Photo: Ekaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock

Places That Changed Us: Spain

Spain Family Travel
by Debbie Gonzalez Canada Jan 1, 2025

This is part of the “Places That Changed Us” series, a compilation of 20 trips that have had a lasting impact on the Matador Network team. To see the other 19 places, click here.

After my two years in Australia and my solo trip to Japan, I had a new appreciation for good company, and for my mom in particular. With the little money I had, I invited her to travel with me to Spain in 2016, where my grandfather had spent his childhood. It was one of the most fun and meaningful trips I’ve ever taken. It changed the way I see my mom, it changed my mom, and it changed our family narrative.

Mom and I rented a car and took a road trip around Spain — quite literally around. We started at the center in Madrid, went east to Zaragoza and Barcelona, then up north to Basque Country, west to Asturias and Galicia, down to Salamanca, and finally south to Granada and Cordoba. We got lost more times than we can remember, ate our way through the local delicacies, and took thousands of pictures. At first, I was annoyed that mom wanted a picture of everything. Then I realized she takes pictures when she is enjoying herself, and I was eventually incredibly happy with all the images she captured (it is, to this day, my most documented trip).

Though there were many good moments, one was the absolute highlight. I dare to say it was magical. We were trying to find the town and the house where my grandfather grew up in with no reliable directions based on a black and white picture of the house. We had tried several towns, and we were losing our hope. Well, more than that. We were losing our patience with each other. She was driving, we were lost, and I was trying to figure out where we were. I yelled at her to stop. She did. We looked up and there it was, the house from the black and white picture. Speechless, we got out of the car. A man was standing in front of the house, and we asked about my grandfather’s family name. He said, “yes, that is my name” while looking suspicious. He turned out to be my mom’s second cousin. We discovered a lovely family we didn’t know we had, and reconciled with a heritage that now makes us whole.

Discover Matador

Save Bookmark

We use cookies for analytics tracking and advertising from our partners.

For more information read our privacy policy.