Summer In Spain: Italica & Rhonda

Sorry we have been so quiet the last few days. The Internet at our house has been down since about last Tuesday/Wednesday and I finally cancelled our service on Friday. You don’t want to know about the beast that came out in me while on the phone with our Internet provider when they told us our house had never been in the service area. ANNNYYYYWAYS, we should be back up and online tonight after our new U-verse gets installed. We are super excited!

So after last week’s guest post from House Bella about their decision to move from New Hampshire to Idaho to fulfill an emptiness in their hearts, all I have thought about is traveling and exploring and how excited I am that one day we will start our new lives in a new city in a new state. Seriously. I almost convinced myself to not buy one. more. thing. for the house so that we can save every penny for traveling and the future big move. (Notice I said almost. I did decide that while we are in our house in West Texas, I want to make our house as homey as possible and a place that we enjoy hanging out. And a few dollars here and there will be spent to achieve that goal. Oh, and if you “like” us on Facebook, you already know that I finally bought our bed! That was a big purchase.)

I have also been reminiscing about some of the trips I have been lucky enough to take with my friends and family. The greatest trip and experience of my life was the summer I studied abroad in Spain then traveled through Germany. I was fortunate enough to be able to take a summer off work and study Spanish in Spain with a group of students from my university. I honestly wish I could have spent a full semester or a year there, but if I had, I would not have been back in the states at the time I met my husband and I would not be where I am today. Everything always works out in the end, right?

While I was in Spain, I bonded with a group of girls that wanted to travel and see as much of the country as we could in the short time we were there. So instead of spending our cash on booze, cheap European clothes and partying, we traveled the countryside and saw some amazing places and had the most wonderful time.

The first place we went was Italica with our entire class. Italica is an excavated site where you can walk through the ruins of the what used to be a city. It’s a gorgeous site, and while you’re there, you have to imagine the city being built by hand without the help of the machinery we have available today. It’s really quite amazing how much detail and planning went into these cities.

That tile work in the middle picture was crazy. The tiles were so small, yet so detailed, and they were able to preserve large parts of the floors.

The next trip we took was just with our travel group. It wasn’t a sanctioned trip with our class, but we had every Tuesday afternoon off and we were anxious to explore. We chose to visit Rhonda (or Ronda, depending on who you talk to), and it was honestly the most gorgeous place we visited. I could have spent weeks in this little town with all its history and beauty. The gardens were fabulous and the architecture was out of this world. So much inspiration, it’s sad that I didn’t appreciate it as much then as I do now.

Rhonda is situated in the mountains and a river runs through the middle of the city. Three large bridges span the canyon, and are quite a site. Just look at the pictures and you’ll see why this city is my favorite.

We enjoyed ice cream while soaking in the sun and never-ending views. That big picture towards the bottom is why this city really captured my heart. I could sit on a porch of one of those houses and be happy forever. The bottom left picture is of one of those bridges, and you have to remember again, they did not have the machinery back then as we do now, to build that. It’s absolutely breathtaking. And the picture on the bottom right is of a cow in someone’s “backyard,” which is actually more of what we would consider a patio. Honestly, if you ever get over to Spain, Rhonda has to be one of the stops you make, you won’t regret it.

I’ll leave you with those for now. More pictures will follow soon, I promise! Have you ever been to Spain? What was your favorite city?

My heart aches to go back to Europe now. Studying abroad was the best decision I ever made and I encourage everyone to do it. It’s an experience you will never get to have again– living in Europe, fully immersed in the culture and no job to worry about. If I could do it all again, I would.