Aventuras con mi madre

Lisbon Trolley
Lisbon, Portugal
Barcelona´s Parc Guell (Gaudí)
Lunch outside of the Sagrada Familia (Barcelona)
Barcelona´s beaches!
Monasterio de Yuso, San Millán de la Cogolla

After shipping Dad off from Bilbao, Mom and I set off to explore together. After the bus ride to and from the Bilbao airport, I was lucky enough to get back on ANOTHER bus, all before two o´clock in the afternoon in the same day, en route to Logroño, the capital of La Rioja, situated southeast of the Basque Country. As this was to be my first time in this region, I was excited for something new, although as I´ve learned, even visiting places several times, there is always something different to see. Somewhat off of the tourist path except for its production and therefore capital of the wine country in Spain, I had a different motive for visiting and fortunately was able to drag my Mom along for the ride.

In one of my classes in San Sebastián, we learned about two monasteries in San Millán de la Cogolla, about an hour and a half outside of Logroño. Although signs for monasteries litter the highways along the ¨route of the monasteries¨ in La Rioja, two in particular stand out in my mind as very important. San Millán de Yuso and San Millán de Suso attract a certain type of person from around the world, me being one of them. It was here that the first written word of Spanish and Basque were found, and they are therefore known as the ¨cradle of the Spanish and Basque languages.¨ Upon arrival in San Millán de la Cogolla, our first mission was food, which still remains one of the best surprises of our trip together. Being that there were only several restaurants in the small town, we entered the first, and ordered the menú del día. For ten euro, we were treated to a fabulous three course meal which we unfortunately had to scarf down, and hand the money to the confused waiter as we were running out the door to arrive on time for our tour of Suso. We spent the afternoon wandering through the monasteries surrounded by green rolling hills, gardens, and a peaceful silence that attributed to the special feeling that we were somewhere that unfortunately not many people are informed about.

Two nights in Logroño, and having visitied the monasteries called for a change in scenery and on to anther region…Cataluña! The Spanish bus system was once again lucky enough for us to grace it with our presence for the six hour bus ride to Barcelona. After a late night, getting lost in the maze streets near La Rambla, heading down a somewhat sketchy street in which I told my Mom to not talk, just look forward, and walk, we found our way to our hotel. La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, la Catedral de Barcelona, and the infamous Barcelona beaches, in addition to tapas (not pintxos) made for a full two days in Barcelona. To say the least, I think my Mom and I were both exhausted, but we trudged though and made the $44 dollar one way flight to Lisbon, where we stayed until her departure. My first trip to Portugal, the land of my Mom´s maternal grandparents, made for a great end of our trip together. Although we originally discussed visiting the Azore Islands, where her grandparents were from, we were glad that we opted to save that for another trip someday as the destination spot, instead of cramming into our two week stint. In Lisbon, we did the Rick Steve´s guided walking tour of the downtown area, took a San Francisco-ish trolley up to the Miradouro de Sao Jorge and then continued to Castelo de Sao Jorge, visited the Monasterio de San Jeronimo, the Coach Museum which is the home to horse drawn royal buggies from throughout the centuries reminiscent of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman style (am I dating myself here?) and amongst many other things, did a side trip to Sintra, where we visited a Disneylandish palace, and relished our last day together.

After being on my own now for a few days, I am able to reflect upon the amazing experiences that my parents and I shared together, and am so thankful for the sacrifice they made to share this with me. They are memories none of us will ever forget!