Good Eats: Perfecting Paella in Barcelona

During our week living like locals in Barcelona, we decided there was no better way to absorb the culture than to learn to cook from a Catalan. My mom started browsing for options on Trip Advisor and came across Marta’s Paella Cooking Class and knew it would be perfect for us. We called and booked ourselves the afternoon session for the next day. Marta…

The Best of Barcelona

Oh, Barcelona, you confusing little minx you. You’ve got everything going for you…the beach, Gaudí, incredible seafood and and an equally great night life. You’ve also got hordes and hordes and hordes of tourists. And tourist menus. And employees looking to take advantage of tourists. Though I am a traveler, I can’t stand tourists. Ok, let me rephrase that. I love fellow travelers and…

captivated in cuenca

City life demands rest every once in a while. Sometimes you just need to get away. Luckily, it is much easier to escape Madrid than it was New York. Smack dab in the middle of Spain, you can get pretty much anywhere in under half a day. For the most tranquil of trips, there’s an array of charmers within a couple hours of the…

madrid mola: the key to falling in love with spain’s capital

Madrid is hard to love. Every time I visited, I left disappointed. Next to colorful Andalucía, captivating Basque Country and fascinating Barcelona, the capital seems industrial and plain. Sure, the city is home to some stunners like the Palacio Real and the Prado, but they somehow get lost in the shadow of commercial Gran Vía, touristy Plaza Mayor, and too many restaurants claiming to…

down where the olive trees grow

“Podría sentarme aquí todo el día, sólo para mirar al cielo andaluz”  “I could sit here all day, just to stare at this Andalusian sky,” I breathed as we sunk down into the shade, seeking solace from the afternoon heat. My eyes had been glued to the heavens since we arrived two days earlier, when my preferred region seemed to set them on fire,…

segovia is for lovers

I’m not much of a sight-seer. Never have been, though I am getting better with age. Churches that were once deathly boring now fascinate me and I get giddy in museums that you may have found me dozing off in five years ago. That said, I’d almost always rather be wandering the streets of a new place instead of inside a building or staring…