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Madrid, Spain
Madrid is the first city in a long while that swept me off my feet. My inaugural visit was in May of 2022, and it was love at first sight. I wasn’t expecting to be so easily charmed, but the affable Madrileños, the beautiful buildings and squeaky clean streets, the abundance of green space, the distinctive cuisine – they all made it nearly impossible not to fall for Marid. This love story began – believe it or not – with…
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Costa de la Luz, Spain
After Seville, Charles and I headed to the Costa de la Luz, the western portion of Andalusia that abuts the Atlantic Ocean. This region stretches from the Portuguese border all the way down to Tarifa, the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula. We stayed in Jerez de la Frontera, the sherry capital of the world, and explored the coast via a rental car. It was the one place on our Spain trip where I felt like we didn’t have enough…
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Seville, Spain
After spending several days in Seville last May, I very quickly understood why people so easily fall in love with this place. As the seat and one of the oldest and most important cities in Andalusia, Seville oozes historic charm from its narrow, cobblestone streets dotted with orange trees and elegant plazas ringed with Moorish-inspired palaces and palatial churches. It has a reputable food scene, with a mix of innovative and classic tapas bars on just about every corner serving…
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Puente Nuevo, Ronda, Spain
Another highlight from my May 2022 trip to Spain was seeing the Puente Nuevo in Ronda. This stunning pile of engineering spans the tajo de Ronda, a 400-foot-deep chasm carved out by the Guadalevín river, which separates Ronda’s casco antiguo, known locally as La Ciudad, from the newer part of town. I hiked down (and back up) the Camino del Albacar to a mirador located on a rocky crag with jaw-dropping views of the bridge and, to my surprise, a…
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The Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Every trip has its favorite moment. On a recent vacation to Spain, mine was the afternoon Charles and I spent in Granada touring the Alhambra. The day began in Málaga, our base for four nights, where we got an earlyish start to make the 80-mile journey to Granada in our rental car. We took the coastal route along the A-7, Spain’s meticulously maintained Mediterranean corniche. It was a gorgeous spring day, with a cloudless sky and a beaming sun blanketing…
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Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
Guggenheim Bilbao should be on every world traveler’s bucket list. An icon of 20th-century architecture, this groundbreaking Frank Gehry-designed masterpiece was a game-changer for architects and aesthetes alike, as well as for the citizens of Bilbao. Constructed on the site of a post-industrial wasteland in this once thriving port city, the museum, which first opened its doors in October of 1997 after four years of construction, breathed new life into Bilbao and the surrounding Basque region. The prosperity that ensued…
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Beaches of the Basque Coast
With autumn setting in and winter on its way, I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the beaches of the Basque Coast – from the flysch-carved cove of Zumaia’s Playa de Itzurun to the white sands of San Sebastián’s iconic Playa de la Concha and the bustling energy of Biarritz’s La Grande Plage. Fed by the Atlantic waters of the Cantabrian Sea, the beaches of the Basque Coast span the shores of northeastern Spain and southwestern France. The vibe is more relaxed…
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Getaria, Spain
This tiny coastal village on the Cantabrian Sea packs a big punch. Aside from its picturesque old town centered around the dramatic Gothic Church of San Salvador, Getaria is renowned for its grilled fish jatetxeak (restaurants) and rolling hills covered in Txakolí vineyards. Txakolí (pronounced cha-ko-LEE), a refreshingly young and fruity white wine with slight acidity and effervescence, is served throughout the Basque region. For me, it was love at first sip. The most noteworthy jatetxea in town is Elkano,…
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Ruta del Flysch, Zumaia, Spain
Set within the Basque Coast Geopark, the Ruta del Flysch offers visitors 13 miles of scenic coastal trails, access to secluded coves, close-up views of some remarkable rock formations, and a chance to see over 60 million years of Earth’s history in the making. The Basque region is situated at the intersection of the Western Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean. Positioned literally along the brink of this formidable mountain chain, the Ruta del Flysch boasts miles of wave-cut cliffs (flysch)…
