10 Wonderful places in Spain.

An old empire, nowadays a country in southwest Europe, Spain is full of hidden gems ready to be discovered and visited by new tourists, although it is a relatively small country, if we compare with others around the world, it is the third in size in Europe, its lands offer us lots of landscapes, beaches, deserts and many other treasures! I have visited many of them. In the following article I will tell you some of the most impressive.

1. Mezquita de Córdoba. Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.

An old building dating from the year 780 and unique in the whole world, it was previously built as a Mosque before becoming a Catholic temple. This building is now a Mosque and a Cathedral at the same time; architecturally speaking (the catholic temple is literally inside the mosque), although now it belongs to the Catholic Church since 1236. The use of the Mosque for Muslims to pray is totally forbidden.  

The Mosque Cathedral is in my opinion the best sign of the rich multicultural past that southern Spain has along the years, this one from the Arabic times. I visited it in 2013.

The most characteristic feature apart from its square plant, are the arches  decorated with dark red stripes. Don't forget to see the amazing gardens and the surrounding areas!

2. Playa de las Catedrales.  As Catedrais beach.

Also known as Playa de Aguas Santas this beach is a gem in northern Spain. Although the waters are not blue and the sand is not especially white like the typical beaches we can see in the postcards, this beach is my favorite due to the result of the nature against the rocks and the cliffs.

In the town of Ribadeo and surrounded by the Cantabrian sea, this beach has wonderful rock formations such as steep rocks. Perfect place to take pictures and walk on the beach only during the low tide, otherwise it can be dangerous, but do not worry, locals can inform you very well about the best time you can visit it.Awesome place except for swimming. 

Visited by me in 2008.

3. Palacio del Infantado. Infantado Palace.

I have seen this Palace almost every single day in my entire life, and I am never tired of it; always discovering new details on its walls, another unique building and extremely underrated in our country. Located in Guadalajara (the one in Spain, the first and original one) This Palace has a special architectonic style called Isabelline Gothic. The walls are decorated with small pyramids and Arab details. One of the most important events that has taken place here was the wedding of Philip II with Isabel de Valois in 1559.

The palace includes gardens with a maze used in summer for musical performances and the awesome Patio de los leones, free entrance and public local library until the year 2004, nowadays is the local museum. 

Every June takes place the famous Maratón de cuentos, 48 hours of non stop tale telling.

4. Catedral de Burgos. Burgos Cathedral.

Another religious building, whether you are religious or not, this is a sign of the strong Catholic faith along the History in the country. This awesome building is in my opinion the best sign of Gothic art in Spain.  Built in 1221, this cathedral is a must if you visit the old city of Burgos, and do not forget of course to walk around the building. Several restaurants are waiting for you in the surrounding area.

Two endearing characters live inside this Cathedral, specifically in the bell-clock: El Papamoscas and El Martinillo. Relax and look carefully at the stained glasses. You can look at this building while wondering How the hell could they make this wonderful building without modern technologies? History is History.

My first visit was in 2002, last one in 2014.

5. Parque Guell. Barcelona.  Güell Park. Barcelona.

The most original and different park in Spain and probably in the whole European continent, located in Barcelona this place is well known all around the world due to its designer; the architect Antoni Gaudí, this park not only contains green areas, trees and sand grounds, the colorful mosaics give the park Guell an special identity, not only decorative sculptures (the salamander, etc) but also ceilings. The best of it? The colors, the big serpentine bench and the awesome sights of the city of Barcelona from the top part.

Visited in 2001.

6. Monasterio de Piedra. Piedra Monastery.

This place is near Zaragoza. The name of this famous park comes from the Monastery where the monks lived and made chocolate years ago, but nowadays this natural park is well known because of the waterfalls and the amazing lakes. The waters come from the river Piedra, which means stone or rock, so that the park has this name. This place has been a recurrent place for Honeymoons during the 60's in Spain.

The best of the place: birds of prey exhibition, the waterfall cola de caballo (ponytail) due it its shape and hight, and el lago del espejo "mirror lake" with awesome crystal clear water.

First visit in 1994 and last one in 2013.

7. Royal Palace. Palacio de Oriente. Madrid.

Also known is Palacio de Oriente. This is another underrated building from my point of view, perhaps because anybody who lives on it, this palace is usually unperceived. The Royal Palace is located in Madrid, next to the Cathedral and surrounded by big gardens with ponds. One can make guided visit indoor. The outdoor contains a big level of beauty, walls and courtyard have an elegant style. The style is Baroque and it was built between the years 1738 and 1892.

Tourists can find the Royal Theatre just 100 meters away and many tapas bars in Madrid downtown.

8. Teide. Tenerife Island.

This natural place is a mountain located in the Canary Islands, but the volcano is in the island of Tenerife, near the African coast but belonging to Spain, Teide is alive, it actually had its last eruption in 1909, the highest point is the peak with 3718 meters which is as well the highest point in the country, and makes the island being the tenth highest in the world. The volcano is located inside a National Park. Walking up to the peak is not permitted anymore, but one can look at the wonderful volcano from the cable car.  The film clash of the Titans was played here. I visited it in 1990, I think it’s time to come back.

9. Cuevas del Drach. Drach caves, Majorca.

From one island to another, this time in the Mediterranean, the Drach caves are located in the biggest islands of the country: Mallorca. These caves are really big and contain groundwaters, the Martel Lake. During the guided visit the wall of the cave are illuminated with many colors, what makes the visit really magical. Violin concerts are offered during the guided visit every day and people can sail in the little boats as well.

Near these caves you can find Hams caves, less famous but smaller and a little bit more beautiful.

10 .Acueducto de Segovia. Aqueduct of Segovia.

From Roman times, this aqueduct is now one of the most famous monuments in Castille, it is 28 meters high and more than 800 meters long, there are two rows of arches made by bricks of stone, and the stone bricks are not linked with any kind of cement. The purpose of this monument was to provide water to the town of Segovia from the river Frío, and not to be written into the History, but the aqueduct was lucky.

The great symbol of this awesome town, were you can also taste wonderful gastronomy.

Friends in the distance.

The concept "circle of friends" nowadays can't be just a physical circle of people who live in our town, who study in the same university as we do, or our neighbors, with the help of technologies, the estado de bienestar in the 20th Century and the adventurous feeling some of us have, we need to explore the world and its people and we can live wonderful experiences with new people, even in the previous day we were thousands of kilometers from each other.

I have met a lot of wonderful people during my vacations, trips, job contracts and more several events that I've done in the last years.

In this article, I would like to dedicate some lines to some of my friends who live abroad, the ones who wanted something nice via Facebook and clicked like to this, let's start with some of them.

The following ones were volunteers as they clicked like bravely in a Facebook link about a future surprise:

Merve Gonce, Turkey.

I met Merve last year in winter 2013, she is from Izmir (Turkey) and she was studying an erasmus scholarship of Engineering for four or five months near my town. One day we met for a coffee, drink, tapas and a walk... But this was not a coincidence as I am not a student any more, I knew about Merve because we have a mutual friend in Turkey, she informed me that her roommate was going to live in Spain for some months, and here she was. We met just a few times, for walking or shopping but we had really good time and shared some photographs.

I remember our visits and the tapas in the typical tapas bar around the town. Not less important the shopping day.

Lindsey Jackson, Florida .USA.

Three years ago  I met Lindsey, it was on a cruise ship around the Caribbean. Lindsey and her family were our table-mates during the whole week, I love when people try to socialize and that is exactly what Lindsey did. Hello I am Lindsey from Florida she said, and that was the beginning of a nice friendship. We spent an unforgettable week on board the biggest cruise in the world, surfing in flowrider, swimming, eating pizza and climbing the rockwall everyday in a new and different country and making new memories.

We have been in touch these years via internet and it seems that we will meet soon personally and live new adventures. I hope it comes true :)

Vitor Mendonça. Madeira. Portugal.

My touristic guide online via couchsurfing and my waiter in a delicious Italian restaurant in Funchal, all those things together. I met Vitor in a tourism website about Madeira Islands when I was planning my holiday, that island is where he lives, he is a proud Madeirense and he never hesitated to help me with a lot of information. One day I had the pleasure to have a dinner in the restaurant where he works near the Ocean, a very good choice for a dinner and awesome rices were served there.

I hope some day soon you come to visit around!

Mafalda Mascarenhas.Lisbon. Portugal

It was my first project of volunteering abroad when I met Mafalda in August 2012, next to Lisbon, this program was called the art at school and consisted in remodelating a school for little children and preparing activities for them. The very first day, I remember her a happy and talkative girl always giving new ideas to have fun and to help others in the area, and she was very committed with her work, we spend three weeks together in the Lisbon coast, working together in a school for children, surfing in Guincho beach and enjoying summer life without forgetting our purpose, that purpose was living an unforgettable experience with 20 more people.

Lyndi Burns, Utah. USA

I met Lyndi through instagram app, I usually filter pics by #hashtags and it is not very usual that someone who is from another continent is interested in my town, so I asked her about this interest and she told me that she was going to be au pair in my area. That was awesome, we had some chats and conversation before meeting, but the first time we saw each other was really funny: we came across each other in the mall. Although we couldn't spend more time together that morning was very nice, shopping for new clothes. She is friendly and her smile never disappears. I hope we can meet again in a future!!

Los pueblos Negros. Una de las rutas más bonitas de España.

Hoy voy a hablar de turismo otra vez, pero esta vez de algo más cercano y nacional: la ruta de los Pueblos Negros, llamados así por sus paredes y tejados de pizarra. Están al norte de la provincia de Guadalajara, y aunque no sé hasta que punto son conocidos fuera del entorno, voy a resumir un poco la ruta, los pueblos principales a visitar son:

Panorámica de uno de los famosos Pueblos Negros.

• Tamajón.
• El Espinar. (pedanía)
• Campillo de Ranas.
• Majaelrayo.
• Valverde de los Arroyos.
• Umbralejo. (pueblo abandonado y rehabilitado)

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Tamajón.

A solo 49km de Guadalajara y poco más de 100km de Madrid por una ruta serpentenante con montañas pizarrosas a los lados está el pueblo de Tamajón, que es el primer pueblo de la ruta de los pueblos negros, y aunque no se vean aquí concretamente muchos tejados de pizarra, encontramos una iglesia antigua bastante bonita, la Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.  Este pueblo solo tiene 155 habitantes, y aunque es pequeño, es perfecto para ir abriendo boca en la ruta.

 La iglesia es de estilo románico- renacentista y fue construida en el siglo XIII. La planta no es de cruz latina habitual y aunque tiene la orientación liturgica habitual, esta un poco desviada.

El paraje es acogedor y podéis encontrar unos paneles informativos sobre el pueblo  y la zona, nada más dejar el pueblo está la Ciudad Encantada de Tamajón, con formaciones rocosas parecidas a la de Cuenca, pero mucho más pequeñas.

Continuando la ruta se pasa por El Espinar donde ya hay pueblos de tejado y fachada de pizarra, calles decoradas y una casa rural, pero al ser una pedanía no hay mucho que visitar. El coche dejadlo fuera así disfrutáis del paseíto. 

Justo después está Campillo de Ranas, uno de los pueblos mas característicos y fotografiados de los pueblos Negros. El nombre ya suena a algo vacío y poco habitado, solo tiene 186 habitantes pero debido al alto turismo que tiene es recomendable no entrar hasta dentro con el coche para no estropear las vistas ni la magia antigua del pueblo. Además hay algún asador para comer unas recetas con una pinta muy apetecible.

Calle de Capillo de Ranas. 

Como curiosidad, en este pequeño pueblo se han celebrado bastantes matrimonios gays desde el año 2005 que esto se convirtió en algo legal,  por este motivo este pueblo ha sido exhibido en documentales en Dublin o Reykjavik, incluso ha sido mencionado en el New York Times así que se ha ganado la fama de pueblo Gay Friendly fuera de las fronteras. 

Esta es por ejemplo, una de las noticias publicadas en el periodico americano, donde se denomina "Spanish village of rainbow weddings" en este link se puede leer la noticia.

Tambien aparece nombrado en uno de los episodios nacionales de Benito Perez Galdós, concretamente en el capitulo tercero. Tambien ha sido este pueblo escenario de un anuncio de TV en 2008 sobre lineas de internet ADSL. Así que al igual que el siguiente pueblo, es más conocido virtualmente de lo que pensamos.

El siguiente pueblo es Majaelrayo, para los habitantes de la provincia es uno de los más conocidos aunque es de los más pequeños a la vez con solamente 85 habitantes. ¿Y que pueblo de ese tamaño tiene hasta un Pub? Pues Majaelrayo, ya que con ese encanto consigue tanto turismo que tienen hasta Pub y Asador.

Ayuntamiento de Majaelrayo.

A parte de un paseo por el pueblo y unas fotografías con encanto poco más se puede decir de este pueblo, la zona es bastante fresca y es tal la cantidad de construcciones de pizarra que muchos niños aprovechan para llevarse la tiza de casa y dibujar con toda libertad en el suelo y las paredes.
Este pueblo también ha sido protagonista de un anuncio de televisión aunque indirectamente y a través de uno de sus habitantes: Jesus García Velasco , aquel anuncio de un Mistubishi Montero (aka Pajero) con su lema Donde te lleve tu Montero hace mucho que no te ha llevado nadie. Seguro que muchos recordais parte del dialogo: ¿Y el Madrid, otra vez campeón de Europa ¿no? [...]  ¿y Franco que opina de esto? En este enlace podéis volver a ver tan entrañable anuncio.

En este pueblo además, en el pasado había varios bosques de donde se obtenía carbón vegetal, y como toda zona rural fría y retirada de la ciudad ha perdido gran parte de sus habitantes en el siglo XX.

Y por ultimo y como guinda del pastel, está el más bello de todos, o al menos el que mas atracciones turísticas y paisajisticas posee: Valverde de los Arroyos, muy verde y con muchos arroyos. 

Palaza de Valverde con las casas de pizarra. 

Este pueblo aparte de la plaza con la fuente, los balcones de madera y todo decorado con pizarra, tiene una pradera muy extensa para hacer picnic, con un campo de fútbol, y un sendero de unos 2km (aunque las señalizaciones indican un poco menos)que te lleva hasta la la bonita cascada Despeñalagua.

Cascada Despeñalagua.

Hay varias rutas de senderismo que salen desde Valverde de los Arroyos hasta la chorrera Despeñalagua, llamada así porque el agua proviene del río la Chorrera, que es un afluente del río Sorbe. La cascada tiene una altura de unos 120 metros. la más fácil de las rutas y que mas gente hace es un paseo muy bonito que te lleva hasta la cascada que se llama CM Camino de la Chorrera aunque hay que estar en buena forma ya que el suelo no está en buen estado. Esta concretamente te lleva a la cascada anteriormente indicada y dura aproximadamente unos 35 minutos a un paso normal. 
Es ideal para caminar entra la naturaleza, observar la vegetación, oír de fondo el sonido del agua, y movernos un poco. 

Para este paseo lo mejor es llevar calzado adecuado y cremas solares, ya que no hay ninguna sombra en él. Durante el invierno lo desconozco, aunque no creo que haya muchos atrevidos que lo hagan debido a las temperaturas gélidas de la zona.
Por el camino hay muchos arroyos que saltar así que cuidado que podéis acabar con el agua hasta los tobillos.
A la derecha una foto adjunta del caminito del que hablo, buena vegetación y de fondo se puede oír el sonido de las cascadas.
La mejor época para visitar esto es la primavera, ya que la nieve de la Sierra se ha derretido y las chorreras bajan con más caudal. En el otoño se pueden observar los diferentes colores de la vegetación. Desde Madrid hay una distancia de 125 kms.

Calle de Umbralejo.

Y por ultimo y como guinda del pastel a esta ruta tan rústica, acabamos en el pueblo de Umbralejo, un pueblo abandonado en los años 70, por lo que su población actual es de 0 habitantes, pero que por suerte ha sido rehabilitado para campamentos de verano  y eventos turísticos gracias al ICONA, es el mejor conservado de todos los pueblos negros porque ya se sabe, el peor amigo de la naturaleza es el humano, y en el que podemos hacer fotos de las mas bellas, pero a la vez tiene un horario restringido de apertura, entre otros habitantes hay un caballo y un burro marrón que son los dueños del pueblo y los que te recibirán muy alegremente. 

Así que ya sabéis, especialmente a la gente de la zona centro, los madrileños que quieran hacer excursiones fuera de la capital, turistas en Madrid, Soria o Guadalajara, aquí tenéis una bella ruta para un día o incluso un fin de semana. No siempre lo más bonito es lo más conocido y este es un claro ejemplo de los rincones y tesoros escondidos.