Spain Recap: La Mancha and Everything Near and Far Surmised

Spain: the final frontier. Or... the first? Irrelevant! Before we get to my adventures in France, and before Spain itself financially collapses and ceases to be, I figured that after spending 5+ weeks there it was worth a recap. Not a slight to Portugal or Morocco but I more or less recapped those as I went along- and besides, I like you best of all anyway Portugal. You so sexy ;)

Anyway, let's jam baby. What I'm going to do is just go through and list my favorite places by category and explain why. Whatever. At the end I'll list my favorite place in Spain. Bladdow.

Best Architecture: Barcelona. How could this go to any other city, honestly? I mean, I loved some of the architecture in Madrid and Valencia and even Granada and Sevilla had their moments but Barcelona is, well, "ridicubsurd" when it comes to architecture. It's a city of masterpieces- enough said.

Best City Planning/Layout: Barcelona. This one was tougher. I really love the layout of Valencia and Madrid is just so easy to get around in. But the fact of the matter is Barca just has a tremendous mix and flow between touristy areas and local areas, the avenues are wide, and everything funnels  down to the port/beach.

Best Food: Valencia. This one really wasn't close. Their paella is the best and that's not even debatable. Apart from that they have a ton of other local dishes including beverages such as horchata. And at the end of the day you can get anything you can in Madrid or Barcelona but at way better prices and equal if not better quality. Oh, and the oranges. No brainer.

Best Party Scene: Madrid. Fact. Granted, had I gone to Ibiza I might have sung a different song, but Madrid was straight up berserk. Barca was good as well but you can't really enjoy yourself without constantly checking your pockets/purse/etc. And Valencia was awesome but... just not Madrid. I can party hard when I want, but they partied me into the ground.

Best drinks: Granada. This might seem like an odd choice but let me explain. First, all of the house wines I tried in Granada were excellent. Second, their sangria is serviceable. But most importantly, they had the single best beer I had while in Spain: Alhambra Riserva 1925. An outstanding beer that would stand up to most any beer worldwide. And you can get 40's of Cruz Campo and a bottle of OJ for less than 3 euro for Brass Monkeys. Come'on. That's a winner.

Best Tapas: Granada. This should go without saying. They are one of the few places that strictly adheres to the old tradition: you order a drink, you get free food. Other places do it to an extent but Granada really does it proper. You might get a sandwich, some meat, some cheese, a potato dish, fish, or a host of other things. But one thing is for certain, it's a substantial amount of food.

Best Building/Site: Sagrada Familia (Barcelona) & Alhambra (Granada). Yes in America a tie is always b.s. but I'm talking about Spain so bugger off. Both of these are tremendous sites and you would be seriously remiss if you didn't spend the money to visit both should you find yourself in those cities. Honestly I couldn't choose between the intricacy and planing of Segrada Familia and the immense scale and perseverance of Alhambra. So like futbol in the rest of the world often does, this ends in a tie.

Most Charming: Ledesma. A surprise winner. Truth be told, I really loved Ledesma. If Ron (or anyone for that matter) could convince people to move back to Ledesma it would be one of THE tourist destinations of Spain. The town itself is beautiful and very well maintained, and the surrounding area has so much to do including easy day trips into Portugal. It's the definition of charming and quaint.

Best Vibe: Valencia & Almeria. Another tie, and perhaps, another surprise. Valencia should be self-explanatory from the post. It's just a tremendous blend of stuff to do/see without being overly touristy. It excels at everything. Almeria is just super local but at the same time amazingly chill. First, I didn't meet a single other English speaker there, and second, the beaches, food, drinks, everything else was really cool. It's what I imagine Benidorm would be before the Brits hit it.

Best Value: Valencia. This might seem like an odd choice considering the value you can get with your euro in places like Segovia or Ledesma. But from an overall perspective you get all of the allure of a big city with all the trappings that entails at a very modest price compared to Madrid or the price-gouging Barcelona. Overall I felt very fairly treated in all aspects in Valencia. Even the "touristy" restaurants by the beach were relatively reasonably priced.

Best Beach: Almeria & Valencia. This one might be debatable in what you want in a beach. If you want topless young women, there's no argument about Valencia, so let's just put that right out there. That notwithstanding, what I look for in a beach is decent sand, not packed with crowds, not overly touristy, and not flooded with people trying to sell me something. So, that pretty much rules out Barcelona. And I also hate beaches that are habitually so windy that you can't lay out without being sandblasted which eliminates Cadiz and Tarifa. Truly, Valencia was the best. Big, easy to get to, clean, wonderful soft sand, and lots of stuff nearby but not harassing you. Almeria I really liked because it's such a great beach but immensely underutilized. It's like the anti-Benidorm.

Best Place to Celebrate: Segovia. Ok, I'll readily admit that this was a bit of a self-serving category. That said, after hiking the Sierra de Guadarrama and all the trials and tribulations I suffered therein, there is absolutely nothing I can imagine more grand than a celebratory beer while looking at a 2000+ year old aqueduct towering above the historic city center. It gives me chill bumps just thinking about it.

Best Hostel: Madrid (Hostel One), Granada (Oasis Backpackers), & Barcelona (Hostel One). So clearly my favorite hostel "chain" is Hostel One. And that, from prior entries, should have been bashed over your face enough to require medical attention. Second, I'd say Oasis is a pretty solid outfit. The one in Granada impressed me and I didn't hate the one in Sevilla- I imagine I'd have liked it better circumstances notwithstanding. I didn't really leave room for independents here but I actually quite enjoyed the Melting Pot in Tarifa (when I could get a room there). 

Best Public Transportation: Madrid. Again, not even close. The only one that could even otherwise be arguable is Barca but if you just look at the coverage and statistics, Madrid blows it away. Subways are the best and there are like 250+ buses in Madrid. It's amazing. Frankly I'd put Madrid up there with Tokyo and NY as the best public transportation I've come across (obviously Paris & London TBD). 

Best Activities: Sevilla. This one is a bit biased because it's all-encompassingly based on the Feria festival. It's like going to a bunch of German cities and then hitting Munich during Oktoberfest and having this category. That said, the Feria was... a Spanish Oktoberfest, so, great. If I could do it again, I'd do it with a large crew for several days after smashing through Portugal during their independence celebration. Really, that's a 7-10 day trip you definitely want to take.

Best People: Valencia. In every other city I met with some gruff resistance in one circumstance or another. Valencia was the only one where people were genuinely friendly and good humored. And it's easy to see why- great location, great weather, safe, and not flooded with tourists.

Best to Work on Spanish: Almeria & Ledesma. Ok, Ledesma isn't really a "great" place to work on it but it's one of those places where you either learn the language or you starve. Almeria is much better because people will know enough English words/phrases to get by should you really get in a pinch, but otherwise you're basically on your own. Their knowledge of English is basically 1 or 2 steps down from my knowledge of Spanish... which is perfect. Actually, now that I think about it, you can get property very cheap there, great beaches, good prices, good place to learn Spanish... so, when am I moving there?

Best to Chill Out: Tarifa. No question bro. This place is built to chill. Even the locals are chill. It's a kite surfing town but I'd love to just spend a week there relaxing on the beach and choking down Cruz Campos. It's at heart a beach-town and an awesome place to just chill and watch the world pass.

Best Overall: Valencia. Did you see it coming? Valencia was one of those places that just simply excels in every category and leaves none wanting. Is it as chill as Tarifa? No. Is it as architecturally beautiful as Barcelona? No. Is it as easy to get around or as good of a party city as Madrid? No. But at the end of the day it was number 2 or 3 in every single category it wasn't number one. Couple that with great people, low amount of tourists, great value for your money, the best food, and an overall tremendous location... honestly it's hard to think it could be better. It just has a little bit of everything. If I were to seriously consider moving to Spain long-term, there is only one city I would consider and that's Valencia.

One last reflection on Spain I will leave you with is that, despite my initial thoughts, I've realized I really can learn other languages. It's not that difficult. I may not learn as fast as others (which had previously been a huge hang-up for me), but after spending five weeks in Spain, so much of my Spanish came back to me. I was astounded. Honestly now I believe if I moved there and actively took up studying the language again I could be completely fluent within 6 months. Perhaps not quite with the vocabulary I oft employ in English, however, certainly passable. Most of you (or in the event only one person is reading this, then you dear reader) would consider this reflection silly and say "of course you can learn a language Mike, anyone can do that." And you would be right. The past couple years and the circumstances therein just really left me down on ever being able to do something like that. Now- no te preocupes, es fácil.