Nosotros caminamos - "We walk"

The Alhambra; Granada, Spain - Sierra Nevada Behind (More about this in the next post)



For any of you who haven´t traveled as we are currently, as backpackers, you should know the activity that takes up more of our time than anything else is walking. For those of you who have, you know what I´m talking about. Far from being drudgery, walking was one of the things we looked forward to most. When you sit at a desk day after day and get around town sitting behind the steering wheel, walking comes as a welcome relief. You get exercise and you get to pay attention to everything around you rather than the radio or, worse, other drivers.

Some folks like to drive or ride bikes or...whatever...but, in my opinion, walking is the best way to experience a place, at least any place worth visiting. Tami and I walk to explore. We walk to get from one place to another. If you´re patient, you can get wherever you need to by foot. As Stephen Wright says, "Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time". We´ve made the time and now we are indulging our walking desires.

Perhaps the best part about not having a vehicle in tow is the freedom we now enjoy. We can move from one city to another and never worry about traffic or parking. When we want to leave a city, we go to the train or bus station, buy a ticket which, in Spain at least, is always reasonably priced and go. When we get to the next town we walk out of the station and catch a local bus or walk to a hotel drop our bags.....and start exploring.

So, we don´t actually walk everywhere. We use mass transit when we need it and walk the rest of the time. The fact that Americans in Europe get enamored of travel using mass transit is old news. This isn´t the first time for me either, but the charm certainly hasn´t worn off. Unless you have a pretty unique situation, you can´t live without a motor vehicle in San Francisco (or just about anywhere in the US). Here, we´ve covered some 1,500(+) miles visiting 14 cities and towns and it´s cost us about $450 - $500 each. It´s efficient, it´s reasonable and best of all, it´s freaking easy and liberating. When a whim strikes us…we hit the road.