Yes, I know the songs says, “Well, I’ve never been to Spain, but I’ve been to Oklahoma,” but the opposite is now true for me. I have now visited Spain and every state on every side of Oklahoma, but not Oklahoma. Eventually, I’ll get to Oklahoma and Delaware to complete my 50 states. I must say that Spain was special and spectacular.
I know we’ve heard that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains. We spent most of our first week in Spain traveling along the Mediterranean coast in the southern region known as Andalusia. No, not Andalusia, Alabama, but the city in Alabama was named after the region of Spain. Although the forecast included rain for every day, fortunately, it must have fallen on the plains because we saw very little of the wet stuff along the coast.
What we did see were stunning and amazing sites. Our first full day of site-seeing took us back to the city of Malaga. We had flown into Malaga from Madrid, but were too tired and jetlagged then to care about seeing anything. After a good night’s rest, we backtracked to Malaga the next day. There we found beautiful ancient architecture, markets and people. Malaga is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe and believed to be close to 3,000 years old. With a population of around 600,000, it is the second-largest city in Andalusia. It was the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. The famous artist spent most of his adult life in France, but grew up in Spain, including his first 10 years in Malaga. His footprint, through his art, is still quite visible throughout the city.
We spent the morning in Malaga walking the cobblestone streets with a local guide. We visited the colorful downtown market, which teemed with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as all kinds of meat. The legs of lamb were not quite as tempting to me as the strawberries that were about the size of small apples.
One of my favorite parts of the trip took place that afternoon. Our tour company had prearranged for some local families of Malaga to host small groups of us in their homes for lunch. Somehow, I managed to be the only male in our lunch group of nine ladies.
I have had the privilege of visiting in local homes on international mission trips before and always loved that interaction. Daniel and his wife Grace welcomed us into their home like we were old friends. Daniel was a policeman with the port authority. Once we discovered his occupation, we managed to mind our manners and be on our best behavior! He and Grace were indeed gracious hosts. Their youngest of their seven joined us for lunch. Like most meals in Spain, we began with tapas and bread with olive oil and balsamic.
Although our host has never visited the states, I noticed one of the wooden charcuterie boards for the tapas was in the shape of the state of New Jersey. I assumed it might have been gift from a previous American guest. Jean and I took them one of my handcrafted walnut-and-oak tick-tac-toe games. The main course was pork tenderloins and patatas alioli. The patatas reminded me somewhat of our potato salad but without boiled egg. We completed our meal with scrumptious ice-cream cake and coffee that was so strong that I may not have been old enough to drink it. Just before we left, their other children completed our visit by coming home from school.
What lovely and gracious new friends we made that day!
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com.
