a dime.  Believe it or not, I saw Western ruins about 100 yards from the side of the road. We stopped on the embankment and could not believe our eyes. They were literally abandoned ruins from an old Western film set!

SAY WHAT?! 

Of course, we got out and carefully dodged cacti as we proceeded towards the strange ruins set along the ridge of a flat mountain.  It was picturesque and eerily quiet as we stepped back in time walking alongside two old houses, a well, and some rotting, vampire-like trees.

This certainly renewed our curiosity for the Old Westerns, and we decided to check out the other two official film sites.  The largest one, Oasis, was closed.  Luckily we found Western Leone which was much cheaper and the price included a drink in the saloon.  

I'm so glad we went!  We basically had it all to ourselves.  We ventured through the saloon, the old school house, stables (where they had real donkeys, fuzzy ponies, and horses).  We then ventured up through the film set depicting a Mexican village where we found the strangest looking truck, almost like it was from Tremors or an old desert trekker from Star Wars.  Then we made our way up to the Native American Tee Pees. 

Now the time had come when I had to pee.  This place was so empty that I didn't even want to go to the bathroom alone.  I was surprised that we didn't see a tumble weed roll through the town.  In fact, there was even a hanging stand.

We eagerly (and eerily) took turns putting our necks through the rope and standing on the "bucket."  This wasn't my favorite part... it's a bit creepy having that rope around your neck... I didn't stay there long but we got some really good pictures of Eric.

Before leaving we wanted to see if they had any sort of interesting and fun things in their gift shop..... Especially since this trip brought to light that Eric is a gift-shop-aholic.  *Ahem… you know it’s true, Eric.

No joke. This was the worst gift shop we'd ever seen.  They had a sparse selection of things to buy and barely any of it was related to the Wild Wild West at all.  In fact some of the ceramics looked like they had come out of an elderly woman’s house.  There were some other trinkets that were either broken, unrelated to Western Leone, or just crap quality.  No kidding.  This place had mostly empty shelves.  We even had to hunt someone down to open the gift shop for us; otherwise they didn't even have it open to the public.  Now I can see why.

Well, we bought a post card (out of sympathy).  Although, I must admit, this old gift shop certainly added to the charm of good ol’ Western Leone.

Valencia: Christmas Markets All the Way

We arrived in Valencia in the evening, and as we learned through a series of fortunate events during our trip, our arch angels were with us the whole way.  I may not have mentioned this in the beginning, but we didn’t plan anything for our trip… no hotels, didn’t have a GPS, didn’t use the internet during our road trips… At this point we weren’t even equipped with a road atlas and yet we found our way wherever we needed. 

This was the first of many times where we sought out the bullring in a city, parked, and found a hotel close by.  I must say, it almost always puts you in a good spot of the city. 

Surprisingly, Valencia’s streets were packed, traffic was so congested you would’ve thought we were walking into a parade with how densely populated the sidewalks were.  As we learned during our trip, Three Kings Day, January 6^th , was coming up soon and this is celebrated with the same vigor that Christmas Day is celebrated in the States. 

Well maybe this is celebrated slightly differently. We went to a Christmas market in which about 10 people our age were playing chess in the middle of the park, and a fire juggler was putting on a show in front of the chess players.  I was loving this!  With the smell of chestnuts in the air and Christmas trinkets everywhere, my attention was being diverted every which way with no luck of keeping me focused on just one thing. 

Valencia was a picturesque city as many Spanish cities are, but its differentiating qualities included two things... 1) a HUGE statue of Gulliver the Giant laying on his side with ropes, paths, and tunnels molded into his body.  It was an imaginative playground which I took full advantage of!  This type of playground would never fly in the US though.  I was running on a platform about 3 feet wide and about 12 feet off the ground with no handrails, absolutely nothing to keep me from falling.  So I treaded carefully as I scaled the legs and arms of Gulliver the Giant.

After conquering the Giant, Eric and I began to get quite chilly while walking in the park so we took an impromptu run along the path which was situated along the riverbed of a river that had been diverted around the city after a major flood.  We came to find another Christmas market, a Kinder-sponsored ice skating rink, and a series of three buildings that resembled eyes and fish.

These buildings were designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela and are known as the City of Arts and Sciences. Eric was in awe of them and the way their lights danced off the reflection pool. Apparently he had studied these buildings in his Architecture class about 9 years ago, and to see it in person was breath taking. 

We ventured through the maze of paths and the Christmas market, had a cup of Moroccan tea and found an outdoor museum of the European Space Agency, highlighting all of the accomplishments of the ESA since its founding.  This was incredible, especially considering I'd only been exposed to NASA endeavors of the US and heard a smidgeon about the Russian space missions here and there.  The ESA has done some incredible stuff!


We ended up spending two nights in Valencia.  This really helped us to learn more about the city, catch the match where Valencia beat Real Madrid (putting an end to their winning streak), and plan for our next expedition.  **We stayed at Hotel Zenith, right next to the train station and the bullring.  Highly recommended.  Clean, comfortable, kind personnel and easy access to the old city.

Journey to Valencia: A Tower of Ruins

The following day we started our road trip to Andalucía with brand spankin’ new undies, fresh socks (very badly needed), and a crisp set of clothes!  Along the route, our first stop was Tarragona, the original capital of Spain when the Romans first came.  It was absolutely splendid and one of the first warm days we had since we landed in Spain. 

While walking along the main street (the “Commonwealth Avenue”, you could say) of the town, we encountered a statue of a human tower.  Incredible. What in the world is going on here?!  We learned that one of the most highly regarded sports in Catalan, dating back to the 18^th century is building the highest and most complex human tower.  Teams of up to 500 men and women join to form the human tower that can be as high as ten levels, often with a child at the very top.  (Imagine being that parent…)

We went a bit further into town and had the pleasure of running into a farmer’s market.  So like good travelers do while basking in the glory of fresh food in Europe, we bought some fresh cheese and salchichon (MUCH better than salami).  We also passed by a bakery with a long line of old ladies and old men standing there patiently waiting. 

Now, here’s a lesson for traveling in Europe… you NEVER, and I mean NEVER pass up a bakery that has a long line of elderly people standing outside of it.  You just KNOW that whatever is hiding inside has got to be good.  So, we waited in line to get some fresh bread to complete our delectable trio.

Before leaving Tarragona we discovered a magnificently preserved coliseum, one of the most well-preserved that I'd ever seen.  (Ok, ok… maybe the only one I’d ever seen.) 

It was strange to see the centuries of additional renovations it had such as a church that was built right in the middle, precisely where I could imagine gladiators battling.  Before this trip, I’d never known that the floor plans of churches were built in the shape of a cross.  But now, after having seen so many ruins of churches, all in the shape of a cross, I’ll never forget it.

Little did I know, these weren’t the coolest ruins that we would uncover today.  On the way to Valencia, I had fallen asleep only to wake up to Eric stopping at an abandoned gas station, flipping a you-ee and taking a back road to this old white church he saw on the side of the highway.  It turns out it was abandoned and now some people use it as a campsite. 

While walking around, we saw a castle on the top of a hill seemingly close by.  If you know Eric and me at all, you already know that we decided to do a little bit of off-roading in our mini Ibiza.  We ventured up the mountain to Castell Xivert following a winding road with no guide rails.  At first, this road was well-paved and then it began to turn to dust.  After about a 20 minute ride up the hill, we parked somewhere close by and followed a trail that led to the ruins.  We were walking through the woods on a rocky path leading to the ruins and it felt like we were the Boxcar Children discovering a forgotten site.

And would you believe it?  There was no one there.  It was a completely abandoned former fortress! 

“WHOA.” 

Based on some run down signage, you could tell that this use to be a tourist destination.  Obviously it was no longer visited much perhaps due to the bumpy, windy, and dusty path up the mountain. 

Honestly, I was a bit nervous given that we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into.  Despite this, my enchantment prevailed as we explored the castle ruins, totally void of people, only for us to discover.  We walked throughout the fortress, checking out former dungeons, taking in the remarkable view of the farm lands and fields of the valley below, and letting our curiosity reign supreme in a spot that seemed to be all our own. 

After we'd been there for about 20 minutes, we heard a couple of voices.  It was another couple who had ventured up to this castle.  Although it was a little bit of bummer to not have it all to our own, I was relieved that something wasn't going to just jump out and spook us.  (I like adventures and all, but only ones with a certainty of safety tied to them.  This one was tinkering on the edge a bit until this other couple came.)

The sun had already begun to set on the land below and Eric was concerned that we'd be traveling down the crooked roads in the dark, so racing sunset, we hurried back through the forest and back to our car. 

It was an unbelievable adventure, and a welcomed pit stop on our journey to Valencia.

Barcelona, Oh How I Love Thee.

We were now on Day 4 of wearing the same clothes and booked another couple nights in Barcelona to make it as easy as possible for the airlines to deliver our luggage.... although, to be honest, I was slightly losing hope that they would come through for us.

We spent the next couple days discovering new restaurants and learning a little more about what it would be like to live there. One of our favorite shops was located in El Born called Tuyo.  It was owned by a kind German lady who decided to up and move she and her son to Catalonia after working for Yahoo in Germany for several years.  Although the decor was lovely (and eco-friendly.. made out of recycled materials), I'm not going to lie, what really attracted us was a sign indicating that they had gluhwein!  Ah... the sweet smell of warm, spiced red wine on a chilly day!  

Now remember, our jackets were in our luggage so we weren't exactly dressed for the cold weather so gluhwein brought us in and kept us there for a couple of hours.  Well, the store owner was a big factor as to why we stayed too. She was so charming to talk to, with her many stories and contagious and vibrant energy.  

Surprisingly, we learned that this store owner came from a strong communist family in northern Germany where she grew up learning Americans were not exactly highly regarded in her parent’s minds.  We also learned that she rebelled against her parents when she was in high school and joined a U.S. student exchange program.  It would just figure that she would be placed with EXACTLY the type of American family that her parents warned her about… not sure what ‘type’ that was, but that’s how she explained it.

Although it was clear that she wasn't fond of the U.S. that didn't taint her interest in speaking with us.  We all thoroughly enjoyed sharing our stories from travels and even learning what it’s like for a foreigner to open up shop in Spain.  Not the easiest endeavor, that’s for sure. Regulations are not concrete and relationships are critical to setting up shop.  She even had to buy the right to rent her store location, meaning she paid an initial amount to purchase the space, and now she still doesn't own the property, she just owns the right to pay rent in that space and run her business.  Wild, right?  Even with all this fuss, it sounds like achieving her dream and making friends along the way make it all worthwhile. 

One of my favorite surprises in Barcelona was near the art museum district.  Through his expeditions on Google maps’ aerial view, Eric discovered a Greek amphitheater in these beautiful gardens located about a 15 minute walk from the museum area.  When we found it, my jaw practically fell on to my shirt.  I was so surprised!  It was so well preserved and like stepping into the Age of Ancient Greece. It even had the pool area reserved for water scenes in the front of the stage and acoustics built right into the architecture of the amphitheater.  I promptly raced down the steps to take my place on stage soon to see that I wasn't alone.  There were two women on the side, off of the visible part of the stage, seemingly doing a séance with candles and such.  Despite this oddity, I stuck around for a moment to revel in the past, imagining what it would've been like to perform on such a stage. 

After recovering from the shock and excitement of romping around the amphitheater, we ventured up the hill towards the Castell of Mont Juic. For an 18th century fortress built atop the hill overlooking Barcelona, this gem was tough to find!  With little to no signage, we figured we would just keeping walking up the hill and, eventually, we would run into it.  After another 45 minutes of all uphill walking, we eventually found the fortress sprawled on top of the hill with a magnificent view of Barcelona (and its grimy looking port)...  It was all pretty spectacular! 

After spending a good hour or two at the top, we decided to satisfy our bellies a bit quicker by taking the fastest way down; a cable car with a jaw dropping view of the city sitting just below the array of pinks, yellows, and oranges reflecting from the sunset.  It was truly captivating.

Day 5: We finally received our luggage!  What a relief!  They had apparently been rushed from JFK airport... I'm afraid to see what normal delivery standards are... Nevertheless, we were thrilled to have some other clothes to wear… and I tucked 'my very worn' skirt away as if it were infested with fleas for the rest of the trip.  

Gaudi, El Born, and Ringing in the New Year with Style!

We were staying in El Born, a slightly hipster, slightly chic neighborhood about a 20 minute walk from La Rambla, the avenue famous for shopping, La Boqueria, a "super mercado" like none we've seen in the states,  and the notorious pick pocket-teers of Spain. 

Despite it's distance from the tourist sites, this was definitely a place to get down and boogie and especially to eat well.  In fact, residents of some of the apartments had large banners saying the equivalent of "Let Us Sleep!"  "Stop the Noise!" "Respect!"  Needless to say, we loved this neighborhood and quickly found our favorite desayuno spot. 

With its winding streets, delicious tapas, razor clams, barnacles, jamon iberico, and queso de oveja we were pretty much in love with Barcelona!

Some of our favorite hotspots were, of course, anything with Gaudi stamped on it.  We were in awe of his creativity and ability to seamlessly incorporate aspects of nature into his master pieces, Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, and Park Guell.  My favorite was Casa Mila; the winding maze of a roof was unlike any other I'd ever experienced.  And the audio guide provided a good blend of historical context and symbolism, really helping us get into the mind of Gaudi.

One of my favorite nights in Barcelona was of course... New Year’s Eve!  As it was Day 3 of wearing the same clothes, we finally gave in and bought some essentials.  New underwear never felt so good.  Sorry, I tend to lean towards to TMI in my blogs.... 

We started the night out with some sangria and brought a bottle of cava to the Plaza de Catalonia where there was a light display of snowflakes painted on the side of one of the grandiose buildings surrounding the Plaza.  People from all around the world were in one place to celebrate the coming of 2015.  It was spectacular hearing so many languages chattering around us at once; French, Spanish, German, Mandarin, and Swedish even, and of course English.  Funny as it may be, on New Year’s Eve, I ended up practicing my French more than my Spanish. 

As we raced down to the Plaza from El Borne, following a stream of people yelling and cheering as they made their way to the Plaza, it felt like we were amidst one giant party in the streets!

We made it to Plaza de Catalonia with grapes in one hand and a bottle of cava in the other.  See the Spanish tradition is to wear red underwear (which I successfully managed to do with my new ‘essentials’ purchase) and to eat 12 grapes, one for each chime of the new year. 

Eric was so sweet; he happened to something a bit different.  When the ball dropped and the hour hit midnight he fed me a grape and said "Here's to love.  And another for our first 3 months of marriage.  Here’s to marrying my best friend.”  And then I fed him a grape and said, “Here's to ambition.”  We went on like that for about 12 grapes.  I can so clearly remember Eric’s sweet smile and caring eyes holding me close and repeating each endearing word so sincerely.  It was one of the most precious moments that I'll ever remember.

I know, I know....  I’ll try not to be too mooshy gooshy, but this is our honeymoon for goodness sake!

 

While we were whispering 'sweet nothings' to each other (**That's for the Pitt crowd reading this.), a group of French guys were doing cartwheels in a circle right in front of us.  This is where my French really came in handy.  They were so curious about who we were and what we were doing the rest of the night so we just started chatting and eventually they had challenged Eric and I to a push up competition.  So there we were down on the ground, first Eric and then I battling it out with these random French guys in the middle of Plaza de Catalonia.  We’re quite the romantic couple, eh?

Not sure how that one happened…

Eventually we parted ways and made our way down to the harbor with a pit stop at a dance club to boogie down for a couple of hours.  (**This is where we took the picture with the red clown nose and vampire teeth, in case you were wondering.)

We walked all around the harbor and found another restaurant where Eric bought me a rose and insisted that I go up and tell the flower selling guy how nice he is. **Random, I know… that word pretty much sums up our New Year’s Eve festivities.  After doing so. we ventured off looking for some more food, and doner kebab was just the right fit!  We ran into another group of French guys looking for some partners in crime and we all grabbed a doner kebab together.  We made it home around 5 o’ clock in the morning, and slept for a long while the following day.   It was a fabulous way to ring in the new year!

Day One: Our Airline and Apartment Fiasco

Our Spanish honeymoon was a fantastic series of adventures without a dull moment to spare.  While road tripping from Barcelona we stopped at Tarragona, Valencia, Tabernas, Granada, La Zubia, Ronda, Zahara, Bolonia, Sevilla, Cordoba, Toledo, and finally landed in Madrid.  On our way we saw Roman, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek, and Spanish ruins dating back to the 1st century, we practically got lost trekking through the Sierra Nevada, took a detour through the Spanish desert of Tabernas to travel back in time to the Wild Wild West, and experienced Spanish hospitality at its best!

Our honeymoon started a bit bumpy... with American Airlines delaying and then cancelling our flight to JFK airport.  We had to rebook our flights to Barcelona twice and eventually reroute them through Madrid.  We went from having premium economy seats with the honeymoon meal to being placed right in the middle of the plane with two crying kids seated nearby.  Not ideal, but we made it work.  In fact, we were lucky to be landing only about 8 hours later than our original flight, largely due to a "That's not good enough," attitude that I took on when they almost booked us on a flight for the following day.

After just under 24 hours of travel, we had finally made it to Barcelona!  *Sigh… Spain!  Yes!  Let’s get this party started!

One thing was missing.... our luggage.  Yup, our luggage was lost.  

Would you believe after all of this our suitcases, tagged as “priority” luggage, never even made it across the pond to Europe.  We were told that luggage usually arrives within 72 hours.  Great.  I guess a maximum of three days isn't so bad.  So let’s get on with our honeymoon, right?

Now I’m quite the googler when it comes to checking up on hotels and citing reviews.  So prior to booking our Barcelona apartment, I was sure that it would be a good fit… eh...not so much. 

We arrived at a dimly lit apartment, and all seemed decent until I entered the bathroom.  With yellow grime dripping down the side of the faucet into the tub and a toilet bowl that had obviously not been touched in months, I was not the happiest camper.  The person showing us the apartment was clearly embarrassed, and offered to send a maid that day.  Once he left, I meandered around the apartment to check on other surprises I may find.  In my search, I discovered a very well used sponge sitting next to the kitchen sink, and you’re not going to believe this…I found a t-shirt in the microwave!   **Exactly.  SAY WHAT?!

Luckily, we hadn't paid for the establishment just yet.  And after a night full of hammering and sawing from 3 o'clock in the morning forward, we decided to get our butts out of that joint!  You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to get out of paying for three nights in that crummy place!  After tackling this issue with a “That’s not good enough attitude (again),”  we managed to get out of our reservation with only paying for a single night, and found a much nicer establishment just a few blocks away.  We were so happy to be in a clean, nicely lit new home to nest ourselves in for the next few days while we ventured through one of our favorite cities to-date!

**We stayed at Hotel Ciudad.  Highly recommend, clean comfortable, free water bottles, and great foodie neighborhood, El Born.