Allie in the South of Spain

Recently we just wrapped up Semana Santa here in the south of Spain, which is one of the biggest holidays that is celebrated throughout the year. Holy Week is a huge deal around these parts and you can read all about it here . Though I appreciate Semana Santa for its cultural implications, I am not fanatic about going out to see processions each day; I can get by with seeing just one or two. I do enjoy having a week off work and this year my parents came to visit so all in all, it was a pretty nice Easter holiday. First, Jose and I started off visiting the beach in Portugal for a few days before my parents arrived. We went and stayed in an apartment hotel in Quarteira which was right next to the beach and had a pool. The weather was fabulous and there was basically no one around so we had a couple of fantastic days of rest and relaxation. When my parents got to Seville we went back to Portugal since the weather was perfect for heading to the beach. We showed them our favorite ...

As you might know Jose and I love spending time at rural houses around the south of Spain. It is one of our favorite ways to travel and see new places and just recently we headed out east to the Alpujarras region for a long weekend. The Alpujarras are a mountainous area dotted with cozy white villages extending from Granada into Almeria. We spent the first few nights in a tiny town called Laroles after crossing the Sierra Nevada and then the last in Trevelez which is the highest village in Spain. We enjoyed hiking, good food and relaxing by the chimney. Our hike ended up being a bit longer than we had planned but the views were beautiful. Poor Cooper by the end was exhausted. This hike was about 9 kilometers long and wound up through the mountains passing an incredibly old chestnut tree. The weather was just about perfect during our whole trip, warm during the day and cooling off at night. One of our requirements when we book a rural house is that there be a chimney. Usua...

Things have been quiet here on the blog for the last few months but let me explain why. Besides the fact that Jose and I haven't been on any big trips since our last one to Istanbul, life here in the south of Spain has been a routine of work, studying and trying to get through the winter (which is admittedly much milder than what the folks back home have been suffering). When you get right down to it, we have been boring lately, in a bit of a rut. Why you might ask? First because since October I have been completing the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) offered by Cambridge University. A bit of background: English is very important to people here in Spain. It seems like everyone wants or needs to show their English level whether for job prospects, for University or even as a young learner in primary school. Most people study and prepare some kind of exam and official Cambridge exams are incredibly popular. In any case, native English speaker...

Here is the latest in my 30 before 30 updates. In April I turn 29 which gives me just over a year to try to cross off a whole lot of things from my list but I still feel like things are going well. So far I have completed 17 items and am working on a few more. Who knows, in a few months I might adjust my list again to include different goals or things I want to accomplish. I'll keep you updated! 1. Go on another cruise.  2. Learn to cook Indian food . 3. Start a family (read: have a baby). We are still plugging away at this. Keep us in your prayers. 4.  Find a job in which I am happy with what I do, feel accomplished and appreciated.  5. Visit Morocco. 6. Spend Christmas in Michigan. 7. Walk at least a part of the Camino de Santiago. 8. Drive comfortably here in Spain. 9. Go to (and enjoy) a soccer game. 10.  Find a list of books every person should read, and read them.  11. Visit Ireland.  12. Cook a Thanksgiving dinner solo.    13...

Jose and I had been planning our trip to Istanbul for months, ever since we discovered the low cost airline, Pegasus, which has flights from Madrid. We flew out in the afternoon, arriving in the evening after a looooong four hour flight. Since the company we used was low cost we of course got inexpensive tickets but also had no in-flight entertainment which made the four hours drag. When we got to Istanbul we arrived to the Sabiha Gokcen airport which is about an hour outside of the city itself. We took a transfer to our hotel which was located in the old city center known as Sultanhamet.  We went to check in only to find that we were taken away from the main hotel to a sketchy hostal-like set up complete with rickety staircase, stained pillow cases and disgusting floor. Seriously, Jose and I have stayed in some questionable places (youth hostels) in the past but they were at least clean. This place had been advertised as a hotel and was completely not what was shown online....

Jose and I have been on our Christmas vacation now for almost a week and it feels like we have taken advantage of every moment. Things have been busy to say the least. Pre-Christmas we cleaned and prepared for both the holiday and our visit with our friends, Erica and Ernie. Then we spent the 24th and 25th with Jose's family, one day with his mom's side and the second with his dad's. Santa even came to visit! On the afternoon of the 25th we stopped at the train station on our way home to pick up Erica and Ernie. They came back to our apartment where we relaxed before heading to visit Seville the next day. We went to the Cathedral, had a big lunch at one of our favorite restaurants and walked around enjoying the Christmas atmosphere. We ended our day in the best place in Seville, the Plaza de Espana. The next day we headed out to Cordoba to go to a winery because our friends really enjoy wine tasting. Ernie is basically a self-taught expert and one of the thing...

Recently we had a long weekend and Jose, Cooper and I headed to the south of Portugal. I love this part of our neighboring country because though it is quite similar to the south of Spain, it has it's own charm. We usually stay at my in-laws' apartment right across the border in Vila Real de San Antonio. It is less than two hours from home and we can walk to the beach when we are there. This area of Portugal is really popular with retired people from all over Europe and we enjoy exploring the villages that dot the coast as well as heading a bit in-land every once in a while. One of my favorite things about this time of year is the Christmas festivals, fairs and markets that pop up all over. Vila Real is no different. In their main plaza there is always stuff to do, see and buy. This month there was a holiday themed fair going on complete with an ice skating rink. There was a stand in the market with its own wood stove where they were making bread that looked FANTASTIC. ...

This weekend Jose, our friends, Cooper and I went to spend the weekend at a casa rural outside of Aracena in the Sierra of Huelva. We make a similar trip every year because this is probably my favorite place to visit in the south of Spain.  You can read about other weekends away here  (Aroche), here  (Aracena) and here  (Almonaster). This time we stayed in a place right near a small village called Corteconcepcion.   Casa Rural El Chaparral I love visiting this part of the mountains of Huelva because it is home to a very unique ecosystem, the dehesa which I find incredibly beautiful. The best way I can describe the dehesa is as follows: imagine a mountainous area with lots of trees (though not very tall or full) like cork trees. There is no underbrush or any bushes that cover the ground. Rather centuries ago, man adapted this area to his needs by clearing away the smaller plants to allow sun to reach the grass. This allowed them to take advantage of not on...

Okay so the last time I checked in with my 30 before 30 list I had changed and updated a few things from the original list I had made. It's a bit crazy that I have been working on these goals for about a year and a half now and that I have about as long left until the big birthday. To get you all caught up here are the posts I have written thus far about my 30 before 30 journey: The original post in May 2013 The first up-date in September 2013 The second up-date in November 2012 The third up-date in January 2014 A revision of the list in June 2014 And now without further ado, on to the latest and greatest things that I have crossed off my 30 before 30 list. 1. Go on another cruise.  2. Learn to cook Indian food . 3. Start a family (read: have a baby).  This is something we are still working on. I wrote a post in September about PCOS and how difficult things can be but we are optimistic that everything will work out for us. 4. Find a job in which I am happy with...

Here in the south of Spain there isn't much of a tradition of throwing showers (neither for weddings or for babies) but when my good friend, Cristina, announced that she was going to have a baby I decided to organize a party in her honor. Cristina is a wonderful person, who cares about and cares for all creatures great and small. She and I worked together in the past and our husbands work closely on the English team at their school. We share a love of animals and have teamed up to rescue a few in the past. I am very happy to be able to call her my friend and am excited that she will soon be welcoming a baby girl (named Blanca) into her family (which includes 5 rescue kitties). Keeping in mind that I wanted to bring this tradition to Spain, I took advantage and did a bit of shopping for decorations while at home this summer. This party was by no means one of those fantastically put together showers that you find on Pinterest but I think it came together well. We ended up havi...