One of the best parts of my Teach in Spain program with CIEE was definitely the 4-day work week! It provided a ton of flexibility for me to visit other places over the weekends. Of course, I set aside a few long weekends to visit other countries but I also made sure to take advantage of my free time and explore other parts of Spain. While teaching abroad, I lived and worked in Valladolid, Spain. But I also got to visit Segovia and Ávila, León, Salamanca, Madrid, and Barcelona on my off days. Unfortunately, I didn't know I would be starting a blog at that time so I don't have a ton of details. But here's what I do remember!
Valladolid
The part of Valladolid I lived in was like a really small village of its own. There wasn't much to do near me so I did not explore much on the weekdays. The bus into the center of Valladolid took about 30 minutes so I would sometimes take a trip into the city on the weekends to explore if my family wasn't doing anything. Two other program participants also lived near Valladolid so I was able to meet up with them a few times as well! One thing I enjoyed doing in the city was tapas hopping. Tapas are basically a snack or appetizer in Spanish culture. Tapas hopping is a popular activity in which a group of friends go from bar to bar to have a glass of wine and sample the tapa specialties of each location. I'm not a wine drinker at all (so far, I only like the taste of Stella Rosa Peach) so I just opted for the tapas by themselves. I believe my favorite was shrimp gambas (I hope I'm remembering the right name). Make sure to also have lots of churros con chocolate. Churros are good and their version of hot chocolate is literally like a cup of melted chocolate, so thick and delicious!
Segovia and Ávila
During my stay, my host family took me on a day trip to Segovia and Ávila, which was about an hour away from us. Segovia and Ávila are small sister cities that are often paired together on sightseeing tours. Some highlights of this area are
Aqueduct of Segovia: Built during the second half of the 1st century A.D., this Roman aqueduct is one of the best preserved to date.
Álcazar de Segovia: This medieval castle is the symbol of the old city of Segovia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is rumored that Walt Disney drew inspiration from this castle (along with another one in Germany) to create Cinderella's iconic castle.
Muralla de Ávila: The Walls of Ávila were completed between the 11th and 14th centuries to protect the town from attack. These walls are the most complete and best-preserved in all of Spain and are considered the finest in Europe.
León
I honestly don't remember doing much in León. It was more so an opportunity to connect with a few other program participants, which was always great!
Salamanca
During my time abroad, another program participant's school coordinator offered up her second home in Salamanca if we wanted to visit. Of course, we said yes to free accommodations! So four of us spent one weekend in Salamanca. Unfortunately, a lot of the major tourist sights that we passed by were closed during our stay (don't remember why) so we didn't get to see anything specific. It was still great to walk around another city anyway.
Madrid
Although I was in and out of Madrid multiple times because of the airport, I didn't actually have a lot of time to explore the major attractions. Instead, my most memorable moment was playing at a children's park LOL! However, I did get to see at least a little bit of the city.
Barcelona
This was by far my favorite city in Spain! One of my favorite activities was definitely the Flamenco show at Tarantos (highly recommend)! We also got to see La Sagrada Familia, Park Güell (the song "Strut" from The Cheetah Girls 2 was filmed here), La Rambla, the Cathedral of Barcelona, the Arc de Triomf, and Barceloneta Beach.
Have you been to any of these cities? Or do you have plans to visit in the future? Let me know in the comments!
Save $200 With These Referral Links!
Hope this served as your sign to step outside of your comfort zone and teach abroad! I thoroughly enjoyed my experience! And if that wasn't enough, I also have a referral link that will save you an extra $200! (I wish I would've had one of these before my trip, $700 to cover housing, meals, placement assistance, etc. while living abroad for 3 months is honestly a steal! That would normally only cover 1 week in a hotel lol.)
And of course, there's no hiding that there is a benefit for me too if you use my referral link because if you get $200, I also get $200. Win-win lol. However, I'm not in it for the money. I genuinely did enjoy my experience and would recommend it a thousand times!
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