Summering in Spain
This summer, my family (Jeff, Jack and I) spent several weeks in Spain. We started in Córdoba, ended in La Granja, and somewhere in the middle drove up a winding mountain because I wanted to see a pig.
By Amanda Sauer
Andalusia: Family, Friends and History
In Córdoba, Jack met his primo (cousin) for the first time. The two of them rode around town together on the back of a bicycle, ate popsicles and played shadow tag as we tried to avoid the 103-degree heat. We ended our stay watching the World Cup at a local market, which was the beginning of Jack becoming a fan for life, or at least for the year. TBD now football season has started here. Go IU!
I love Córdoba, but I would send clients in spring, when the patios are in bloom and being outside is far more enjoyable.
From there, we drove south through fields of sunflowers, past the famous bull signs, and stopped in Ronda. Like most visitors, we stayed for a few hours and treated it as a day trip. The town is unique and absolutely worth the stop. However, if timing allows, I would stay overnight. Once the buses leave, the town settles down, dinner feels more relaxed and the Puente Nuevo lit up at night is worth seeing. There is also great hiking, just not in the summer. It is hot!
We spent a few days near Mijas at La Zambra, a Hyatt Privé resort, hanging out with longtime friends and mostly doing very little. Jack loved having his own room key and quickly decided the kids’ club was more interesting than spending time with us. We supported this newfound independence from the pool with tinto de verano.
This is also where he learned the difference between Ibérico and serrano jamón.
“Mom, this doesn’t taste as good.” He was not wrong.
“Well, this is Serrano and it is €13 instead of €48, so since you do not want to share with us you are not having Ibérico…”
I liked being inland here, with easy access to the white villages and the coast. Marbella and Málaga were still close, but we also had hiking and countryside around us.
While visiting the Colomares Monument one afternoon, Jeff looked across the grounds and said, “I know that guy.” My immediate response: “You do not know that guy.”
He did.
They were our neighbors, whom he sees at school drop-off every morning. To quote Disney, it really is a small world after all.
Málaga was the biggest surprise. I have always treated it as an airport to the Costa del Sol, but after a lot of investment in the city, and my own 20-year hiatus, my mind has changed. The breeze off the water was welcome after being inland, but we also just really liked the city. The evenings were lively and the food was fantastic. We ate jamón, octopus, pork belly and one hamburger so juicy it arrived with gloves to wear while you eat. We drank cervezas, tinto de verano and Aquarius—orange when available.
Picasso was born here, so there are excellent art museums, but Jack preferred the interactive video game museum, where you could play gaming systems from almost every generation. I will admit, it was pretty cool and nostalgic. We even bought a poster that made it all the way to Singapore before we forgot it.
Málaga also has an interesting connection to American history through Bernardo de Gálvez and Spain’s support of the American Revolution. It was a piece of history I had never connected to southern Spain before visiting.
Salamanca: Summer Camp and Exploring
Then we headed north to Salamanca, where Jack attended camp for two weeks. He left around 9:00 AM every morning, came home at 8:00 PM, went out to dinner with us and made it to bed sometime around 11:00 PM.
Basically, we became Spanish, and loved it.
We stayed near Plaza Mayor, which turned out to be a particularly fun place to be during the World Cup. Restaurants pulled televisions outside, everyone gathered in the plaza to watch, and when Spain beat Portugal, the celebration carried on well past midnight. We were secretly a little sad but joined the celebration nonetheless.
Salamanca also gave us easy access to more of Castilla y León. We spent a night in wine country at Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine, where doing very little and drinking wine was exactly the point. Jack loved the welcome drink so much that every time we walked through the lobby, he asked for another glass. And, of course, there was my typically awkward departure moment when I boldly announced, “I live here now.” No one really knew if I was joking. Nervous laughs echoed in the quiet lobby while Jeff and Jack dragged me to the car.
Then there was the pig.
I had watched the “Pig” episode of Apple TV’s Omnivore, which features the village of La Alberca, and decided we needed to go. So we drove up into the Sierra de Francia only to discover that it was too hot and the pig had gone to the pool.
We never saw him. Still worth it.
La Alberca is a beautiful mountain village, and our former au pair’s father had also given us strict instructions to buy a specific jamón while we were there because, according to him, it is the best in Spain. We followed instructions. Jack ate most of it.
The Homestretch—or Is It?
For our final few days, we skipped Madrid and stayed in La Granja de San Ildefonso instead. We have been to Madrid many times and wanted somewhere quieter while still being close enough to the airport.
Segovia is nearby, so we could visit the aqueduct, Alcázar and historic center without making it a long day from Madrid. La Granja gave us the Royal Palace, huge gardens and, most importantly to Jack, a maze worthy of hide-and-seek.
On the drive to the airport, Google of course sent us on the “most direct” route—past a ski hill and around enough winding roads to make all of us sick. We made it and were off to our next adventure in Asia.
You will probably see that story in a future newsletter: custom suits, a wedding, a World Cup win (we are Spanish now), a Taiwanese All-Star baseball game and a luge.
We are already planning Spain 2027, with camps in Barcelona and Salamanca.
There is always a trade-off when you start adding smaller towns to an itinerary. Madrid has the Mandarin Oriental Ritz and Rosewood Villa Magna. In smaller places, you may be choosing a historic parador or a smaller hotel with more personality but fewer amenities.
Sometimes that trade is absolutely worth making. The important part is knowing what you want from the experience and working with a designer to balance those pieces into an adventure that is yours.
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