Jay and I were quite pleased with our food in Santander. Our appetizer that night was some of the best potatoes we’ve even had. They were soft and seasoned with herbs and oil and came with a spectacular garlic and olive oil aioli dipping sauce. Jay is still talking about it. And for our main course we split yummy lemon chicken and ground beef pizza.

The next day was our beach day. We walked all along the coast in Santander checking out the different beaches. It was so nice to dig my feet into soft white powdery sand. It was something we had missed on the pebbly beaches in Croatia. While we loved the sand, we missed Croatia’s beautiful crystal clear turquoise sea. It’s impossible to have both; we debated which was better and ultimately came to no conclusion. We love both.

As we walked along the street above the beach, I almost felt like I could be in Florida. We could see small waves crashing on the wide white sandy beaches. The sidewalk was lined with pretty flowers, grass and hedges. There were plenty of ice cream parlors, nice looking restaurants, and even Starbucks. It was an odd sensation after being in the south of Croatia, because no place there ever felt like the United States to me. Once on the beach though, the abundance of topless women ended the Florida feeling. I joked that the beaches in Santander were just like Florida plus topless women, wine, and Spanish tortillas.

Before settling ourselves in the sand, we walked around the small headland on the eastern tip of Santander called Magdalena. It is covered with a green park and tall trees. Here the sandy beaches ended and the coastline turned into rocky cliffs offering some beautiful vistas. We checked out the 19th century Magdalena Palace, which was mildly interesting, and a small zoo with penguins and sea lions. Jay practiced his Spanish with me by reading the educational signs about the animals. We then searched out some lunch before we headed to El Sardinero, the town’s largest beach.

As expected all of the sandwich shops along the beach seemed overpriced and mediocre. We crossed the street and headed down a small side street and found a “hole-in-the-wall” sandwich shop where Jay hit the jackpot. He ordered a veal sandwich. The old man behind the counter opened his fridge, took out a fresh perfect cut of veal, cooked it in front of us on his grill, and served it up on a warm fresh roll with melted cheese. Jay said is was so tender it melted in his mouth. All sandwiches from here forward will be compared to that one.

We spent the afternoon lying on the beach in the sand, reading, and wading into the ocean. It was cold, so we didn’t venture deep. The day was overcast, but we didn’t mind because it made our walking and reading comfortable. During our walk we had kept our eyes out for beach volleyball, but just saw a lot of paddle ball. As we were leaving though, we saw four courts in play and two more being setting up. We timidly asked if we could play too, and got to partake in two good games of doubles. We lost, but we held our own – they were close matches. And we got to expand our Spanish volleyball vocabulary more. It was great way to end the day.

Our walk back to the hotel took much longer than expected — over an hour, but it was all along the beautiful cost, so it was enjoyable for the first 45 minutes. The last 20 minutes, we were just sick of walking and ready to be back. We carried our beach bag like traveling Europeans: sharing, each of us holding one handle. (This is how we frequently see European tourist carrying their bags, but rarely Americans. I’m not sure why, other than it looks silly.)

We had a small dinner at a hopping sandwich shop called The Green Frog (ha ha). I was saving room for a big piece of scrumptious moist chocolate cake from a local dessert shop that I read about online. When we got to the dessert shop, they were out of chocolate cake for the day! It felt tragic at the time. I got cheesecake instead, which always seems to be a mistake wherever I’ve been in Europe. I guess one small tragedy for the weekend isn’t too bad. We headed to bed early and were up before dawn again for our early short flight back to Madrid. Weekend trips always go so quickly.

Click here to view more photos from our trip to Santander and Bilbao.

This quote seems to summarize so much of life for me — and I know every year I will feel more that way. Jay and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last weekend with a short trip to Santander and Bilbao. I can’t believe we have already been married for 5 years. Sometimes we still feel like kids and other times we feel like old fogies. We booked the trip because we found a great deal on the discount airline, Ryanair, and it wasn’t until a few days later that we even realized the trip coincided with our anniversary.

Our flight left at 6:30 am Saturday morning, so that meant we left our apartment at 4:15 am — ouch! The subway doesn’t open until 6:00 am, so we had to take an airport shuttle taxi. It was fun driving through the city and seeing everyone still out for the night going to bars and drinking on stoops. And when we got to the airport we were surprised by the scene in the check-in area; it was filled with hundreds of backpackers sound asleep. They were spread out everywhere and lined up in rows along the walls. Most slept on sleeping mats with their heads resting on their backpacks. Some slept with their mouths wide open, others curled up in the fetal position, and some twitched as they dreamt. I was amazed at the multitude of people and how many were sound asleep even with all of the noise. I guess it was a good way to save on a night’s hotel and taxi fare.

Luckily we got the emergency exit row on the plane, so we had extra leg room and got some extra sleep. We continued our nap on the hour and half bus ride from Santander to Bilbao. Like most visitors to Bilbao, we went to see the Guggenheim Museum. It is a modern and contemporary art museum designed by architect Frank Gehry. When it opened in 1997 it was immediately touted as one of the most spectacular buildings of our time and put the formerly unknown town of Bilbao on the world map. Since it was built, I have wanted to see it, and it lived up to my expectations.

The building is formed from random curves made of titanium fish-like scales. The curves catch the light and reflect brightly. It’s beautiful. It feels more like a sculptural work of art than a building. I couldn’t decide if it dwarfed the importance of the artwork inside or elevated it.

We walked all around the exterior of building, snapping way too many photos along the way. The sun was scorching, but we climbed up seven flights of stairs onto the neighboring bridge to get a view from above. When we got to the top we saw a group of people walk out from around the corner and realized there was an elevator we could’ve taken instead.

As we approached the front of the museum we admired Jeff Koon’s sculpture “Puppy,” a 43-foot-tall topiary terrier made of fresh pansies. It was intended to be a temporary exhibit during the opening of the museum, but was so well received that it found a permanent home. It was playful and fun.

The inside of the museum follow the same theme as the exterior with all walls, hallways, and galleries formed of curves. The galleries contain permanent works from some important 20th century artists such as Picasso, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Ives Klein and Willem de Koonig, and temporary exhibits from current artists.

My favorite exhibit showcased work from Anish Kapoor, who many people know for his Cloud Gate sculpture (or giant reflective bean) in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Much of his work explores themes of ambiguity and distorted perceptions. One gallery had a giant yellow piece of art that at first looked like a flat painting trying to give the illusion of depth, but as I approached it I realized there actually was depth — a giant hole going deep into the wall. Another gallery contained an array of different shaped mirrors that distorted our reflections. Jay and I had fun seeing how silly we could make ourselves look. Other pieces of Kapoor’s work challenged the traditional static nature of sculpture and painting. He used wax and pigment in his pieces, but instead of arranging them on a canvas, he used them as the work of art itself. In one piece he had a cannon that would randomly shoot out red wax and splatter it on the wall, so the piece was always evolving. My professional classification of his work would be goofy, but fun and intriguing.

After leaving the museum, we planned to walk to the old part of town and to see more of Bilbao before heading back to Santander, but our energy quickly waned from the sweltering sun and our lack of sleep. Instead we walked through the nearby park that lined the river, found a shady spot in the grass, and took a nap. I’m a little ashamed to say we didn’t see much of Bilbao except the Guggenheim, but that is why we went, and the nap in the park was lovely.

Click here to view more photos from our trip to Santander and Bilbao.

After an hour bus ride into the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains outside of Madrid we arrived in the small town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which is dominated by El Escorial, a historical residence of the King of Spain built in 1584. Today, it is a large monastery, an austere royal palace, a fascinating museum, a school, and a royal pantheon where Spanish royalty are buried. We walked around the exterior of the building and peeked over the walls to the gardens and decided to take advantage of the cool morning air with a small hike. We headed to the tourist office so they could point us in the direction of Silla de Felipe II (Chair of Philip II).

The hike to Silla de Felipe II was about 2.5 miles. It began on a wide path through a park, climbed up a rugged trail through the forest, and ended at a magnificent view of El Escorial set against the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains. It could have also been reached in the opposite direction by car, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun — plus, we don’t have a car. The hike itself offered many outstanding views and we had the path to ourselves most of the time.

At the site we sat on several blocks of stones that were in the forms of chairs and overlooked the vista. Supposedly they were the same stones where King Philip II sat and watched the building of his palace and monastery. We relaxed on his throne, ate our granola bars, and watched two young boys interact with their grandpa and his binoculars. It was fun watching their excitement at seeing faraway things so big, and I was just happy I could actually understand some of their conversation in Spanish. The boys were rambunctious and impatient. They wouldn’t let grandpa look through his binoculars for a second without chanting, “Give them to me, give them to me, I want them.” As they left, they gave us a cheery, “Adios.”

After our hike back and a quick lunch, we entered El Escorial. The well-directed path through the massive building led us to the Museum of Architecture, the Art Gallery, private apartments, the Hall of Battles, the Pantheon, numerous ceiling paintings, the Grand Staircase, the Basilica, and the Library. My favorite was the Library. I am always drawn to books and the room was beautiful. It glowed a warm gold. The walls were covered with books and the ceilings were covered with paintings.There were over 40,000 volumes, including King Philip II’s personal collection. The paintings on the ceiling were frescoes depicting the seven liberal arts: Rhetoric, Dialectic, Music, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geometry and Astronomy.

I also really enjoyed the Basilica and the Museum of Architecture. The Basilica had wonderfully high ceilings and an impressive 92-foot tall altar adorned with gilded statues and religious paintings. The Museum of Architecture featured original plans, drawings, models, and tools detailing the building of El Escorial. The blueprints and detailed drawings of the building’s exterior were fascinating. They were pen drawings, but they were so intricate and precise that they looked like they could have been printed from a computer today. It was compelling to think about how far we’ve advanced technology in the past five hundred years, yet so many principles of architecture are enduring and relevant.

The Museum of Architecture was the first feature we visited and I probably spent too long perusing all of the drawings there because by the time we made it through the building we were exhausted and a bit slap happy. We spent a short time in El Escorial’s gardens checking out the hedges that were trimmed and sculpted into silly fun patterns. And we ended the visit on a high note with a perfectly yummy lemon icee.

Click here to view more photos from our Day Trip to San Lorenzo de El Escorial as well as other recent adventures around Madrid

Almost all of the parks and gardens in Madrid are well kept: plenty of trees and dense green grass with well manicured lawns and bushes. This characteristic was a pleasant surprise to me considering it almost never rains in the summer and temperatures reach into the upper 90°s Farenheit almost daily. I expected them to be more like the city parks we visited throughout Italy, which were usually full of dry barren spots. Madrid works hard to keep them pretty.

And I know most of the parks in the city have a rich history, but this gets stored in my short term memory and is quickly forgotten. I remember seeing the sights, walking along the paths, laying in the grass, and people watching.

Retiro Park

Retiro Park, Madrid’s main city park, is probably my favorite city park in the world because it has so many interesting aspects: walking paths, gardens, forests, Dr. Suess trees, a lake with row boats, statues and monuments, fountains, playgrounds, a glass building, art exhibits and more. I fell in love with Retiro during my first visit to Spain in 2001 and I was excited to share it with Jay, so it was the first park we visited after the West Park (the park closest to where we live).

We made the baneful mistake of sleeping in late and not going until the afternoon in the sweltering heat. Living in Madrid has quickly made me understand the traditional Spanish siesta. In July and August, the mornings are cool and comfortable (mid-60°s F and 70°s F) until about noon when the temperatures slowly rise to oppressive levels. I was really looking forward to the row boats at Retiro, but we decided to save them for another time and stick to the shade. Since there is very little humidity, the air feels fine in the shade; it’s just the sun that can be unbearable.

Even though we didn’t make it onto the lake ourselves, we enjoyed seeing the impressive monument behind the lake and the people watching. We watched children splashing water as the parents scolded them in vain and men rowing while their ladies sunbathed at the front of the boat (this being the exact reason Jay was not about to step in a row boat with one set of oars when it was 98°F outside — he didn’t want to do all the work).

We walked along pathways that wove like a maze throughout the park and walked through a few of the gardens. My favorite garden had a bunch of trees that looked like they belonged in a Dr. Suess book! I also thought La Rosaleda, the rose garden, was enchanting, but there wasn’t any shade, so Jay’s interest there lasted about 3 minutes.

In the middle of the park there is a beautiful glass building call the Crystal Palace with a small pond in front of it. The Crystal Palace and the Palacio de Velázquez host free art exhibits. The Palacio de Velázquez was showcasing work of Antoni Miralda from the 1970s until today. I wasn’t familiar with his work, but the exhibit was enjoyable, amusing, and often funny — plus the air conditioning was a nice bonus.

Campo del Moro Park

So far, Campo del Moro is my second favorite park in Madrid. I had never heard of it before a few weeks ago and I had no expectations, so it was such a pleasant surprise. This time, we were smart and made it out our door by 9:00 am, so we had the entire morning to enjoy the nice weather. As soon as we entered the park we were greeted by a beautiful view of a green fairway with the Palace in the background. Jay jokingly said he wished he had his 7-iron with him, and I had to agree that it looked beautiful for golf.

The park was quiet and is not often visited by tourists because it is not easy to find. Though it is right next to the Palace, there is only one small unmarked entrance on the back west side of the park. Most of the other visitors seemed to be elderly people sitting on park benches reading their morning paper. We walked along the tree covered paths, stopping at several pretty fountains and a pond. The pond had fish, ducks, turtles, and black swans. Sometimes Jay and I still feel like little kids — we spent way too long watching the baby ducks swim around and dive for food, and Jay said he was quite upset I did not tell him to bring food for the ducks.

Sabatini Gardens

Near Campo del Moro are the Sabatini Gardens. These gardens line the north side of the palace and we overlooked them from our hotel our first week in Madrid. They are much smaller than Campo del Moro and we stayed a short time to see the sculpted plants, royal statues, and reflecting pool.

The highlight for me was an energetic french bulldog zipping around the park. On one hand, he was well behaved and would quickly return to his owner as soon as she whistled because he had been out of sight for too long. On the other hand, he was quite mischievous. He greeted anyone who didn’t shy away, swam in the reflecting pool, ran through the manicured hedges and seemed to pose in front of statues for me.

Royal Botanical Gardens

The Royal Botanical Gardens were the only gardens we had to pay to enter and ironically they were the only ones we found disappointing. They were the only ones that were not well kept. I imagined that it would’ve been much prettier in the Spring, but now there were many plots that were barren and dead. We really enjoyed the greenhouse though. There was a fun cactus room and tropical plant room that made up for the small entry fee (only 1.25 Euros each).

Casa de Campo Park

This morning we planned to take a day-trip to El Escorial, a town about an hour outside of Madrid that has an impressive monastery, but the bus didn’t show up as scheduled. We waited an hour and then changed plans. We head to Madrid’s largest park, just west of the city, Casa de Campo. Casa de Campo was formerly the Royal hunting ground and covers over 4200 acres. It contains hiking trails, bikes paths, a lake, an amusement park, the city zoo and more.

We walked around the lake, but decided once again it was too hot for a row boat. Instead, we watched other row boats and kayaks and an interesting “soccer meets kayaking” game being practiced on the water. I think the park would be best enjoyed with bikes because it is so large, so next time we may rent bikes. This time we stuck to the shaded walking paths and yummy Magnum ice cream bars.

One of the parks main attractions is its cable car that transports you from Casa de Campo Park to the West Park right in our neighborhood. It provided a great view of the park and of some of Madrid in the distance and it capped off another fun Madrid park experience. It wasn’t what we planned for the day, but Jay told me to turn my frown upside down, (seriously, he literally told me that) and we ended up having a great day anyways.

Click here to view more photos from our park visits and sightseeing around Madrid.

Saturday, July 3: Quarterfinal Match vs. Paraguay

As Kelly has already shared in her previous blog, the football match was actually not the biggest happening in town this night – Madrid hosted its annual Gay Pride Parade which culminated in a free Kylie Minogue concert attended by several hundred thousand people. In between the parade and the concert, we watched the match at “Las Delicias del Jamon” – a local tapas bar / deli / butcher shop. The place had a very authentic, down-to-earth feel about it. One side of the restaurant comprised a deli counter and a bar, and about a dozen 2-4 person tables filled the rest of the place. All four walls were covered with about 100 hanging dried pigs legs.

We arrived right at kickoff and grabbed the second-to-last table. We enjoyed watching the match with the locals, and listening to their cheers and jeers. Of course, the place erupted when Spain scored the sole goal of the match, and everyone applauded when the game ended. Later that night, we saw lots of supporters decked out in their Spain apparel – even some dogs!

Wednesday, July 7: Semifinal Match vs. Germany

We weren’t sure where to watch this game this time, but about an hour before kickoff, Kelly received a tip from our hotel receptionist to go to Real Madrid stadium, where they were showing the match on giant screens. The stadium was about 25 minutes away (walking and subway). We weren’t certain which station to get off, but we figured it out real quick when the entire subway train emptied and everyone started cheering and blowing horns. It brought a huge smile to our faces right away – and mine hardly went away the whole night.

Exiting the subway station placed us right on top of the stadium. The place was buzzing – it had a definite tailgating feel to it. Vendors were selling souvenirs and fans were downing beer – it wasn’t allowed inside the gates. After walking through security into the plaza outside the Real Madrid stadium, we found the four giant screens surrounded by mobs of people. I’d estimate we stood with about twenty thousand people to watch the match.

It was a blast to see and hear the crowd wave flags, blow horns, cheer, gasp, moan and applaud throughout the entire match. Fans continually sang several cheers/fight songs, including “yo soy Español, Español Español!” (I am Spanish) and “Este partido, vamos a ganar” (We will win this game). Written down, they don’t look like much, but I enjoyed cheering along with them – and I heard them quite a bit the next few days!

We were very amused during the game that a group of college-aged Spanish men accused us of being Germans. They looked at us – about a foot taller than the average Spaniard, blondish hair, fair-skinned, not decked out in Spanish colors – and assumed we were rooting for the enemy! We assured them that we were from the USA, which brought big smiles and enticed them to chant “USA! USA! USA!” (they were among the leaders in starting all chants throughout the match). Later on, they asked us which state, which of course resulted in an “O-HI-O! O-HI-O!” chant! And of course, it must be noted, that these young men were, of course, under the influence of liquid courage.

After the match ended victoriously, we entered into the loudest subway station I have ever been in. Everyone was yelling and hollering and blowing horns. I thought it was great, but felt a bit sorry for the workers who were likely in for a long, headache-filled night. Oh well, it sure beats losing! And during our walk home, all of the cars were honking their horns and people were still singing and chanting. I believe we still heard celebratory car horns the following morning!

Sunday, July 11: World Cup Final vs. Netherlands

We had so much fun watching the semifinal match at the Real Madrid stadium that we returned for the final match – this time of course decked out in Spanish (and University of Cincinnati) red. Only one problem, there was no buzz and no crowd, just a few dozen other fans looking around confused with us. The vendors were still all set up – we spoke with a couple of them, and they informed us that the viewing party was at the Plaza de Colon, “about a 15 minute walk away”.

Of course, a 15 minute walk really means about 35 minutes (about 2 miles). We had begun to get worried that we had gotten lost, but we eventually found our way, and found the party. The city shut down the street between two squares and set up at least eight giant screens for everyone to watch. Newspapers estimated 300,000 people watched the match here. And of course the crowd’s spirit was just as energized as Wednesday, except that the crowd was a multiple of ten larger! Absolutely awesome.

It was quite a nerve-wracking game, with no goals scored during regular time, leading to extra time. When Spain scored the goal with only a few minutes left in extra time, absolute bedlam ensued. Horns, yelling, everyone jumping up and down. Fireworks, cheering, hugging, singing. Everyone calmed down – just a little – to make sure that the goal held up for the final minutes of the match, and then the celebration began! We spotted a few grown men in tears – this is after all the first time Spain has won the world cup – and right as the game ended, the barricade protecting the drained fountain was pulled down and everyone rushed to celebrate around the fountain’s statue. We have since learned that this is a Spanish celebratory tradition, and is likely why this fountain was emptied. We saw photos the next day of other people splashing around in the fountain beds.

After the match ended, the streets became flooded with more than one million revelers, and the largest street party that I have ever experienced ensued. We walked around town for a couple of hours, taking it all in. We made it back to our apartment shortly before 2 a.m., and I’m sure that the party lasted until sunrise.

I feel so lucky that the timing of our move to Madrid coincided with this World Cup run. It was so much fun, and I understand and value how unique and rare of an opportunity it really was — the World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world, save the Olympics. I also have a great appreciation for the rarity of championships, coming from Cincinnati. I joked to Kelly: we have lived in Cincinnati for the last 20 years without witnessing a championship, it only took two weeks for it to happen in Spain!

Click here to view more photos from our World Cup viewing experiences.

The World Cup
Seeing Spain’s last three matches of the World Cup and their eventual championship victory was spectacular and deserves a blog post of its own. We watched the final game with over 300,000 people on large screen TVs in Plaza de Colón and Plaza de Cibeles. We chanted and sang along with the crowd. We watched people shake with excitement when Spain scored and grown men cry when they won. We celebrated afterwards in the streets in Madrid. The streets flooded with over a million people creating a massive sea of red and yellow full of cheers and horns. It was a night to remember.

Our temporary digs: Jardines de Sabatini Aparto Suites
When looking for a temporary place to stay in Madrid we wanted a place with reliable internet, a kitchen, and a good location. We stayed at Jardines de Sabatini Aparto Suites, a smaller family-owned hotel, whose rooms are really part hotel and part apartment. It is one of the nicest hotel experiences I’ve ever had because our room was great, our kitchen was very convenient, our view of the Royal Palace was beautiful, and our service was outstanding. The three receptionists, the hotel manager and the owner were all especially kind to us. They answered my endless questions about where to shop and where to watch the World Cup and even endured my game of charades to help me figure out the Spanish word for a transportation dolly (carretilla). And the owner, Charo, showed us the hotel’s new unique event space, full of classic cars.

A travel in time: old and classic cars
Charo grew up around her father’s collection of classic cars and when he died, Charo and her sister inherited nearly 100 cars. Charo turned part of the garage below the hotel (which already had marble flooring) into a unique event space where she exhibits about 20 of her favorite cars along with large scale photographs of old Madrid. Many of the cars can still be driven and are in mint condition.

Charo gave us a tour and we sat inside a few of the cars. The old Rolls Royce, Cadillac and Jaguar were flashy and beautiful. They looked liked they would fun to ride in. One of our favorite cars was actually a tiny Isetta from the 1950s, which had a single door that opened in the front. It was similar to the car that Steve Urkel drove on Family Matters.

Gay pride parade and the Kylie Minogue concert
The weekend we arrived in Madrid was Gay Pride Weekend, one of the largest gay pride festivals in Europe, which attracted thousands of tourists and many interesting characters. Jay and I attended the gay pride parade and the concert finale Saturday night. We saw numerous racy costumes that made me blush; clearly a lot of guys were out to attract attention, and there were people snapping photos everywhere. I was surprised how many families with young children or elderly were out to watch the parade too. I loved seeing the expressions on the elderly ladies’ faces when they saw one guy in just his birthday suit and fluorescent paint.

At midnight there was a free concert in the large Plaza de España; a very appropriately Spanish time to begin a concert since Spaniards seem to be night owls. An estimated 800,000 people attended the concert and the myriad of people stretched down the street as far as we could see. Kylie Minogue headlined the concert and put on a great show.

One of the biggest differences we’ve noticed between Croatia and Spain is that the general population seems to have shrunk about a foot. Croats are unusually tall and the Spanish are short, so the difference is quite noticeable. Its been very convenient for us (especially Jay) at events like this and the World Cup. We always have a pretty good view even in a large crowd.

West Park and the Temple of Debod
I always love city parks, so we visited the nearby West Park (Parque del Oeste) a few times to enjoy its gardens, trees and pretty green spaces. Due to its proximity and numerous paths, it will probably end up being my running park, even though it is a bit too hilly for my preference.

My favorite part of the park was the Temple of Debod, which is actually an ancient Egyptian temple. It was formerly located in Aswan, Egypt, so I would’ve seen it on my trip to Egypt this past November if it was still there. Egypt gave it to Spain as a gift of appreciation for helping save the revered temples of Abu Simbel that were endangered when Egypt built the Great Dam of Aswan in 1960. Egypt was short on money, but not short on ancient treasures. Spain rebuilt the temple on a shallow pool of water in the park, which gives a beautiful reflection, especially as the sun sets.

Food selection
I’ve always heard you should not go to the grocery store when you are hungry because you will buy too much. Well, you definitely should not go to the grocery store when you are hungry and you haven’t seen such an amazing selection of food in over a year. I went a little crazy on my first trip to El Corte Inglés (a huge “everything” store throughout Spain). There was so much wonderful food and such a variety. There were infinite cheeses, including cheddar! And there was deli sliced turkey, which I might be most excited about. And tons of spices and sauces and cereals and desserts and frozen foods and yogurts and juices and delicious chocolate chip cookies. I kept piling more and more things in my cart. It was a good thing I had to carry everything home myself, or I’m not sure when I would’ve stopped.

So far we’ve been enjoying big city living. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what Madrid has to offer. We are looking forward to exploring more of the city and making new friends. And we are always up for hearing advice from any former Madrid visitors or Madrileños (Madrid natives).

Click here to view more photos from our World Cup viewing experiences.

Click here to view more photos from the Gay Pride Parade and Kylie Minogue concert.

Click here to view more photos from our first week in Madrid.

I accidentally (and stupidly) packed my beloved Cutco scissors in my carry-on and thus lost them to the bag screener in Split. I told him they were wonderful and would give him a lifetime of great use. I was sad to see them go, but if the rest of our luggage makes it to Madrid without any hiccups, I will feel very blessed.

Our last few days in Split have been bitter sweet. We’ve grown to love so much about the city, but we are excited for our new adventure. Its easy to know what we will miss most: the people we’ve met. We’ve had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world with fascinating perspectives. I’ve learned a lot and made some wonderful friendships. We had a going away soiree a few nights before we left and were joined by friends from eleven different countries. It amazes me we all got along so well with such different backgrounds.

Besides the fun people we’ve met and great conversations we’ve had, there is a lot more we will miss too:

The Adriatic Sea
I can’t really explain why, but like many people, I feel drawn to the water. Especially in Croatia, the sea feels so peaceful and relaxing to me. I’ll miss its beautiful colors and amazing clarity. I’ll miss being able to take walks along its coast, sitting and listening to its small waves hit the rocks and tumble them together, and taking a swim in its refreshing turquoise water.

The islands
Croatia is one of the best places in the world for island lovers, boasting over 1200 islands (60 are inhabited). There were four larger islands near Split that we could easily get to in less than an hour and a half: Šolta, Brac, Hvar, and Vis. I’m going to miss being able to say, “Oh, we’re just going to an island this weekend,” like it was no big deal (because it wasn’t a big deal when we lived in Split). Šolta and Brac were great for day trips: just a 15 minute walk to the ferry and a quick 50 minute ferry ride. The islands boast the clearest, most beautiful sea water I’ve ever seen.

Marjan Hill Park and my beautiful running path
I never really enjoyed running, and I still don’t consider myself a runner, but thanks to Split’s beautiful running paths and lack of women’s recreational sports, I am running more now than ever. Marjan Hill is a large pine-forested park on a hill overlooking Split. I’d often run around the base of the park on a path above the sea. I’ll miss always having such a beautiful view while I run: the ragged coast line, the sea, the islands, the children swimming, and the slanted trees whipped by the wind rounding the edge of Split’s peninsula.

Long Spring and Autumn seasons
Spring and Autumn are my favorite seasons and they lasted so long in Split. I’ll miss the perfect mid-70°s F and sunny weather that lasted for months. It was perfect for running and hiking and picnics at the beach.

Narrow alleys and Roman ruins
Split’s old town and old neighboring suburbs were always fun to walk in. I’ll miss all of the narrow little streets and old worn stone buildings. I’ll miss the random little altars and patches of purple flowers seen in the sides of the stone walls in our neighborhood, Varoš. I’ll miss walking through ancient Roman ruins full of modern day life. The street were always romantic at night and lively during the day.

Small town feel
Even though Split is Croatia’s second largest city, it had a small town feel to me, and there was a lot I will miss about that. I’ll miss being able to walk almost everywhere so easily. My work, friends’ homes, groceries, restaurants, and recreation were just minutes away. I’ll miss randomly running into someone I knew on almost every outing into town. It was easy to see friends and make plans on a moment’s notice.

Quarter-loafs of fresh bread
I’ll miss that in Split I could buy a quarter-loaf of the most wonderfully fresh bread for just 35¢. We’d buy fresh bread almost everyday for lunch sandwiches. A quarter loaf was just enough for two sandwiches, so there were never leftovers and it was perfectly fresh and so tasty every meal.

Smooth sweet ice cream
Split had the best ice cream I’ve ever had. It was so creamy and smooth. I loved that I could get half and half: two flavors in one scoop, and that it cost less than a dollar. My favorite ice cream shop was called Hajduk (named after the local soccer team). I’d always get half vanilla and half strawberry or half chocolate chip and half white chocolate. And they’d dip it in chocolate for free. Delicious.

Croatia will always have a special place in our hearts. We’ll sing its praises to everyone we know to head there for a vacation. And we’ll cheer for them loudly in all sporting events (after the USA, of course.) We’ll still be talking about our Croatian adventures when we’re old and gray.

The excursion had its very Croatian characteristics: we didn’t have to sign any forms signing our lives away like we would’ve had to in the United States, we accompanied our guide and driver to pick up and prepare the raft in its storage garage (which was great because we got to drive through fun little Croatian villages), and no one tried to sell us extra souvenirs like t-shirts or photos. Jay joked that signing your life away in the United States means you are about to have a lot of fun, which I agree is usually the case.

We confronted just a few treacherous rapids on the Cetina River, but they were the best part. After looking at my photos, my Dad commented that it looked like we didn’t encounter any rapids at all — we did, but I just couldn’t take photos of them because there was water flying everywhere and I was trying not to fall out. On the best rapids our guide yelled, “Bomba!” which meant we had to quickly plop in the bottom of the raft so we didn’t fall out or hit our head on tall rocks. Jay and Mario bombad perfectly together — a dramatic bounce up and a plop down all in unison, and we all slid around the floor of the boat as we made our way down the rapids.

We had to get out and walk for about ten minutes of the excursion. We weren’t permitted to experience the most perilous rapids. That was a bit disappointing, but our guide assured us it was for our own safety and we saw two other guides face those rapids solo too. Our guide just ignored Jay when he tried to convince him to let us come along.

The extra little unexpected parts of the expedition are what made it memorable to me. Our guide gave us time to get out and swim. The water was cool and refreshing and remarkably clear compared to rivers I am accustomed to seeing. There were several small waterfalls that fed into the river. Our guide led us under the frigid waterfall and into its interior so we could see the back side of the waterfall. Mario held onto the rock wall so we didn’t slide back under the water as our guide took a photo of us.

We also had the opportunity to jump off a humble cliff (about 20 or 25 feet tall) into the river, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I remember being fearful the few seconds before I jumped, but it was completely exhilarating. I thought the mid-air photo of me was hilarious when I zoomed in; I looked completely petrified.

The trip was over before we knew it; it was hard to believe a few hours had passed. We exited the river at the Radmanove Mlinice Restaurant. We stayed for a relaxing dinner in the shade of the forest. The warm bread baked under coals in their large stone ovens was delicious and it was a nice way to end the day. It’s sad for me to think that this was our last fun Croatian adventure before we move to Madrid, but it was definitely a good one to top off 15 months of amazing memories.

Click here to view more photos from our Cetina River whitewater rafting trip.

We had arrived on the island of Vis after dark late the night before. We rented a room in the little town of Komiža from the tourist agency, Alturnatura. The room was small, basic and old fashioned, but clean. And the bathroom was in the hallway – all on par for the just $37 per night we paid. We couldn’t see the view in the darkness when we arrived, so waking up to such an astonishing site was pretty special, and made us feel like we could not have found a better deal. Plus our room was practically on top of the sea, so the sound of the waves was superb for rocking me right to sleep.

Vis is Croatia’s most remote island (24 miles away from the mainland). From 1944 – 1989 it was a military island and off-limits to most visitors. Tito commanded the Yugoslav army from the island during WWII and the island stationed Yugoslav, British and American troops. Now the island is home to a small military base and just 3,000 residents. Many Croatian islands have begun to swell with tourists in the last few years, but Vis hasn’t become overrun yet. There are just four hotels on the island (as well as vacation apartment accommodations). It has maintained its feel of a sleepy island paradise.

We had heard great things about all of the unique bays on the island, so we rented a car for the day to check out a few. We rented the car from Darlić & Darlić, another tourist agency in town. The owner’s mother was working that day and she was super sweet. She talked about all of her favorite places to visit, marked spots on our map, and checked us over to make sure we had proper shoes for hiking down to Stiniva Bay. She gave us her blessing and we were off to our first stop: Hum, the highest peak on the island. It gave us a perfect view of Komiža and to Split looking the other way. Supposedly you can see Italy from this point too; we weren’t sure if we were seeing Italy or just a hazy horizon.

Early June was still before high tourist season, so driving around the island we rarely passed another car and the bays were scattered with just a few other people. It made an ideal setting for a peaceful and romantic weekend.

The first beach we visited was the most stunning, most difficult to get to, and we spent the most time there. The entrance to the cove of Stiniva Bay from the sea is rather small through two towering cliff walls. Inside it opens up to a secluded little beach. The cove has been able to maintain its natural beauty because there is no road leading to it. Approaching the bay from above we had a half hour hike down a steep path. The views from above were the best and they constantly changed as we made our descent. Once at the beach we had a picnic lunch and waded in the cool crystal emerald water.

After a strenuous hike back up, we headed to the bays of Srebrna and Rukavac where we walked along large flat slat rocks the gradually sloped into the sea. The sea was blue and turquoise and the smooth rocks felt nice on my feet. It was such a contrast to the pebbly beach at Stiniva.

We stopped in Vis town for an ice cream and directions to Stoncica Bay. Driving around the island was fun as we were constantly winding our way around hillsides, through vineyards, and along cliffs overlooking the sea. Our time to return the rental car was quickly sneaking up on us, so we had a very short time to see Stoncica Bay and its sandy beach. It was hard to believe that these very diverse bays were all on the same small 55 square mile island.

The day had wiped us out, so we enjoyed a quiet evening dinner in Komiža and watched the excellent movie, The Blind Side, on our laptop before heading to sleep.

We were up early the next morning to join six other visitors with Alternatura for a visit to the Blue Cave (Modra špilja) on the nearby island of Biševo. Jay and I had been looking forward to Biševo’s Blue Cave since we missed out on seeing the Blue Grotto on the Italian island of Capri last summer due to high waves.

We entered the cave in a small boat, all ducking our heads down to fit through the low opening. The water inside of the Blue Cave glowed a stunning bright blue (just like the Blue Grotto). A natural phenomena occurs as sunbeams penetrated through the underwater opening in the cave, reflected from the white bottom floor, and brilliantly lit up the inside of the cave. It was beautiful. I only wished we had gone with a tour that gave us the time to swim inside. It just went by too quickly.

We spent the afternoon walking around Vis Town and along the sea out towards an old British cemetery and relaxing at another pretty pebbly beach. We headed home on the fast evening catamaran ferry – 1 hour 15 minutes and we were back in Split.

It’s hard to believe we have less than two weeks left in Croatia. Time has flown by as we try to pack a lot into our final few weeks here. Vis was the last place on our “must see” list for Croatia. We’re sure glad we made it there; it takes the spot of our favorite Croatian island and one of the prettiest places we’ve ever been.

Click here to view more of our photos from our trip to the island of Vis.