Trips to Spain
Being the closest neighbor of Portugal, Spain was naturally a frequent destination, sometimes as a final objective some other times as an extension to a trip in Portugal, or just a way to cross towards Europe. Here I will try to post my notes according to the most important trips to Spain.
In a specific page I list the trips across Spain, and it is also possible to browse them by region.
In 1989 I decided to make my first great trip with the kids. To start, Andorra was a temptation to buy a camera, and, passing quickly by Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca and Avila, after a first night in Madrid and a quick view of the city, the second leg, with a single stop in Monasterio de Piedra, took us straight to Andorra. A full day shopping around, and the third day, already filming, allowed the visit of Monserrate, skipping Barcelona to sleep in Salou.
The third leg took us to Valencia, to pick the ferry to Palma de Majorca, with a stop in Ibiza. Half an hour after arrival, the car was assaulted during the day, and the camera was gone.
The trip proceeded according to the plans, but the week in Altea and the visit of Almeria and Torremolinos before arriving in Algarve didn’t have the same enthusiasm.
Many times I crossed the border to stay by the sea in one of the many Spanish beaches.
Puerto de Santa Maria, Marbella, Benalmadena, Torremolinos, Estepona, Fuengirola, Benidorm, Altea, La Manga del Mar Menor and Roquetas de Mar were, in different years, place of summer vacations, allowing to visit in day trips or in the way, places like Ayamonte, Isla Canela, El Rompido, Cartaya, Jerez de la Frontera, Chiclana de la Frontera, Sancti Petri, Cordoba, Ronda, Mijas, Antequera, Écija, Osuna, Jaen, Motril, Calahonda, Castel de Ferro, Salobreña, Almeria, Cartagena, Murcia, Aguadulce, Albacete, Cuenca, San Martin de la Vega, Toledo, and more.
The first time I left Portugal was in… 1963. Yes, when I was a young boy, the trip of the high-school finalists took us to Andalucia and Seville, Granada and Cadiz were a dazzle.
The party started in Alcácer do Sal and Beja, and included Aracena, Málaga, São Roque, La Línea,, and Huelva, skipping Gibraltar for political reasons forgotten after all this time.
Fortunately, most of those highlights and more, could be visited again and often, in more recent trips.
I made three trips to Galicia: The first one, by the coast, took us from Vigo to La Coruña, visiting Pontevedra, El Grove, La Toja, Vilagarcia de Arosa and Santiago de Compostela.
The second was a quick trip to dance in Tui.
The third was across the interior, visiting Lugo and descending along Orense and Celanova.
As a matter of fact I was there once more, this year, just crossing from Montalegre to Lindoso, both in the Portuguese side of the border.
Canary islands were a destination for two weeks of vacation, one in Grand Canaria, the other in Tenerife. It was a good solution, because , despite the disappointment of the cold sea water both island are different with many interesting places and fun