What I enjoyed the most was my family getting the chance to meet my Spanish family. My madre, roommate, mother, and grandma all went out to a flamenco show and had a blast. At the end of the show the dancers pulled my roommate and my madre from our table to join the dance and I watched happily as everyone danced around in their own fashion. There's a video somewhere back home I'm looking forward to whipping out when I get back.
After my two families got the chance to hangout a bit, I left with my mom and grandma on our own little vacation around Spain. We rented a car and drove along the coast of Spain to Sitges and Valencia and got to see a beautiful view of the water. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the sun reflecting off the green hills of Spain just added to its beauty.
Right off the bat I had to make the adjustment to traveling like a tourist. Traveling with my family was an experience in its own, and my mom being the biggest tourist ever, runs into every tourist problem possible. The first encounter we had was at the airport before we even drove off from the car rental place. We spent what felt like an hour trying to program the GPS and then once we were ready to go, my mom was convinced the car wasn't filled with gas. I sat in the back of the car listening to music thinking something was wrong with the car but after twenty minutes of sitting around in the car, I finally asked whats was wrong and had to point out to my mom that she had read the gage wrong. Tourist definition right there.
Our tourist problems continued in Sitges where the city streets are all alley ways and one way streets and when we pulled into a parking lot to turn around a stranger had to get out of his car to drive our own because my mom couldn't figure out how to reverse the car and we were blocking traffic. There was a long line of cars behind us confused at what was stopping traffic and I sat biting my tongue in the back of the car to keep myself from saying anything as my mom climbed back into the car to drive again. She was stressed and jokes wouldn't have flown. We spent the rest of our first night driving around lost in Sitges with a GPS that kept telling us to go the wrong way down one way streets and by the time we got to the hotel we were pooped.
Once we had our living situation sorted out, Sitges was fine. We walked along the beach, visited the vendor stands and I bought a few scarves to add to my collection. Living in Spain has flowered a love for scarves in my wardrobe. We ate food along the beach and headed out of Sitges in smooth sailing compared to entering. Our smooth sailing didn't last too long though, because as we came into Valencia we encountered several large roundabouts with multiple traffic lights and no lanes. I'm pretty sure I left Valencia with whip lash in my neck from all my mom's jerking on the breaks. We would go around the roundabouts several times before actually exiting and when we finally returned the car to the airport I was more than happy to see it go.
Aside from the roundabout madness, Valencia was enjoyable. The beach was beautiful and had sand castle artists building the most incredible castles I had ever seen. The weather was beautiful and we ended up taking two different tour busses around Valencia to see the city. The city felt like a mix between Sevilla and Barcelona, with a city feel but older spanish architecture and countless courtyards.
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| Sand Castle Art |
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| Beach Front Valencia |
The visit from my family was a whirlwind of adventure to say the least, but definitely enjoyable. I loved getting to roam along the coast of Spain and seeing other parts of Spain. Next time we take a vacation in a foreign country, I'll be prepared for the hectic travel that comes with my family!
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