Espana!! It would be my first ever trip there and I would be meeting a lot of Maite’s family and friends for the first time as well. On the first few days of our trip we stayed in Alcaniz which is where Maite grew up and where her parents and two brothers stay.  While in Alcaniz our days mostly consisted of meeting up with friends and family, wandering around doing touristy things and having long sociable meals.  On two separate nights we had dinner at both of Maite’s brother’s flats, Fernando and Dani, and lunch with her parents.  All consisted of really tasty food and it was nice to take our time over meals and chat, quite a change from non-holiday pace of life at home.  Touristy adventures involved visiting the city tunnels, which are a very cool, network of tunnels under the city leading to the Castle.  We also took in views across the city from viewpoints such as up the hill at the chapel where Maite’s parents were married.  This was a good viewpoint on the edge of the city to appreciate both city and countryside views.  The contrast between this dry desert landscape and the green and “leafy” Scotland was pretty crazy.

 

Saturday was wedding day for Maite’s childhood friend Nuria, which was the main reason for our trip. Straight away there were quite big differences between a Spanish and Scottish Wedding.  As soon as the bride arrived everyone was shouting Guapa Guapa (beautiful)! The ceremony was really nice and afterwards we went up to the very beautiful castle for drinks, dinner and then party! The dinner was soooo loud compared to a Scottish wedding and at times it sounded like a football match but it had a good atmosphere.  A lot of the time we were chatting to Belen and Javi who were lovely.  Afterwards we all went into town to continue the party into the early hours and we also met up with Maria and we all had a good time.

One day we also took a trip to Rafales which is a small village that Matie’s parents have another house in to spend their weekends and holidays and it is the village that Maite’s Dad is the Mayor of. On the way we visited La Estanca which is a really nice man-made lake, apparently one of the few good things that Franco done.  Rafales was a very cute village and we spent a bit of time wandering around and meeting some family friends.  Afterwards, we and the rest of the family had dinner at the house which for me consisted of various tasty barbequed vegetables and veggie hot dogs.

 

 

 

After Alcaniz and Rafales me and Maite went to Zaragoza to stay with her good friend Maria for a couple of days. Again our time here was spend meeting a lot of her friends and doing as many touristy things as time would allow.  We met with her friend Iris who arranged for a free and private tour of Patacio de Sastago which was a very beautiful palace.  She also gave us a free tour of Palacio de la Aljaferia which was yet another beautiful palace and I really enjoyed Iris “less formal” style of tour:P

 

Me and Maite also visited a few tourist areas ourselves which included the Basilica de Nuestra del Pilar which was an enormous and stunning cathedral. Inside it has El Pillar that has a statue of the Virgin Mary on it.  It’s said that Mary gave it to St James herself and instructed him to build a church which he did on the site that the cathedral stands on today.  The Parque Grande was visited as well which was a lovely and massive park in the middle of the city that had no shortage of water features.  Other cool touristy visits included one to Catedral del la Seo which was another massively beautiful cathedral which had an immense collection of amazing tapestries and the Ruinas Del Forno where you can see the Roman Ruins of an old market.  The Ruins were fantastic to see, amazing to think how old they are and still standing strong, they knew how to build things back then!:P  In the evenings we went to some darn good restaurants.  Maria took us to Baobab where we paid for a set menu and they would bring out dish after dish of tasty food until the menu was exhausted.  I was sooo full after I thought my shirt buttons might burst!  On the last night there we met with a lot of Maite’s friends at The Beer Corner which was a lot of fun and they had a lot of nice beers.  Afterwards some of us went for dinner at Birosta where I had myself a very tasty veggie burger.  After this that we continued to party the night away which felt like an appropriate way to end what was quite a boozy trip!:P