By far Elise's favorite city other than New Orleans. Small, romantic, with amazing food and wine, any couple in love wil find this former home of poet Rainier Rilke a delightful stop in any complete vacation in Spain.

Hemmingway also loved this place for it's bullfights. All I can say about bullfights is that they are not only cruel, they are unbelievably slow and boring. I'm as attracted to a bullfight as I would be to cockfight in cajun Louisiana, not at all. Of course, when you think of the Colleseum in Rome, where Christians were fed to lions, perhaps these other viscious entertainments aren't so bad.

What I enjoyed most here was a quaint and weird little disco (circa 1970s) while Elise was sleeping. I stumbled home after the place closed. The people, like everywhere in Spain and Italy, all spoke impeccable English, far better than many New Orleanians. They were friendly, helpful, and genuinely interested in us as human beings. Making small attempts at speaking Spanish is appreciated but totally unnecessary.