On Monday we’ll meet our nephews, now 13 and 14, along with their mom and dad, at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. We’ll take off on a backpacking adventure in Southern Spain and Portugal.
The areas we’re visiting are familiar to me; dare I say they’re curated for this family trip. We’re traveling much as we’ve traveled together on previous trips: public transit, no cabs, carry-on backpacks only. Especially now, with so many airport disruptions, minimal travel makes even more sense.
We’ll first fly to Malaga, Spain, via Amsterdam Schiphol. In Malaga we’ll take a scheduled bus to a place we’ve all been before: Nerja, at the far eastern end of the Costa del Sol, on the Mediterranean.
We know the hotel, we know the fabulous paella cooked on open fires beside the beach, we know we’ll have a relaxing few days.
We’ll then head to Seville by bus and high-speed train.
The city will be crazy-busy, so we’ve already purchased tickets for the Cathedral, the Alcazar, and a short flamenco show in a small performance space in a former palace. I’m planning on a siesta every afternoon.
After three days of culture in a busy city, we’ll be ready to take scheduled buses to a quiet place in Portugal’s Algarve. We’ve rented a house for a week in the tiny town of Salema, southwest Portugal. We’ll be close to beaches and national park trails.
Finally we’ll ride the rails to Lisbon where we’ve rented an apartment for a few days. We’ll return to Minneapolis via Boston.
I’m looking forward to us creating adventures. Apart from Seville, our plans are loose; we’ll make each day a good day.