Category Archives: Spain

Canada, Destinations, Europe, London, Madrid, Maine, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Travel Tips, United Kingdom, USA, Where we stayed

Clam Chowder from Scratch: An Ode to Vacation Rentals

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Digging for clams is hard.

First you look for the “clam shows” – the air holes in the sand that show where a clam might be. Once you find a nice, big hole, you dig the wet, heavy sand around it, pushing your shovel as deep as you can. Then you bend, squat, or kneel to look through the pile of sand you just turned over, or plunge your hand in the hole feeling for clam shells. And then you stand up again, and move to dig in another place.

Dig. Squat. Stand up. Repeat.

my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary's Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton
my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary’s Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton

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Canada, Europe, Florida, London, Madrid, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Spain, United Kingdom, USA

Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay

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Wherever we travel, if we see a playground, my daughter always ask to stop and play, and we let her. She’s learned to be patient when when we drag her around museums, castles, and other “sightseeing” places we want to see, and we figure she deserves some fun time too.

In general, all playgrounds, event the smallest ones, have a slide, and possibly a swing or some other rocking structure. The bigger ones allow quite extensive climbing structures, and places to run around.

Some playgrounds are quite simple, but some, even small, are quite creative, like the insect-looking play structure in the featured photo above that we stumbled upon in Quebec City.

Here are a few examples of other playgrounds, from several places around the world, submitted by fellow travel bloggers. Continue reading Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay →

Europe, Mérida, Spain, Spain Mérida, Where we stayed

Apartamentos en Merida (Spain) – A Review

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If our post “Roman Sights in Mérida, Spain” made you want to see this interesting city, you might be wondering where to stay while you’re there.

Even though we were stopping in Mérida for just one night, we still wanted to get a place bigger than just one hotel room, and luckily for us Apartamentos en Mérida, available through TripAdvisor, had a vacancy at that time and allowed us to stay just one night, even though in the summer they usually require a two-night stay.

The apartment is just a short walk from the Teatro and Anfiteatro Romano, and while it does not have a designated parking spot, we found parking on Calle Pizarro within the same block. Make sure you have a map or a GPS with you while you make your circles looking for a parking spot – most of the nearby streets are one way, and not all are in a square pattern.

Distance from Apartamentos Merida to Teatro and Anfiteatro Romano
Distance from Apartamentos Merida to Teatro and Anfiteatro Romano

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Canada, Europe, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Mexico, Nature, Portugal, Prince Edward Island, South Carolina, Spain, USA

My Favorite Beaches: Photo Essay

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I love beaches.

I love walking barefoot along the shore, water lapping at my feet, my toes squishing the wet sand, leaving footprints that will be gone with the next wave.

I love listening to the slow rhythm of the ocean or the sea, like breathing,receding its surf on the in breath, and swelling out onto the shore with an out breath.

All of it – the warmth of the sun, the gentle breeze of the wind tickling my face,  and the sound of the moving tide calms me, and while I love sightseeing, big cities, and beautiful museums, I feel most relaxed on a beach, the longer and the more empty the better.

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Attractions, Europe, Historic Sites, Mérida, Museums, Spain, UNESCO

Visiting the Roman Sights in Merida, Spain

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When we decided to do a road trip from Madrid, Spain to the coast of Portugal last year, we decided to find a city or a town to stay overnight on the way, rather than drive the 600 km (372 miles) or so in one day.

The names of towns and cities along the three different routes that GoogleMaps suggested for us didn’t tell me much, so I turned to guidebooks of Spain from Lonely Planet, Frommer’s, and to TripAdvisor reviews.

three different routes from Madrid, Spain to Obidos, Portugal that GoogleMaps suggested as a possibilty
three different routes from Madrid, Spain to Obidos, Portugal that GoogleMaps suggested as a possibilty

In the end, I’ve decided we should stop in Mérida, a place I’d never heard of before, because every guidebook I looked at suggested visiting the city’s Roman ruins, and we like ancient stuff like that.

We arrived in Mérida on a Friday afternoon and went sightseeing on Saturday. Given all the historical attractions in Mérida, I was really surprised by the low number of tourists we saw.

Clearly Mérida is not as popular as it was during the Roman times, which is really too bad.

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Art, Attractions, Madrid, Museums, Spain

Learning more about Pablo Gargallo’s Great Prophet

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I admit, I’m not an art buff. We went to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, because I wanted to show the kids the Guernica (they were not impressed).

But a few rooms over I noticed a really striking sculpture. Except I failed to write down the title or the name of the artist, whom I never heard of before. Luckily, thanks to #AskACurator day on Twitter,  I  now know  that it is a sculpture by Pablo Gargallo, titled Grand prophète (Great Prophet).

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