…and the journey begins.

It has been a dream of mine to go to Spain. It started in my 10th grade Spanish class as we studied Spanish culture . As Americans , we sometimes take life too seriously and forget to enjoy each day . Truly enjoying each days requires being present in the moment and getting off our electronics ( ok ,the irony isn’t lost on me here as I type away). There is a special joy with which many other cultures embrace joy and work to live versus the more cumbersome and stressful – live to work.

I am blessed to have this chance to travel through Spain for 2 months. This started out with me going alone to visit my daughter who is studying in Madrid for the semester but to my great surprise, family and friends are joining at different points throughout the trip. Now I will only be alone for 9 days!😀

I invite you to join me!

Wondering about “Come Hither with Mither”?

This past summer while on a beach vacation in North Carolina, the family was discussing how great it would be if Shea could study abroad in Spain for the spring semester. Well , truth be told, I was pressuring Shea to study in Spain, so I could go there for an extended vacation. As the conversation continued, the kids were popcorning ideas for my potential travel blog name:

Mama on the move , come hither with mither etc. obviously, comehither with mither , won out. Why mither versus mother? When the kids were little , Ellie bought me a little statue of a mother , reclining in a chair with a crown on her head and a magic wand in her hand and the plaque said “Mother Queen”. I told my kids they should call me mother queen from then on. Somehow that stuck ! As the years went on , my name evolved to mither queen:).

Week One

This has been a great week of exploring Spain with Alexandra ,Shea & Thomas! We toured around Madrid and then went for one night each to Cordoba and Seville .

Plaza de España 1st time!

El Escorial – large monastery built by Philip II and Valley of the Fallen( mass burial ground for soldiers)

El Escorial is 40 minutes outside of Madrid and is set back and up on a hill.

The church in The Valley of the Fallen was the original burial site of Franco. Spaniards in general didn’t like Franco so this site was rarely visited . The petition to exhume and move his remains from the church has greatly boosted visits to this beautiful site! This church is entirely built into the mountain and was said to have been build by lowly peasants. It is experiencing water damage from the ceiling and is expected to cave in at some point. A small cloister if priests live full time in the abbey behind the church.

One tour guide told us that when Franco died , parties erupted all over Spain and Cava ( local champagne) was sold out everywhere!!💃🏻🎉🎉

Deeply affected by the death of his father, Charles V, in 1558 and in order to consolidate the House of Hapsburg in Spain, Philip II ordered the construction of the monastery. His aims were to ensure that his family would be remembered forever, to create a dynastic place of burial, and to offset the destruction of a church dedicated to St. Lawrence during the Battle of St. Quentin in France.

On 23 April 1563, the first stone was laid by order of Juan Bautista de Toledo, and after his death in 1567, Juan de Herrera took over the project. He gave it his own Herrerian-style architectural look and feel, characterised by the use of lines rather than overusing decorative elements that only distract attention from the building itself.

With an area of 33,327 square metres, the Monastery of El Escorial, as it’s widely known, is the monument that best sums up the ideological and cultural aspirations of the Spanish Golden Age. This is clear from the combination of Italian and Flemish artistic styles, both present at the behest of Felipe II.

A building with several functions, San Lorenzo el Real was first a monastery for monks of the St. Jerome order, with the church serving as a royal burial site. It also has a palace to house the king and his entourage, a school and seminary to keep the religious function of the monastery alive, and a library. To a certain extent, this set-up is still in place today.

Palacio Real Madrid

This beautiful palace is awe inspiring in scope and magnitude, from the opulent carpets, tapestries amazing tile,variety of marble and spectacular statuary, each room leaves you more speechless than the last!

A definite must see!! Can’t find all my photos:((

The world’s largest functioning royal palace by floor space is the Royal Palace of Madrid in Spain, with 135,000 square metres (1,450,000 sq ft) of floor space and containing 3,418 rooms.^[1]

Next, off to Cordoba!

If you want an historic snapshot of Spain, Cordoba is a must . Here you will find Roman walls and a Roman bridge and tower right next to the Mesquita – which is a literal gem.

I think the Mesqiuta has been one of my favorite sites because of its beauty but also because it is literally a beautiful Catholic Church built inside of a mosque ( from 1250). Both are functioning worship spaces today!

With all the devisivness in the world, it is heartwarming to see a place where people can coexist and worship together in such a glorious , awe inspiring and peaceful setting!! I loved this so much!! Truly , it touched my heart.

A walk at night

**I don’t have enough superlative descriptors!**

Patio tour

People who live in Cordova do not have backyards, so they make full use of their interior patios to make beautiful gardens.

This home has been one of the top rated patios since 1921. It’s strange they have so much land surrounding the city but because it was a walled city, they have a limited space within the walls.