Last week, my wife, my dog and I did a road trip visiting a few small cities in Portugal and Spain. We both got shocked by some things we didn’t expect to see.
In the northern part of Portugal, there is a small city called Chaves. I’m from Venezuela and this name does not sound appealing to me…
But the city is very nice. The population is about 17,000 inhabitants, and we both got surprised by all the “free sports facilities”. There were a couple of outdoor calisthenics gyms, also some machines for seniors, and the most surprising thing to see was a couple of tennis courts and one for padel.
I’ve been playing recreational tennis for a couple of years, and when I was living in Spain, in a big city there was not a court you could use for free. Small cities are different.
From Chaves we drove to Burgo de Osma, a beautiful city where we also found tennis, padel and “fronton” courts for free. The first day we were in the city, we saw at least 6 teenagers fly fishing in the river… Normally, at least it was our opinion, fishing was for old folks. It was great to see these young kids having fun away from their iPads and enjoying the good weather.
We did some hikes around the city and we saw vultures for the first time, what a huge bird. They were a little bit too curious about our small dog… I know they don’t hunt or kill their food, but seeing a few birds flying over you and your pet is a weird feeling.
From Osma, we went to Santamera, a tiny village with only 5 “inhabitants”, and we got surprised by video cameras at the entrance of the village. So, I guess they record all the vehicles and plates entering and leaving the village… No privacy!
This tiny village has some great scenery by the river where rock climbers and hikers go to enjoy the weekend.
During the drive, we passed through another small village where they also have video cameras at the entrance and at the exit, so it is now becoming a thing…
Our last stop in Spain was Segovia. Segovia is a medium-sized city, where the “Aqueduct” is a tourist magnet and also the old town. The city is very beautiful but it has become a tourist theme park…
We saw a couple of occasions where we felt that the tourists were not too welcome by the locals. Just imagine you’re riding your motorbike with all the protection gear (jacket, gloves, helmet) and there is a bunch of people in the middle of the street taking selfies… and they make you wait… Also, we saw a local walking “on the sidewalk” and “saying out loud something like move aside coño to a tourist who was crouching down taking photos of the church tower and was not leaving much space to pass”.
Tourism is good for the locals when the activity is just starting, because it creates new jobs and it brings money to the town, but when the activity becomes a little bit too big it transforms into a problem for the locals… Most of the properties in the center are now AirBnBs owned by people who do not live nearby… the price of rent skyrockets, so the locals move out of their city… The same has happened in Madrid, Barcelona, Porto, Lisboa, Vigo and now we saw it in Segovia as well.
If you found Segovia beautiful and impressive for its aqueduct, you should visit Toledo, or Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, just to name a few. In the north, Santiago de Compostela and Burgos are also very beautiful.
Toledo is, in my opinion, one of the most architecturally and culturally majestic cities. It's worth noting that three very different religions coexisted there for centuries, and that prior to this coexistence, they had been at war: Christians, Jews, and Arabs.
The architecture is organized into distinct neighborhoods, and each culture has its own characteristics, which are still visible today.
If we go to Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, we find the Mozarabic and Mudéjar culture more firmly established, with buildings that take your breath away with their beauty and perfect proportions.
Those parks with exercise equipment and padel or soccer courts are found in the vast majority of towns and cities. In larger cities, however, registration, booking, and other bureaucratic procedures are required to use the slopes.
To fully enjoy these places, it's best to go during the week, obviously.
The wonderful thing about Spain is that it has every climate, architectural style, and culture imaginable: mountains, seas of varying temperatures and rough seas, deserts, magical forests...
Very nice report! I have never been to Segovia, but you make it sound like a pleasant place to visit. The aqueduct is pretty impressive.
Segovia is a beautiful city, if you want to avoid the crowds just try to go on a weekday. During the weekends you'll only see tour guides and people following the herd.
You’ll be impressed by the dimensions of the Aqueduct and by thinking that they built it at the end of the 1st century... The Romans were genius architects and engineers...
A couple of years ago in Spain, a recently built bridge collapsed... despite the great technological advances, old structures were built with better quality and not with the FIAT mentality.