Self-driving Tour across Spain

After watching the Pamplola Bull-running Fiesta and La Tomatina on TV one day， I decided Spain would be my next tourist destination. I began to solicit fellow travelers on MSN. Three months later， together with three MSN buddies Dana， Cindy， and Summer， I got on my Spanish self-driving journey. We called our trip “The Journey to the West”， after the timeless namesake Chinese novel written in the mid 16th century. And we decided upon a self-drive tour.

A self-driving tour in a foreign land is definitely a challenge， especially for us four girls. We dislike dull package tours organized by tour operators and bus tours， for they provide no big excitement. We rent a Citroen in the color of champagne and with incredible curves. We almost fail to get it. To rent a car in Spain， one needs to present a notarized English version of a Chinese driver’s license. We had booked a Citroen and we were told what documents would be needed. Summer was entrusted to this big task of getting all the documents ready before we left for Spain. But at the car rental， Summer suddenly finds she has only the notarial deed. Somehow she left the English version of the license at home. The auntie at the service counter is all business. She turns a deaf ear to our explanation and begging for her to bend the rule a bit. Just when we are about to despair of getting our journey to the west started， the two bosses of the car rental decide to let us get the car. Off we go in the Citroen!

The first day we plan to visit Madrid， Toledo and Sevilla. Excited， eager and nervous， we start from Madrid. To get ourselves acquainted with the GPS on the car， we first tour downtown Madrid. Unlike Paris and Milan which stand for opulence， Madrid presents a unique glamour in fashion. We see young men and women， all dressed in individualistic fashion， add a fascinating dimension to the cityscape. We do not see people wearing celebrated international brands from head to toe. The individuality appeals tremendously to us. No wonder numbers of fashion brands like Zara， MNG， and Tous are created there.

Our next stop is Toledo， an exquisite city in the mountains. We haven’t set any plan for our visit to the small city， thinking the best way to enjoy is to roam aimlessly. The streets undulate and zigzag in a nice response to the terrain. Stone houses remind us of the past. Free of the madding noise that characterizes Madrid， Toledo is serenity itself. I feel as if we were in a fairytale world.

After saying farewell to Toledo， we spend the next five hours driving to Sevilla， but it takes us a good two hours to negotiate the last 5 kilometers and get to the hotel where we booked rooms. Fortunately， Sevilla gives us endless delights. We visit historical Moorish architecture and we watch Flamenco， a strongly rhythmical dance performed originally by Spanish gypsies. The visit to the city reminds us of some literary， operatic， and musical masterpieces that are set in Sevilla. These give us some relief from the fatigue of the journey.

During the next two days， we spend most of our time on the road， traveling for 1，300 kilometers from Sevilla to Barcelona. Instead of taking the more scenic coastline route， we decide to take the inland route. We let the GPS guide us through the inland of the country. The travel is full of dramas. Take a roadside restaurant for example. We enter the restaurant to find that all the customers there are big and strong truckers. It seems they are astonished to see us as unexpected intruders and then start talking in whisper. I feel frightened for a moment: we four Asian girls are far from anywhere. Unexpectedly some truckers raise their beer glasses to us， a friendly signal. We are touched by their hospitality. It is understandable that the people there are certainly surprised to see us Asian girls traveling in the heartland.

Most highways in Spain are free of tollgates， which is the best thing we appreciate about the country’s highway system. The Citroen performs surprisingly well in the energy-efficient mode. When we park the car finally， we take a look at the meter.Altogether we cover 1，856 kilometers across Spain， over 400 kilometers more than the distance from Beijing to Shanghai. We feel extremely proud of the successful long drive. For the trip of four days， we spent 350 euros in total for the car rent， insurance， gas and parking. Our economical self-drive tour across Spain enables us to see the distinctive Spanish culture and the people’s gracious hospitality. □