Spain will always have my heart
July 2024
The place where I truly, TRULY, learned that I loved all things travel was in Spain. When I was a sophomore in college, I had the opportunity to study abroad, in Granada, Spain. That city is a home-away-from-home for me, and I have loved every single time that I have been lucky enough to return. But during that first time abroad, I also had the opportunity to enjoy many other cities in that great country. And I have relished the chances I’ve received, since then, to continue my Spanish explorations. Whenever I return, I try to visit at least one new place, in addition to previous favorites.
When we were trying to decide what we could do with our kids this summer, that would expand their horizons and be appreciated, the first thing that popped into both my husband’s and my head was “Spain”. We decided to backpack (pulling rolling bags along cobbled streets is hard enough, even without the kids complaining about having to do it), and to start in Galicia; a region in Northwest Spain that we had only ever spent 2 days in, but that we had always said we wanted to go back to and see more of. It is on/near the coast, is beautiful, the weather is historically cooler than much of the rest of Spain, and the seafood is some of the freshest, most incredible (and reasonably priced) you’ll find anywhere. After that, we would make our way down and over to Madrid, stopping at a few places along the way, before we headed back home.
We’ve learned that flying to Spain can be difficult, at least on United (which is my husband’s favorite airline, solely because he has a lot of miles with them; and is one of my least favorite airlines, solely because they are awful in every way.) The odds of an exceedingly late or cancelled flight messing up your connection are so high that it’s virtually impossible to plan an overseas trip to start on the day you are actually scheduled to arrive. So, I’ve developed a work-around. Whenever possible, we’ve found it’s more reliable, and usually cheaper, to fly to London, spend the day there, and then fly out on a different/budget airline the next day (or, in this case, late the same night).
The four of us flew from Houston to London, arriving London mid-day on the following day. We have made a tradition of heading immediately from London Heathrow airport to Sketch, an absolutely incredible restaurant/destination recommended to me by a wonderful patient of Texas Dental Specialists, serving the best rendition of High Tea I have ever had (and I am a high tea aficionado). What better way to fight off jet lag than a bottomless supply of high quality, caffeinated tea, finger sandwiches, and sweets?! They even had a kids’ version, complete with bottomless hot chocolate and/or tea and sweets that both of our boys devoured. When we could consume no more, we took an Uber on the exceptionally long drive to Gatwick Airport for our flight to Spain. A tip for all, that we plan to use ourselves next time: don’t do that. Take the Gatwick Express. It takes ¼ the time, and costs ½ the price.
Our flight from Gatwick to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, landed at roughly midnight, and we taxied to our hotel. My husband told me he was going to pick our first several hotels, and that he was going to choose places that reminded him of our early travel days. That would mean a few things… great location, cheap, hopefully clean, and zero frills or services whatsoever. Oh, joy! We stayed at the Oxford Suites, which was better than I had imagined it would be (to be fair, finding a truly budget hotel with a private room and bathroom for 4 people was almost impossible). The next morning, we woke up, and explored Santiago’s Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). This included a Cubierta and Torre tour of the Cathedral, where we got to climb the Cathedral’s bell towers and walk along the roof, to see panoramic vistas of the city. It has been a travel tradition of ours to find the tallest tower or roofline in town, and climb however many hundred stairs needed to get to the top; this fit the bill. The Catedral de Santiago is a significant pilgrimage destination, holding the tomb St James, and acting as the final stop for the almost 200,000 pilgrims each year who trek the Camino de Santiago (a pilgrimage trek that can span anywhere from 121km to 1000 km in length, depending on the route chosen). It was fun for all of us to watch exhausted travelers singing, laughing, and giving high fives and hugs to each other, all day long, outside of the cathedral. Afterward, we stopped for lunch at Agarimo, a pub in the Praza de Cervantes, where we sat outside and ate some of the freshest mejillones (mussels) we’ve ever had, followed by a napolitana (which is much like a chocolate filled croissant, and that immediately became our kids’ go-to breakfast and snack treat at every train station, bakery, or café for the rest of the trip). We then walked the streets of Santiago’s Old Town until our dinner at A Taberna do Bispo, where we ate navajas (razor clams), almejas (small clams), calamarcitos a la plancha (baby squid), and vieira y langostino a la plancha (scallops and prawns). While the baby squid and the clams were our favorites, all were delicious and warrant a recommendation and a return trip.
The next day, we woke up early for the 20 minute backpack-burdened walk to the Santiago train station, and took the train to A Coruña - a port city of approximately 250,000 people located roughly 40 minutes from Santiago de Compostela - where we stayed for 3 days. When we arrived, we dropped our bags at our hotel (Hostal La Provinciana, which was again in a great location, was clean, and had fewer niceties than the Oxford Suites had; Think three small beds, a bench, and a non-working tv), and walked to the Torre Hercules. This is a lighthouse with origins dating back to the 1st or 2nd century, which was rebuilt and repurposed several times over the centuries, until it was renovated into its current state and named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2007. It is certainly worth the trek up to the top of the lighthouse, if you’re patient enough to buy your ticket online and to wait for your entry time. After that, we walked to the Aquarium Finisterrae, where the kids got to see seals and sea life, including a “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” themed room beneath more than 1.3 million gallons of water populated by more fish, sharks, and rays than you could count. Dinner was tapas at Taberna de Cunqueiro, where we enjoyed more navajas, as well as berberechos (small clams otherwise called cockles) and zamburinas (variegated scallops), all as fresh and tasty as expected.
We spent the next day relaxing on the Playa Del Orzan, a roughly 1 mile long wide sandy beach in the center of A Coruña’s old town. While there, we watched locals compete in various land and sea relay races that involved sprinting, swimming, paddling on boards, paddling sprint canoes, and paddling kayaks in the rough surf. A few were incredibly skilled and athletic, and a few spent minutes getting rolled by breaking waves until exhaustion or shame forced them to quit. We spent the morning and afternoon eating bakery food, soaking up some sun, and pretending we wanted to swim. That water is COLD (roughly 63 degrees F)! Dinner was at Pulpeira Melide, which served only pulpo (octopus) and cochelos (Galician potatoes). The octopus was fantastic. For dessert, we stopped at Bombilla a la Vista for incredibly thick hot chocolate and churros.
On our last day in Galicia, we rented a car in A Coruña, and drove along the coast. It was a rainy day, but we made the most of it. We saw the waterfall at Ezaro, visited the lighthouse of Fisterra (which was, in Roman times, believed to have been the western-most end of the known world), climbed Monte Corpino and explored two churches in Muxia (after getting lost driving the incredibly narrow back alleys of the town under the very confused gaze of residents), and walked to the lighthouse of Camarinas. After driving back to A Coruna, we had an early night sleep, in preparation for our early morning train to Segovia.
-to be continued-