Spain
Montserrat, Spain – A Unique Martian Landscape
Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in Spain. It is part old-world Europe, part Miami-through-a-kaleidoscope, and all charm. There is no shortage of ways to spend your time and there are always new adventures to discover, new people to meet, and new places to eat. Once you have spent several days in the city Read more…
7 Foods to Try Abroad, Regional Guides
A fellow Tour Director recently posted on Facebook that there was little better in life than enjoying an almond granita whilst in Sicily, something which is quite hard to argue with. This led me to asking other Tour Directors which foods they always want their groups to try while travelling in Europe. So, put these Read more…
17 Good to Know Cultural Differences Before You Travel
An esteemed American, following a visit to the Netherlands some years back, was back at home and regaling his co-worker with tales of cultural differences he had encountered. His summary was simple, “it’s the little things.” Recently, a few Tour Directors in Europe were asked to come up with a few cultural differences about which Read more…
Euro 2012 Taking Over This Summer
Just a couple of weeks ago I posted on the rather fabulous Eurovision song contest. This pan-European spectacle (won by Sweden this time around) is a lot of fun and offers a bit of light-hearted competition. It also teaches us that in Lithuania they are not big on metaphor as the singer wore a blindfold Read more…
Popular Spanish Tapas and My Favorites!
Now that we’ve covered the history and evolution of tapas, let’s get to the good stuff; the tapas themselves. It’s not uncommon for establishments to offer up to a dozen different tapas. Many tapas contain garlic, chilies, saffron, cumin, salt, pepper or olive oil. Since Spain is on the Mediterranean Sea, some tapas contain seafood Read more…
History Behind Spanish Tapas
I have lived in the Great Lake State of Michigan my entire life. For the past 11 years, I’ve resided in a small town called St. Louis (Michigan, not Missouri), which is often referred to as the Middle of the Mitten. Although highly effective, it’s rather awkward to be able to point to the center Read more…
Travel to Europe in June for Midsummer Celebrations
If you want to join in with something a little different from the normal EF tour day then hopefully you will bump into some of the following while touring Europe in June. Midsummer celebrations – Watching sunrise on the longest day at Stonehenge is quite the experience but not always the most practical to arrange. Read more…
A Travel Interview with Pam Farmer
Once again I have been able to get someone in the EF family to take on the Independent newspaper’s travel survey. Pam Farmer is a Spanish teacher and Group Leader as well as a Global Education Ambassador. She started leading groups with EF in 1982 (that’s right, Eighty-Two!) and has travelled almost every year since. Read more…
Highlights of a Spanish Tour
I recently finished a tour in Spain, Madrid, Cordoba and Seville with a group of 49 people from Queens, New York. It was a great week and my first all-Spanish tour for a few years, it’s not my normal route but it was great to be back there. So here are some highlights; Tapas – Read more…
Conquering Initial “Pre-Tour Contact”
My next tour (Madrid, Cordoba and Seville) is starting in just a few day’s time. The past month, since my last tour ended, has been a good time for getting some preparation work done to ensure the tour runs as smoothly as possible. I thought I would run through a few things to do with Read more…
