But as I’ve learned, it’s more about who you’re eating with than what you’re eating.

It’s a funny story about how I ended up in Spain. Dan and I met at a bar less than a year before, and, as he does, brought me into his friend group. Months later, he asked if I wanted to go to Spain. The rest is history – a decade of dinner parties, weddings, trips, celebrations, and shenanigans with Dan, Sarah, and Joanna.

At a dinner party earlier this year, we realized it would be the 10th anniversary of our trip, so it made sense to celebrate in a big way. Cue Chef Diego from Paella ATX, pitchers of tinto de verano and kalimotxo, empanadas, burnt basque cheesecake, and a long table of friends.

It was cool to share the paella experience with friends. It took me back to watching the paella being cooked near the beach, and it made me wish our long table could be transported to the middle of another epic trip.

I’ve been thinking about how quickly time flies, especially when I compare myself to the younger version 10 years ago. We aren’t the kids we were when we went to Spain. We try hard to hold on to how things were but change is inevitable. Thank goodness, it’s better than we thought, even with the highs and lows. And we get to sit around a table with new and old friends, feeling so lucky for all of it.

We hired Chef Diego who runs Paella ATX. This is a fun dining experience in Austin! Our paella for 24 people took about an hour and a half, and Chef brought everything needed, including bowls and forks. The pricing is a flat cooking fee plus a per-serving fee. You can choose the type of paella, and our seafood paella included shrimp, fish, mussels, octopus, and squid.

Want to go back in time and read about my Spain trip? Here are the posts to check out:

• Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
• Barcelona: My Favorite City in Spain
• Eating and Drinking Through Spain
• 7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel
• Adventures in Spain Travel Video

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Want to travel to Spain? In 2013, I went on an unforgettable trip to Spain with three friends. Two weeks, nine cities, seven cathedrals, four museums, three castles, and many more famous sights. Our group was a bunch of foodies so there were meals and meals of delicious food.

I shot a lot of video clips during that trip with the intention of creating a summary video and I’m glad I can finally say I’m checking it off the list! If you’re wondering about the video quality, I shot this on my old point-and-shoot camera I got in 2006. Ha!

Before this trip, I had traveled a handful of times (domestic and international, mostly family vacations), but this experience sparked a new inspiration for travel. Spain is an incredibly beautiful country and one of the few places I’ve visited and am itching to return. Our whirlwind trip made me wish for more time and I know there are many more beautiful cities and areas to visit in Spain.

My friend and travel mate Sarah planned the majority of this trip and we relied a lot on Rick Steves’ Spain guidebook. The book contains invaluable recommendations and tips. If you’d like to see photos from my trip and read tips about traveling Spain, check out my Spain posts:

• Eating and Drinking Through Spain
• 7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel
• Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
• Barcelona: My Favorite City in Spain

View more of my videos here.

Keep up with me elsewhere! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

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Traveling to Spain enlightened my wanderlust and was a learning experience in traveling smart and happy. Here are seven Spain and travel-related things I learned. 

1. Buy the Spanish train pass to save money.
One area we saved a lot of money on was in train transportation between cities. Before we left for Spain, we realized we had’t left enough time for the Europe rail passes to be sent to us, so we had to buy them after we arrived. Instead of buying the Europe rail pass as recommended, we found out there was a special Spain train pass for tourists. This allowed us to save money and gave us the same options of rides. When you’re planning a trip or in the midst of traveling, think of the possibilities and ask.

2. Rick Steves is a great guide.
I’m not sure what we would have done without Rick Steves’ guidebook. Because we wanted to do, see and visit so much in two weeks, we used it to plan out our route, book our hotel rooms, find great restaurants for every meal, find our way around cities, and it even served as an “audio guide” at many sights. The recommendations for affordable and quality hotels and restaurants were stellar and it saved a lot of time and possible unfortunate situations. We even ran into several people along our trip with the same guidebook. If you’re a planner like me and want to get the most bang for your buck on a trip, I’d definitely recommend using it on any European trip. My only criticism is some maps in the book aren’t drawn to scale so in Spanish cities with no grid system, we got off the path a few times.

3. You can get by without knowing Spanish…kind of.
One of our travel mates was somewhat fluent in Spanish, so we lucked out. A lot of times she helped us get where we needed to be or deciphered things on the menu, but when I was off by myself or none of us knew, we found that a lot of Spanish knew enough English or were willing to listen to slow Spanish to help us understand and have a conversation. In the future, I would study languages for basic directions, places and menu items.

4. Have alone time from your travel mates.
Two weeks with the same people 24/7 can be exhausting, and it’s possible you all have different personalities and stressful situations will arise. Making time for yourself to unwind and reflect at the end of the day is so nice, especially if you’re an introvert like me. This helps you start the day fresh and team-focused!

5. It’s fun to get lost when you’re not in a hurry.
When we happened to get lost and were not racing to our next sight or to catch a train, we found that we really enjoyed going off the map and seeing where it took us. Many times we took general directions or neighborhood pointers from our guidebook and explored the area without it.

6. Plan time to relax.
Even though we aimed to squeeze in as many landmarks and sights as we could during our trip, we scheduled a beach day with no set plans except laying under an umbrella and sipping on sangria. Granted, it was a well-known beach town we crossed off the list, but it was so nice to take a break towards the end of our trip and just relax. Even if it’s retiring to your hotel early one night, getting enough rest when traveling is crucial! I would also recommend leisurely dinners.

7. I love Spain.
From the laid-back attitude to the welcoming and helpful encounters, I thought Spain was a very fun place to visit. It’s well-rounded with great food, sights, culture, weather, and easy transportation. I loved traveling to different parts of Spain and experiencing the culture in different parts of the country. The cities are energetic and eclectic and those Spanish countryside views were breath-taking. The country is filled with history, art, and things to discover.

I’ll conclude by saying that Spain is an absolutely delightful, educational and energetic country to visit and I’m looking forward to returning for more tapas, a slower pace of life.

Want to read more about my trip to Spain? Check out:
Barcelona: My Favorite City in Spain
Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
Eating and Drinking Through Spain

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One of the best things about Spain was the food. If you’re a wanderlusting food-lover, Spain is the place to go. I traveled with the most food-enthusiastic and food-adventurous people I know, so you bet every meal was an ambitious effort to try something new, different and top-notch.

As any country, Spain has traditional dishes unique to the country. Tapas (small plates) are popular and ordering a few tapas to share satisfied our group of four on more than one occasion. A few restaurants had the traditional counter-top tapas, giving you the option to take and pay by the bite, which was like a crostini with your choice of toppings. Other restaurants were small servings of dishes, providing an easy way to order several to try.

For breakfast, we usually enjoyed pan con tomato, which is bread rubbed with tomato and drizzed with olive oil. Sometimes jamón was added on top. Similar to prosciutto, jamón (serrano or iberico, depending on where it’s from) was abundant. As we learned at our meal at a Spanish family’s home, families have jamón at the ready on their kitchen counter. I also loved the tortilla de patata, which is like a potato slice-filled, crustless quiche.

For drinks we loved getting fresh-squeezed orange juice and cafe con leche, which was a small but potent cup of coffee. The fresh-squeezed orange juice was one of my favorite things about waking up in Spain.

We tried churros con chocolate (fried dough and chocolate to dip it in) one morning. Yum!

Lunch and dinner were tapas meals, though every meal was slightly different and depended on the city we were in. Side note: we stayed pretty close to an American eating schedule since eating lunch early meant avoiding crowds, but we did end up eating dinner later on multiple occasions. Spainards eat lunch between 1-3 p.m. and dinner between 9 p.m. to midnight.

Hands down, our favorite dish was rabo de toro (oxtail). It was a flavorful, beef stew-like, braised dish.

We also had an abundance of seafood, including fried calamari, anchovies, and shrimp.

In Segovia, we had to try the famous cochinillo asado (roasted suckling pig). We also tried the fried version. (Yes, that’s what it looks like below.)

In Toledo we tried the famed marzipan dessert. It’s very sweet and made with sugar and almond meal. It was not my favorite at all but it looked pretty.

Of course, we can’t forget paella! The ones we had were made with different kinds of seafood. We even ate a paella buffet at Ayo’s on the beach in Nerja! Mr. Ayo, the ever-present owner, and his team were cooking it nonstop in a huge skillet.

We had plans to go to Morocco one day but all boat trips were cancelled because the wind was too strong to get across the Strait of Gibraltar. We were disappointed but we made up for it with Granada’s Moroccan quarter a few days later. Arrayanes is where we enjoyed the best and my first Moroccan meal I’ve ever had.

Cupcakes aren’t a popular dessert in Spain since they’ve got plenty of other delicious dessert choices, but we managed to run into one cupcake shop, Cup & Cake in Barcelona. (The American-born cupcake popularity made it over there!) The one we tried, something with honey, was delicious!

When it comes to drinks, water is usually more expensive than wine in Spain, and yes, you had to pay for it! (Side note: After I got back to the U.S., I gulped down cups of free water at restaurants since I had taken it for granted!) If you’re supposed to do what the Romans do when in Rome, when in Spain, you drink wine or sangria with every meal except breakfast.

Of course, we indulged in gelato!

We thought almost all of the restaurants we went to were stellar and we found most of them through the Rick Steves guidebook. The least favorite restaurants were places we found on the fly because we were hungry or in a hurry. Thanks, Rick!

What’s a favorite food/dish you’ve discovered while traveling?

Want to read more about my trip to Spain? Check out:
Barcelona: My Favorite City in Spain
Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel

Keep up with me elsewhere! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’, or Snapchat (@wanderlustanita). You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

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Even though my favorite city in Spain was Barcelona, we saw amazing sights throughout our trip. Since we visited nine cities in the span of 2 weeks, we made sure to visit the must-see sights in those cities. Ten sights stand out as the most memorable of our trip.

1. La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
As I shared in my Barcelona post, La Sagrada Familia was a riveting sight of creativity and history. This is a must-see!

2. La Boqueria, Barcelona
When I go back to Spain, I want to indulge in fresh fruit more. That’s why La Boqueria, the market on La Rambla, is one of my favorites. I loved the fresh fruit and juices and all the food stalls.

3. Prado, Madrid
The Prado has an unbelievable number of famous masterpieces, and we spent a whole day indulging in it. Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez was my favorite, and I also loved several pieces by Rubens, Bosch, El Greco and Goya. Art history fans will love this museum.

4. La Mezquita, Córdoba
Not only does the La Mezquita have a beautiful, expansive and unique interior, but the history behind the interior fascinated me. It was built as a medieval Islamic mosque and then converted into a Catholic Christian cathedral.

5. Real Maestranza Bullring and Museum, Sevilla
I was hoping to see a bullfight because it is a traditional part of the Spanish culture but in actuality, I’m not sure I would have handled seeing the goriness! Since our schedules didn’t line up to see one, the bullring and museum in Sevilla was the next best thing. Sevilla and Madrid are the two most popular and passionate cities when it comes to bullfighting. We learned a detailed history and culture from our tour guide and we got to see behind the scenes, from where the bullfighters prayed before entering the ring to where the bulls were kept, in addition to the center stage.

6. La Casa del Flamenco, Sevilla
Another necessity in experiencing Spanish culture was a flamenco show. It’s a very emotional, technical and mesmerizing performance with singing, guitar, dance and handclaps.

7. La Alhambra, Granada
A palace and fortress, La Alhambra sits majestically above Granada. Islamic tradition, Arabic inscriptions and geometric patterns cover the interior. Room after room, La Alhambra is a place of details to discover and history to learn. Mirador de San Nicolas is a lookout point across town that gives a fantastic view of La Alhambra, as seen in the night photo.

8. Cathedral de Toledo
We saw many, many cathedrals but the one in Toledo was my favorite. The interior is incredibly elaborate. The gothic-style altar depicts the story of Jesus’ life and the another section of the cathedral is a huge marble altar with sculptures of the Virgin and Child and natural light shining down on it.

9. Burriana Beach, Nerja
I LOVED our beach day and this beach was pretty perfect. Nerja is on the southern coast of Spain and touches the Alboran Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea. The water was chill and crisp, the sand was hot, the crowds were manageable and the food and drinks were plenty. Our beach day was towards the end of our trip and a welcome day of relaxation in between packed days of sight-seeing.

10. Teatro Kapital, Madrid
I debated my final favorite sight for a while because listing a nightclub with all of these other historical sights just seemed wrong. But, when it comes to unique, fun and memorable places we went in Spain, this makes the list. We knew Spain, especially Madrid, was known for a vibrant nightlife, but our packed daytime schedule left us little time and energy to really experience it. Plus, it wasn’t a priority for us. On the last night we were all together, we decided to see what it’s all about, and we ended up choosing Teatro Kapital. It had 8 stories with different themes/music on each and it was packed! It ended up being a very fun night and experience. Our group matching in black was a coincidence!

As you can imagine, we saw tons more on our trip. In two weeks, we visited at least 20 well-known sights, landmarks, attractions! In addition to what I listed above and in my Barcelona post, here are some other sights we saw:

Barcelona
-Gothic Quarter
-Museu Picasso

Segovia
-Cathedral de Segovia
-Alcazar of Segovia

Toledo
-Casa de Santa Cruz

Córdoba
-Los Patios de Alcazar Viejo

Sevilla
-World Exposition Park
-Real Alcazar
-Cathedral de Sevilla (inside is the Tomb of Christopher Columbus)
-Metropol Parasol

Granada
-Cathedral of Granada
-Tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella

What’s your favorite landmark or attraction you’ve experienced in your travels?

Want to read more about my trip to Spain? Check out:
Barcelona: My Favorite City in Spain
Eating and Drinking Through Spain
7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel

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I went to Spain this past June, and there is so much to share about my trip. Spain had been at the top of my travel list for about 10 years, ever since my six years of Spanish classes in junior high and high school and learning so much about the language and culture. So, when some friends mentioned they were beginning to plan a trip, I thought, why not?! Six months later, we were there!

Two weeks, 9 cities, 7 cathedrals, 4 museums, 3 castles and much, much more is hard to condense. There were so many great sights. If it were only unstrung words, I’d say unforgettable, incredible, exhausting, revealing, humbling, and eye-opening.

I loved that our trip included nine different cities in different parts of the country. We visited: Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Sevilla, Nerja, Córdoba, Granada, and Tarifa. Each city was filled with its own traditions. My favorite Spanish city is Barcelona because of its mix of history and modernism. My favoritism may also be a little biased because we started our adventures there, and we had a wonderful personal guide, a former student of one of my travel mates, who we joined for a home-cooked dinner with her family, but Barcelona was full of unique sights.

Castelleres
We started exploring Barcelona right away when we landed around 10 a.m. Our first day was led by our guide Bea who took us around popular streets and squares. We were excited to coincidentally happen upon castelleres! These human towers usually occur during Catalan festivals, but they happened to be practicing. It was so fun to see this talent, strength and tradition.

La Rambla
La Rambla is a very popular street filled with shops and street performers and sprinkled with history. My favorite stop on this 0.7 mi street was La Boqueria, a market full of jamon, seafood, chocolate, fruit and the freshest fruit juices.

Magic Fountain of Montjuic
This majestic fountain gave a great light show, accompanied by music. We happened to be in town one of the four nights they did the show and hundreds of people gathered to watch it.

La Sagrada Familia
This church is hands down the most amazing thing I saw in Spain. The grandeur of it, the details in it, the carefulness in building it, Gaudí’s great creation is filled with history, talent and inspiration. In the picture of the model below, the dark brown part is what has been built and the rest is what is projected. The anticipated completion date is 2026.

Park Guell
A Gaudí-commissioned project, this park sits higher than parts of Barcelona. The park’s structures and features differ around every corner yet they are all Gaudí’s architecture.

La Pedrera aka Casa Milà
Built by Gaudí, this 4-floor building is easily recognizable from the facade. My favorite part of this building is the interesting roof, which is thought to be the inspiration for the stormtroopers in the Star Wars movies.

One last note about why Barcelona was my favorite city: this is the only place we found real cupcakes and it tasted delicious! Visit Cup & Cake if you get the chance!

What’s your favorite city?

Want to read more about my trip to Spain? Check out:
Top 10 Favorite Sights in Spain
Eating and Drinking Through Spain
7 Lessons Learned About Spain and Travel

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