Know Before You Go: Spain
For the past couple of years, I have planned all of our vacations with a focus on landscape photography, hiking and getting lost as far as we could down random roads. Norway, New Zealand, Patagonia, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Iceland have all shared the same sort of pacing: land in a city, drive to a smaller town and then hike all day. Drive to the next small town, hike all day then stop into a tiny bar and order chicken wings and a bag of chips. Repeat for two weeks. We haven't spent much (if any) time visiting museums, drinking wine or eating in actual restaurants. Not that those countries don't have those things - that just wasn't on the itinerary.
After Norway, we both decided that we would do something a little different. Spend more time in cities. Drink wine and actually go out to eat. Appreciate architecture, art and history. Take tours. Sleep in.
Other than a one day layover in Madrid, neither of us have ever been to Spain, Jorge speaks the language and the price was right so it wasn't long before I had 18 days covering the Northern and Southern parts of the country mapped out. I really thought I had everything well in hand, and for the most part I did, BUT...Spain can be a tough nut to crack. The cities weren't as I expected, some advice I received didn't ring true (at least for us) and I came away with ideas to make this trip better the next time around. So, if you are planning a trip to Spain, these are some things that I wish I had known before I went.
1. The people are SO nice, maybe the nicest we've ever come across.
When we first landed in Madrid, we had about an hour to kill - with our luggage - before our AirBNB host could meet up with us. More on that later. So, we decided to wander around and find a cafe for breakfast while we were waiting. In the 15 minutes or so it took to decide on a restaurant, we had at least two different people stop us to ask if we needed help. We've spent a fair amount of our lives looking lost, and it's not all that common to have people try and help you, so this stood out. Strangers aside, even people that HAD to talk to us were nice about it. Waiters and bartenders took time to ask us questions, give us their opinions and seamlessly facilitated a more interpersonal relationship. Going out to eat sometimes felt like a family meal, and when you come from large families like us, that's a great feeling.
Unfortunately, everything didn't come up orange blossoms (see what I did there). We were rear ended our third day of vacation and were both understandably rattled. Another driver that was hit could have left the scene after a few minutes; instead, he stayed and helped make sure we were ok. He waited until we were completely done with the police and even checked in with Jorge, leaving him his phone number before he left. A couple days later when we had to return our rental car, our AirBNB host offered to go with us just in case he could be of service. This was 3 PM on a Thursday, and he just dropped whatever he had planned for the day to spend it with complete strangers at a Hertz office, trying to make sure we weren't taken advantage of. What was an incredibly stressful situation really only brought out the best in the people around us, and speaks volumes about the kind of people that make up this country.
Jorge and Pancho, our AirBNB host.
2. Smokey, smokey all the time.
Ok, first I hit you with the good stuff to reel you in and now I'm hitting you with the bad. Holy $hit the smoking. I visited Europe in the 90's and swear I saw less smoking than Spain in 2018. I saw mothers carrying their children with one hand and smoking with the other. Hikers lighting up directly on the trail. Waiters chain smoking right outside the restaurant...like literally right outside. Like, if you were sitting by a window they could have rubbed lotion on your elbows, right outside. Luckily, they aren't allowed to smoke indoors anymore, because if they could, they 100% would. I don't really care if people smoke - to each their own, I just don't want to have to do it with you. This wouldn't stop me from going, but if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke or for whatever reason have a fairly strong aversion to being exposed to it all the time then I would think about this before you booked a trip.
I don't have photographic proof of the smoking so here's a picture of a very good boy, instead.
3. It's hit or miss on whether or not the person will speak English.
I know some of you grumps out there are thinking, "No $hit, you're in Spain", but being a good ol' dummy I only know one language - AMERICAN. I just always assume that every European speaks 5 languages so whenever I get to a country like France or Spain where it's the exception, and not the norm for everyone to speak English as well, it comes as a little bit of a surprise. Can you get around without knowing any Spanish? Absolutely. Might you find yourself in a situation where you are SOL if you don't know any Spanish? Again, absolutely.
Jorge speaks it fluently so I got to ride on his coattails once again, but there were times when I really kicked myself for not knowing how to string a sentence together. Knowing the words for hand, food, bathroom and wife don't help you when you want to ask if a shirt is buy one get one half off, or buy two and get them both 50% off? In case you're wondering I just bought one shirt because I did not have the wherewithal to translate this complex situation.
So, before you go, spend even 15 minutes learning some basic phrases. I'll start you out: Vino rojo, por favor.
4. Southern Spain is really crowded.
Keep in mind that I was TRYING to get shots without a lot of people in them.
Even though we tried to go in the shoulder season, I don't think there's any real "down" time for tourism in Southern Spain. It's probably just "crazy" and "less crazy" season. We went at the end of April and nearly every major city was crowded beyond anything I have ever experienced, BUT, take that with a grain of salt because I don't have a scale of what is or isn't normal. Our first day was in Madrid and I expected it to be busy and crowded so when the line for the Prado museum wrapped down and around 2 city blocks, I shrugged it off. It wasn't until we arrived in Cordoba and I couldn't walk 10 feet through the Mezquita without touching 14 different people that I realized what the deal was. Southern Spain is like Disney World. You're not just visiting a different country, you're visiting a different country that is also basically a theme park and there are thousands of other people there with you.
However, all hope is not lost. Tourists in Spain are lazy. They want to drink wine, party all night and sleep in. This is your chance. Get up early and no one will be around. Not even THAT early if you, like me, wake up at the ass crack of dawn at home. 8 am is almost ungodly in Spain - if you can be out of your hotel by say 7 or 8 am, you will probably have the city nearly to yourself. Nothing will be open but you can get some great shots and have moments of solitude that will disappear by about 9-10.
Also, very crowded with doggies but no one minds and it's the best thing ever.
5. Northern Spain is a beautiful jewel and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I have decided that people giving travel advice for Spain either haven't been to the Picos or are just really canny about keeping Northern Spain a secret.
Don't go there! Spend all your time in Southern Spain! The Picos? Eh...mostly photoshopped.
So, remember when I said we were going to just relax and soak up culture in Spain? Ok, but like...not for 18 days. That would be crazy. I knew we had to get some time in the mountains, in a tiny village, hiking and eating squashed sandwiches, so I made traveling to the Picos de Europa a priority for the second part of our trip. So many people told me not to.
Nearly every person, online or in person, who gave me travel advice for Spain recommended spending all of our time in the South and skipping the North altogether. This is when my stubborn, middle child personality reared its ugly head and helped me out. I ignored them all and did it my way. I'm so glad I did. The North was the absolute highlight of our time in Spain and I can't say that I would be strongly tempted to go back to this country if we hadn't seen what the Basque region has to offer. The air was cleaner, there were far fewer tourists (just all the Spanish ones because they're smart), the landscapes were dazzling, the food was amazing and the entire experience was what we have come to love about traveling. See for yourself.
This was the only mode of transportation we did not take in Spain.
Whenever I book a rental car, I reserve just the basic rate ahead of time and we pay for that plus insurance when we pick it up. For the most part, FULL insurance is approximately double the basic rate. So, if the rental rate is say $260 for the week, with full insurance we budget about $600. Our basic rate for our rental car, for 8 days in Southern Spain was something like $190. Score, right? Maybe $400 or so with full insurance, we figured.
SURPRISE!
Full insurance was about $900. An additional $900. So, for our first rental car we decided to forego the agency's insurance, using our credit card coverage instead...and then we got rear ended. Resolution on that to be continued. But I digress, my point is, the insurance was way more than we were expecting and certainly disproportionately higher than the rental rate, in comparison to other countries we've visited.
But, the travel related expenses didn't end there! You can also expect to pay anywhere from $18 - $30 a DAY to park your car in the cities. Every city. Not just the main cities like Madrid and Barcelona, but also Cordoba, Sevilla, heck even Jerez de la Frontera. Washington D.C. is about $15 - $20, to put that in perspective. This was definitely a lot worse in Southern Spain, and makes sense with all of the tourism they have - they can't support a lot of automobile traffic. The cities simply aren't built for it. On that note, I would be remiss here in not addressing the fact that we drove in Southern Spain, anyways.
This seems to make people disgruntled.
Before we left, I trolled the Spain forums on TripAdvisor to see what other people thought about driving in Spain. Someone made the sarcastic comment that "of course an American wants nothing more than to shut themselves in a car for their entire vacation". Well...yeah, I guess I do.
I want to shut myself in a car so I can watch the map for Jorge, keep my eyes peeled and navigate a different route through an out of the way farming village. I want to see bakers trundling hand carts of bread to the bar down the street at 8 am and watch soccer fields full of students whiz by. I want to be able to pull over on the side of the road on a foggy morning, take a nap and wake up to see that the fog has rolled away to uncover a pristine valley. I want to be able to change my mind about visiting a city and instead stop at roman ruins at the beach. Jorge is an excellent driver, we take every precaution we can and try to be respectful. We wouldn't have our vacations any other way, and if you are the same it's relatively easy to do. Money aside, the driving was fine, just keep in mind the cities are NOT built for automobile traffic and the further in you go, the less likely you will be to get out unscathed. Plan your routes carefully and take your time. If you're not a driver, you're also set. The planes, trains, buses and metros in Spain are well thought out and logical. You can easily navigate to all the major cities using any of those modes of transportation.
7. Don't throw things at me, but Barcelona is a let down.
Maybe if everyone hadn't talked it up so much before we went. Maybe if I had a better appreciation for architecture. Maybe if I loved being surrounded by crowds and smoking pot. Maybe if I hadn't spent so much time being delighted by the Picos. I don't know - whatever the reason, when we got to Barcelona, I could have just as happily turned around and left. Just don't go out of your way to visit it unless you have a very specific reason for doing so. Sorry, Gaudi :(.
8. Teach yourself to appreciate red wine and olives (if you don't already).
If we had gone to Spain 4 - 5 years ago I would have been hoping for Riesling in a Spanish tapas bar and been disappointed in their Vino blanc. Suffice to say I would have totally missed out on some of the best wine simply because, like cheez its - I had some growing up to do. I am by no means a wine connoisseur and have no REAL idea what the difference is between Cabernet and Merlot, but I appreciate red wine and appreciated the hell out of the fact that you will be served some of the best red wine in the world in Spain. You will also be served some of the best olives, ham and seafood that you've ever had...but only if you're willing to eat it. So, if you can, before you go, try to teach yourself to have a more expansive palate. It's worth a shot anyways.
9. Your AirBNB hosts want to meet you.
This was from the window of the only lodging we had where there was self check in - it was a normal B&B and it was such a relief to not have a set time we had to be somewhere.
This is a tough one. I should preface this with the fact that you CAN choose your AirBNB accommodations based on whether or not they have independent access (lock box, front desk or similar). I don't because frankly, I don't really think about it and it's never been an issue before. Famous last words, because it kind of was in Spain. Every single AirBNB host we used wanted us to meet them at a predetermined time. For the most part, they were flexible on the time but they wanted to know exactly when it would be, they wanted a 60, 30 or 15 minute heads up and they didn't want the time to change once we had agreed on it. I am sure that you can appreciate how this might be difficult when you are on vacation. When we got rear ended and were understandably delayed, I had to worry about messaging our host and she all but threw our keys at us and dashed off when we finally arrived 2 hours later than planned. When a hike turned out longer than expected, we had to jog back to the car because we were barely going to make the 3 pm meet time we had arranged. Of everywhere I have used AirBNB, Spain was the most annoying in this regard. So, AirBNB users of Spain - please get lockboxes. I appreciate your advice and getting to meet you, but detailed instructions and a visit after check in would cover all the necessaries as well.
10. Spain is beautiful, but not in the way I'm used to.
I remember when we were driving around Iceland, if we got to a city that had a gas station with a cafeteria inside, it was like we hit the effing lottery. We're eating good tonight, baby! As sad as those sentences are, it's also kind of a fun feeling. Sometimes I like uncertainty. Will anything be open? Will there be any other tourists? Is there electricity? Well, wave goodbye to that when you go to Spain. While YES, there are sleepy little towns, for the most part you are staying and visiting big, tourist heavy cities. The landscape in much of Spain is flat so those big cities spread out before you as you approach and seem almost overwhelming. It wasn't like turning the bend along a craggy stretch of road in Ireland and coming upon a row of boldly colored houses and being instantly charmed. It was like driving towards the mother hive. At first, I was a little disappointed and wondered why everyone told me Spain was so beautiful. What's beautiful about a big city? Where are the mountains? Where are the open vistas? It took me a day or two to realize that at least for me, the beauty in cities is in pieces. The scent of orange blossoms and craggy knots of olive trees. The ornate doors. The view from a corner of the Alhambra, early in the morning. The smell of mint tea and a stretch of shockingly clean cobblestone streets. Obviously there are beautiful mountains in Spain, and vast landscapes too, but the majority of our time was spent in the cities, so I had to learn how to love them as well. I think I did a pretty good job.
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