Wednesday - A World Away

Lately I have had a massive fear. That fear: never being able to quench the thirst that I have to travel. To most, traveling is a luxury and not mandatory. Not with me. I must travel. I need to travel. I will be a very unhappy person if I don't travel.I have no money to travel. Every few months I get into this funk because I'm restless where I am and want to flee and just experience the world around me and see it in all of its glory. Then I remember that isn't how I should be, yet I can't make those feelings disappear. I tried to keep it at bay with couch traveling... where you read travel books with tons of pictures so its like you're traveling (BUT not!). It didn't work. Thus I have decided to come up with some solutions:

1. I promise (and yes, my kids can hold me to this) to take my family on an epic adventure once a year, and every two years try to make it out of our country.

2. Until then, take a trip once a year. Even if it is just to Georgia or Alabama or Alaska. I think the whole long drive/plane ride once a year can quench it.

3. I'm blogging once a week about a place that I am dying to go to. Kind of like a mini travel book/blog post. So without further ado..... Espana!

I have so desperately been wanting to go to Spain. I have no clue why! I think it started with the Bachelorette season with Jillian and Ed and they went to Spain. It was so beautiful. The flowers, the culture, the people.

The Alhambra at Granada. This is where King Ferdinand and Queens Isabella lived. They are Spain's most remembered and beloved King and Queen. They were a very powerful crown and revolutionized Christianity in Spain. Their palace, Alhambra, is said to be the most beautiful palace in the world. Built during Moorish rule in the 14th century. The Middle Eastern architecture is stunning and I literally drool over the history.

In Pamplona I want to run with the bulls. The excitement, the tradition and the sheer terror are all things that I want to experience. In doing research, only 15 people have been killed since 1910 and it was mostly from stupidity (like the one man who decided to entice the bull with his red jacket). I want to sprint down the streets with people wearing red and yelling. It sounds magnificent to me.

On April 23rd, I want to be in Barcelona to participate in the romantic tradition of giving books and roses to my loved ones; it "lover's day." Supposedly, a dragons was slain by St. George and from the dragon's blood came a red rose which he gave to a princess. On this day, the men give the women flowers and the women give the men a book. That is my kind of Valentine's day. A book. Nothing could be more romantic to me (and when I say this, I mean an old book, one with history and meaning). Barcelona has an amazing history and is like an open air museum. Every where you walk there is history. I want to be engulfed in that.

Falles in Valencia. I thin I would need to experience it firsthand to truly understand it. From what I have read, it is a festival that lasts a week long. Each year, the neighborhoods of Valencia hold fundraisers for the festival and create a massive papier-mache statues (falles). During Falles, all the massive sculptures are burnt in a bonfire, thus igniting the entire city into flames (at least it appears that way). It is a festival held in honor of Saint Joseph, the saint of Carpenters. Supposedly it started out in the middle ages as a holiday where the carpenters burnt their excess wood to celebrate the spring equinox. One March, I will be there to witness this first hand.

Before:

After:

One day I will walk down Gran Via, Madrid, one of Madrid's liveliest streets. It appears to be similar to Broadway in New York. This to me would be the central apart of Madrid, the capital of Spain. Shopping, theater, tapas and culture.

There you have it. My trip to Spain. One day, this will all be true. Next week's destination....