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Christmas in the Balearics and traveling with Mom, were diversions during visits to my brother who lives in Barcelona.
In 2023, 11 months after the previous time I returned to Catalonia and it was an impromptu thing.
My mom had been traveling quite a bit with my deceased father for a year and a half. After some difficult months that followed the bereavement, she recovered a bit, so much so that she had been in Palermo a few days with a brother and a week in Jordan with a group along with my aunt and uncle. Talking about her state of health (she has various aches and pains) one day she told me how good those two trips had done her, tiring but so stimulating. Considering that she sees very little of my brother who lives in Barcelona and that with my father the plan to visit him had faded, I made her the proposal, which she accepted without question.
Traveling with mom
In order not to return yet again to Barcelona (where we took a little trip before returning), we opted for Tarragona. It is a city unfairly little known to international tourism, but one that is absolutely worth It is an hour’s train ride from Barcelona and being the ancient capital of the Roman province of the Spanish territory, it has several very well kept ruins as well as a splendid cathedral and it is by the sea as well. There are many Roman ruins in Spain, some kept very well.
I hadn’t gone somewhere with my mom in at least 35 years; it was strange because now I was the one accompanying her, although every now and then the instinct of maternal thoughtfulness pops up even toward 50-year-old children who have traveled the world(she uses the big towel to take a shower). Booking an apartment downtown with three rooms, from the logistical point of view we did just fine, but I had not thought that it can be a problem for an elderly person to take a lot of stairs (third floor with no elevator; the city is on a hill). The most curious event was that for work I had to look for someone who lives in Faenza, but she was also on vacation…on that day exactly in Tarragona!
Christmas in the Balearics
In 2024 I decided that I would spend Christmas in the Balearic Islands. I spent the 25th with my family, but then I had 3 days at home that I couldn’t not take advantage of, and this little trip pandered to a number of plans:
- Go a little warm in winter, but not to the ends of the earth
- Spend the Christmas season with little Christmas atmosphere
- Walking in nature (not only in the mountains)
- Going to a new place
- Go to an island at least once a year
- Visiting a tourist place in the off-season
- To visit my brother who lives in Spain.
It was basically a perfect 3 days. I enjoyed solo beautiful walks in the center and waterfront of Ibiza and then also north of the Island (reached by bus) to Sant Antoni. The trail markings can be improved, in my opinion they should make better use of the opportunity to walk among the Mediterranean scrub, rocks and along the beautiful beaches of the Island.
On the second day I reached Formentera by ferry, and even there I had a spectacular walk to Platja de ses illetes, to say the least. It is a very narrow peninsula, practically a strip of sand, and I got all the way to the tip; it is beautiful to see the two seas from the same point; one rough and the other calm. Below is the video. From there I went back skirting the abandoned salt flats.
In this link, video made in Ibiza.
Visiting a place with those who live there
On the way home I had a stopover in Barcelona (there are not many direct flights in winter); I had lunch with my brother and we made the climb up Monjuc to the castle where I had incredibly never been. Sometimes you go to a place often, but you miss important things.
The ideal way to get into the cities a little bit is, of course, to spend time with those who live there; that way you can also see beautiful but less hidden corners and discover goodies.
To give an example in Barcelona many people in the summer take the ice-cold beers that are sold on the street; would everyone do it even if they knew that to get them in that condition they are kept soaking in the sewers?
With my brother, we talk often by phone, and many aspects of his immigrant life I already knew; but it was still different living his schedule and staying one night in his room that he rented in an apartment where others live. He is always telling me about the difficulties one can have in truly multicultural workplaces as one does not even imagine; not to mention what it means to deal with bureaucracy in a foreign country, perhaps without knowing the language well. In short, a whole different ballgame than when I went with the 13 friends!
Home set of travel Travel in Spain, and go to Barcelona
Next stage Having fun in Spain, alone and in company
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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