Traveling With A Friend
Travel. There’s many ways to do it. All encompassing! Do-it-yourself! Multi-city! Single City! Solo! Group! As a couple! Backpacking! There’s really no wrong answer here. What I’m going to be talking about is something that I really am fortunate to have done a great deal. Traveling with a friend.
I have a great friend in Spain who I visited when I went over there less than a half a year ago. She was born and raised there and I was extremely fortunate enough to hang out with her and get to see some sites that the average tourist wouldn’t really get to see. In all fairness though… it was the experience of seeing what regular life looks like over there that really made it special for me. This article is just some of the moments that I really wanted to highlight.
Vilafamés
A city with roots to truly ancient life. The city is situated on a hill in a dead end canyon that overlooks the surrounding plains. This place was clearly a perfect defendable location waaaay back in the olden days. Surprise to no one… but a castle was eventually built and since my friend knew of my interests in castles and such… took me there to check the place out. It was quite a jaunt up through the weaving streets but once we got to the top. Man, was the view nice.
The castle is in decent shape but it still has parts that are in ruin. Cue my most favorite picture of me that has ever been taken. As we are near the top of the path leading to the castle… I see a beaten path leading off into the brush near the cliff’s side. Of course I have to check it out. Which leads to this amazing picture.
I will always be eternally grateful to my friend for taking this picture. I love adventuring and I love ancient ruins. This has it all. My friend is an artist and of course is a perfect photographer as well. Some of the fun of exploring with a friend is sharing the excitement of the moment with them. I love imagining what this place could've been like back in the day. Who lived here? Are there sunken catacombs in that disgusting green well that is in the heart of the castle? Possibly! Oh the options! Oh the fun!
Peniscola
We travel a tiny bit and take a stop in this city where there just so happens to be an old Templar Fortress on the edge of the Mediterranean! We are naturally going to tour it! We find parking and head up the winding streets towards the fortress. Man… these people back in the day really loved having the high ground! We eventually find out that this was the last major building that the Templars ever built and also that they were kind of just the worst. You know… the Inquisition and all those holy wars. Just… the worst.
We take the tour and get some amazing views of the grounds and of the Mediterranean. The Fortress is surprisingly small but after a great deal of awesome vistas we head out and go a few blocks to catch some lunch by the sea. And can I tell you… having lunch by the Mediterranean is a perfect thing. Sure there are some annoying pelicans but even they add to the ambience. Sharing all that is what really makes it special though. I know I could’ve probably eaten this entire paella by myself but I would’ve made myself sick. We head to the beach to see the sites and man I wish I could see this place in the middle of the summer.
Context!
There is a huge thing that I am leaving out in all of this. Language. In high school… I took French. Ahh… le language of love. But here I am in Spain… and I can kind of understand what people are saying but… to actually communicate? A little bit harder. My friend being the lovely person that she is… was my translator for nearly the entire trip. I do not know what I would’ve done without that assistance. Probably Google Translate but would I have gotten the same experience? Never. There is context. There is the correct way of doing things. There is respect that should be given. I try to always remember that I am the stranger in the foreign land here and to always be kind and considerate with anyone that I interact with. It is always a good rule of thumb and you never know what doors will open when offering someone humility and kindness instead of brashness and pompousness.
My final words here. Traveling with a friend is really fun and I will always remember this trip with fond memories.
