Last week, my husband surprised me when he told me “you really want to know where are we going to travel?”. I immediately thought that it was our dreamed trip. So, I asked him where the place was and he told me that it was all up to me. Since that day, I felt that I have a problem choosing the perfect place. I started to search through many means: internet, tourism agencies, friends and encyclopedias. After all the research I decided we should go to Spain and have a complete tour of the country.

However, the problem was not Spain but the number of cities I chose. I selected 10 cities around Spain in addition, I calculated a month for the entire trip but I didn’t want to know about the budget I would need. The reason was that I’ve been married for 3 years and my husband never asked me to go anywhere. I know that he was studying his PhD in history and we needed to save money but I think that he had been a little bit stingy with me and our new marriage. So, having made the list with 10 cities, I thought about all the arguments he might had: money, time and job (surely, money, the main one). However, I also had mine: no honeymoon (THREE years ago), credit cards (I knew that he had even more than he showed me), deserved vacations (he had not asked for them since 2 years ago). Despite this, I chose the majority of the places with Mike in mind.

As everybody knows, Spain is a historical country with modern architecture and fabulous beaches so I mixed knowledge with in the places I had selected. Since I’ve already said, my husband is a historian, teacher of one of the most outstanding universities in my country so that I imagined that these first historical cities must be very interesting for him.

A Coruña is The Tower of Hercules hometown, the most ancient roman lighthouse still working of the world (my husband loves Roman culture).

Santander is an elegant city with a beautiful view of mountains and sea. It has some ports that show all its past, for example the fishing port, Puerto Chico and of course El Sardinero beach.

Salamanca, the university city (my husband has always wanted to study there), famous for its cathedrals, palaces and churches with different architecture styles, as gothic, plateresque and baroque.

Sevilla with an important historic and artistic patrimony from civil and religious architecture: From the Alcazar of Sevilla; to museums and bridges. This city also shines because of flamenco dance.

Granada is distinguished for the majestic Alhambra. This is a city, palace and fortress that shows the Arabian influence in Spain during 700 years; but, Granada is not only famous for its historical monuments; the beaches of Costa Tropical (80 km) are part of the granadine culture. At this point, I knew that Mike still couldn’t say ‘no’ or maybe if he would say ‘no’, he might be thinking about it.

So that, I had another 2 cities: Madrid and Barcelona. Both cities have one thing men love even more than women: soccer.

Madrid, which is memorable for monuments like La Puerta de Alcala, The Cibeles Fountain or The Royal Monastery of El Escorial; palaces like The Royal Palaces of Madrid and Aranjuez; or the well-known El Prado museum; also has the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

On the other hand, Barcelona, has a considerable architectonical legacy like The Paseo de Gracia, The Gothic neighborhood, Plaza del Rei and The Church of the Sacred Family which is also gothic and famous for its paintings made by Gaudi; besides this awesome cultural heritage, my husband is a fanatic of Barca soccer team and he couldn’t avoid saying ‘no’ to visiting Camp Nou Stadium.

The last 3 cities I chose: Alicante, Ibiza and Tenerife are enjoyable because of their culture and their beaches, for me it was a must to go there: I love sun tanning my skin, swimming, sleeping over the sand, etc.

Alicante is the city that has the best beaches of Spain like: San Juan, De la Mata and Mil Palmeras. Ibiza is part of Baleares Islands and people often visit it not only for its incredible crystalline water and white sand that make this island the most beautiful one but also because is a well known party destination. Finally, Tenerife, with large woods, deserts, mountains, volcanoes and especially, many spectacular beaches as: Las Teresitas, El Bullullo and Los Cristianos (What a thrill!).

As you can see, I was very selective and specific with my list, but I was expecting a negative answer from him. Yesterday, I waited he came home at night. I was very nervous and prepared for telling about the trip and maybe starting an argument or even a fight (you know how men are). But, surprisingly, he said “Ok” and he agreed “I can go for different places I don’t like (like the beaches) because that would make you happy. Besides, I know that we couldn’t have a honeymoon and now we have more time to plan and spend, honey”.

Honestly, I couldn’t hide my stunned face, I felt awful, I wished that I hadn’t been so critical of my poor husband. Now, I’m really excited because I’m looking forward to experience another culture while sharing quality time with him. We have never before had an important travel, so I’m pleased that we now have the opportunity to go to Spain for summer and I think this holiday trip will bring us many enjoyable and unforgettable moments.