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Category: Spain

The Beach and the Way Home

The Beach and the Way Home

We chose the campsite in Torre La Sal because it had a heated pool and was on the beach, but it was definitely the campground equivalent of the boring concrete boxes that line the Spanish Coast. Rows of identical spaces in straight lines, with little between them. And, like the concrete boxes, it was full of mostly retired and tanned Dutch, German and British couples down for the winter. And while some of the couples seemed to be getting out…

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To the Coast via Toledo

To the Coast via Toledo

Now completely done with cities, we decided to head for the beach. Well, maybe we’d hit just one more old city along the way – Toledo was supposed to be pretty impressive, the whole old city being a World Heritage Site – so we’d just stop there for a bit. It’s an ancient city influenced by all of the cultures who have held sway in Spain – the Romans, the Visigoths, the Moors and the Spanish. After finding parking and…

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Day in Madrid

Day in Madrid

The other side of switching to Spanish time and getting to bed late, is that we’re really getting a late start in the morning. Of course, as a night person, I’m OK with that. I’m actually pretty sure that my culture that best matches my body rhythm is Spanish. So, after catching two busses into the centre from the campsite, we were just in time for a late lunch (on Dutch time, perfectly normal lunch time for Spain). We decided…

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Pretty old stuff in Burgos and Segovia

Pretty old stuff in Burgos and Segovia

Figuring that the kids have about one cathedral in them per trip, we chose the one in Burgos. It’s a good choice, a World Heritage site, with enough ornateness to last us pretty much the entire trip. And the fact that we again had audio guides helped the kids keep interest for much longer than is normally the case. L was bored a lot sooner than K, who actually likes beautiful places and looking at pictures of Jesus. She’s actually…

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Spanish Time

Spanish Time

The problem with being Dutch is that everything is very well regulated. Everyone eats at 6 pm and has the kids in bed at 8 pm. It works really well, as long as you’re in the Netherlands. When you go elsewhere, it’s cultural jet lag. Nowhere is it more true than in Spain, where no one eats until 8:30 at the very earliest, and kids don’t go to sleep until at least 10 pm, later on weekends. But our kids…

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Alone with the kids to Bilbao

Alone with the kids to Bilbao

This year we had a three week May vacation so we decided to head to Spain in the camper. But as usual with our camper vacations, we didn’t get off to the start we wanted. The original idea was that I would leave on Monday with the kids and get to the Bordeaux area of France. I would then stay there on the beach for a couple of days before meeting Ivo in Bilbao on Friday. But then the delays…

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Una Semana en España

Una Semana en España

Going to Spain at the end of March is a wonderful idea – it’s nice and warm there, not hot, just pleasantly warm – and there aren’t too many other tourists. We left our house at 5 am in slushy snow on the 25th of March and flew into Málaga, stood in line for forever to pick up our rental car and drove it to the little house we had reserved in the village of El Borge, about 45 minutes…

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European Vacation

European Vacation

By the time I got to the airport after work on Friday, October 7th (cutting the time close, of course), I was utterly exhausted. I accepted the middle seat I was given as my penalty for being late. I was just glad to start my three-week vacation in Europe with my boyfriend. I was flying into Amsterdam, spending some time with him in Utrecht, and then we were taking his mother’s car and driving to Spain. After the summer I’d…

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