Every girl dreams about planning her wedding day—or so I was told—but I would never do it more than once….. The wedding was nice, but in 2008, I couldn’t wait to escape to my honeymoon, which was AWESOME—how could it not be when visiting Greece, Paris, and Spain?
Long before we were dating, my now husband and I were talking about traveling. He mentioned he wanted to go to Spain, but that he would have liked to have a Spanish-speaker with him. It so happened that I minored in Spanish while in college (although you probably couldn’t tell now :-/ ). A few years later, in 2008 we made that happen! And then we did it again, in 2016.
Greece 2008
Since my family didn’t attend our wedding the US, we decided to have a little family celebration and reunion at my best friend and college roommate’s house in Athens, Greece. From there, the family (including my husband’s mom and one of the sisters) traveled to the nearby island of Aegina.
Paris, France 2008
David always wanted to take his mom to Paris, so we did just that. We spent a couple of days in Paris, then said adieu to David’s mom and sister, and flew out to Spain.
Spain 2008
The first time we visited Spain, we drove from Madrid to Sevilla, and spent a lot of time exploring Andalusia (the Southern region), including Granada, Ronda, Nerja (on Costa del Sol), Málaga, Gibraltar, Cádiz, and Jerez de la Frontera. On our way back to Madrid, we passed through Castilla-La Mancha region.
Spain 2016
On our second trip to Spain, we stayed in Madrid for a couple of days, then took a day trip to Toledo. We drove East to Segovia, and then met my parents in Barcelona. We took a side trip to the island of Majorca, before returning to Barcelona. From Barcelona, we drove to Madrid and made a stop in Valencia for some traditional paella.
I can honestly say that Spain and Greece (and, of course, Romania, my home country) are some of my favorite countries, and I would love to live in each one for an extended period of time some time in future. The richness of culture: the food, the music, the dancing, the architecture are fascinating to me and give me joy.
I started writing this post a few years ago, before my husband and I hit the road in an RV and before COVID got in the way of our international travels. Fast forward to today, a cool snowy January day in 2022, when I’m dreaming of traveling to Europe—again. I haven’t been to Europe (and to Romania to visit my parents) in three and a half years now and I miss it terribly. Greece and Spain were two vacations I was luckily able to provide for my parents, and I remember both trips fondly.
I invite you to tag along with me as I walk down memory lane and perhaps find some inspiration for future travels. Visit my blog in the next few weeks to read about each location!
