Aranjuez

4.00 2Flow2 United States - 18-Mar-25

Some World Heritage Sites loom large and will stun and wow people no matter who you are or where you are travelling from. I think of my time at Victoria Falls or Jerusalem and how immediately accosting those were. Aranjuez is not a site such as those, and that's okay, it's in the "majority" of sites. Aranjuez, like many of the historical cultural sites, will vary in what it offers to the visitor based on how much you effort you put into learning about it.

So what is Aranjuez?

Aranjuez was the "summer palace" location that the Spanish monarchs would retire to in the 1700s and 1800s

Vizcaya Bridge

3.50 2Flow2 United States - 26-Apr-25

I was expecting to be pretty underwhelmed by this WHS (after all, it is just a bridge...) but it was actually quite a bit better than I expected! I visited this during March 2025, during the year my wife and I have been living in Spain. We had a trip to the nearby San Sebastián planned, and so rented a car specifically for the purpose of doing a day in Bilbao where I knew I we could see this bridge.

Unfortunately for me, our other activities took a bit longer than expected, and parking in Bilbao can be a bit tricky. Be aware of that if you are bringing personal transportation into the city as opposed to public transport

El Escurial

5.00 2Flow2 United States - 23-Mar-25

My visit to El Escorial was in November 2024 as a part of my nine months living in Madrid, Spain, and I have to say, El Escorial continues to stand out as one of my favorite sites in the country. The monastery is just massive and stunning beyond words... every time you think you've seen the final room, there is another one full of incredibly intricate, lavish detail sitting beyond the next doorway, and it continues on and on like this for hours. Frankly, a lot of the royal palaces in Spain are quite large and have a lot of distinct, highly decorated rooms, but El Escorial has them all beat. El Escorial was built both as a religious complex and a royal setting blended together

Oporto

3.50 2Flow2 United States - 18-Mar-25

Oporto! March 2025 visit. I think my expectations for this city were a bit too high. It's certainly nice and you won't regret visiting here, but in my opinion the experience wasn't mind-blowing. You can easily see all of the most important sites within one and a half days in the city and feel content. In general, everything is colorful and covered in tilework ("azulejos"). It's a city that pictures well, especially in the sun. Everything worth seeing is all in the city's center and can be walked to – no need for public or private transportation.

Mudejar Architecture of Aragon

3.00 2Flow2 United States - 23-Mar-25

This WHS is a little bit weird to "review" as are many of the dispersed-location sites that highlight "examples of" a certain style of something. (Whether that be something natural or man-made.) Like many of the reviewers here, I experienced this WHS (in March 2025) at its sites in the city of Zaragoza. I did not go to Teruel at all.

The trip to Zaragoza was a delightful one, which can easily be done in a day or less to see the Aljafería, the excellent four Roman ruins museums, and the famed column inside "El Pilar" Cathedral. To focus more specifically on the WHS itself, I'd say the Mudejar Architecture is a great introduction to learning about the history of Muslim rule in Spain for those who are unitiated. (A period from the 700s ~ 1400s in which Muslims controlled the majority of the peninsula and then fought to maintain control in the face of Catholic kings who pushed to take the territory back