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When I was a kid, a favorite after-school game in my neighborhood was “Cops and Bad Guys”.  We called it bad guys, because we didn’t limit our pretend felonies to only bank robberies – so not “Robbers”.  Sometimes, we were spies or gangsters and we pretend murdered each other.  Once, as a bad guy, I even pretend kidnapped someone’s younger brother, but the two of us ended up picking and eating wild berries, and playing hide-and-seek instead.  Now that I think about it, I wasn’t selected to be a bad guy very often.  However, we all rotated who got to play Steve.  Steve was the Captain of the police detectives.  You remember him, right?  Captain Steve McGarrett from the famous show, Hawaii 5 0, the longest-running American police drama in TV history.  We would play until the sun started to set and we could hear someone’s mom hollering “DINNER!” from their porch.  Then, right before we split up, “Steve” would say those famous words and we’d dash off into different directions making tough-guy noises and whooping with excitement.  Although the title comes from the fact that Hawaii is the 50th state, the show had such an influence on American culture that even today, the police are referred to as “5 0” in urban slang. Obviously, I wasn’t the only kid in America anxiously waiting to tell my buddies to “Book ‘em,”. 

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What brings these memories to mind, you ask?  Well, this is a big year for me.  Actually, this is a milestone year for all of us.  However, for me, this is also the year I turned the big 5-0.  50 years old.  And what better time to sit down and reflect on this year’s milestones then now, in my 50th blog post from lovely Spain.  Hard to believe I’ve written 50 posts over the last two years.  I mean, I know I may occasionally be described as loquacious, and, admittedly, I can be a tad verbose, but that’s a lot of blather, even for me.  So, if you’ve been following me from the beginning, thanks for hanging in there.  If you’ve just joined, maybe you can play catch-up in a binge reading session over the coming weekend?  Good luck.  

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This year started off a tad slow but has gradually been picking up a little speed.  More like an old Chevy Nova with three-on-the-tree trying to go uphill at a stoplight on a cold winter morning, and less like a massive boulder being pushed down the side of a steep mountain.  So, heavy emphasis on “little” in that first sentence, right?   

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We had grand visions at the end of 2020.  We saw the vaccine for Covid-19 rolling out in the fall and had a good overall feeling about our vision of early 2021.  Unfortunately, the plans we made to spend all of January in Alicante, exploring Valencia and that entire region, turned into wishful dreams when Catalonia and Valencia both decided to leave all borders closed and required residents to remain within their region of residence until nearly the end of June!  The uncontrolled spread of coronavirus was still a major concern in Spain for most of the first half of 2021.  The country entered their third “lockdown” around the end of 2020.  Even with the vaccine slowly being introduced and restrictions on movement, face masks, social distancing, and socializing, Spain didn’t feel good about the effectiveness of their infection control measures until well into the summer, and the country borders didn’t reopen until July 1, 2021.   Fortunately, after considerable effort on our part and bureaucracy on the part of the government, we managed to finally be officially entered into the Cat-Salut system and get ourselves vaccinated.   All three of us.

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Also, this time around, the confinement measures didn’t require us to stay within our homes (1st confinement) or within the city of Barcelona (2nd confinement).  So, we were able to explore some of southern Catalonia, including the Ebro river Delta (Down on the Delta), Tarragona, Villafranca, and the Cava wine region just south of Barcelona. 

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With the weather so mild and lovely for most of the spring and summer months, we also spent a fair amount of time exploring our own backyard.  We walked to Casa Vincens and Bellesguard – both relatively close proximity to our apartment.

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We spent a couple days at Sol i Vi Hotel. Twice. It’s a lovely place and absolutely worth visiting more than once.

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Additionally, we finally hired a car and rode to Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey to see the Black Virgin and hike through the lovely gardens and trails. 

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One sunny Sunday, we discovered a dragon statue at the Barcelona Sants train station as well as a massive park with a lovely water feature (where was THAT hiding?!?).  We also toured the Museum of Music in Barcelona, saw the Design Museum, the “Bullet” tower (Torre Glòries), and spent a long afternoon exploring the outdoor flea market with a mirrored roof, Market dels Encants, crammed with clothes, shoes, handbags, linens, books, collectibles, furniture, and a variety of other bric-a-brac and hubris all at “bargain” prices! We even saw a completely unexpected but beautiful bull ring (Monumental) in Poblenou, that we knew absolutely nothing about!  SURPRISE!!  

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We spent one entire day walking around the harbor at the Port of Barcelona, called Port Vell.  The day started out overcast and chilly, but soon the rain clouds blew away and the sun came out to sparkle and shine on the water.  This wharf is normally teaming with tourists streaming out of tour busses and pouring off cruise ships, hardworking locals, cops, mariners moving sailboats in or out of dock, street vendors, and pickpockets.  That day, the place was largely vacant.  Something I suppose it hasn’t been since the day it was constructed nearly 20 years ago.  We had lunch outdoors at a very posh tapas restaurant for which I am certain we would have normally needed advance reservations. Afterwards, of course, we went shopping for hours in the massive mall, Maremagnum.  Allita even got her ears pierced (for the first time ever) at the jewelry store while Mom waited outside in the sunshine.   It was idyllic. 

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The big trip for me this year was my birthday present from my mother.  In June, Allita and I went to Granada to see Alhambra in its entirety.  We spent three days there so we also saw the cathedral, walked the riverwalk, toured the old town and market district, and ate plenty of fabulous Moroccan-influenced and Mediterranean foods (sometimes even sitting on pillows around a table and eating with our hands).  It was an amazing way to celebrate my milestone birthday and I highly recommend it, if you have the chance.  We stayed at a tiny hotel right in the middle of the main tapas restaurants and flamenco bars.  We even caught sight of a gypsy flamenco dancer, although we didn’t make it to the caves for an actual live performance. 

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In July, we booked an Air B&B for a week at Allita’s favorite beach, Casteldefels.  We celebrated Allita’s 13th birthday in a 3rd floor walk-up located just off the main street near the boardwalk.  A big milestone birthday for her – finally becoming an actual teenager.  It was also Allita’s first time shopping for knock-off designer fashion (handbags, wallets, etc.) from Africa.  Ha!  Of course, we collected lots of seashells, built sandcastles, and spent many hours riding the waves.  Allita even talked me into ordering duck from the local Chinese food restaurant as a special take-away dinner.  

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In August, we ended our second year of living in Barcelona with a big decision.  We have loved our time here, and we would absolutely repeat the same move, if we had to do it all again.  Granted, we would hopefully be a bit more organized, bring less stuff, and arrive before August (universal vacation month) – hindsight being 20/20 after all.  The pandemic did throw a spanner into the works, but we are adapting to the “new normal”, which is admittedly a bit unpredictable.   The only real assurance we have is that the authorities will not hesitate to confine us again, should they believe that measure is warranted.  Which means, part of our “new normal” is changing the way we think about things – including how and what we plan for the future.  

Thus, we’ve decided to move – yet again!  We feel good about our time in Catalonia.  We have also toured Aragon, Navarra, La Rioja, the Basque country, and Madrid.  But, we still want to spend time in Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia.  These regions of Spain are rich with history and culture, and we have a number of places we would like to visit while we still live abroad.  Proximity does matter, so our best bet is relocate to the south, where we stand a better chance of being able to visit these other areas during the breaks between lockdowns.  Allita already has full-time, online education with a flexible, year-round schedule that affords us plenty of freedom.  Our major concern is the cat and finding accommodations where he can be accepted, if not welcomed.  Allita also started clarinet lessons this year, so wherever we stay needs to be private enough that practice of said woodwind doesn’t disturb the Peace.   Well, at least not the entire neighborhood, even if the appearance of that little black case has the same effect as the vacuum cleaner on Toby.   

As we begin the end of 2021 and the start of our third year living abroad, we find ourselves once again cleaning out, downsizing, and packing up to move.  Our destination is Almería, a lovely town along the Andalusian coast.  If everything goes as planned, we will spend at least 5 months there, living on the coast, and exploring the rest of Spain.  We are all excited about this next adventure.  So, you can expect to see more details in the near future about all of our 2021 adventures as well as our future 2022 destination. 

In the meantime, “Aloha, suckers!”.