Ah Spain!

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[Music]
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Buenos, welcome to ah Spain. Hi Tanya. Hi buen Buen Verano. Happy
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Okay, that sounds good. So, do you have an Obain for us today?
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I do. It's very It's This one's very Spanish. Okay. and and we differ because you're
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in an international school and we're in a school that's following the Spanish calendar now more I mean and local ones.
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So the some of the Spanish schools will have also a local holiday to the to that
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little town that has nothing to do with the rest of their little Spain. Yeah. So you are
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starting on Monday Monday September 8th. We are starting on
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Tuesday, September 9th, because Monday is a holiday. So, we're literally starting the school year with a holiday.
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Of course, it is. Of course. Why wouldn't you be? So, while I'll be rejoicing in my my my
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child-free home, you'll still be you'll still be making snacks and lunches and
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we will still be trying to figure out how the uniform works and making sure that everything's in the backpack and
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all that good stuff. Well, hopefully we'll be more organized than that. it. Yes, we do have an extra day. Gotcha. Well, that kind of leads us in.
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Well, you know, it's the end of the summer, so I guess we should recap. I mean, that's what this episode's about is us recapping what we did with our
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families this summer. What what excursions we we took? Absolutely. I have two children and you have a
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husband, a dog, and a child. So, yes. And a few cats. They didn't come on
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holiday with us. So, we took Yeah. We took the car and the dog. And you took
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and your child. I hope. I hope you took your child. Yes. Well, I mean, I'm as I'm a I'm just
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assuming that everybody knows that the family went. Yes. And then the other things.
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Yes. And we did a train trip. So, we went to Anducia for the summer. So, well, not for the summer, our summer
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vacation. We went away for a week and we did a train trip. So, me and my daughters and they we met our their
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godmother, one of my best friends. She flew down from London and met us and did the trip with us. But it was a train
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only trip. So it was relaxation from the moment we left basically left the house till we arrived. I didn't have to worry
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about driving and traffic and cars which you know you Well, and I think that's kind of like
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the the pro there's pros and cons to each, right? I mean, we had the the freedom to go wherever we wanted because
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we were driving and we did change our mind. We were going up to France and we went to France and we went to Melier and
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when we came back we decided to take a different route and go by Zaragoa and then come back to Valencia. So we did
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decide to change our mind and that's probably something that's easier if you have a car. Also we have the dog so I
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don't even think Blaze would be allowed on the train. It's just too big. Yeah. I don't think they allow big dogs like that. I think you can bring I think
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if they can fit in a ca you know carry-on case that's about it. I mean that's about it. Yeah. So we so that's
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kind of the benefit but you know we we have the cost of obviously the cost of gas and toll roads and you can you know
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use ways and go around the toll roads but it will take you a lot more time usually. And
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now does Spain have toll roads? Cuz I remember years ago driving through Europe and being murdered in my wallet
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by the tolls in like France and Switzerland and those tunnel tolls. I'm like €30. I'm like what? So
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yeah, I think we probably spent around 20 or 30 euros each way on tolls. We
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could have gone around them. So we did the little like touring around in different places, you know. We sort of
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we stopped at Tarragona. We stopped at Fagetas to see the Darly Museum. We we
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stopped and then we we tried to power through because we really wanted to get to France. That was kind of the purpose of the trip was to get into France. And
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but it takes a really long time to get from from Valencia to France. I mean, by the time we got into France, we were
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quite close to Melier, but we had wanted to obviously go to France. And we had I
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had not realized that there's a big chunk of France right there that's like called French Catalunia. And you know,
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I'm sure that's still very French, but we really wanted to get into the France France part. So, we couldn't just cross the border and hang out there. We
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because you're like, it's Spainike, right? It's Yeah, it's it's got to be. It's got to be a little Spainike. We didn't stop
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to see how how it is, but we we plowed through and went to went to Melia, which was which was really nice. So, that was
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our little where we went, you know. Okay. There. So, we went to Andalucia and we went to
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just three cities. We went to Sevilla, Cordova, and Granada. So, we got kind of like it was kind of a let's see all the
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big sites and to see that area of Spain and taste the flavors and and do all of
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that. And it was great, you know, and the train was great because we got to see the countryside of Spain. And I'm I
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think we've discussed this before that Spain is the leading producer of olive oil. And when you're taking the train
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through all of Spain and all you see are olive trees, not hard to figure that out. So
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that's true. Yeah. You're seeing I mean you're seeing different I don't know what it was like
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when you're taking the train in all the southern parts. We had a pretty that the ride the drive up through France and
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even all even over to Melier was was very similar terrain to here. But then when we came down and we sort
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of made a a west turn at Barcelona to get to Zagosa, that drive was
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spectacular. That was big like big mountains. I mean absolutely gorgeous.
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Completely different to the other part of our trip. Was it aid or was it more green there? Because it was it
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I don't think it's it was very green. It was sort of pine tree mountains but it wasn't and big mountains. So we were I
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sort of felt a little bit like I was in Switzerland going through the little tunnels you know and things like that which was really cool but it wasn't I
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don't think it wasn't yet what I imagine the very northern western part of Spain
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being which I would imagine to be much more much more green and lush. Right. And by the time we got to Zaragoa, going
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from Zaragoa back down to um Valencia, which is like a big triangle, you're going to sort of Barcelona, Zarago,
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Valencia, then it's starting to get quite dry coming down. Of course, it was like it was like 105 the day we left
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Zarago. We we were traveling in that in those few days when it was 100 plus and it was insane. So the fact that
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everything was dry and sort of yellow, I don't know whether an indication of how things usually are or whether it had
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just been hot for, you know, the last month. Obviously things change in the winter, but it was beautiful. That drive
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was gorgeous. Sounds it. Yeah. I mean, the train ride was gorgeous. I will say one thing about
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Andalucia is which was funny. When I was telling people from Valencia we were
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going to Andia, everyone looked at me like I was insane. They're like, "Oh, the heat. How could you go? It's crazy.
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It's Satan's mouth down there. And I'm like, they're known for that. Yeah, they're kind of known for that. And then we get there and I'm like, what
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are you talking about? It's beautiful. It is hot. It was like 10° uh Fahrenheit
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warmer than here, but also like 80% less humidity there. So, I didn't
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sweat at all once. And we were climbing mountains and Granada and all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, there's it's a
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dry heat. And I grew up in a dry heat. And I grew up in Vegas and so that dry heat I was like, "Oh, this is this is
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So you didn't mind that as much?" I loved it. I was in heaven. I was in heaven. And I will say on our return
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once the train doors open in Valencia, we were just covered in sweat. All of us. It just drenched.
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Well, and it's funny because anyone that's been listening to us will know that we argue um and disagree a lot
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about the humidity in Valencia. And around that same time, we were doing
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something in we had to go down into the city near the near the beach and we left the mountains. And I I'm going to agree
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with you now that the difference in humidity between the city here and the mountains, tremendous, right?
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I'm not saying this is every day all the time, but that day, I mean, we we I mean, it's hot and it was a little
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sticky up here. We got in the car. We got down there. We got out of the car and we were like, "Oh my god." Like, "I
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can't breathe." And and I can't breathe and I need to get back into air conditioning.
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And then just to confirm it, when we got back in the car and we were like, "Well, maybe we're just imagining it. Maybe it
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got humid in the last hour, right?" So, we did the same thing. We get back in the car, we get we get we get out of the
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car up here and it was back to normal. Big difference. Tanya, I accept your apology. So,
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So I So yeah, I think that's all those times I just couldn't imagine that the humidity could be that different.
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Well, we're closer to the water and then if you go to the beach cabin from like where we live at another 10%. So it's
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just really that's where we were. So we were in Cabana. It was very humid. It was insane. Yes, it was insane. We were I
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couldn't believe it. And I mean it's got to have been another 10% or something. So yeah. So, I can see why you would
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have enjoyed the the heat. It was lovely. The thing is it's so dry there. They have misters on like all the
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sidewalks. Well, actually in Sevilla, they had misters on all the sidewalks to cool you down. And it does cool you down. But if you put misters on the
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sidewalk in Valencia, you're just wetting everything more, right? Like you're just Oh, so that's so funny since you
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mentioned misters cuz they had misters in the train station in Melier. So, we
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went cuz the reason why we weren't we weren't taking a train. We were just walking through it. Um because there was
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there was there was a shop in there that Zena wanted to visit. So we ended up in the train station and it was hot. It was
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very hot when we were there. We went and there was a place that we had gone and got ice cream that was sitting. We were
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seated outdoors and they had the misters and it was delightful. It was a wonderful combination of cooling off,
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right? They kind of blast at you for like a second and then they go away and they come back and blast at you. Right. The train station indoor of the
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train station had misters going. It made it feel like, have you walked through one of those botanical garden indoor
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places where they keep it humid, right? Yeah. That's what that felt like. I'm like, why are you misting inside? Now you're
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creating this massive humidity. Unbearable. You don't want that.
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And misting without an air conditioner to dry it off, too, right? It was so damp and just hot and I was
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like, "You got 3 minutes inside the store." Oh, that sounds horrible. So So, so you drove down with the kids
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now and with the kids with your child and your and your dog, and I know a lot of people refer to their dogs as kids,
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so I'm appealing to all of our listeners. For a baby. For a baby.
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What was it hard to find accommodations? And did you mix it up? Did you stay in
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hotels and Airbnbs or like what? Yeah, let's let's talk about accommodations a little bit. We did a
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combination. So, where we were staying longer, Melier, we stayed in a like an Airbnb type situation. I don't know if
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it was actually Airbnb cuz we got it on booking, but it's a someone's apartment and we did that because we like to have
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a bit of flexibility. We don't want to eat out every meal. We want and especially cuz since we were going to France, it was like
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we were eating out for certain things and then we wanted to go to the grocery store. One of the joys of being in
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another country, go to the grocery store, get some good French cheeses, baguettes, some, you know, butter, all
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these yummy, delicious things and and go to the petissery and get some nice pastries and have that at home. So, that
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was kind of a choice that we made. And so, we kind of like doing that. And then in the other places, we we just stayed
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in a hotel cuz we're just like literally staying overnight and that was easier. But we've never I've never had problems
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finding a place with a dog. You just put that in the filter and you're good to go. But I do, since we have a big dog, I
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will just double check and make sure that they're not expecting a Chihuahua. And then when they see us at like midnight, they're like, "Oh, I'm sorry.
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Did we not tell you that we don't accept German Shepherds?" There's a 2 kilo limit and you're like, "Oops."
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Yeah. Because, you know, we can all drive in the car, but I don't think we all want to be sleeping in it. That would be like really not comfortable.
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So, I I do always check that, you know, because that makes it easier, I think. Right. Right. Yeah. We We just did
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hotels. We because my friend was coming with us, we also wanted her to have her own space and us to have our own space.
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So, you know, it was her trip, too. And she doesn't necessarily need to hear me yelling at the kids to get out of bed
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and get off their tablets, you know? She doesn't need to be unreaxed. You know what I mean? So, she got a whole other floor of the
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hotel hopefully. Actually, yes, she did in both in both
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places and and both times on the opposite side, too. So there was no she was going to hear us through the through
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the outside if her window was open either. So does that mean somebody So that's interesting because I don't think I mean it's been a long time since I've stayed
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in a hotel with with somebody else in a different room like that. Like did one of you get better views? Like how does
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that work? Like was there some jealousy going on? There was a little there was a little envy in our first not and our and our
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second hotel. So our first hotel um we in Sevilla we were so pleasantly
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surprised when we arrived it went above our expectations. So you we we book
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these things together and like you know looked at booking you know I book through hotels but I go through booking and or any of
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those Expedia to look at all what are all the options and so we were doing that together and I was like well this hotel looks like it's in the area where
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it needs to be. It says it's got three beds because, you know, three separate people. It's not a It's not couples and
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a child. It's three separate people that need three beds. So, one thing I love about traveling in Europe is that is a
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thing here. Finding a hotel in America with three separate beds. Not going to happen.
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You're going to get two full beds, two queen beds in a room for four people, but you're not getting accommodations
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for kids to have their own bed. They're sleeping together. It's not a thing. But here, you know, it's surprising here.
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It's like family rooms are a thing. You can find hotels with five beds in them,
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right? Bunk beds and that kind of thing, which was so cool. So, we found a hotel that had three separate twin beds. And
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obviously, one was added cuz our our our nightstands didn't match up to the
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headboards that were plastered to the wall. You know what I mean? But it wasn't a cop either. It was a real twin
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size. It's a real bed. We had the same thing. And and the extra bed was clearly added because it was taking up space that we
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would have had obviously, right? Like I could see how the room was designed, right? And then they added the bed which took
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up sort of Yeah. took up some space which is totally fine. Like you said, we each ended up with a proper bed. So,
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right. No one was No one was kicking me which was was the key thing. But that hotel really surprised and our view was
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amazing. We were staying on this was in Sevilla. We were staying on the plaza with the lasas which are these that big
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mushroom sculpture. I don't know if you know about that. And we can talk about the sites in a little bit of that. We did get to see we had a Juliet balcony
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and it opened right to that. So we got to see that from our room and the room was small but it was really wellappointed and we were like this is
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amazing. And then we didn't stay overnight in Cordova. That was an afternoon but and then Granada we got there and that hotel it
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met our expectations but our rooms were huge. We all had huge rooms but our friend she had a big huge balcony. And here's the
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thing is and this was a large hotel with like wings. Do you know what I mean? like it wasn't just like a tower that
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was one hallway that you could get lost. And from our room, we could see her balcony
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and we saw her out there sitting with a cup of coffee and we were like, "What? Romeo and Juliet balcony?"
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No, we didn't have a And then Granada, we didn't have a balcony at all. So, we had a gorgeous view, but she had she had
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room to throw a party and I was like, "Oh, oh my god. So jealous."
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So, another another thing about the about the hotels and stuff is if you have a car, you know, if you're staying
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in the middle of a city like that, the parking is going to cost you, right? Like even if like the places that have
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parking, it might be on the next block, it's unlikely to be under the hotel. So,
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it's probably they have a they you will have parking, but you will easily pay €20 a night for parking minimum. So,
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that's just Yeah. So sometimes it might be easier to stay in a nice place outside of the city and just drive in
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and park and do your thing and drive out again. So it depends on how you want to do it, but you'll definitely be paying a
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a premium price for parking in cities that are popular for and that's what we ran into in in Zaragoza. Mhm.
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But yeah, so it does it does depend. I think what I didn't what I wanted to we did we
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we brushed on your experience of the driving but we didn't talk about what
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the train situation was like. So I think yes please tell tell I would like to know I would actually like to know how
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you book the trains because you know we're driving so we're just taking the roads. We're good. Like if you're
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booking a train like when I'm in England I'll use like train line because they seem to know it's more complicated. They
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need to know when things are things are always closed in England and whatever, but here are you I know there's
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different types there's different companies that do different trains. Do you get that all in one app or do you like how do you do it?
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People do use Train Line here and Omio. Those are the apps. I don't use them.
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I'm I'm a go to the site people and I've lived here long enough that I know everything. It's like it's I don't want
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to say I know everything. Sorry. I know it all. You know enough. I know enough. You've well you don't
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have a car so you do know a lot more than a lot of us about how to use the trains. So maybe not everything but a
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lot. But a lot. Yeah. So I've been here long enough to know that there's basically three train lines. There's Renfe which
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is the stateown and they have their own divisions in that. They have the A which is the highspeed, the Alo which is the
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high-speed discount train and then okay their other trains which are like their medium distance the slower speed trains
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that and then there's we go which is a French company which is a discount train and IO which is an Italian company which
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is a discount train but they have very limited routes. It's like Valencia, Madrid, Madrid, Barcelona, Barcelona, I
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mean then Madrid to like Anderucia to Sevilla, maybe down to Kadis, but it's not going to all these other cities. So,
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but Renfe is also doing those routes. It's also doing those routes as well as all the other routes in Spain. So,
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you're going to need Renfe to get to a lot of cities and we go and are kind of like the popular routes. They cover
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those. And so, in my experience, we go's been the cheapest. IO is like next up and then
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like AO and then A is very expensive comparatively and it also depends when
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you book right so if you book more than 60 days out you're going to get a lot cheaper I mean I was looking at one fair
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and literally the next day had gone up €15 I was like oh why didn't I book it the night before
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so then so the pricing wise you think that the Renfe options are comparable to
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the other trains the Alo one is not the A is definitely a lot more expensive because It's
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considered their higher line and and they're higher than the other trains, the other companies, the French
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and the Italian companies. The French and the Italian are like your Southwest airlines of Spain, right? Like that's the Southwest. It's like they're
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very discount, but they're very nice. We go is my favorite. I'm going to give a an unsponsored plug because they've got
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purple velvet seats and little lights at the tables like little like so you feel like you're like a modern like a hip
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Orient Express, you know what I mean? Oh, that's nice. Oh, and which one which one has the free headphones? Cuz that's
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a that's a that was the A Renee, hence the price premium. So maybe they weren't really
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free. Good to know. So it's wor so what's your suggestion is
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that if if like you should check them all or Renfe is good for getting a
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probably the cheapest. We would not have been able to take we go or IO down without having to go to
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Madrid. So because that we had to connect to Madrid. So Renfe had a train like they have a train that goes from
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Valencia straight to Kadis and Sevilla is one of the stops and it's a high-speed train. There's only like four
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or five stops along the way. Obviously we didn't go to Kadis but there's this one line and so we had no choice but to
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take that train to get there as quick as possible and it was only four and a half hours from here to Sevilla. And if you
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look at a map that's one side of the country to the other. It's far. That's it is and Spain is big. When you start
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driving it and taking trains, you realize it's really really far because we were, you know, our goal was to get
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to France and and we were driving and we were like, let's try and leave early enough to get to France by lunchtime and
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it's it's that was hard to leave that to leave early enough to do that. Right. Right.
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And and and what's great about the trains in Europe, right, it's you're for the most part you're in the center of
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the city. So you're getting off at the center of the city, right? So if you that's where all the sites are for the most part for this trip anyway. Like we
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weren't doing climbing and hiking and waterfall seeing. So, we wanted to be in a city.
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And I think you also see more you see more of the city when you come into the train station because you have to going to have to walk or you know something to
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get to the hotel and you're going to be walking around and doing that kind of stuff because you're not really
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exploring anything outside of the city, right? So we could stop outside of the cities and we went to to various cities
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and we went to also a place called Pzenas in France which was close to Melier because obviously it had the word
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Zena in the name so we had to stop there. It was also recommended and it's a it was a really really cute little
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typical French town. It was adorable. I highly recommend it. And you know so it's like to do those
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sorts of things when you're taking the train I think is harder. But on the flip side you're all chilling. So, it's
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really nice, right? Everyone's more relaxed and you're going to exactly where you want to go. And I think
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there's big benefits. We I think we definitely have to take a a train trip one day. I will say I when I became a before I
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was a dad, I was a road trip person. Loved it. I'd go in the car and then I became a dad, a single dad with two
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kids. And I never wanted to drive again because it it wasn't relaxing because
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it's sippy cups and someone's crying and someone like it was it just became more nerve-wracking. And so when we lived in
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the states I'm like if it's longer than an hour we're taking a train or a plane and if they don't go there then we're
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not going cuz I don't want to be especially in California the highways and I'm like it just was so stressful.
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Yeah. And so you're the only one you're the only one driving. So I mean at least if you got two adults you you only have
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to drive half the time. So it definitely I could I could see how that I could definitely see how that would and now I'm used to it cuz I'm like once
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the trip when we all get in the train the trip starts for all of us. When you're in a car, I feel like especially
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coming from California, when you're in the car, if you're road tripping it at somewhere, you never get vacation cuz
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the whole time you're at where you're at, you're thinking about when do we have to leave? You're doing the math on
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the traffic because if we leave at 10:30, we could maybe avoid the rush hour traffic to where we're going. But if we leave at 10:35, it can happen. Do
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you? So, yeah. But I find that more relaxing than I do actually. I'm I'm not a I'm not a
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big driver. I I'm actually I'm enjoying it more now, but I never was when I lived in California wanting to drive for
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10 hours somewhere. Just never. So, I'm actually starting to enjoy it more. But I like the idea that we can leave
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whenever we want and get somewhere wherever we want. And we're not like, "Oh my god, everybody pack your things. We got to get to the train station cuz
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our train's leaving at 10:30 and oh my god." And then it's like you're missing a train. Like the just the stress of the
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thought of missing the train that you've booked would be more stress for me. So I think it just depends on your personality, right? Well, like I said,
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I'm talking about from California where traffic is a huge issue and there's like an maybe a 2hour window within 24 hours
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where there isn't traffic where here Yeah. I don't ever see traffic on the road. So, maybe it'd be a different
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approach. You know, it's different. We hit some traffic obviously going over the border. So, there's no border, but there's still
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there's still what used to be a border there. And I presume something that they had sort of set up during CO. They
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probably put a border back there. I don't know. But there is a there is a border, you know, between France and
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Spain up in the mountains there. And that was kind of trafficy. And also a little fun fact, I don't know if you
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consider this a fun fact. There's a lot of French cars going back and forth. Okay.
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There's not a lot of Spanish cars going back and forth. It's almost all French and Dutch
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really and a few German. Yeah, that's I mean of if you're looking at all the all the cars, we were literally playing a game
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where it was like spot a Spanish car because there were so few of them. So I thought that was really interesting.
24:49
Yeah. And that's going I don't think the Spanish road trip like that the Spanish road trip around Spain I don't think they're
24:56
like let's go to Germany, let's go out to France. I don't think that's really and I think we've talked about this a
25:01
little bit before. The Spanish are not I mean compared to other countries they're not big big travelers. So that's also I
25:07
noticed we noticed that on the road as well which I thought was interesting is they're just not so much doing that. Well everyone here maybe you know what
25:14
you got why leave right well true and everyone's coming to Spain because Spain's where you want to be in the summer. So I don't know if
25:20
that would change in the winter maybe a different time of year. Who knows? Who knows? But they got skiing here. Why
25:26
leave? Why go to the Alps when you got skiing in your backyard? Who knows? We do have we have everything here. There's no It's kind of It's kind of
25:32
like America. It's like there's no reason to leave. We could do everything here.
25:37
So, where did you end up visiting um of the like specifically in each of the
25:42
towns that you went to? Right. So, we kind of did like the the grand tour, not the grand tour, like we
25:48
we hit the hot spots, right? We wanted to see. So, I will literally literally the hot spots.
25:53
Literally the hot spots. I will say in this trip in retrospect which I would not have known I wish I would have
25:59
extended a couple nights longer and made it to Kadis and I wish I would have spent another night in Sevilla but we
26:05
did see all the sites. Sevilla I definitely want to go back and see because we were there two nights but I
26:10
felt like we needed like another night of where we weren't seeing sites to actually explore the city because where
26:17
our hotel was was kind of like a beline to the main sites. So we didn't veer off of that. So I didn't really see the
26:24
neighborhoods on the east and west of where we were. But in Sevilla, we did go to the Alcazar, which is the big royal
26:32
palace, and it's still the royal palace. When the royal family goes, they stay there, so you don't get to see everything. And you can pay extra to see
26:39
like some bedrooms and stuff, but I wasn't paying. The thing was huge enough that I was like, we're not paying more
26:44
to see more when we're already our feet were falling off. We were doing like 25,000 steps a day according to our
26:51
phone. And I think it lied. I think we did more. So we were now the phone doesn't know how to calculate steps.
26:56
So but like we arrived that day at like 1:30. We went our friend arrived around the same time. We went for the walk,
27:04
came back to the hotel and we did stay everywhere we stayed had pools which was
27:10
key. So we how we planned this trip which was perfect. So, if anyone wants to do an endolucia trip, my thing is
27:17
book all your sites early in the morning, like at 10:00 a.m. Get your hotel from you get your hotel breakfast,
27:23
you know, eat eat at the hotel, go out for your walk, and then come back, have lunch while you're there, and then that
27:30
siesta time from like 3:00 to 5:00, that's when we were at the hotel pool, then we took a nap, and then we went to
27:36
the evening sites site some places, you know, we would go to other things at night and then have dinner out. And that
27:42
was really nice. We avoided that heat in the late afternoon. And if people don't know, Spain is hot from 3:00 to 5:00.
27:49
It's not 10:00 to 2. It's 3:00 to 5:00 is the hottest, especially down there. It's really hot. So that was the time to
27:55
go lay in the pool and then get a nap in and then be refreshed to do and then and the places were open. And the places
28:01
were open in the evening. The tourist sites were all open in the evening. Some of them like until like 8 or 9. So
28:07
like if you're done five or six. Yeah. So you'd see a site and then go to dinner afterwards. you know that's what how we were doing you I could do the
28:13
nine o'clock dinner and but see another right so like when we were in Sevilla like I said we went to the Alcazar which is
28:19
huge the royal palace very you know has all the Arabic influences the Islamic
28:25
art and architecture huge gardens it was it was breathtaking and our the
28:32
coolest thing we saw there that we all agree in the family is downstairs was like the the hamom the bath and there's
28:39
this one long pool that I will post. I will post that picture as one of our
28:45
posts of this pool structure. The way it was, it was just gorgeous. It looked like it was in a this cave and the way
28:51
it was the way the lit the the light was coming through wherever they were having holes and wherever to get the light in.
28:57
Um it was just gorgeous. And that was spectacular. It was spectacular. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you could see the rooms where they
29:03
had this is where they would do the beating you with palm frrons and the you know all the different songs.
29:08
They weren't doing that though. So that was cool. And uh and then the
29:15
cathedral. Those were like the two big sites that we saw was the then the cathedral which has the remains of
29:21
Christopher Columbus which was pretty cool. I mean it was just this huge thing with these four pawbearers statues and
29:29
then the casket. Then he's in there and then and they just did a test not I mean just I mean was the last time I don't
29:35
know how many years 20 years that the DNA matches up. It's really him in there. Oh, okay.
29:42
[Music]
29:49
And in the other cities that you went to, what did you see? So, in Cordoba, we just So, this was a a
29:56
key thing to Cordoba, we just went to the afternoon. We booked a morning train. I think our train was at like
30:01
9:30 in the morning. It's an like hour, hour and a half from Sevilla to Cordoba.
30:07
We found a storage facility for our suitcases which was really interesting. A little heads up here. They don't have
30:13
storage at that train station. So you have to find these like third party places which is like a little storefront somewhere. Totally
30:20
easy. You they give you a code. You put the code in a locker opens up and you put your stuff in there and then
30:26
So just like the train stuff just somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah. But somewhere else. Yeah. And
30:32
so I thought that was really it wasn't that expensive. So, in Cordoba, we went to go see, and we're going to do a Poco
30:37
Poco on this one. Maybe a long episode. I don't know if I can get it all in a Poco Poco, but we went to see the the
30:42
mosque cathedral. So, it was originally a mosque, and then they planted a cathedral in the center of it. How they
30:49
did that, I don't know, but it was one of the most amazing things I've seen. And it's right in the heart of also the
30:54
Jewish quarter was right there. So, we got to see the remains of an old synagogue that had been stripped of all of its stuff, but the building was still
31:01
there. So, we got to see all the religion. We got all the all the Abrahamic religions done in like an hour
31:07
and a half. All in one all in one spot. Yeah. And then after we saw all that stuff, we had lunch, got our luggage,
31:13
went back on the train, and we're in Granada by like 5:00 p.m. So that was like perfect.
31:18
But that that that reminds me I mean that seems very similar to the palace that we saw in Zaragoa. So one of the
31:25
reasons we had a few reasons for wanting to go that way. So when we got to uh
31:30
when we got to Zaragoza, they have the Aljaferia Palace and that is a palace
31:37
that was it has a lot. Again, we'll probably do another episode on these amazing places that we saw cuz we can't
31:42
get it all into what we did during our summer, but that is a an 11th century
31:47
historic fortified palace in Zado. It is gorgeous. But it looks like it's so interesting and I don't know if you had
31:53
this experience with any of the things any of the places that you visited. This is also a mixed religion palace, right?
32:01
So it was it was it is the considered this is the most the the largest amount
32:07
of Mudaha art in Spain. So this has the Islamic artistry,
32:12
but the outside looks like a like a fortress on the outside. It could be a fortress in England and anywhere. Like
32:19
literally anywhere. It's just flat. It's just flat stone work, right? Just And then you walk inside and it's just
32:25
spectacularly looks to me like a lot of the places that we've seen in Morocco. Just this
32:30
ornate, the arches, the the tile work, like everything is just absolutely
32:36
spectacular. And you can kind of walk around the whole thing. And and there are certain rooms that are that are more
32:43
that are bigger and have been kept up better, but the whole place is like absolutely amazing. And we had to do
32:48
that sort of separately because it was I think I want to say it was around €5 a
32:55
ticket or something. But we have the dog so we can't all go in cuz they don't take dogs. Right. Right.
33:00
So Zena and I went in and Jawad stayed with Blae and then I bought and this is
33:05
a little bit of a trick when you're doing these things and you know you've probably had the same experience. Either
33:11
buy the tickets online or go early. So we we went very early, like literally
33:16
the minute that the ticket office opened and waited in line, which wasn't a very long line at that point, and we got the
33:23
tickets for all of us. But because Zena and I were going in in late morning, we had to get Jada ticket for the afternoon
33:30
because they were separating the tickets out. So if you had a morning ticket, you couldn't use that in the afternoon and
33:35
vice versa. So then once we were done, we came out, we stayed with Blaze and Jawad went in
33:40
with his afternoon ticket. So, it all worked very nicely, but it was I
33:45
definitely I mean I highly recommend I think we both recommend probably all the places that we visited right on this trip, but it was nice to have a
33:52
little bit of French food and then a little bit of Spanish culture and kind of mix it all in.
33:58
Yeah, I agree. I mean, that was I and I also agree with the tickets, right? We I booked all that stuff before and some of
34:04
the places like when we went to Granada, the hotel we stayed at was right up by the Alra and I didn't know how hilly
34:11
like Granada like Sevilla flat, Cordoba flat. Granada, it's the San Francisco of
34:16
Spain. I mean, you are climbing mountains just to get anywhere. And I mean, so less less steps on your phone, but
34:23
more exercise. No, we had we had No, we had steps and height added to the phone in Granada.
34:28
Well, that's what I mean. But less steps maybe. always at the equals the same amount. No, we still did 20,000 steps and 50
34:33
flights and the 50 flights. But what was nice is our hotel was
34:38
across from the Alhamra which I knew to book. I mean that was a great thing because we knew that was the thing we
34:44
wanted to see. We didn't realize it was on the top of the mountain. So really glad we did because what was nice about
34:50
that the Alra tickets is you were paying for a time to see just one of the palaces but the tickets were for the
34:56
whole day. So it was great. We booked those for early morning to see if the the main palace that you want to see and
35:02
we walked around like the Alra is like a city fortress that's a real castle like
35:08
with people lived there and all of that. We did the afternoon break at the hotel and then at night we went back to see
35:14
the rest of it. So we could come and go. I'm surprised because usually for a ticket for crowd control that isn't very
35:22
common. So the fact that you could buy a ticket for the whole day I would say is pretty unique, right? Well, we couldn't go back into
35:28
that one palace, so it was timed for that, but the ticket was for the whole day. So, you I mean, and it's huge. So,
35:34
yes, it is for crowd control for that. But, no, that's the thing people want to see. And then the other things you kind of come and go and which was nice when
35:41
cuz the Henfe, which is the other part of the Alra complex. We were up there as
35:46
the night was cool, like it was getting cooler and so it was we had this, you know, early in the morning we were dying
35:52
of heat stroke and now we're like, "Oh, this is lovely." You know, and It was getting a little darker,
35:58
so much more pleasant. And I will say that was unfortunately I think we would have it was very hot for the week that
36:03
we were traveling. But when we when we came into when we were on our way to to
36:09
Zarago, it it started to feel a little cooler because we were in the mountains, but then I think we came down. But it
36:15
was but it was funny cuz we were then in Aragon, Spain, which we've never been to before, and Zena had been learning. So
36:22
this is just like a you know a little funny side note which is that we had she had been learning about Henry VIII or
36:28
had learned some song about Henry VII and all his wives and of course his first wife with was Katherine of Oregon.
36:36
Right. So that was his first marriage that he wanted to get anulled and that is the is how the Church of England
36:42
became because he wanted to have a divorce or get the get it anulled and he couldn't do that through the Catholic
36:48
Church. So that's how that all happened. So, we're we're sitting we're we're we're driving and and singing the the
36:53
silly Henry VII wife songs, right, as we're driving through Aragon like they're which of course has nothing to
36:59
do with them, but it was a a fun tidbit for us since we're kind of, you know, English, you know, now we're over in
37:05
Spain. So, that was our fun. So in your travels, would you say there was a place
37:12
that was friendlier than the other or more touristy or like what would you
37:19
what was your experience coming from Valencia and did you have a a take out on you know a take on that?
37:26
We weren't really doing touristy things like you. I mean we did go visit the palace but that was kind of one thing.
37:32
The rest of it we were just in places and Mont Pelleier is not I don't think a
37:38
particularly a tourist trap per se. I mean we were we were walking around the town. It was quite quiet because it's
37:44
August. So much like Valencia there's I mean I think unless you're hitting really but I think even the palace in
37:50
Zaragoa I don't think August is when people are going there. I mean there's it's probably packed in like I mean
37:56
spring breaks and things I would imagine, right? Like I don't think August I think August is a great time to
38:02
travel if you can manage the heat because nobody wants to be doing these things in August.
38:08
It's just when we both decided to do it. Well, we did ours in mid July so it wasn't in August but it's not the it's
38:15
not the high season. That being said, Granada was still packed. I feel like Granada is high season year round
38:21
because I would think so because it's so important with with the you know with Islamic architecture and
38:27
Muslims and stuff. So, we saw a lot of Muslim tourists there, but just just it was just packed. You could just tell
38:33
they were packed all the time. I can't imagine what high season looked like. Sevilla was definitely in a slow mode.
38:40
So, like there were not lines to get in anything there. Even with Cordova and the mosque was pretty full, but not we
38:47
weren't waiting, right? There was no lines for anything. Even though we had tickets, you would still see lines. We did not see lines anywhere.
38:53
Grat surprising, right? That's kind of surprising. I mean, I would think all those spots would be, like you said,
38:59
kind of busy all year round. But that's good to know. So, if you go in in like July, August, and you stay in a hotel
39:05
with a pool, I feel like you have it all. Like, it was a good decision. I mean, the and the rates weren't were
39:10
not expensive. I mean, our hotel for three people in Granada was like less.
39:15
It was like 80 or 90 a night, and that included breakfast in the morning and a pool right there.
39:22
But if you know, if you go down to Malaga, your room's 500 a night. So, I mean, everyone's at the beaches down there. That's not the time they're going
39:28
there. And our room in Sevilla, I think it was like 140 a night, which was really cheap considering we have
39:34
And that place was nice, you know, that was a nice hotel. And the hotel we stayed in, Zarago, so
39:39
we stayed outside of the city because we didn't I mean, we were sort of within the city, but sort of on the outer side
39:45
because we had the car and everything. And and I I would say we the breakfast we
39:51
did not take because that was an extra €11. So that's €33 for three people. I mean that's not really worth it in
39:57
Spain. I mean for €33 you can go out and get like a full-on lunch, right? So that
40:02
was it didn't that really didn't seem worth it. And when we looked at the breakfast, it really was just like slices of ham and cheese and some bread
40:10
and it was nothing sort of fancy. So we kind of I think we made the best decision there actually. But speaking of
40:16
food, did you have like where where was the where was I mean you're still in Spain. Did the food seem to change a lot
40:24
to what you see that you have in Valencia or was it you were obviously eating out and doing things that maybe
40:29
you don't do in Valencia because you're on holiday. But so I have to say that the best food that we had the entire trip was in Sevilla
40:35
and it was our first night. We asked the concaters where we are or the hotel front desk person where should we go and
40:41
they're like oh go to this restaurant's around the corner. It's the oldest restaurant in Sevilla. And so we're like
40:47
okay it's like a tourist trap but let's walk by it. like where what's this guy talking about? And it was called El
40:53
Rinkonio. I want to I think that's how you pronounce it. And it says it opened in 1670. So how that's not the oldest
41:00
restaurant in the world. I don't know. But anyway, we walked by then. We walked in and it was filled with Spaniards.
41:06
Like so this is like authentic. Like people are still eating here. It's not some tourist trap, you know, kind of place.
41:13
I have to imagine it would have to be if it's going to be lasting that long. It can't just be a tourist trap, right? It
41:19
has to be serving good food. And and you could tell people, I mean, there was a lot of tourists in there, but the people stacked up at the bar
41:26
having a good time were all Spaniards, right? They're from the neighborhood. And we had oxtail and duck feet and
41:33
octopus and and longest and salads and tons of food and a bottle of wine and
41:39
dessert and it came to like €110 for four people. So, so it's worth going
41:45
just to everything melted in our mouths and didn't melt our wallet. It was amazing. So, gotta love that.
41:51
And then the next time we went for tapas and you know they're a little different. Not much different. You know, I think
41:57
you we our food here mirrors it a little bit. You know, the
42:02
tapas kind of stuff, but tapas are definitely more of a thing down there. like when we in in Granada waiting for
42:09
the actually in a few places we the tapas they're free with your beer or your soda
42:14
or your bottled water. So it was there you don't see that so much here and I'm maybe you do see it in some
42:21
places here but it was the the culture there of the tapas that you're getting and it's like you get one small one with every
42:27
drink and you can order them for like a euro or two a piece extra. So that that tapas culture was more ingrained where
42:35
here people order tapas but I feel like the tapas are bigger and they're more sharable where there you were getting more individual items that you could get
42:42
a bunch of to share but like you're not getting a plate to share if that makes sense. That's my experience. I could be wrong. I haven't gone out I haven't gone out
42:48
drinking in Valencia to be honest. So, I don't know, but it seems that that is
42:54
not as common here in this part of Spain and maybe more common in the northern parts of Spain and up there probably
43:00
different different types of tappers, too. So, so that's good to know. So, our tappers are kind of similar to what's going on.
43:08
A lot more Middle Eastern, you know, a lot more Moroccan influence. A lot of those kind of spaces. I will say in Granada there is a a Middle Eastern
43:15
section, right, that I felt like I I've not been to Morocco, so I could be wrong, but I felt like I was in Morocco.
43:20
They had like suki type stuff and all these street sellers and they have some great shops down
43:26
there that's with spices galore and different chocolates and so we we filled up a backpack of stuff. It's all gone
43:32
now, but you know, fun spices and teas. You It felt very Middle Eastern down
43:37
there and that was kind of cool. You know, I I wonder if that's like remnants of it or just because there's so many more
43:43
tourists coming from that part of the world that they're catering to it. No, I think it's the remnants. I think it's that, you know, I think it's one
43:49
remnants. I mean, they're obviously still living there or moving there. So, I think it's a little bit of like an immigration thing is also
43:55
remnants of the past kind of combining, right? Yeah. A little bit of both. Um, but yeah, it was
44:02
that's interesting. Yeah. We made we made some interesting choices with So the first thing we did
44:08
wrong with food was um well the first thing we did that was wrong with food was we Zeno made some chocolate banana
44:14
bread to take for our uh road trip which seemed like a really good idea right but then we realized we were literally going
44:20
to France to have all these delicious pastries so I'm not sure why we were decided so that so that banana bread is
44:27
very well traveled. It took the whole trip with us. Okay. Most of it made at home. Did you pack a
44:32
cooler while you were on the certificate? Of course. Yeah, we had Well, of course, cuz we needed to bring some French
44:37
cheeses back and things. So, we definitely needed to have a cooler. So, that anyway, very very wellraveled
44:42
banana bread. And then when we were in Melier, we had at the um Plac Comedy, I
44:51
don't know how you pronounce that, but that's the main square. It's really beautiful, the main square in in Melier. Um they have a actually they have a
44:57
really beautiful sort of old town in general. Um but that that class is really fun and they have you know people
45:04
doing you know um magic and things for you know for for money and stuff. So
45:09
it's really fun and they also have a ton of restaurants with loads of outdoor seating there. So, we did go and eat in
45:17
one of those restaurants. And we had a a really good um steak fruit, which was the kind of the the one me sort of
45:23
French real French meal that I wanted to have in in France. And it was very good.
45:28
And I think Zena Zena had a pizza. It was one of those restaurants I guess they and it was a it was a very good pizza as well. So, it was so that was
45:36
kind of And other than that, we were sort of shopping and and doing things like that for food. And then our last
45:43
food thing was obviously since we were in Zarago, so we had to stop by Costco.
45:48
Okay. And there. So we had to we did have to swing by and
45:54
uh Jad I think had to get a we we all ended up with one obviously, but I think his he wanted to get a a Costco hot dog.
46:01
And um it was I mean it was fun. I know there's supposed to be one here that has never ever arrived. I will say after
46:07
being here Yeah. After being here for 5 years, there weren't that many things there really that that you missed that
46:13
we needed. The I mean, almond butter was the thing that I stocked up on and there was a few other things, but it wasn't
46:19
sort of this big sort of oh my god, let's buy everything there cuz a lot of it's very Spanish. I mean, they don't
46:27
have Goldfish crackers. They have sort of Spanish crackers that you can, right? Or maybe they're American ones, but I
46:33
mean, you can already buy them in the store. So, they just have bigger versions of things you can buy here. And then they had big like the bakery had
46:39
loads and loads of Spanish pastry like things that you can buy in bulk. So they've definitely adjusted, you know,
46:45
to to Spain, right? Which would make sense. Yeah. Which would make sense. Exactly.
46:52
I will say one of the things I took away from also our trip was that Granada was
46:57
very much geared towards tourists and the pricing uh reflected that.
47:02
Everything was more expensive. Not gonna break your wallet, but like eating out in Granada was much more expensive than
47:08
eating out in Sevilla. Sevilla was priced similar to to Valencia, which was like Oh, really? Okay. And I found this
47:15
the people in Sevilla to be much more outgoing friendly where Granada, they seemed more reserved. They could have
47:20
just been exhausted from all the tours. I mean, I feel like if you're like, how friendly are you going to be when you have 70 languages coming at you every
47:27
five minutes, right? Like it's probably a lot. Not that anyone was rude. I would not say that. But like Sevilla, I felt
47:33
like they wanted to like file my toes for me. Like I mean they were just so nice. Everyone was so helpful at the
47:38
restaurants, even at this the tourist sites, you know. Did you find Did you find that the that
47:45
Sevilla was more like a city that had some things to see that you could all go around and do it? And in Granada, the
47:50
whole town was really a a like a tourist area where every like if you're living
47:56
there, you have to be working in the tourist industry. Like was it just was the vibe of how the tourist stuff worked
48:02
different? Maybe. I mean, Granada was much smaller, so we definitely saw all of it even just
48:08
by cab if we didn't walk around it. It's a much smaller city. I think it's like 200,000 where Sevilla is the same size
48:14
as Valencia. It's 700,000 people living there. So, it's it's it's rather large.
48:19
And so, I feel like Granada had this they have all these like houses on the
48:24
hills which are beautiful. And I'm I feel like there might be a lot of retirees there as well as tourist like
48:31
you know there's not industry there right there's not banks I mean there are banks obviously people have to bank but there isn't like corporate banks and I
48:37
feel like there's like kind of industry you know it's not a Madrid or Barcelona even like um uh even civilian and
48:43
Valencia don't have that kind of industry to work for that kind of thing you know these are kind of working
48:48
cities but it definitely felt more geared toward towards tourists because they've got I mean that's what they got
48:53
there the Alra they got the cathedral and then They have this church that I forgot to mention. I don't even know if I told you about this before today. They
49:00
have this one church called the Basilica de San Juan Dios. And you know how we
49:06
did that Poco Poco about the church here, the Baroque church. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that one makes this
49:13
one makes that one look minimalist. This one we will do a hard to believe.
49:18
We will do a poco pokco. We accidentally stumbled upon this thing and I was like
49:23
we have to go. And I'm just gonna leave you with um for our family that loves horror movies, it was up our alley.
49:29
There are hundreds of skeleton bones in in the church part of the decoration
49:36
like in little cass cages. So we'll talk about another time, but that was well you you do stumble across these
49:42
types of churches because there's no preparation for them looking at them from the outside. It's all interior
49:48
decor and stuff that you just cannot be prepared for, I think. And yeah, yeah, I think Zarraosa was probably more
49:54
like Sevilla in that way. I mean, it's a it's a it's not as big as um Valencia,
50:00
but it's it's got a small old town part that reminded me more of like um Malaga,
50:08
like you've got and then the rest of it just pretty modern and you know, rather than Valencia, which
50:14
has quite a large downtown sort of very like very decorated buildings and stuff
50:21
and I think it's much smaller in Zarago, more like Malaga and then They have there's a lot of industry
50:27
there. I think Amazon is built has has their base there in Spain. So, Zaragoa
50:32
has does have a lot going on for it there as far as business. Um, and then
50:38
obviously has the palace and and the downtown, but other than that, it's very very business there, I think.
50:44
Gotcha. Gotcha. There was one thing I wanted to bring up about Sevilla that
50:50
really kind of like shocked me. um was that there are stores on every corner
50:58
that sell Flamco dresses and outfits. And I can't think this is still for the tourist trade. I know no one who lives
51:04
in Sevilla, but obviously flamco must still be very much a part of the life
51:09
because there are tons of stores with these elaborate polkadotted flamco
51:15
dresses that we talked about in our Poco Poka. It is alive and well there. And I I can't imagine people from Nebraska or
51:22
Budapest are taking home flamingco dresses, you know, by the dozen. Oh, I think they are. I think they are
51:28
for sure. That's such a Spanish thing. I mean, I especially for the kids. Like, we've had several We've had several
51:34
friends visit that have bought flamingo um dresses for their kids. So, I don't know about
51:40
these things are expensive and ornate and elaborate, too. So, I mean I mean there was a lot of that, you know. I
51:45
guess I would compare it to here that mean you might not notice it here if you're tourist a tourist here but we
51:52
notice it here is that all the fiera shops selling all that the tailor that are making those outfits
51:58
it's kind of like that but these are much like they're more in your face there because it's Yeah. So I wonder if there's maybe I
52:04
wonder if there's a a big festival surrounding that that's happening there once a year perhaps where they
52:10
need all these things because that sounds like what it's like. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I think it's Yeah, I would
52:15
like to I would like to go back and No, I'm sure there is a Flamco festival. I'm There's got to be We've got festivals
52:20
for everything. So, I'm sure. Yeah. So, I mean, we went to Speaking of, we went to a festival as part of our summer. It's not part of our road trip,
52:27
but it's near where we live here. We went to a um a festival down in Betterra, and they do a whole festival
52:32
around uh basil, the the the herb. Right. Right. So, it's they they grow
52:38
all year these massive basil trees, I want to call them. just enormous. And it
52:44
what I found by going there, so they they kind of walk these down the street as part of a parade, but they you know,
52:49
part of it too is the that everyone's wearing these flowered shirts. Not the same one, but it's almost as if like
52:56
maybe every part of the town has a different flowered shirt or maybe every year they do a different one. So there's
53:02
a lot of people wearing different ones. So it was like that was an added sort of costume part of it that I wasn't
53:08
expecting. So, they have the these massive basil plants that they're walking down and then they shake them so
53:13
you can smell them and it's like one of definitely the best smelling um event
53:18
that I've ever been. Know about this next year and go because someone didn't tell me about it this year. I saw pictures. So, I'm
53:24
Well, because I didn't know it was I honestly had no idea that it would be this much fun because the other part of
53:31
it and you can look on any of our like YouTube or whatever. I did post a video of them throwing the confetti. Mhm.
53:39
They must I mean tons and tons of confetti was thrown at this thing that
53:44
you are literally like ankle deep in confetti. The kids are just picking it up off the floor and throwing it cuz
53:50
there's piles of it everywhere. And it's was it was really really fun. So we definitely have to go to that one. But I
53:55
mean that's why I'm saying like all these towns have these festivals that might be surrounded by need them people
54:01
needing certain clothes and you know like like you said the fires as well. So, who knows, right, what you stumble
54:08
across sometimes. Um, but that was a that was a kind of a funny thing. And,
54:14
you know, speaking of summer, I don't know what else you've done the rest of the summer. We've obviously been to the beach a few times. I've been trying to
54:20
paddle board with a friend of mine, which we're getting better. Are you? Good. We we we can stand up now. We're really
54:28
proud of ourselves. We have unfortunately been lounging around our house a lot. We did go to the
54:33
movies and and getting lunches and those kinds of things, but that was that was kind of our summer trip was Andle Lucia.
54:39
We've gone to friends houses like yours with pools. We keep saying we're going to go to the beach and we never go,
54:45
which is horrible. We moved here to the beach, but we have yet. It's nice to know it's there. Sometimes that has to be enough.
54:52
Exactly. You don't always get I think we also probably should have stayed at hotels with pools because now we're like, I would just rather have a
54:59
pool. Why go to the beach with the sand and the warm water and the jellyfish? Let's just I will say yes, I will say we love
55:06
having a pool and it does mean that sometimes you don't go to the beach because it's well it's right here so we
55:13
might as well enjoy the fact that we have a you know a summer house with a pool and everything which is what people
55:19
come down and rent to live and have for a summer. So we're kind of living that dream obviously but the beach is a
55:25
different scenario and it's and it has been really hot this summer. I feel like it's been a little extra. So being It seems that way to me. It seems and
55:32
just it's been the air has been really hot and thick this summer. So it's it's it's
55:37
So that was kind of why we started getting into the paddle boarding cuz we go at like 7:30 in the morning. And that is really the nicest time. You either
55:44
want to go at 7:30 in the morning or probably 7:30 at night. And you know, they have these we I we haven't taken
55:50
advantage of that this this year, but they do put put up every summer these little little bars that sell little
55:57
drinks and ice cream and stuff and they put them on the beach. So, you can kind of go to the beach and have a really
56:02
nice evening day at the beach and have access to stuff there. And at certain beaches that don't have a lot of
56:08
restaurants, which a lot of the beaches up the coast here do not have a very big, they might have prominards, but
56:14
they don't have a lot of restaurants on them, right? So, Like what we said, I think we've talked about this before, especially
56:19
this area of Spain. Valencia doesn't have a beach culture. There's no beach. Like it what I mean is
56:25
it's not a it's not a tourist beach place where that's not where you go. I mean, the people are there only in the
56:31
summertime. So why would you open a restaurant if there's going to be during nine months of the year four people living in the town to eat there, right?
56:36
It's a just a different there aren't hotels on the beaches here like you find up and down the coast and other parts of
56:42
it's houses and apartments mostly. And then a lot of the beaches near us have they do have the prominard. So you can
56:48
go down there and walk your dog or yourself or the kid can go on a skateboard or rollerblades or something,
56:54
but it's very Yeah, it's quiet. It's kind of a quiet place. And sometimes
56:59
they we have a a town near us that has a little festival at the beach, which is nice. And they bring the food trucks and
57:05
some fun things to do. But yeah, it's not a big like people aren't and people
57:10
that live at the beach there. It's like it's mostly summer houses and summer apartments. So, like you said, mostly
57:17
dead in in the winter. Yeah. Which is when I like it. So,
57:23
it's cooler. But then, yeah. So, we had some jellyfish in the last couple of weeks, which put us off our paddle
57:29
boarding because I'm not falling into a bowl of jellyfish. So, um that kind of put a that put a lid on
57:36
that one. And so, now we're end of summer back to school. I guess we are. And I'm going to hopefully, you
57:43
know what, I'm determined. We're going to go to the beach before this weekend starts. Maybe Friday we'll go to the
57:48
beach. And then this weekend, it's making sure everyone's uniform's ready and backpacks are ready to go. And then
57:54
I'm just going to put them by the door and say, "Don't come back. Don't come back."
58:02
All right. Ciao, Tanya. Bye.
58:07
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hear about. See you next time. Bye. [Music]