My Most Memorable Vacation

There is a place so beautiful I'd love to see again. My dream vacation started in Madrid, in central Spain. How I long to stroll again down by Retiro Lake and see El Prado art museum. Then for old time's sake, I'd find some iced “horchata” down by Alcala Gate, and later see Flamenco at a bar where folks stay late. Come tag along with me as I remember old Castile. We'll bring potato omelets in french loaves for our meal. In any one direction, heading north, east, south or west, is something quite amazing for your senses to digest. A cross upon a peak is near the great Escorial. And Avila, by Romans built, is circled by a wall. Segovia, Toledo, and further by the sea, lies Valencia. That's a place I want to be! Try the calamares (squid). I like it best when fried! Oranges abound and the paella's bona fide. In March , through all Valencia there is a grand display: people burning giant statues made of papier mache. Northward are the Pyrenees, rugged, vast and green,. Sheep in fields, refreshing clime, and villages serene. There's bustling Barcelona if we journey up the coast. Farther west, along a bay in Galicia, I like most a place named San Sebastian, a very lovely town. It has some trees with tops like cute umbrellas upside down. Last, to Don Quixote's Andalucia -south let's drive where for centuries the moors' enlightenment could thrive. Cordoba, Granada, and Seville we have to visit. The mosques with marbled columns at Cordoba are exquisite. Granada has a palace like none you've ever seen. The ornate rooms and gardens were fair pleasures for a queen. Malaga I never saw, but if ever I should go back to Spain, that's a beach I really want to know. So many different nations arrived on Spanish shores: Greeks, Phoenicians, Visigoths, Carthaginians, Celts and Moors. Iberia is fascinating. Its diversity is so enchanting, it's the best vacation spot for me! 4/28/2015