Spain and Portugal: Bucket List Must Sees

Spain | May 1 - May 18, 2025

The Zenit Convento San Martin was one of our favorite hotels- a remodeled convent-spacious, good breakfast, bar and was 2 blocks away from La Concha Beach and about 10-15 min away from the Old Town where delicious pintxos abound.

The highlights of this hotel were the amazing early morning aromas of baking breads and pastries and the breakfasts served. The negative is the teeny, tiny rooms with no place to put clothes.

A lovely , clean and spacious centrally-located hotel. We were given pasteis de nata the evening before we checked out!

It was wonderful starting our Spain vacation with a tapas food tour. Between the wines, vermouth, Spanish tortilla, jamon, sausages and peppers, our guide was enthusiastic, informative and friendly. A truly wonderful welcome to Spain

I ate and loved things I didn't think I would ever like- anchovies. Also the foods I love were only made more fantastic by the presentation and accompanying ingredients. Bar Sport was my favorite with their Gildas and Foie Gras over veal toasts. I would go back to San Sebastian in a heartbeat.

Zarautz had gently rolling hills and lush green vineyards, overlooking the ocean. Getaria was also covered with green farmlands as well as having a busy port city with lots of boats. Zumaia had tall cliffs facing the ocean.

I think visiting the central market was eye-opening with all of the meats, cheeses and fresh shell fish. There's so much history compared to our homeland, the US. Even the restaurants that have lasted more than 100 yrs are commemorated with bronze plaques in the sidewalk.

I thought the train ride to Toledo from Madrid was a nice way to travel. Our guide was born and raised there and was very proud of "his town." The small alley ways, stone streets, the expansive courtyards were very visually appealing. The ornate and imposing Cathedral of St Mary of Toledo stood out in my mind because there were burial sites with the bronze plaques on the floor for several Cardinals and suspended above each of the sites was the cardinal's hat.

The guided visit of San Sebastian was helpful in that it made getting around San Sebastian easier so that we could spend our free time sightseeing and visiting our favorite Pintxo bars with confidence. We especially enjoyed the views of the bay, central San Sebastian and the tour of the Church of St Vicente Martir.

I had read about the history of Antoni Gaudi's Basilica de la Sagrada Familia before coming to Barcelona but to see it in person...whoa!...It was an experience of a lifetime. The sculptures and decorative detail both inside and out, the way it was positioned to use the rise and fall of the sun to create sunrise and sunset colors within the church. What an amazing sight!

Visiting market places is one of my favorite things to do to really see how the locals live and eat. The chef who toured us through the market and then brought us to her kitchen, overlooking the plaza was a well-prepared and knowledgable cook. We made a Spanish tortilla, seafood paella and creme catalan. The wine flowed freely and there were snacks of meats and cheeses to keep us student cooks fortified.

Beautiful drive through vineyards. Our tour of Albet i Noya Penedes winery was perfect. Delicious wines, tasty charcuterie plate and gorgeous green hillside vistas. The Montserrat Monastery was imposingly perched on the side of the mountain and the views into the nearby valleys were spectacular. Although we did not get to see the Black Madonna up close, she was still beautiful from afar.

It was fun sitting on the saddle-like seats on the speed boat and seeing the coast from the water side.

The morning before the tour we had some time to ourselves and went to a second breakfast at the majestic Majestic Cafe. Beautiful restaurant with lots of mirrors, glass, marble and a French toast treat called a Torrija. Crispy, sweet, eggy and delicious. After walking in the neighborhoods we stopped to try Ginjinha, a cherry liqueur in a dark chocolate cup. Yummm! The lady helping us was so friendly. For lunch we tried the soft and tasty pork sandwich, the Bifana at Conga, Casa das Bifanas. So we were prepared, somewhat ,for our Port tasting experience... Man did we drink a lot of Port at Sandeman! Our server served us 5 types of port and I could not finish most of them. Possibly because port tends to be sweet and has a higher alcohol content but, technicalities aside, the wines were delicious and she was very informative about the process of making Port wine.

Porto has a lot of hills so my favorite part of this tour was the boat ride on the Douro River, a good way to get a perspective of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. In the evening that we had to ourselves we had reservations to dine at Tapa Bento, in the train station. The tapas were fantastic especially the oxtail dumplings and steamed clams. On the way we stopped for another Pastel de Nata.

This experience was cancelled and replaced with a dinner at a restaurant that had several Prado singers. The dinner was great and the music was wonderful. We never figured our why the dinner with locals was cancelled but we made the best of what we were given.

More beautiful blue tiled buildings in Pinhao, a winery tour and tasting at Croft, a panoramic river cruise topped off by a delicious traditional Portuguese lunch of cured meats and cheeses, grilled fish, and a moist, multilayered cake with a light syrup sauce....and, of course, wine! Oh and then there was another wine tour at Veira de Sousa and another Pastel de Nata before calling it a day.