Return to the Golden Glow of Salamanca

Salamanca is a special place for Suzanne and I - we traveled here some 12 years ago and it was by far one of our favorite cities. We have wonderful memories of sitting in outdoor cafes, drinking granizadas, people-watching, or simply admiring the golden glow that radiated from the spectacularly preserved sandstone buildings around us. I must admit we weren’t sure it would live up to the romantic image from our memories, but we needn’t have worried – Salamanca was everything we remembered and more. After only a few hours in the city, I found myself thinking aloud; “how come we didn’t just move here from the get-go?” It is a warm, vibrant, beautiful and quintessentially Spanish city that always has a lot going for it. There is an energy to Salamanca that is contagious, and we felt immediately at home. We were fortunate to have found a newly remodeled apartment only a few blocks from the Plaza Mayor, considered by many to be one of the finest plazas in Spain, if not in all of Europe. Built by Philip V (he seems to be behind many of our favorite sights), the plaza is the central gathering point for Salamancans. Every evening seemed to either begin or end there and it was a real treat to see it when the lights came on at night. One of our highlights during the first week was re-discovering Chez Victor, the site of one of our top 5 meals of all time. I was amazed to see Victor himself standing in the front with his wife – just as it was yesterday. I booked a surprise reservation for Suzanne and I the following day. We had a great time and even ordered the duck again which was just as good as before. The deserts did not live up to expectations, but overall it was just like old times and we finished off the meal with a nice Pedro Jimenez sherry. Victor claimed he remembered Suzanne, saying “I always remember the pretty ones!”.

Living in Spain - Top 10 Learnings

For those reading through the lines of our blog, We (myself in particular) certainly misjudged a number of things in our approach to our adventure year. While overall we have had an absolutely spectacular time, we certainly have made mistakes along the way. I guess and adventure without mistakes and risks is not really an adventure, right? Looking back after 9 months, we have come away with some important and valuable insights and I wanted to take this chance to share our top 10: 10) It is not possible to fully integrate into the community of a foreign country in just one year. Those who have travelled abroad before said we’d need at least 2 years, and that is probably about right, if not longer. 9) It is very common to reach an emotional low point after 6-9 months in a new place. If possible, avoid making big decisions during that time, or at least realize that you are making decisions during a low. 8) It takes a huge, consistent commitment to speak a new language with any competency - it is far too easy to get lazy and revert to English. And the Spanish are all too happy and ready to practice their English with us! 7) An “adventure year” with kids is a bit of a misnomer – kids don’t naturally seek adventure and they are quite content in the present –what they crave is normalcy and stability (wives for that matter as well!). Kids don’t have an inherent need to seek new festivals or run with bulls. They will turn on you and make you pay if you drag them to too many museums and churches without building in sufficient play time. 6) If you want your kids to become fluent or at least comfortable with spanish, put them into a local public school. Sure it will be scary and hard for them initially, but they are much more adaptable than we give them credit for. Furthermore, make sure that if they do watch TV, it is in Spanish, so at least they can absorb something of value! 5) If you want a quintessentially Spanish experience, avoid living on the coast (perhaps with the exception of Barcelona). We learned the hard way that "Javea is not Spain", as is much of the Costa Blanca. 4) Changing languages for one year will not cause lasting harm. Given our boys were in such a formative stage, we were concerned that it would not be fair to the boys to throw them into an all-Spanish school and would interrupt their educational progress. The reality is… reading has been no problem for them – provided we provide captivating books a la the illustrious Beast Quest series! While they certainly benefited from a british-school education at XIC, we missed a great opportunity to have them learn Spanish. 3) While we certainly longed for the "romantic" image of Spain - a country where time moves a bit more slowly, people contentedly live in small whitewashed villages with minimal influences of modern society, and just a more simple way of life - such an image is more and more fleeting now that Spain is part of the EU. Furthermore, we realized that we needed something more. Our fondest experiences have been the many travels Suzanne and I have taken over the years. As much as it would be nice to be happy staying put, we felt a powerful urge to explore as much of Spain as we could while we were here. 2) "No pasa nada" is just part of the culture in Spain - it is the Spanish equivalent of "don't worry...be happy"! People just don't get wound up much (unless, of course we are talking futbol!). Sure, things don't always happen as told, but nobody seems to fuss too much. There is always manana... and learning number 1).... What it means to "live" in Spain is a misleadingly romantic concept. While it is often easy to romanticize another culture or place, in reality, living in Spain it is not so different than living anywhere else. People work, buy food, spend time with family & friends, take care of their homes and follow their daily routines, just like anywhere else. Of course there are differences, but the basic fundamentals are the same. It is safe to say that our greatest learnings came from actual experience - the good, the bad and the ugly. We have certainly come away wiser, and while some of our learnings were painful, I think they have enriched our overall experience. Sure, looking back, there were many things we might have done differently, but if that were the case, we wouldn't have had the same adventures we are enjoying so much right now. We have certainly been reminded that there are no "do-overs" in life - you take things as they come and deal with them as best you can. That's about all we can or should expect...

Segovia and La Granja de San Ildefonso

What I had originally envisioned as a 4 day immersion in Segovia turned into a quick half-day side trip, as Suzanne was recovering from the flu and the kids were still threatening revolt from any further sightseeing. Segovia is an amazing city – quintessentially Spanish and stunningly beautiful, with a fairy tale castle, roman ruins, a gothic cathedral and a maze of narrow winding streets to explore with very interesting architecture on the surrounding buildings. It seemed to be a very vibrant cultural city as well, with lots going on around town. Hands down, the most amazing site was the roman aqueduct, built in the 1st century to bring water to the town. It is considered to be the finest example of roman engineering still standing today and it almost looks surreal as it towers high above the town. This is one of the few man-made features I have seen that left me with my jaw dropped to the floor. Suzanne and I would have liked to spend more time exploring the town, particularly the Alcazar, as well as the surrounding area but we were happy to at least have gotten a chance to spend some time here. Maybe next time we’ll do it without kids… Earlier in the week, we also managed to get out for an afternoon to La Granja de San Ildefonso, the site of a beautiful palace and gardens built by Philip V. Philip was the grandson of Louis XIV, and he built this site as his own personal retreat after spending his childhood in the gardens of Versailles. La Granja sits at the base of the Sierra de Guadarrama, which is still covered with snow in some spots (note to self…beautiful, but very cold in the winter!). The gardens are filled with tree-lined avenues and hidden squares with bizarre baroque fountains, which seemed a bit over the top when juxtaposed against the natural surroundings. At the end of the day, a number of the fountains were turned on, sending huge plumes of water into the air. Much to the kids’ delight, the winds had picked up and would blow the water into the crowds of people, who ran for cover. Most people cleared out quickly and soon, the only people left standing under the torrent were our three little knuckleheads. But they were having so much fun that we just let them be kids for a while. Fortunately we had a few jackets packed which came in handy as they emerged from this unexpected “water park” absolutely soaked to the bone!

Chillin’ out at San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Although for the most part, we locked in our travel plans for the remainder of our adventure year, we did have this open question of what to do with our 5 days before Salamanca. For a while, I’ve had my sites set on Segovia, about an hour north of Madrid. Coming out of Morocco, we were tired, dusty and suffering from a lingering GI distress. We were desperately in need of clean clothes and a good night’s sleep (2 hr. time difference meant sunrise at 5:30 am!). Unfortunately, we would be traveling during a two day Spanish national/provincial holiday weekend, so our housing options were limited. Plus, with a car packed to the gills, the thought of dealing with the logistics of a crowded city center was a non-starter. After a bit of on-line wrestling with an Arabic keyboard at an internet café, I was able to book a townhouse in San Lorenzo de Escorial, site of the royal monastery built by King Philip V. It seemed close enough and at least gave us a place to unpack and regroup. When we got there, it was perfect on many levels - a huge place by European standards, and bright, roomy and comfortable. It sat at the base of a national park, with a great terrace view of the plateau and Madrid below. We were all wiped out from the rapid-fire itinerary and chaos of the last 9 days and it was a treat to chill out for a bit and just relax for a while. Plus, by this point, the kids were on the verge of mutiny from being dragged any more historical monuments. I officially resigned for a few days as family tour guide – which was received quite well by my family! We took a few days off and broke several rules in the spirit of recovery (e.g. Burger King for lunch, and plenty of movies/cartoons for the kids). Suzanne came down with the flu, so the kids and I toured the area around the monastary, went out to the local parks for a picnic, some fresh air, hikes, and good old fasion hide n’ seek. The surrounding area was beautiful and green this time of year and it reminded me of Chataqua Park in Boulder, CO.

Morocco – Giving Marrakech One Last Try

Coming back in to Morocco, we immediately felt more at ease, as our Riad was located in a more central part of town heavily traveled by tourists. It just felt more “friendly”, although there were certainly people all around us urging us to part with our money. However, we did have one scare after a quick dinner at a small cafeteria, when we returned to the Riad and Suzanne realized that she left her purse there – something she has NEVER done since I have known her! I had flashes of panic, wondering how we were ever going to cancel all our credit cards and important documents from a foreign country where we don’t speak the language and our phones weren’t working! Fortunately when I arrived, her purse was sitting on the table and the owner had been keeping an eye on it, awaiting our return. I thanked him profusely and returned to the Riad relieved, feeling the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. Over the next few days, we enjoyed several of the major palaces in the city, which interestingly were not well preserved and paled in comparison to the Alhambra and the Mezquita in Spain. It had always surprised me to hear people say “if you want to see the finest examples of Moroccan design, go to Spain”, but now I get it. In the spirit of cultural experience, I got sucked into one shopkeeper’s lair, ostensibly to enjoy a cup of mint tea and discuss life in America. Of course, this quickly degraded into a “perhaps you would like to look at a few carpets while you are here” marathon, where he must have brought out over 50 carpets for me to look at in spite of my countless protestations. What ensued was a painstaking review of which carpets I MIGHT find somewhat interesting. After rejecting 49 outright, I hesitated on one and that was enough to start the bargaining process. He drew out 2 columns on a sheet of paper and asked me to name a price. At first I refused, telling him we had absolutely no room to take home a carpet under any price, but he would not back down. Ultimately this ended with an offer so low, he was insulted and demanded a tip for his “hospitality”. It was worth a euro to pay for his pot of tea and get out of there! We later wandered through an amazing distribution center of Moroccan hand crafted furniture and brightly colored home decoration items. Suzanne called this her version of “torture” - being amongst all these amazingly beautiful pieces without buying anything! Particularly since we had no room in our luggage and no clear idea of what to buy for (as you may know, our house has been on the market all this time and we still don’t know exactly where we will end up after the summer). So she had to suck it up, bite her lip and somehow get through the next several days empty-handed. I must say I could not relate completely to her struggles, but it certainly looked like she was in a lot of pain… One of the most fascinating places was the Jmaa el Fnaa plaza – the central square in Marrakech. As the sun got low in the sky, the square came alive, as the food stalls were set up for grilled meats, stews, sheep’s heads, boiled snails and all sorts of other interesting things. With all the smoke and flames from the grills, the square almost looked on fire every night. In the background, small bands would form in the plaza, playing flutes and drums and people were out everywhere, congregating around fortune tellers and street performers. It was a mesmerizing experience and was a microcosm of the amazing intensity of this country – the sights, sounds, and smells – all at a level that was both exhilarating and overwhelming. Kind of like Vegas without the kitsczh! It seemed at times our kids were in a state of sensory overload and it will be interesting to see what they recall from this trip when they look back.

Morocco – Rockin' the Kasbahs in the land of Ben Hur

We spent the night in a spectacularly renovated Kasbah in the town of Skoura, right in the heart of some of the most spectacular Kasbahs in Morocco. The next morning we stopped at Atlas Movie Studios, where a number of movies have been filmed, such as Gladiator, Kundun, the Jewel of the Nile, and currently a modern remake of Ben Hur, which was being filmed under great secrecy and security. Coming from L.A. (where this is an everyday occurrence), it was somewhat surreal to visit a burgeoning movie industry out here, but the kids really enjoyed walking through the abandoned sets - many of which were falling apart, giving a sense of how crudely they are built. Then we were off to Ait Ben Haddou, one of the most impressive Kasbah villages in the country and a UNESCO world heritage site. Kasbahs are basically military fortresses that have been transferred into family living quarters shared by one or more families. Ait Ben Haddou consists of four such Kasbahs, linked together by an intricate structure of adobe village quarters built into the base of the mountain. It was one of the more stunning and memorable images in all of Morocco and one of the reasons I was so excited to come here. On arrival, however, the winds were blowing something fierce and the kids had little patience for the sand stinging their eyes the minute we got out of the car. Casey started crying immediately and I thought to myself; “uh-oh, this is not going to be good”… but off we went anyway, hoping the winds would die down. We had a guide and the kids seemed to perk up when they learned we had to take a donkey across the river to get there. But that didn’t last long, as the blowing sand literally wore them down. Inside the complex we were protected from the wind and it was enjoyable to get a tour of traditional Moroccan living quarters and kitchens – all with dirt floors and open windows – depicting the simple existence of traditional Moroccan family life. We could see how the adobe was unable to withstand the particularly heavy rains from this winter, as many parts of the walls showed significant signs of water erosion - the adobe surfaces need to be re-finished every 3-4 years, depending on seasonal conditions. As we worked our way to the top of the village, the winds were even stronger and we began a rapid retreat back to the car as the kids were all melting down and crying. Suzanne and I both longed for the relatively carefree and simple days of traveling alone as a couple! We then headed back over the Atlas Mountains into Marrakech, where we would finish out the last three days of our trip, hopefully a bit less “memorable” than our first day. Hammadi dropped us off in town and we said our goodbyes – fondly remembering our experiences in the desert and our time with Hammadi and his family.

Morocco – An Insider’s Perspective of a Moroccan Family

Today, we were fortunate to have Hammadi give us a different perspective of Morocco. First, he took us to his adventure camp, a fairly rural piece of land in M’Hamid owned by his family, which he is in the very early stages of development into a base for adventure travelers. We had tea in his “restaurant”, a large Bedouin-style tent with Berber carpets and pillows and then headed back to Zagoura, where Hammadi’s family lives. His family lives quite well by Moroccan standards – his father was a successful figure in the Moroccan army and owns land in many parts of the country. As is custom here, the parents provide what they can and then their children are expected to take over and bring in income to support the extended family, which can often be quite large. Often, only one or two family members will bring in income to support everyone. Hammadi’s home was located on a quiet side street that looked fairly plain from the outside, but was extremely large and modern on the inside with an unbelievably large number of “sitting rooms” for hosting of guests. Their backyard resembled a small farming complex nestled in a grove of palm trees, with animals, gardens and terraces. We met his sister and many of his cousins and nieces. Per Moroccan custom, we brought “white gifts” for the house - milk, salt, bread and sugar – symbolizing purity and good luck. We were then seated on pillows in one of the main rooms for an amazing couscous lunch - with carrots, onions, eggplant, zuchinni and roasted goat from the backyard. Traditionally when his father is home, the men would eat in a different room from the women. However, since he was away that day, we all ate together in the same room - although Hammadi, his cousin the boys and I ate at a separate table and were served first. It felt strange to be eating while Casey and Suzanne were staring at us hungrily! Hammadi was kind enough to give us utensils for eating, although traditionally, Moroccans eat with their right hand (the left hand is considered unsanitary). His sister showed Suzanne and Casey how to roll balls of couscous, but it seemed quite messy and none of us bothered to try. It was simply a struggle to remember to not touch food with my left hand – particularly since I am left-handed! After a desert of homemade cookies and fresh fruit followed by a mint tea, the women presented Suzanne with a pretty hand-made bracelet and necklace, and Casey exchanged coloring books with Hammadi’s niece, Delel, who is also 5 years old. While at times it was a struggle to communicate given our inability to speak each other’s language, overall it was an amazing gesture of hospitality and gave us unique insight into daily Moroccan family life.