All posts tagged: Spain

Memories of Mallorca – 10 things to do that don’t involve the beach

Published by theporkgirl

Exactly one year ago I was ripping around the winding roads of Mallorca in a rental car with my London-town friend Kalpna, who I had met just five months earlier on a G Adventures trip through Bhutan. I never got around to documenting our journey around the Spanish island, and as a travel junkie, the pre-pandemic freedom of international travel has me feeling nostalgic to relive the memories. We also had a trip booked to Morocco in April that was cancelled due to COVID – and I am longing for an adventure with my travel buddy. I’ve done my best during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep my feet from itching too much by exploring my home province of Alberta, but as time goes by, I am more and more grateful of the time I have spent traveling abroad and the people I have met around the world. Kalpna and I got along so well in Bhutan, but organised group travel is different. I wasn’t sure how we would travel together on our own, but my …

Navidad en Santander

Published by theporkgirl

This past holiday season I traveled to Santander, which is straight north of Madrid on the north coast of Spain, to spend Christmas with The Spaniard and his family. The trip involved lots of family meals (with loads of seafood), and time for aperitivo’s and small bites with friends. It certainly did not look like the Spanish recession had hit Santander – the streets were packed with people drinking, eating and shopping. Our first full day in Santander was on December 24, and we met up with The Spaniard’s school friends at noon. We bar-hopped along with the masses for almost nine hours before making our way home for dinner. Back at The Spaniard’s parents place we had a Christmas Eve dinner with his two sisters, brother-in-law, and two nephews. We brought the Spaniard’s father a bottle of Crown Royal Northern Harvest – which had just been named 2016’s #1 whiskey in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.  Like The Spaniard’s nephew Dani I couldn’t wait for a bite of jamon. (I still don’t understand why I look like …