Barcelona has a love for the natural world. Nestled between the mountains and the Mediterranean sea, its tree-lined streets and boulevards lead inevitably to green or blue. In our short visit, we saw tributes to nature everywhere, from the seaside…
#8 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Inner Landscape
My time in France has been less about rolling lavender fields, romantic rivers and the rising Pyrenees and more about inner landscape – silence, reverence, and connection. I went on two pilgrimages, one guided by Eastern traditions and the other…
#7 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Joie de Vivre
After a full day’s travel, we find ourselves north of the Spanish Pyrenees – in the small town of Perigueux in Southern France. We were met by cool temperatures and rain but on this Saturday morning, the slate sky shifted…
#6 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Holy Toledo!
“Holy Toledo!” – Illuminated on the distant wall was El Greco’s famous painting, “The Disrobing of Christ.” My jaw literally dropped open – the striking reds and yellows, the luminous expressions, and, most powerful, his use of light. I could…
#5 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Tex-Mex
We are on a train north to Toledo, the chosen home of the artist, El Greco. Leaving the vibrancy of southern Spain’s Andulucia, we travel toward the land of Cervantes’ famous Don Quixote, a landscape now peppered with stainless steel…
#4 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Yes, Thank You!
Cadiz, Spain hangs out into the Atlantic Ocean like a mitten on a string. Its narrow and winding cobblestone streets force all the cars to its edges leaving the old town as it has been for centuries – a pedestrian…
#3 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Everyone Whom We Have Loved
The ancient coastal town of Cadiz, Spain feels like it’s in a time warp. Roman artifacts, narrow winding cobblestoned streets, wrought iron balconies, and antique churches create a sense of timelessness. The Phoencian fishermen who settled here in 800 BC…
#1 The Spanish Butterfly Blog: Expansion and Transformation
When I was 17, during the hot, hot summer of 1980, I left my hometown of Dallas, Texas with a group of students to live for 9 weeks in Segovia, Spain. Before I left, my mother said, “This trip is…
Everything’s Coming up Roses
The flight took 10 hours. That would have been terrific if I had been flying to India, but we took off at lunch and were expected to land within 3 hours. I had plans for dinner! But life had other…
Eat, Pray, Learn
I recently went on a personal adventure to Antigua, Guatemala. It was my own miniature version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. Well, she traveled for an entire year (to Italy, India, and Bali) and I only went away for…