I am planning a 4-5 wk visit to Spain and was wondering what spots are on the lists of people as those not to miss. We will be traveling via auto from Montpellier and back out through Pau or reverse. I am planning to rent apartments in various areas in 2 - 5 day stays using the stay areas as hubs.
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Well, it really depends on what you want to see and how far away you want to get from common tourist spots.
Spain is the third country in extension on Europe, after Ukraine and France. And for that, and the orography, it is not that easy to move around by car -twisty and winding roads-. So it is quite important where are you starting your trip.
If you happen to land in Madrid [most probably], the very Madrid is a big city by european standards. The city has three and a half million inhabitants, and it stretches to be around six and a half million considering the metropolitan area of it. It is a very energetic city, where almost everybody is foreign to it. So it is quite an open minded city. There are smashing spots in there, specially comprising three different ages [Madrid was built up from three different religions and cultures, and they all mix and intertwine together there: muslim, catholic and the Illustration]. Retiro park in the city centre, the Prado museum [one of the very biggest museums in the world, something NOT to miss and worth it. It is the biggest collection in flamish painting and baroque painting collection in the world, with works not to miss from Rembrandt, Goya, Velázquez and so on. It has been recently extended to be able to allocate more of his collections, which only 20% of them are showcased due to lack of space]. The old part of Madrid is very lively, and if you can look for "el rastro" flee market, you can find almost whatever you want from any given period. Of course, photo material as well.
What Madrid is having right now, and it is quite specific from Spain and does not happen anywhere in the world, is the building sector dynamics. Half of the dwellings and housing done the last 12 years in the whole Europe have been built in Spain [on average, 800.000-1.200.000 dwellings per year for the last decade] which means that big cities are constantly changing. And Madrid is the very showcase of it. You can find contemporary architecture of the very highest level there, such as the Caixa Forum Madrid, the Nuevos Ministerios, the Reina Sofia extension, the very airport terminal you will get to [known as the T4] and San Chinarro and Carabanchel neighborhoods. The last two have experimental and advanced housing dwellings challenging the conventional thinking. Look for Mirador and Celosía by MVRDV, or the artificial trees by Ecosistema Urbano.
On the outskirts of Madrid, two very sweet spots: El Escorial, a former royal residence built with black granite, and cemetery of the royal members. It is a very abstract and sort of somber ensemble]. In the very town of El Escorial there is the arguably most renown architectural magazine, El Croquis. They have a gallery, and they very often use Hisao Suzuki for their publications. You might want to contact them and try to see his body of work.
If you go north from Madrid, there is plenty of gothic environment to see. Most noteworthy are Leon, Burgos and Salamanca mainly for their cathedrals and museums the first two, and for the city ensemble the latter. Leon has one of the more spectacular stained glasswork in the world. Other small city, Segovia, is very well known for the roman aqueduct that crosses the whole city, and starts far, far away.
It is very important to note that if you happen to drive, the spanish landscape changes quite suddenly. Most of the centre of Spain is known as the Central Plateau, where farmers grow wheat, barley, rye and other cereals. It is a spectacular landscape, but very difficut to take a straightforward picture of it because of the very harsh light conditions in Spain. But in summertime they are gold colored, eerily brown in autumn, and chilling in winter. You might as well try to get lost in any of the literally thousands of small villages, and ghost villages in your way up. Most of them are stone or adobe built. I can recommend a visit to them, the silence you get is very overwhelming.
The northern coast of Spain, the Cantabric coast means a deep change in landscape and way of living. The Central Plateau seats on average 500 m above sea level. Then, the Cantabric Range steps up to 800 m on average, and drops to sea level in around 50 km. The change is very steep, and by driving mainly through Leon to Galicia or through Burgos to the Basque Country you will be able to notice it.
Santiago is a pilgrimage city, it is supposed to be the place where Santiago apostle is buried. There are very many people who walk their pilgrimage throughout Spain to arrive finally to Santiago. Plaza del Obradoiro is the final spot where they gather in order to play homage to the experience of pilgrimage. The rest of the cities in Galicia are Coruña, Lugo and Ourense. Each has a different character, the biggest one being Coruña. It is a very nice place to stroll, still having quite a big industrial and port activity.
Then you get the central Cantabric coastline, where Santander and the Palacio de la Madalena are the most important spots.
Continuing along the coast highway, you will reach Bilbao, through the Petronor drilling and refinery. If you happen to go through by night, Petronor is a sweet spot from the highway [if you ever have seen a refinery by night, it is a fantasy lightscape]. In Bilbao, if I were you, I will try to avoid the Guggenheim, as it is overhyped. There are other stuff close by, such as the Euskalduna Opera Palace, the Abando theatre, the old city or Seven Streets, and the Zorrozaure peninsula. Bilbao is still suffering a harsh urban transformation, so you will be able to see startling new buildings and developments, and creepy central areas.
Then San Sebastian and the french Basque country. San Sebastian has a pretty spectacular beach known as "La Concha", and in the west end of it, if you are familiar with the work of the sculptor Chillida, it´s most famous work: the Comb of the Wind. You can find there as well Pasajes de San Juan, a very little known fisher village that is quite difficult to reach, and comprises of a single long street because there is no more space to build. You can taste there as well some decent fish and cantabric lobster [but will cost you quite a bit]. It is the place where french writer Victor Hugo spent quite some time. You will be able to get quite some local information at cityhalls and so on, but don´t expect it to be in english.
Going southwards, have a stop at Pamplona [again, depending when you are there, because apart from San Fermín celebrations, there isn´t that much in Pamplona] or Logroño. Close to Pamplona you can find "las Bardenas Reales", which is a military facility but you can visit it and stay. Due to the composition of the land, it is a lunar landscape well worth to see. In Logroño, or La Rioja, apart from the city, you may want to visit the wineries and cellars scattered around. La Rioja has the oldest wine tradition in Spain, understanding wine both as industry and as a craftmanship [other regions have spectacular world-class leading wines, such as Protos, Vega Sicilia, high end Freixanet and Codorniu, Toro, and so on].
Aragón [main city, Zaragoza] and the Pyrenees are the next stop. You will go through a desert [Monegros desert] to reach the Pyrenees. Currently there is a theme expo happening in Zaragoza, the Water Expo. That might be as well a stop. Zaragoza is quite a big city by Spanish standars, and the old town where the cathedral of "El Pilar" seats might well deserve a visit. The Pyrenees is a steep mountain range. Jaca is the biggest spot.
Cataluña has enough literature around the net to write about, Barcelona and Gaudi being their ambassadors. But apart from that, Gerona is a sweet city, and many of the villages surrounding Gerona have the so called "juderías" or Jewish quarters, which are very rare in Spain but in Toledo, as jewish people were expelled circa 1780 from Spain, along with Jesuits. Figueras and Dali are other names you might remember.
The south central part of Spain has Toledo as monumental city, and Cuenca as well. Cuenca has some hanging housing from the middle ages worth to see [see attachment below]. But more than that, the landscape of olives and oaklands.
Southern coastline is very diverse. Apart from Andalusia, due to agricultural practices, you might find the "almería" black farmlands: acres and acres of black plastic covered land.
Granada, apart from La Alhambra, has many sightseeing stuff, such El Albahicín, which is the neighborhood opposite to Alhambra, just in front of it. Cádiz is very beautiful, not to mention the port of it. However, Seville gets all the attention. It is a very lively city, but summertime can get very harsh. They still cover some of the streets with street cloths, which hang from house to house opposite on the street, as if huge bedsheets, to prevent the sun from hitting too hard.
That was "in a nutshell" the non common places in Spain. But beware that light conditions in Spain for photography are, again, pretty harsh. The sun washes out any color, and usually pictures taken in broad daylight get very, very flat.
As for the food, enter the variety and range you will find. Each region has a whole palette of flavours, colours and procedures [yep, procedures]. From the highest "food experiences" such as Arzak, Subijana, Berasategi, Jockey, Ferran Adriá, Mugaritz and so on, to the most humble but very laborious stew. As my experience goes, if you happen to be north american [be it a Canadian, Mexican or USA citizen], at first you will find that most of the food is too raw. Nothing to get scared of, though.
Healthcare is free and universal, and supposedly very good. Emergency care is free, as well, so in that regard you shouldn´t be worried about.
That´s it, more or less.
Remember that not everyone talks english, and do please not expect to do so. Otherwise you will render yourself as a moron, and that is not a nice way to see a country.
Cheers!
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