Recently updated on January 16th, 2020 at 05:34 pm
I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, ever since taking my first Spanish class in junior high school. Every year from grades seventh through twelfth, I chose to study Spanish as a foreign language. I remember how vibrant the classrooms looked, with posters, piñatas, ornaments and other relics reminiscent of Spain.
At the end of every semester we had a ‘food day’. Each student had to make a Spanish dish and bring it to school to share with the class. Some of the dishes were horrible and I remember thinking “one day when I get to Spain I’m going to have real Spanish food. I’m going to have authentic Paella and Flan.”
As I continued to delve into the language further and further each year, I knew that one day I would go to Spain. I just had to see the sights, hear the language and taste the food. Well… I am happy to say that many years later, after having three children and being married to my husband for 28 years, I got to go to Spain!
It was the year I turned 50, my middle daughter graduated from college and my youngest daughter graduated from high school. And not only did I get to go, but it was a trip that included my husband, my three daughters and my 71 year old mother (who had never been out of the country). I felt like I had hit the jackpot!
While in Spain our sightseeing included a visit to the Prado Museum in Madrid and a guided tour of the Royal Palace. On an excursion to Segovia we visited a 13th century castle said to have inspired Walt Disney’s Snow White. At the Candido’s Inn (a restaurant said to be frequented by politicians, dignitaries and celebrities from around the world) we feasted on a lunch of roasted suckling pig (a local cuisine). We were entertained by a fabulous display of flamenco dancing in Seville and enjoyed a relaxing day at the beach on the Costa del Sol.
The proverbial icing on the cake included a view of the rock of Gibraltar, a ferry across the Mediterranean Sea, a visit to an open market in Fez, Morocco, a meal and entertainment at Chez Ali in Marrakesh and a view of the beaches at a fashionable resort at the most western tip of Europe. What a trip!
It was my wildest fantasy come true. The trip proved to be more than I had wished for as a young girl in Spanish class and more than I could have imagined as an adult. And now I have memories to cherish forever (with pictures to prove it!).
By Darlene McCaskill-Lewis from Middletown, USA