An At-Home Vacation to Spain!

Spain is a stunningly wonderful place. The countryside is beautiful, the food is yummy, the drinks are heavenly, and the people are friendly. On top of that, they all get afternoon naps every day! It’s called a siesta and it is amazing, you really can’t beat it. 

Before we get started, we also wrote an article on 10 things you can do to make your at-home life feel like more of a vacation.

Okay, are you ready? Let’s get to it! One full day of an at-home vacation to Spain!

Wake Up With a Sunrise!

Every amazing day starts with a sunrise. Every day starts with a sunrise I guess, but still. That’s beside the point. Make the beautiful sunrise a great start to your at-home vacation to Spain!

According to some interpretations of Eqyptian mythology, they believed that each sunrise brought a whole new world. That is a perfect sentiment for this article, as we are treating this at-home vacation as if you were waking up in Spain. You ARE NOT at home. You ARE in Spain!

Wake up and watch the sun cross the horizon, painting the sky a masterpiece of yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue. Know that the sun you see is the very same one that rises over the horizon in Spain.

Dress the Part – Spain Fashion Advice

Getting ready for the day is going to be a key part of your Spanish vacation (at-home). You know the saying, ‘look good, feel good’? We are going to do exactly that, but replace ‘good’ with ‘like we are in the middle of an epic Spain vacation’.

Learn to Flamenco Dance

Flamenco dancing is Spain. Spain is Flamenco dancing. This dance is fun, cultural, and really embodies everything you experience in a Spanish vacation. Take an hour of your day and try to learn the steps of the Flamenco dance!

Make Some Spanish Tapas & Sangria

Tapas are a staple of Spanish cuisine What are tapas? Glad you asked! They are a small, yummy dish served mostly as an appetizer or a snack alongside drinks.

Tapas – noun – small Spanish savory dishes, typically served with drinks at a bar

Why are tapas such a huge part of Spanish cuisine? Well, maybe the better question is why aren’t tapas a huge part of cuisine worldwide? Tapas are delicious, not too filling, and allow you to sample many different kind of foods in a single meal! Tapas are amazing!

Take some time during your at-home vacation to Spain to make some delicious tapas. 2 of our favorite recipes are Empanadillas Gallegas and Gambas al Ajillo (Spanish Garlic Shrimp). If you are in the mood, you can also make a refreshing pitcher of homemade Sangria!

Learn Some Spanish

Your world opens up when you learn a second language. When you learn Spanish, for instance, visiting Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and other Spanish-speaking countries becomes a whole new experience. You can visit rural parts of those countries, where English won’t get you very far, and experience the country in a way you wouldn’t have been able to before!

Learning some Spanish is a great way to spend some time during your at-home vacation to Spain. You’ll immerse yourself in Spanish culture, learn a skill you didn’t have before, and be able to communicate better for when you are able to visit Spain in the future! Duolingo is an excellent tool for learning languages, and the best part is that it is absolutely free! You can learn at your own pace, and enjoy the process of picking up a second language.

Take a Siesta

Siestas are the aspect of Spanish culture that we are most jealous of. How on earth have siestas not been implemented worldwide? Here is the official definition of a siesta.

Siesta – noun – an afternoon rest or nap, especially one taken during the hottest hours of the day in a hot climate

When visiting Spain, especially Southern Spain, siestas are taken very seriously. The town centers, cafes, restaurants, and shops will literally shut their doors for a few hours in the middle of the afternoon. Locals head home, take an afternoon rest, enjoy some time with their families, then head back out to finish the day after a few hours.

Have you ever heard of a better tradition? Nope! An afternoon nap mixed with some family time. The absolute BEST tradition in the world, no question about it.

During your at-home vacation to Spain, spend 2 hours in the mid-afternoon taking a siesta. Get a nap, relax, spend quality time with your family, and enjoy yourself.

Watch a Movie Featuring Spain

So far, many of your senses have been treated to a Spanish experience. You’ve smelled, tasted, and felt like you were living the Spanish life. Now let’s treat your eyes to Spain’s beauty with a movie featuring the beautiful country!

If you have any leftover tapas and Sangria, bring them along and choose a movie to watch that features the stunning Spanish landscape.

After you’ve enjoyed your movie and finished off any tapas and Sangria you had leftover, it is time for perhaps the most FUN activity of your at-home vacation to Spain. Wine tasting!

Spanish Wine Tasting

Spanish wine is legendary around the world. In fact, did you know that Spain is the world’s largest exporter of wine? On top of that, Spain produces the most organic wine of anywhere in the world! Spain really knows what they’re doing with their wine. Lucky for you, you get to have a wonderful wine tasting experience because of it.

Here’s how we need to do your Spanish wine tasting.

Step 1 – Order A Few Varieties of Spanish Wine

This is the action that you’ll have to take ahead of time. Order some wine, or pick some up from a supermarket. Do your best to get a few different varieties of wine. Spain has over 400 different types of grapes, so there are a WIDE variety of flavors and tastes to try.

We recommend definitely getting a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Tempranillo and Bobal are a must if you can find them. Other than that, pick a few that look like yummy options!

Step 2 – Pour Bottle Number 1

Of course, step 2 is to pour the wine. If you have the glasses for it, then you could pour out a tasting from each bottle into a line of glasses in a row! That way you could compare the colors and look of each of the wines side by side.

Step 3 – Learn Something About That Wine

Before you actually taste the wine, try your best to learn something about it. Perhaps you can find information on where that particular grape was grown, what makes it unique, what happened during the year it was grown, or why that winery is the best in the world (many wineries claim to be the best in the world…).

The internet is a great place to find this information. Each winery likely has a treasure trove of fun information on their website. However, the bottle label may have some interesting tidbits as well! And the information on the bottle is of course the easiest to find.

Step 4 – Taste the Wine

The most fun part, of course. Taste the wine! While tasting, notice three things about the wine: look, smell, and taste. Notice that taste is the last of the 3. Look at the wine and smell it before tasting, to give all of your senses an experience. You’ll be completely immersed and get a better understanding of the differences between each of the wines.

Step 5 – Grade the Tasting (if you want to)

If you would like to, you can even go through the process of grading the wines and noting what you liked/didn’t like about each of them. This can be a fun way to record the results of your wine tasting, and a good way to remember what wines you loved so that you can get them again in the future!

A fun way to use the tasting sheet can be to compare notes with someone else who did the same tasting! Maybe you and a friend can each do an at-home vacation to Spain complete with the exact same wine tasting set-up. Then afterwards you can compare notes. Maybe you can even both take a trip to Spain together in the future!

Repeat For Each Bottle

Repeat the above process for each bottle that you bought! Savor the flavor because, in our opinion, this is the most fun part of the day! Wine tasting is just the best.

Take in the Sunset

Perhaps this activity can take place during your Spanish wine tasting. The sunset is a beautiful time of day, and during your Spanish at-home vacation, you should spend some time enjoying the sunset view. No matter where you are, you’ll get a unique view of the sun setting that is truly unlike anyone else’s view on earth.

Whenever we gaze on a beautiful sunset, we like to think of the following quote. This quote applies to many different things and many aspects of life, which further shows the truth behind these words.

We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.

Anais Nin

After the sun goes down, it is time to prepare a yummy meal, Spain style!

Prepare a Spanish Dinner

In Spain, dinner is typically much later than in other parts of the world. Most Spanish locals eat their meals between 9:00 pm and midnight. Thankfully, you are well-rested due to your afternoon siesta!

For dinner, there are many yummy options that will bring your taste buds directly to a Spanish wonderland. Cook up some yummy Spanish Paella or Gazpacho soup and enjoy each and every savory bite.

Dinner is typically a smaller meal than lunch in Spain, which makes sense given that the meal is eaten so late in the day. After dinner, and maybe another glass of wine, try out those Flamenco dance moves you learned earlier in the day! Heck, try speaking Spanish the whole time as well!

We sincerely hope you enjoyed your at-home vacation to Spain. Spain is an absolutely wonderful place, and nothing will be quite like actually visiting, but right now this is the next best thing. Enjoy!

If you do ever make it to Spain, check out our articles on Granada and Seville to guide you through these beautiful cities. If you enjoy hiking, check out this article on exploring the National Parks in southern Spain.

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