I realise it is presumptuous of us, but nevertheless here goes. After more than three weeks in Spain, almost all of it in Andaluscia, we have made the following observations, in no particular order.

1. The Spanish people are vibrant and happy and have such a fabulous energetic and expressive way of communicating. Despite our pathetic grasp of Spanish, those people we met and dealt with were only too happy to try to communicate with us. Nothing was too much trouble. We loved listening to the gravely voices, of mostly women, that sounded as though they had smoked for years or been singing flamenco for hours, while watching their hands flail in the air adding to their conversation. No wonder the Australian accent is often described as a drawl, in comparison to Spanish, it is a lazy way of talking. Another thing we noticed was the difference in dialect (we guess ?), for some people there was a much stronger emphasis on the lisping sound of “th” as in gra-the-arse (gracias).

2. For being such a dry-looking country (based on our bus and train travel between cities in Andalucia), Spain has fabulous drinking water and loves to use water as features in gardens and parks, while around the fountains and aqueducts the earth is dusty and bare. We had read that during Franco’s dictatorship many dams were built (the number doubled) and water storage capacity increased. There are pros and cons to this of course, but we loved the use of water. Our visit coincided with quite a heat wave. We were prepared for it to be hot, but there was not one day that the maximum temperature did not get below 40°C. Our coolest weather was in Madrid the few days before we left.

3. A holiday is Spain was fabulous value for money, even in Australian dollars. We found the food, wine and beer in supermarkets and corner stores to be very cheap. If we were clever and chose the tabernas and bars the locals frequented when we ate out, we did not pay much for meals and drinks. I had booked our accommodation on AIRBNB and while we deliberately chose to stay in areas close to the centre of the old city and near public transport so we could walk to and from our apartments, we paid only $50/night (in Ronda) to $94/night (in Madrid). These apartments were mixed in quality, but more than adequate. The weakest one was possibly the Madrid one as it had no air conditioning and we really needed it.

4. A big generalisation now… but Spanish women have fabulous bottoms. Mick spent a fair amount of time researching this and he was helped by it being summer and the fact that most women chose to wear shorts. I had commented that I didn’t think the shorts could get any shorter – and realised I was sounding like my mother, so gave up. But overall, Spanish women are very beautiful.

5. This observation is not only about Spain, it could be true for most European countries we have visited, but rubbish and recycling systems seem to only add a very negative image and smell to the neighbourhoods.

This photo only shows a bit of extra rubbish near these bins, but it is not uncommon to see huge piles of rubbish besides them. People must take their rubbish to these locations, and if the containers are full, they just leave the rubbish anywhere. The smells can be terrible.

6. You need to take care when when walking around the old narrow streets – not because of seedy people (I’d have to say we did not feel unsafe once while in Spain), and not because of the cobblestones, but because of what might fall from above. Hazards included dripping air conditioning units, dripping watered pot plants and possibly some other sorts of dripping that we did not like to discuss. We often chose to walk on the narrow road and avoid the footpaths underneath the overhanging balconies. This is a view from our Madrid apartment so you get the idea.

7. Spanish red wine is very good. We tried a few white wines but did not really like them, however, we tried lots of different red wines, mostly Rioja and Ribera del Duero, paying between €2- €5 per bottle from supermarkets, and rarely struck a dud. We often drank them slightly chilled as well. We will miss these wines when we get home.

8. Police seem to be everywhere. Does that make us feel safer? Not really. Standing guard in lots of places were policemen with automatic assault weapons. I’ve posted photos before from the bus stations, but we’ve noticed them in loads of places. We observed police officers stop random people and check papers. After people employed in the hospitality industry, those employed in policing seemed to be the next most common. With Spain’s unemployment rate recently dropping to 22%, it is probably a good thing there are so many police, otherwise it would be much worse. NOTE: Australia’s unemployment rate is 6%!

While we have loved the food, the wine as I have already mentioned, the flamenco and the passion in Spain, we won’t miss the heat or the different meal times to those with which we are used to at home.

We needed to be up very early this morning to get ourselves to the airport for our 10.00am flight back to Brisbane via Abu Dhabi. We have decided to go by Metro, but it does involve two changes so I am hoping there are not too many stairs to negotiate.

This therefore will be the last post for this holiday.

Our next holiday venture at the end of August is something totally new for us. While we have travelled with friends and family for a weekend here or there, we have NEVER travelled with friends on a holiday. But, on 23 August we head off on a one-week holiday with our next door neighbours – Helen and Derek and Steve and Susanne. We have hired a pretty swanky houseboat and will “sail” it up and down the Murray River. And when I say we, I don’t mean “me”.

I plan on adding to my blog, possibly on our return due to wifi capacity, so if you’re interested, tune in in early September. Thanks for following.

Cheers