Abroad in Spain: Travel Blog

A shop window is decorated to advertise the "rebajas" (sales) in Spain, which began on January 7th.

Here in Spain there are two major sales per year (known as rebajas in Spanish): one is set in January and another is set in July/August.  During these sales, people pretty much go crazy trying to buy up anything and everything that they could possibly need — at a bargain price, of course.  Think of it as a month-long version of the USA’s well-known “Black Friday.”  Long lines, shot nerves, and more than one overwhelmed, crying store employee are all common traits of the rebajas of Spain. 

As a foreigner I don’t really understand where Spaniards get the money to buy things during these sales.  You see, the winter sales begin on January 7th, which just so happens to be the day after the infamous Three Wise Men visit children’s homes to bring them presents (like Santa Claus in the States).  In the USA, most people are pretty much broke after Christmas from buying all the gifts.  In Spain, on the contrary, people go out and “shop till they drop” the day after Wise Men Day, their biggest gift-giving holiday.  Logical from an economic standpoint?  Not for me, at least. 

In any event, if you’re Spanish and you’re looking for a deal during these rebajas, I wish you the best of luck.  If you’re not Spanish, well, I guess you can save your money this January.  Continue reading this post…

Visitors view the humongous Nativity of the Burgos Cathedral.

I have memories from when I was a child of helping my mother set up the Christmas tree and the Nativity set in our home.  I never really liked doing the task that much because there were always so many lights to put on the tree and so many little figures to put into the Nativity set.  In fact, I’m sure my mother would tell you that I complained quite a bit about having to do the chore. 

It turns out that I probably shouldn’t have complained so much.  Why?  My mother’s Nativity set was nothing compared to the monstrous ”Nativity on steroids” of the Burgos Cathedral.  In fact, I think my mom’s Nativity contained a Joseph, a Mary, a Baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men, and a couple of camels… it probably had no more than ten pieces.  The Nativity set of the Burgos Cathedral, on the other hand, contains over 1,200 pieces.  How’d you like to be the guy who has to put that thing up?  

All joking aside, it’s not all that uncommon to put up a very large Nativity set here in Spain.  Continue reading this post…

Happy New Year to everyone!  This is the second New Year that I have spent in Spain and, after ”living” the holiday twice here, I thought I’d write a short post to tell those of you who are less familiar with Spain’s traditions a little about the holiday.  Basically, if you’re a Spaniard about to “ring in the New Year in style,” you need two essential items in very large quantities: grapes and fireworks.  Let me explain:

Essential item #1 — Grapes: Grapes are used during the final New Year’s Eve countdown right before midnight.  As Spaniards are counting down the final twelve seconds of the year, they eat grapes — one grape for each second marked by the clock.  As a result, it’s very typical to buy large amounts of grapes right before New Year’s Eve and then sit in front of the TV with your family on December 31st to eat the grapes during the “official countdown,” which is televised live from Madrid. 

Essential item #2 — Fireworks:  After counting down the final twelve seconds of the old year, Spaniards grab their fireworks, firecrackers, and other miscellaneous, loud pyrotechnic devices and head for the streets.  In fact, there are usually so many Spaniards on the streets shooting off fireworks just after midnight that the entire city fills with smoke and sounds like a war zone.  To be quite honest, the first time I saw this happening last year I didn’t really know what to think — it appeared to me to be a loud, dangerous pandemonium with fireworks flying everywhere.  I still wonder how more people don’t have accidents with all those firecrackers going off everywhere.  In any event, along with the grapes, fireworks are a “must” on any Spanish New Year shopping list. 

There you have it.  Two “essential items” for the New Year in Spain.  What are your “New Year Essentials?”  Continue reading this post…

As part of the Christmas festivities in Burgos, a "Christmas Fair" was set up in the Plaza Mayor in which people purchased crafts from local vendors.

I’ve decided to title this post “Merry (ongoing) Christmas.”  You may be asking yourself why I’ve put the word “ongoing” in the title and the answer is really rather simple: in Spain, Christmas is not over yet.  In fact, I’ve discovered that the Spanish love to “make the most” of their holidays — no matter how big or how small they are — and that’s exactly what they’ve done with Christmas (you’ll see what I mean in a moment).  Continue reading this post…

During the winter, churros stands like this one begin to crop up all over Burgos. It’s easy to eat these delicious delicacies; however, it’s somewhat more complex to order them.

The winter has finally arrived to Burgos. The days are darker, the temperatures are lower, and the people of the city are sporting their “Eskimo attire” to combat the cold. Of course, if you don’t like bundling up to stay warm, you could try another “heat-seeking” technique: eating freshly made churros.

Since the weather has begun to get colder, churros stands (like the one pictured above) have been popping up all over the place around the city. For those of you who don’t know what churros are, they’re basically rod-shaped pieces of fried dough that are covered in sugar — the Spanish version of the doughnut. The truth is, nothing quite warms you up on a winter day like some freshly fried churros along with a little hot chocolate to accompany them.

Despite their delectable goodness, ordering churros from a street vendor posed a bit of a problem for me when I first moved to Spain.  It turns out that ordering churros is more difficult than you might think.    Continue reading this post…

A spectacular view of one of the largest altarpieces in the Cathedral of Burgos. Whether you’re Catholic or not, it’s impressive to look at.

Not too long ago I wrote a post about the exterior of the Cathedral of Burgos, a thirteenth century Catholic Cathedral.  As far as cathedrals in Spain go, this one is a bit on the famous side — and it’s no wonder why.  The building itself is beautiful. 

Just the other day I paid another trip to the Burgos Cathedral and I decided to expand upon my last post by taking some photos of the interior of the building to share with you.  As you can see, the interior is very ornate and beautiful.  Still, what’s really amazing to me is the fact that practically all of the art housed in this cathedral (sculptures, statues, altarpieces, etc.) dates back centuries.  To put it in perspective for you, work on this cathedral began before the continent of America was even discovered by Christopher Columbus — that’s a long time for a bunch of “old statues” to survive.  Continue reading this post…